Y.H. Poortinga

Towards an Integrated Analysis of Bias in Cross-Cultural Assessment

A central methodological aspect of cross-cultural assessment is the interpretability of intergroup differences: Do scores obtained by subjects from different cultural groups have the same psychological meaning? Equivalence (or the absence of bias) is required in making valid cross-cultural comparisons. As cross-cultural comparisons are becoming increasingly popular and important, the problem of bias and its detection is receiving increased attention from researchers. Three kinds of bias are discussed and illustrated, namely construct bias, method bias, and item bias (or differential item functioning). Methods to identify bias are reviewed. An overview is given of common sources of each kind of bias. It is argued that an integrated treatment of all forms of bias is needed to enhance the validity of cross-cultural comparisons. The predominant focus on item bias techniques has the unfortunate implication that construct and method bias are examined insufficiently.

Emotion and culture: A meta-analysis

A meta-analysis of 190 cross-cultural emotion studies, published between 1967 and 2000, was performed to examine (1) to what extent reported cross-cultural differences in emotion variables could be regarded as valid (substantive factors) or as method-related (statistical artefacts, cultural bias), and (2) which country characteristics could explain valid cross-cultural differences in emotion. The relative contribution of substantive and method-related factors at sample, study, and country level was investigated and country-level explanations for differences in emotions were tested. Results indicate that a correction for statistical artefacts and method-related factors reduced the observed cross-cultural effect sizes considerably. After controlling for valence (positive vs. negative emotions) and kind of study (self-report vs. recognition studies), the remaining cross-cultural variance was associated with subsistence mode, political system, values, and religiosity. Values explained more variance than did ecological or sociopolitical variables. It was concluded that both method-related factors (13.8% of variance explained) and culture-level factors (27.9% of variance explained) underlie observed cross-cultural differences.

Longitudinal study of a School based HIV/AIDS early prevention program for Mexican Adolescents

Abstract A quasi-experimental study is reported with four measurement occasions to evaluate longer-term effects of a life-skills and HIV/AIDS school-based prevention program. Trained teachers administered the program promoting precursors of safer sex behavior to 2064 Mexican high-school students at an age before most were sexually active. The variables included in the study (knowledge about HIV/AIDS prevention, attitudes towards use of condoms, subjective norms, intentions to use condoms and life skills as decision-making skills, partner communication and individual responsibility) have been reported as precursors of protective sexual behavior. The results demonstrate the stability of training effects and a positive impact on these precursors over 1 year of follow-up.

Cultural Bias in Assessment: Historical and Thematic Issues

In this introductory article the development of ideas on cultural bias in tests since the sixties is briefly reviewed and three approaches are mentioned. A distinction is made between the tradition of culture fair use of tests that is directed more towards selection in a multicultural society and the tradition of cross-cultural comparison that is concerned more with theoretical questions about cultural differences in behavior. The concerns of the former tradition have formed the main impetus for the development of psychometric analysis techniques. It is argued that some key problems of bias cannot be solved by further sophistication of statistical procedures, suggesting that a broadening of perspective in the field of bias analysis is desirable. Directions in which this can be achieved are indicated.

The Influence of Method Factors on the Relation between Attitudes and Self-Reported Behaviors in the Assessment of Acculturation

The role of variation in response scales and measurement methods in the often implicitly assumed attitude-behavior exchangeability in the assessment of acculturation was investigated. Three levels of equivalence of acculturation attitudes and self-reported behaviors were studied: structural equivalence (identity of the internal structure of attitude and behavior), metric equivalence (identity of measurement unit for the two), and scalar equivalence (identity of measurement unit and scale origin). In three studies involving Turkish-Dutch adults a high overall level of structural equivalence was found, implying that acculturation attitudes and behaviors can be conceptualized using a single underlying construct (i.e., acculturation). Metric and scalar equivalence varied across life domains, response scales, and measurement methods: They were higher for the private than for the public domain, for identical than for different response scales, and for the one-statement than for the two-statement measurement met...

Resource Allocation by Greek and Dutch Students: A Test of Three Models

Three models are presented that explain cross-cultural differences in the allocation of resources to various social categories. (1) Individualism-collectivism predicts, for all kinds of resources, a higher allocation in collectivistic than in individualistic societies to members of ones ingroup. (2) Kagitcibasis model of family change makes a distinction between material and nonmaterial resources. Collectivistic value patterns should lead to higher allocation of nonmaterial resources than found in individualistic societies, but no such difference is expected for material investments. Both these models assume cross-cultural differences in value orientations at a high level of generality. (3) An alternative is proposed, predicting universal patterns of exchange with only context-specific crosscultural variations at a low level of generality. Hypotheses derived from the three models are tested with data from Greece and The Netherlands. It is concluded that the results are most compatible with the third mod...

Defining the Competence of Psychologists with a View to Public Accountability

In national codes of ethics the practice of psychology is presented as rooted in scientific knowledge, professional skills, and experience. However, it is not self-evident that the body of scientific knowledge in psychology provides an adequate basis for current professional practice. Professional training and experience are seen as necessary for the application of psychological knowledge, but they appear insufficient to defend the soundness of ones practices when challenged in judicial proceedings of a kind that may be faced by psychologists in the European Union in the not too distant future. In seeking to define the basis for the professional competence of psychologists, this article recommends taking a position of modesty concerning the scope and effectiveness of psychological interventions. In many circumstances, psychologists can only provide partial advice, narrowing down the range of possible courses of action more by eliminating unpromising ones than by pointing out the most correct or most favo...

Enhancement of underused cervical cancer prevention services in rural Oaxaca, Mexico

En este trabajo se analizan los resultados de la aplicacion del programa educacional Porque me quiero, me cuido, denominado actualmente Yo quiero, yo puedo. . . prevenir el cancer, en poblaciones rurales e indigenas de Valles Centrales, estado de Oaxaca, una de las regiones mas pobres de Mexico. Este programa esta dirigido a promover el uso de servicios de tamizaje y la prevencion del cancer cervicouterino mediante el cambio de conducta de las personas y la comunidad. Para ello se realizaron talleres interactivos enfocados al desarrollo de habilidades y conocimientos en las mujeres de 15 a 64 anos de edad. Estos talleres se complementaron con campanas en la comunidad y talleres para hombres con el fin de conseguir su apoyo. Se cuantificaron las pruebas de Papanicolau realizadas en las 10 poblaciones intervenidas y en 6 poblaciones con caracteristicas similares empleadas como control. Ademas se evaluo mediante un cuestionario los cambios en la conducta, los conocimientos y las actitudes. Se observo un numero significativamente mayor de pruebas de Papanicolau realizadas en las poblaciones intervenidas con respecto a las de control (P = 0,02). Se comprobaron cambios positivos en el nivel de conocimientos de las mujeres respecto a las causas del cancer cervical y las medidas para prevenirlo.

Brain Wave Concomitants of Cross-Cultural Differences in Scores On Simple Cognitive Tasks

Interpretations of cross-cultural differences in performance on cognitive tasks tend to rely on broad concepts, such as general intelligence or cultural modes of thinking. In this study, the authors examine two proximate parameters, stimulus complexity and task exposure, using reaction time (RT) and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) recorded during various tasks. Five tasks differed in complexity but had similar stimulus content; one task had stimuli of different appearance. Test trials were administered across three days. Participants were trained on most tasks for two days. There were three samples, rural Venda youngsters in South Africa with little schooling, Venda university students, and Dutch university students. Cross-cultural differences in RT increased with task complexity and decreased with exposure. Substantial correspondence was found between patterns of RT and latency of the N2, an ERP component related to stimulus categorization. Our results fit an explanation in terms of task familiarity. Implications for culture-cognition relationships are discussed.