4.2 Emic and Etic Concepts

Emic and Etic Concepts

Outcome: explain, using concepts, emic and etic concepts:

1. EMIC

- Emic research studies one culture alone to understand culture-specific behaviors.

- Researchers attempt to study behavior through the eyes of the people who live in that culture. They try to "walk in their subjects' shoes". The way the phenomenon is linked to the culture and the meaning it has in the culture is emphasized through the emic concept. 

- Emic research attempts to focus on the norms, values, motives and customs of the members of the culture as they (vis: the researchers) interpret and understand it themselves. Emic concepts are explained in the researcher's own words. 

Examples of emic approaches in psychology:

a) Bartlett 1932: mentioned the ability of the Swazi herdmen to recall individual characteristics of their cattle. Bartlett explains: "Swazi culture revolves around the possession and care of cattle and thus it is important for people to recognise their animals as it is a sign of their wealthiness" - Bartlett attempts to understand the phenomenon of the Swazi herdsmen memorising individual cattle through analysis of the culture of Swazi people and why they would need to remember which cattle belonged to them. This is an emic approach: Bartlett is walking in the shoes of the Swazi people.

b) Yap 1967: suggested the term culture-bound syndrome as a culture-specific disorder that can only be understood within a specific cultural context ( - see how this is already taking an emic approach). Among the Yoruba people of West Africa, it is believed that spirits might come into the possession of one's soul, and that person can be treated by spells by a medicine man or a healer. (More about culture-bound syndrome here) 

2. ETIC

- Etic approach compares psychological phenomena across cultures to find out what might be universal in human behaviors. 

- Etic approach aims to compare and contrast cultural phenomena across cultures to investigate whether phenomena are culture-specific or universal.

Examples of etic approaches in psychology:

a) Kashima and Triandis 1986: identified that there was a difference in the way that people explain their own success when they compared Japanese and American people talking about their respective successes. American participants tended to explain that they were successful due to their dispositional factors (such as diligence, integrity, shrewdness) while Japanese participants lent their success to situational factors (such as luck). American participants thus displayed self-serving bias and the Japanese displayed modesty bias: the cultures in which each participant came from has influenced the way that they perceive themselves and their successes. American countries promote individualism, while Asian countries such as Japan value collectivism and modesty.

b) Berry 1967: replicated Asch's conformity experiment to study whether conformity rates along the Temne in Sierra Leone in Africa and the Inuits of Canada could be linked to social norms and socialisation practices. The Temne (which had an agricultural economy) had high rates of conformity, while the Innuits (who were a community of lone hunters) had low rates of conformity. Additionally, Temne culture valued obedience in childrearing as the culture is dependent on cooperative farming. On the other hand, Innuit culture valued self-reliance in childrearing practices as hunting alone required integrity and the ability to solve decisions on one's own.