'Emic' and 'etic' concepts (8)
introduction
conclusion
World Health Organisation (1983)
phonemics = study of sounds particular to a specific language
etic-emic distinction is used in psychology to define 2 different approaches to research
phonetics = study of universal sounds used in all human languages
terms etic + emic are based on distinction between phonetics + phonemics
etic approaches = aim to discover what all humans have in common + addresses universals of human behaviour
emic approaches = interested in culture-specific phenomena
etic approach assumes the underlying psychological mechanisms + ways psychological disorders are subjectively experiences = universal across cultures
thus, some cultures are more likely to report feelings such as worthlessness than other cultures
other studies have also found variations in the way depressive symptoms are experienced in different cultures
emic approaches however is based on the idea that abnormal behaviour can only be understood within the context of the culture that they occur in
76% reported sadness, anxiety + sense of insufficiency
most patients experienced several symptoms that were the same in all 4 countries
40% of patients displayed symptoms that weren't part of those measured by the diagnostic scheme used eg. obsessions + somatic complaints
standard diagnostic scheme used to investigate the symptoms of depression of 573 patients in these 4 countries
these were interpreted as a strong demonstration of cultural factors
example of etic approach to diagnosis + classification of depression in switzerland, canada, japan + iran
thus, suggesting that the experience was not universal across all cultures