Translation and Cultural Comparison: Some Epistemological Reflections

Abstract

In its traditional guise, cross-cultural psychology is a science of comparative measurement. Its chief method is the regulated observation or recording of behaviour in different cultural milieux and its quantitative conversion into a common metric. This method allows for the estimation of differences across cultures on the strength or magnitude of the behaviour. We can therefore speak of one cultural group doing more of Y, or being more Y, than some other group, where Y is a conceptually and operationally defined behaviour taken to apply equally well to both groups. The Social and Personality Psychology Compass 4/4 (2010):