Issues and debates: cultural and gender issues

Cultural issues

• Ethnocentrism: judging other cultures by the standards of one's own, often Western, culture.
• Samples: much research uses Western (often American) participants; Asch, Milgram and Rosenhan were all in the USA.
• Tools: the Strange Situation was developed in the USA; Van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) found secure attachment was most common everywhere, but insecure types varied (avoidant more in Germany, resistant more in Japan), and variation within countries was about 1.5 times greater than between them.
• Diagnosis: symptoms are expressed and interpreted differently across cultures; Suzuki et al. (2014) found underweight common in Japanese inpatients, unlike the Western focus on weight gain.
• Culture as an explanation: Becker et al. (2002) showed eating attitudes changed when Western TV arrived in Fiji; Bartlett (1932) showed memory is shaped by cultural schemas.

Gender issues

• Androcentrism: male-centred research generalised to women. Milgram's baseline used 40 men; Asch used male students; Raine et al.'s murderer sample was mostly male.
• Gender differences: Burger (2009) found no gender difference in obedience; anorexia is most common in young women, but men are under-diagnosed partly because criteria once required amenorrhoea (removed in DSM-5).
• Sex and gender: sex is biological; gender is shaped by environment and social norms (component guide).
• Alpha and beta bias: exaggerating differences between genders versus ignoring real differences.

The debate

For cultural and gender awareness: it improves validity, reduces misdiagnosis and makes therapies fairer (HCPC standard on culture, equality and diversity).

Against overstating it: some findings replicate across cultures (secure attachment was the most common type in every country in Van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg's meta-analysis), and DSM-5 and ICD-11 include cultural guidance.

Judgement: research has become more culturally and gender aware, but samples remain largely Western, so caution is needed when generalising.

Worked example

Discuss how culture may affect the diagnosis of schizophrenia, using one study.

1. Culture shapes what counts as a symptom: hearing a deceased relative may be normal in some cultures.
2. Suzuki et al. (2014) found Japanese inpatients were often underweight, showing features differ from Western patterns.
3. So applying Western assumptions (for example, expecting weight gain) may lead to missed health problems.
4. Modern manuals include cultural guidance, which may reduce bias.

Answer: Theory, study evidence and link to diagnosis.

Check yourself

1. What is ethnocentrism?
   • Studying only one gender
   • Using animals in research
   • Judging other cultures by the standards of one's own culture
   • Studying one person in depth
   Show answer

   Judging other cultures by the standards of one's own culture. Centred on one's own ethnic group.

2. Which study is most open to the criticism of androcentrism?
   • Milgram (1963), with 40 male participants
   • Reichel et al. (2014), with female participants
   • Becker et al. (2002), with Fijian girls
   • Ma, Quan and Liu (2014), with male and female students
   Show answer

   Milgram (1963), with 40 male participants. All-male sample generalised to everyone.

3. Van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg found variation within countries was about 1.5 times the variation between countries. If between-country variation is given a value of 10, what is within-country variation?
   Show answer

   15.0. 1.5 x 10 = 15.

4. According to the component guide, what is the difference between sex and gender?
   • They mean exactly the same
   • Sex is biological; gender is shaped by environment and social norms
   • Gender is genetic; sex is learned
   • Sex is cultural; gender is biological
   Show answer

   Sex is biological; gender is shaped by environment and social norms. Sex: genes at conception. Gender: social.

5. What did Burger (2009) find about gender and obedience?
   • Women were far more obedient
   • Men refused to take part
   • Only women continued past 150 V
   • No significant gender difference
   Show answer

   No significant gender difference. No gender difference.

6. Explain why Western samples are a problem for psychological research.
   Show answer

   Findings from Western, often American, participants may not apply to people from other cultures with different values, so generalising them is ethnocentric and reduces validity.. Findings may not generalise across cultures.

Practise with instant feedback Print this lesson

Sources

• Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Subsidiary/Advanced Level in Psychology specification (issue January 2026)
• Pearson IAL Psychology component guide: WPS04 (Issue 2, November 2024)
• Van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988), Cross-cultural patterns of attachment: a meta-analysis of the Strange Situation, Child Development 59
• Pearson IAL Psychology summary of studies: WPS04
• Becker, Burwell, Gilman, Herzog and Hamburg (2002), British Journal of Psychiatry 180 (full text)

Last updated 8 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.