Transcript Culture and Psychology

Culture and Psychology
Conceptualizing Culture in
Psychology
Why Study Culture in
Psychology?
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To check the generality of psychological
research
To conduct natural experiments and quasiexperiments
To extend understanding of “culture”
To understand the process of cultural change
To reduce ethnocentrism and promote
intercultural understanding.
What is Culture?
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Material/Objective Culture
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Buildings, tools, clothing, methods of
transportation, etc.
Subjective Culture
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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.
Defining Culture
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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
Approaches to the
Psychological Study of Culture
Absolutism
Universalism
Relativism
Approaches to the
Psychological Study of Culture
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Cross-Cultural Psychology
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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)
Approaches to the
Psychological Study of Culture
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Cultural Psychology
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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
Approaches to the
Psychological Study of Culture
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Indigenous Psychologies
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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)
Approaches to the
Psychological Study of Culture
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Ethnic Minority Psychology
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“… 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)
Approaches to the Study of
Culture
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Culture
Culture
Culture
Culture
as
as
as
as
Patterns/Syndromes
Intergroup Relations
“Border Crossing”
a Process
Culture as Patterns (Triandis, 1980)
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Cultural Syndromes
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A pattern of beliefs, attitudes, selfdefinitions, norms and values that are
organized around some theme that can be
identified in a society.
Elements of Subjective Culture
Knowledge-Related Constructs
 Norm-Related Constructs
 Self and Social Relationships
 Values
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Knowledge-Related Constructs
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Schema
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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
Norm-Related Constructs
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Norms
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Implicit or explicit generalized expectations
regarding what is appropriate behaviour for
members of a group
Kinds of Norms
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Descriptive
Prescriptive vs. proscriptive (mores vs. taboos)
Institutionalized norms
Roles
Values
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Values are principles that guide our
lives. They are designed to lead us to
our ideal world (Schwartz, 1992)
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Transcend specific situations
Guide selection or evaluation of behaviour
and events
Ordered by relative importance
Value Dimensions (Hofstede, 1980)
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Power Distance
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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
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Avoidance of situations where the outcome is uncertain
 Security, low risk-taking, state religion
Masculinity-Femininity
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Emphasize differences between men and women
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Focus on “achievement” and “success” vs. “interpersonal harmony”
or “caring for others and quality of life”
Individualism-Collectivism
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Tendency to give priority to personal goals even when they conflict
with the goals of important groups.
Chinese Culture Connection (1987)
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CBC
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Integration
Human-heartedness
Confucian work
dynamism
Moral discipline
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Hofstede
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Collectivism
Masculinity
-Power distance
(high)
Uncertainty
avoidance
Value Dimensions (Schwartz, 1992)
SelfDirection
Universalism
Stimulation
Benevolence
Hedonism
Tradition
Achievement
Power
Conformity
Security
Self and Social Relationships
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Fiske (1990, 1992)
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Communal Sharing
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Authority Ranking
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Distribute resources according to rank
Equality Matching
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Share resources according to need
Share resources equally
Market Pricing
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Distribute resources equitably (the more you give, the
more you get)
Independent and Interdependent SelfConstruals (Markus & Kitayama, 1991)
Mother
Coworker
SELF
Friend
Mother
Coworker
SELF
Neighbour
Neighbour
Independent
Interdependent
Friend
Independent and Interdependent SelfConstruals (Markus & Kitayama, 1991)
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Independent
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Separate from social
context
Bounded, unitary, stable
Internal, private
(feelings, thoughts)
Life tasks: Be unique,
express self, selfactualization
Direct communication
Self-esteem depends on
ability to express self,
validate internal
attributes
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Interdependent
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Connected with social
context
Flexible, variable
External, public (roles,
statuses, relationships)
Life tasks: belong, fit-in,
engage in appropriate
action, promote others’
goals
Indirect communication
Self esteem depends on
ability to adjust, maintain
harmony, restrain self
Cousins (1989)
0.6
Proportion of 0.5
attributes in
self-description 0.4
0.3
American
Japanese
0.2
0.1
0
General Format
Contextualized
Format
Self-Construals and Emotion
(Kitayama, Markus, Kurokawa, & Negishi,
1993)
0.6
0.5
Correlation
0.4
with
general
positive
0.3
feelings
engaged emotion
disengaged emotion
0.2
0.1
0
Japan
U.S.
Self-Construals and Motivation
(Iyengar & Lepper, 1999)
350
300
Seconds
spent on
anagrams
during
free play
250
200
Anglo-American
Asian American
150
100
50
0
Personal Choice
Experimenter
Choice
Mother Choice
Culture as Intergroup
Relations
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Ingroup: The social group to which an
individual perceives herself or himself
as belonging (“us”).
Outgroup: Any group other than the
one to which individuals perceive
themselves as belonging (“them”).
Culture as Intergroup
Relations
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3 Factors Suggested to Explain the
Psychological Importance of Ethnicity
(Phinney, 1996)
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Cultural values, attitudes, and behaviours
that distinguish ethnic groups
Subjective sense of group membership
(i.e., ethnic identity)
Experiences associated with minority status
(e.g., powerlessness, prejudice)
Culture as Intergroup
Relations
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Social Identity Theory (Tajfel, 1978)
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Social categorization
Social identity
Social comparison
Psychological group distinctiveness
Culture as Intergroup
Relations, cont.
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Social Identity Theory, cont.
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Social categorization
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The cognitive tendency to divide the social
world into categories (i.e., social groups). This
categorical differentiation has the effect of
sharpening the distinctions between the
categories and blurs the differences within
them.
Culture as Intergroup
Relations, cont.
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Social Identity Theory
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Social identity
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That part of the individual’s self-concept which
derives from knowledge of his or her
membership in a social group, together with
the value and emotional significance associated
to that membership.
Culture as Intergroup
Relations, cont.
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Social Identity Theory, cont.
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Social comparison
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The process through which characteristics of
the ingroup are compared to those of the
outgroup.
Culture as Intergroup
Relations, cont.
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Social Identity Theory, cont.
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Psychological Group Distinctiveness
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The state desired by individuals in which the
ingroup has an identity that is perceived by the
group members as being both distinct and
positive vis-à-vis relevant comparison groups.
Reactions of Minority Groups
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Social mobility
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Social creativity
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Exit from the disadvantaged group and join a
more positively evaluated group.
Look for new dimensions of comparison, redefine
the current dimension of comparison, or compare
with a different outgroup.
Social competition
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Directly challenge the position of the relatively
positively evaluated group.