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Cultural bias is the phenomenon of interpreting and judging phenomena by standards inherent to one's own culture. The problem of cultural bias is central to social and human sciences, such as economics, psychology, anthropology and sociology, which have had to develop methods and theories to compensate for or eliminate cultural bias. There is also controversy over whether the phenomenon is a significant force in the natural sciences. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... For other uses, see Culture (disambiguation). ... Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. ... Psychological science redirects here. ... Anthropology (from Greek: ἀνθρωπος, anthropos, human being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of humanity. ... Sociology (from Latin: socius, companion; and the suffix -ology, the study of, from Greek λόγος, lógos, knowledge [1]) is the systematic and scientific study of society, including patterns of social relationships, social action, and culture[2]. Areas studied in sociology can range from the analysis of brief contacts between anonymous... The term natural science as the way in which different fields of study are defined is determined as much by historical convention as by the present day meaning of the words. ...

Cultural bias occurs when people of a culture make assumptions about conventions, including conventions of language, notation, proof and evidence. They can then mistake these assumptions for laws of logic or nature.

Numerous such biases are believed to exist, concerning cultural norms for color, location of body parts, mate selection, concepts of justice, linguistic and logical validity, acceptability of evidence, and taboos. For the journal, see Linguistics (journal). ...

Cultural bias can also relate to a bias that a culture possesses. For instance, a bias against women could be held by a culture who degrades women.

This type of bias can be held by a group against an individual or by an individual against a group.

Examples

People who read English often assume that it is natural to scan a visual field from left to right and from top to bottom. Also, in the most western countries, a light switch usually turns a light on when up. Also, in these countries, North is the top of a map, up is usually the larger quantity and better, as well. As another example, Japanese do not place an X in a check-box to indicate acceptance -- this indicates refusal.

These conventions are generally useful, as once one is used to light switches behaving a certain way one does not need to learn a per-light switch rule but just a general rule. Unfortunately, when people move between cultures or design something for a different group they often do not attend to which conventions remain and which change.

Linguistic and ethnic groups often do not share these notational assumptions. Notational and operative assumptions can damage control systems if the users are from a different culture than the designers. In safety-critical systems, responses to control panels and similar devices have to be valid in spite of the cultural biases of users.

See also

• Cognitive bias
• Confirmation bias
• Embodied philosophy
• Ethnocentrism
• Goodness and value theory
• Notational bias
• Social learning
• Cultural pluralism

This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... It has been suggested that Myside bias be merged into this article or section. ... Embodied philosophy (also known as the embodied mind thesis, embodied cognition or the embodied cognition thesis) usually refers to a set of beliefs promoted by George Lakoff and his various co-authors (including Mark Johnson, Mark Turner, and Rafael E. Núñez), which suggest that the mind can only be... This box:      Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of ones own culture. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Notational bias is a form of cultural bias in which a notation induces the appearance of a nonexistent natural law. ... Observational learning or social learning refers to learning that occurs as a function of observing, retaining and replicating behaviour observed in others. ... Main articles: Pluralism and Multiculturalism Cultural pluralism exists when all groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities. ...

References

Douglas, Mary, 1982. Cultural Bias, in: Douglas, M. (Ed.): In the Active Voice, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul; 183-254.