Understanding Cross-Cultural Psychology

1. Understanding Cross-Cultural Psychology

2. What is Cross Cultural Psychology? • The critical and comparative study of cultural effects on human psychology • Comparative field-requires two groups to compare at all times • Examines: • Psychological Diversity- why all behavior isn’t the same in every culture • Interactions- how does the diffusion of one culture into another for a period influence that culture later • Establishes Psychological Universals- commonalities amongst all people

3. What is cultural psychology? • Cultural Psychology seeks to discover meaningful links between a culture and the psychology of individuals living in the culture • Looks to understand whether, when and how individuals growing up in a culture internalize that culture’s qualities • Mental processes are essentially the products of an interaction between culture and the individual

4. Culture • A set of attitudes, behaviors and symbols shared by a large group of people and usually communicated from one generation to the next • Attitudes include- beliefs, values, general knowledge, opinions, superstitions, and stereotypes • Behaviors include variety of- norms, roles, customs, traditions, habits, practices, and fashions • Symbols may include- material objects, colors, sounds, slogans, buildings, etc. • Cultures possess implicit and explicit characteristics • Explicit- set of observable acts regularly found within the culture • Implicit-organized principles that are inferred to lie behind these regularities on the basis of consistent patterns of explicit culture • No society is culturally homogeneous

5. Race, Ethnicity, Nationality • American Terms • Race- a group of people distinguished by certain similar and genetically transmitted physical characteristics • Some believe once centered on geographical isolation, now political, cultural or religious factors are seen as more important • Some argue race is simply a social category • Ethnicity-cultural heritage • Nation- people who share common geographical origin, history and language • Not all cultures use these terms in the same way which can make things confusing. • Never forget groups are constantly changing, particularly in the United States.

6. Knowledge in Cross-Cultural Psychology • Scientific Knowledge-research based • Popular Knowledge-Everyday assumptions • Ideological Knowledge-Based on set of beliefs • Legal Knowledge- encapsulated in law

7. Traditional vs. Non-Traditional Culture

8. Empirical Examination of Culture • Cultural differences can be classified in terms of cultural dichotomies • Power Distance-extent to which members of a society accept power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally • High-accepting of inequality • Low-reject inequality • Masculinity vs. Femininity • Masculinity-focus on work goals, earning and advancement • Femininity-focus on values of modesty and caring for the weak • Uncertainty Avoidance-degree to which members of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity • High-promote Certainty/Conformity • Low-non-conformist • Collectivism vs. individualism-focus on the group vs. focus on self

9. Further Research with Individualism and Collectivism • Vertical and Horizontal concepts • Vertical-people refer to each other from power and achievement standpoints • Horizontal-Benevolence and equality

10. Cultural Syndromes • The pattern or combination of shared attitudes, beliefs, categorizations, definition, norms, and values that is organized around a theme that can be indentified among those who speak a particular language, during a specific historic period, in a definable geographic region. • Types • Tightness-rules and norms applied to social situations and sanctions applied to those who violate the norms • Cultural complexity-a number of different cultural elements and their activity or passivity • Honor- combo of attitudes and practices that support aggressive actions in the name of self-protection • Collectivism vs. Individualism • Egalitarian-vertical and horizontal relationships

11. Approaches to examine human activity in cultural settings • Sociobiological Approach-Social Darwinism-natural and evolutionary explanations offered for a wide array of human behavior • Sociological Approach-Broad social structures influence society as a whole , and subsequently its individuals • Ecocultural Approach-Environment has effect on individual and individual in turn effects the environment • Cultural Mixtures Approach-Cultures are constantly moving and mixing (Biculturalism vs. Fundamentalism) • Integrative Approach-Combining these ideas with a focus on Activity and Availability of Resources

12. Indigenous Psychologies • Scientific study of human behavior that is designed for a people and native not transported

13. Ethnocentrism • A view that supports judgment about other ethnic, national and cultural groups by observing them from the standards of your own group.

14. Multiculturalism • A movement to support the view that all cultural groups have the right to follow their own unique paths of development and have their own unique activities, values and norms