This will be periodic posts on cross-cultural issues to counteract the dominance of the Eurocentric agenda,consensus,and cognitive imperialism that have prevailed on Tips.The perceptual Eurocentric paradigm does not seem to apply to the majority of cultures and nations.Purportedly Psychology is the scientific study of behavior of behavior and mental processes,but the hypotheses,theories and topics have a Western capitalistic bias.Hopefully my topical contributions will enlighten tipsters as to the reality of the global community.
Methodological concerns in other countries can create a problem for the Eurocentric model.For example,in other cultures subjects may not show up for the experiments neither would they sign a consent form.They may associate those requirements with suspicion of the government and the police. And it could also be a problem in achieving the degree of controls in a collectivist culture that may be possible in an individualistic culture. And of course there is the problem of translation and its equivalence in comprehension and interpretation. I have given assignments to immigrants who do not want to participate because still carry fear of being hunted down by the Khymer Rouge,the Vietnamese authotities.or some past dictatorship regime in South America. (To be continued) Michael Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
