Culture and biology

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• Chapter 4

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Culture and biology

• Most scientists agree to the fact that all people
  seem to have the same structural and functional
  functions, regardless of culture, race, or
  ethnicity.
• Do you agree?
• What about medication and other medical issues?

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• Another example is the cultural taboos and
  attitudes toward dairy products and the activity
  of dairying found among some African and Eurasian
  groups. These groups genetically lack the ability
  to produce lactase, a necessary enzyme for
  breaking the lactose in milk into soluble sugars
  for digestion. Therefore, the milk stays in the
  digestive system and ferments, causing gas,
  cramps, and diarrhea. Cultures that lack the
  ability to produce lactase have developed
  cultural taboos against drinking milk, consider
  milk to smell foul, and consider the activity of
  dairying disgusting and unnatural.

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• Cross-cultural data indicate a clear trend for
  menarche to occur at increasingly earlier ages
  over the past century. This change in the
  biological clock is called the secular trend and
  is believed to reflect improvements in health and
  nutrition in modern cultures. As societies
  modernize, the average age of menarche changes.
  An earlier age for menarche occurs in developed
  nations, whereas underdeveloped cultures show a
  later age.

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Taste The Gustatory System

• Preferences and aversions in taste show
  substantial cross-cultural variation evident in
  the variety of ethnic foods around the globe,
  with feces possibly the only aversion that is
  universal.
• For example, in Southeast Asia a melon called
  durian has a texture similar to mango, but an
  odor that resembles feces. The locals consider it
  a delicacy. Would you try it??
• Are your taste buds culturally biased?
• What may be considered disgusting to people
  outside of your cultural that your cultural
  considers a delicacy?

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Culture and categorization

• People categorize on the basis of similarities
  and attach labels to groups
• Sometimes positive and sometimes negative
• Some examples of universal facial expressions
• Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and
  disgust

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Culture and memory

• Does culture influence memory?
• Yes, but still very complex
• Age
• Formal education
• Oral tradition

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Culture and face recognition

• Research suggest that individuals recognize
  individuals of their own race better than they
  recognize individuals of a different race.
• Why is this important??
• Eyewitness testimony
• Skewed stereotyping
• Etc.

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Culture and the Significance of Dreams

• While little variation in sleep itself occurs
  across cultures, there are dramatic differences
  in attributions concerning dreams
• Western cultures view dreams as relatively
  insignificant.
• People of some non-Western cultures view dreams
  as central to their existence, providing
  information about the future, the spirit world,
  and about reality.
• Dream recall varies based on the importance a
  culture places upon dream life.
• Some aspects of dream content are universal,
  although content often reflects the peculiarities
  of each particular cultures' conscious existence.

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Culture and intelligence

• Who is more intelligent. Shaq or Bill Gates?
• Who is more intelligent. A street hustler or a
  corporate CEO?
• How is intelligence defined?

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• Although the psychological study of intelligence
  has a long history in psychology, a Western
  perspective has largely dominated its definition
  and measurement.
• Berry (1986) stated that he believes
  "intelligence, as presently used in psychology,
  to be a culture-bound, ethnocentric, and
  excessively narrow construct" (p. 35).
• Berry and other cross-cultural psychologists have
  argued that although there may be certain
  cognitive processes that are genetically based,
  intelligent behaviors or cognitive competencies
  are defined most appropriately in terms of
  situational variables, particularly the cultural
  context in which the individual is reared (Berry,
  1986 Pellegrino, 1986).

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Difficulties in the Cross-Cultural Measurement of
Intelligence

• Given all the problems noted by the textbook with
  standardized intelligence testing of different
  ethnic and racial groups within the United
  States, there are even more difficulties when
  examining intelligence in cultures around the
  globe.
• Many tests employed to evaluate intelligence are
  culture-specific, not culturally neutral.
• There may be differences in the way cultures
  conceptualize intelligence, and these differences
  may influence the content and focus of tests.
  Therefore, differences in test performance may
  indicate only that members of one culture do
  poorly on tests designed for another culture, not
  that intelligence differs.
• Performance on intelligence tests has been found
  to vary as a function of motivation and attitudes
  toward test taking, familiarity with test taking,
  residence in a rural or urban area, educational
  level, and nutrition (especially a protein-poor
  diet early in life). These factors make the
  assessment of intellectual abilities across
  different cultures, as well as within cultures,
  difficult.
• Reported performance differences should be
  interpreted with a great deal of caution.

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Culture and Intelligence

• Stereotype threat-
• The threat that others judgment or their own
  actions will negatively stereotype them in a
  domain
• Societal stereotypes about a group can influence
  the performance of individuals from that group.
• Why is it important to have knowledge of
  stereotype threat?

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Test Bias and Discrimination

• The text points out that cultural and racial
  differences do exist in intelligence test scores.
  In particular, there is a 3- to 15-point
  difference between the scores of whites and of
  some minorities in the United States. The debate
  over these differences has been heated and
  acrimonious, with little resolution of the issue.
  Some contend that the differences are due to
  faulty tests.
• Test bias occurs when a test has differential
  validity for two groups, or different meanings
  for each group.
• Kaplan and Saccuzzo (1993) give the example of a
  test designed to predict performance in a
  mechanical training program. The test might
  predict that males will perform better than
  females. However, the difference in test scores
  could occur simply because some females have less
  mechanical experience than males.

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Test Bias and Discrimination

• Cultural bias seems like a logical explanation
  for IQ test bias but has not been supported
  strongly.
• Still, the fact remains that many tests used
  today appear to be biased. In the words of a
  California judge, the issue is one of ignorance
  versus stupidity (Kaplan Saccuzzo, 1993). What
  we are looking for is a test that will not
  identify ignorance as stupidity. People from
  different cultures are ignorant of American
  culture, but that does not make them stupid. The
  same is true of racial and cultural groups in
  America.
• It appears that tests may be biased against
  cultural and racial groups, although it is
  difficult to identify specific items that create
  the bias.
• It does not appear that the tests themselves are
  totally to blame for differences in scores among
  groups.