Cross Cultural Psychology Chapter 2 Part 2

cultural attribution fallacies

a mistaken interpretation in cross-cultural comparison studies. It occurs when researchers infer that something cultural produced the differences they observed in their study, despite the fact that they may not be empirically justified in doing so because they did not actually measure those cultural factors

equivalence

a state or condition of similarity in conceptual meaning and empirical method between cultures that allows comparisons to be meaningful, a lack of bias

back translation

a technique of translating research protocols that involves taking the protocol as it was developed in one language, translating it into the target language, and having someone else translate it back to to the original. If the back translated version is the same as the original, they are generally considered equivalent. If it is not, the procedure is repeated until the back translated version is the same as the original

bias

differences that do not have exactly the same meaning within and across cultures, a lack of equivalence

socially desirable responding

tendencies to give answers on questionnaires that make oneself look good

decenter

the concept underlying the procedure of back translation that involves eliminating any culture-specific concepts of the original language or translating them equivalently into the target language.

conceptual bias

the degree to which a theory or set of hypotheses being compared across cultures are equivalent - that is, whether they have the same meaning and relevance in all the cultures being compared

sampling bias

the degree to which different samples in different cultures are equivalent to each other

measurement bias

the degree to which measures used to collect data in different cultures are equally valid and reliable

procedural bias

the degree to which the procedures used to collect data in different cultures are equivalent to each other

reference group effect

the idea that people make implicit social comparisons with others when making ratings on scales. That is, people's ratings will be influences by the implicit comparisons they make between themselves and others, and these influences may make comparison responses across cultures difficult

linguistic bias

the semantic equivalence between protocols (instruments, instructions, questionnaires, etc.) used in a cross-cultural comparison study

acquiescence bias

the tendency to agree rather than disagree with items on questionnaire

extreme response bias

the tendency to use the ends of a scale regardless of item content

operationalization

the ways researchers conceptually define a variable and measure it