Title: Culture and Psychology
1Culture and Psychology
- Conceptualizing Culture in Psychology
2Why Study Culture in Psychology?
- To check the generality of psychological research
- To conduct natural experiments and
quasi-experiments - To extend understanding of culture
- To understand the process of cultural change
- To reduce ethnocentrism and promote intercultural
understanding.
3What is Culture?
- Material/Objective Culture
- Buildings, tools, clothing, methods of
transportation, etc. - Subjective Culture
- Characteristic ways of viewing the environment
(e.g., ideas, theories, and political, religious,
scientific, aesthetic, economic, moral and social
standards for judging events in the environment. - Subjective culture can be institutionalized in
government, education, religion, etc. systems.
4Defining Culture
- Range of activities, phenomena in human life
- Transmission from generation to generation
accumulated knowledge - Socialization/enculturation
- Implicit and explicit assumptions about life
- Shared rules to govern activity of a group
- Patterns of organization
- Genesis of culture (out of habitat, social
interaction, etc.) - A psychological construct
5Defining Culture
- Culture as Patterns/Syndromes
- Culture as Intergroup Relations
- Culture as Border Crossing
- Culture as a Process
6Approaches to the Psychological Study of Culture
Absolutism
Universalism
Relativism
7Approaches to the Psychological Study of Culture
- Cross-Cultural Psychology
- Is concerned with the systematic study of
behaviour and experience as it occurs in
different cultures, is influenced by culture or
results in changes in existing cultures
(Triandis, 1980, p. 1)
8Approaches to the Psychological Study of Culture
- Cultural Psychology
- Is the study of all the things members of
different communities think (know, want, feel,
value) and do by virtue of being the kinds of
beings who are the beneficiaries, guardians and
active perpetuators of a particular culture
(Shweder et al., 1998, p. 867) - Study of meaning, intentions
9Approaches to the Psychological Study of Culture
- Indigenous Psychologies
- A psychology of a cultural group based on the
day-to-day behaviour of its members, for which
local points of view provide the paradigms that
guide the collection and interpretation of
psychological information. (Berry et al., 2002,
pp. 459-460)
10Approaches to the Psychological Study of Culture
- Ethnic Minority Psychology
- is concerned with the use of culturally
appropriate methods to understand the behavior
and experiences of specific ethnic groups
historically marginalized groups in North
America. (Goldstein, 2000, p. vii)
11Culture as Patterns (Triandis, 1980)
- Cultural Syndromes
- A pattern of beliefs, attitudes,
self-definitions, norms and values that are
organized around some theme that can be
identified in a society.
12Elements of Subjective Culture
- Knowledge-Related Constructs
- Norm-Related Constructs
- Self and Social Relationships
- Values
13Knowledge-Related Constructs
- Schema
- An organized body of information including
categories and their associations, stored in
memory. Schemata provide structure that help
with perceiving, organizing and remembering
information, allowing for efficient processing of
social information. - Beliefs
14Norm-Related Constructs
- Norms
- Implicit or explicit generalized expectations
regarding what is appropriate behaviour for
members of a group - Kinds of Norms
- Descriptive
- Prescriptive vs. proscriptive (mores vs. taboos)
- Institutionalized norms
- Roles
15Self and Social Relationships
- Fiske (1990, 1992)
- Communal Sharing
- Share resources according to need
- Authority Ranking
- Distribute resources according to rank
- Equality Matching
- Share resources equally
- Market Pricing
- Distribute resources equitably (the more you
give, the more you get)
16Independent and Interdependent Self-Construals
(Markus Kitayama, 1991)
Coworker
Mother
Coworker
Mother
SELF
SELF
Friend
Neighbour
Friend
Neighbour
Independent
Interdependent
17Values
- Values are principles that guide our lives. They
are designed to lead us to our ideal world
(Schwartz, 1992) - Transcend specific situations
- Guide selection or evaluation of behaviour and
events - Ordered by relative importance
18Value Dimensions (Hofstede, 1980)
- Power Distance
- the tendency to see a large social distance
between those in the upper part of a social
structure and those in the lower part of the
social structure. - Control of others behaviours
- Uncertainty Avoidance
- Avoidance of situations where the outcome is
uncertain - Security, low risk-taking, state religion
- Masculinity-Femininity
- Emphasize differences between men and women
- Focus on achievement and success vs.
interpersonal harmony or caring for others and
quality of life - Individualism-Collectivism
- Tendency to give priority to personal goals even
when they conflict with the goals of important
groups.
19Chinese Culture Connection (1987)
- CBC
- Integration
- Human-heartedness
- Confucian work dynamism
- Moral discipline
- --
- Hofstede
- Collectivism
- Masculinity
- --
- Power distance (high)
- Uncertainty avoidance
20Value Dimensions (Schwartz, 1992)
Self- Direction
Universalism
Benevolence
Stimulation
Hedonism
Tradition
Achievement
Conformity
Security
Power