Culturally Specific and CrossCultural Studies
Emic and Etic
Concepts
Emic = (m) = mono =
Etic = (t) = two or
one
more
Definitions
Etic Concept
• An explanation used to
understand a culture in
scientific terms by
comparing the culture to
others and addressing the
universals of human
behaviour
Emic Concept
• Accounts, descriptions and
explanations used to
understand a culture in its
cultural context.
• It is an attempt to learn the
concepts of a culture and
see the world the way they
do.
Etic Approach
• Comparing two more cultures in a cross-cultural
approach
• Can be used as an attempt to find cross-cultural
similarities in behaviour or universal behaviours
• Examples:
– Bond and Smith meta-analysis of conformity
– WHO study on depression
– Levine’s study on prosocial behaviour
Emic Approach
• An attempt to study culturally specific
phenomena (behaviour relevant to one
culture)
• Examples:
– Bartlett’s observations of the Swazi herdsmen
– Hopi (Native American) Depression
– Papua New Guinea
Swazi Herdsmen and their cows
Temne v Inuit
(Berry’s Conformity Research)
Temne
Inuit
Etic: WHO Study of Depression
• How is it an example of an etic approach?
– Compares across different cultures
• Who was involved?
– Switzerland; Japan; Canada; Iran
• What were the four culturally similar symptoms?
– Sadness; joylessness; anxiety; sense of insufficiency
• What were the culturally specific symptoms?
– Chinese participants more somatic symptoms;
– 40% displayed symptoms not in the diagnostic scheme
used (thus; culture plays a role in the expression of depression symptoms)
Emic: Native American
Depression
• What were the five illness categories of
depression for the Hopi people?
• Worry sickness; unhappiness; heartbroken; drunken-like
craziness; disappointment
• What was one culturally specific behaviour
discovered in this study?
– The patterns of symptoms for being “heartbroken”
were different to Western cultures
Essential questions:
• What are emic and etic concepts?
• How can they be demonstrated in research?