Dr Jon Mills Crosscultural Understanding Cultural Bias Interpreting

Dr Jon Mills Crosscultural Understanding

Cultural Bias • Interpreting and judging phenomena by standards inherent to one’s own culture

Cultural Bias • For example § People who read English often assume that it is natural to scan a visual field from left to right and from top to bottom.

Cultural Bias • For example § In the United States it is typical for the "on" position of a toggle switch to be "up", whereas in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand it is "down. “ § In these countries, North is the top of a map, § Up is usually the larger quantity and better, as well.

Cultural Bias • For example § Japanese do not place an X in a check-box to indicate acceptance — this indicates refusal.

Discussion 1. Can you think of any more examples of cultural bias? 2. What misunderstandings do you think might occur because of such cultural bias?

Stereotyping • When someone claims that members of another culture all share the same, often inferior or offensive characteristics.

Types of stereotypes • racial e. g. Red Indians in cowboy films are seen as bloodthirsty savages • gender e. g. women are bad drivers • age e. g. old people are said to be very forgetful • religion e. g. Catholics families have a lot of children • profession e. g. all lawyers are greedy

The typical Frenchman

Historical basis

The typical Englishman

Basis in fiction

Gender stereotypes in children's movies http: //youtu. be/O 4 Bx. Gt. Wvsvo

African Men. Hollywood Stereotypes

Stereotyping Muslims

Different cultural assumptions • People may misinterpret each other's motives. § For example, • One group may assume that they are simply exchanging information about what they believe, • but the other believes that they are negotiating a change in behaviour.

References Douglas, Mary (1982) "Cultural Bias, " in: Douglas, M. : In the Active Voice, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul; 183 -254. Andersen, Margaret L. & Howard Francis Taylor (2006). Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. Thomson Wadsworth. Seidner, Stanley S. (1982) Ethnicity, Language, and Power from a Psycholinguistic Perspective. Bruxelles: Centre de recherche sur le pluralinguisme.