Transcript culture - Reagan Humanities

By: Selena & Sofia& Shannon
Culture
Culture: a complex concept that is
used in many different ways ( to
describe food and eating habits,
ritual, clothing, communication
patterns, religion, and status
behavior).
Matsumoto (2004) mentions a
book from 1998 that analyzed
128 different definitions of
culture.
Two levels of culture may be distinguished:
1) the surface culture, which changes at a
relatively rapid rate, including popular music
and entertainment, clothing and hair styles
and can be externally influenced and
 2) the deep culture, which is relatively slow
to change, including attitudes toward life,
religious and philosophical beliefs, and
values in human relationships.

Culture Examples
Objective and Subjective
Aspects
People notice that food is different
when they travel to another country,
and they say that is due to cultural
differences.
 In some countries women are
covered and in others they are not.

Kuschel(2004)
Variation and
Generalization
Culture cannot be seen but we can see the
manifestation
 SHOULD NOT be used as an
explanation of behavior.
 SHOULD be used to understand how
people have survived in their environment,
how they have organized in social groups,
and what attitudes, beliefs and norms
influence behavior in the social and cultural
groups.

Kuschel(2004)Cont.



SHOULD ask questions related to how
specific factors in the culture result in
behaviors.
Ex: Infanticide, rain dance, or initiation rites.
If culture is simply an explanation of
behavior, it will lead to circular arguments.
It should never be used as an explanation in
itself, since the concept of culture is so
vague and includes so many variables.
POP QUIZ!

In your own words what are the levels of
culture??
Looner
(1995)
Culture: common
rules that regulate
interaction and
behavior in a group
as well as a number
of shared values and
attitudes in the
Hofstede
(2002)
His definition of culture is, “
mental software”, that is, cultural
schemas that have been
internalized so that they influence
thinking, emotions, and behavior.
 The mental software is shared by
members of a sociocultural group.

Theorists of Psychology




Took a solely western view
Looking for “rules” of human behavior
that could be applied to all cultures
around the world.
Etic approaches are typically taken
within cross-cultural psychology
where behavior is compared across
specific cultures.
Emic approach looks at behavior that
are culturally specific. Challenges
psychologists to re- examine their
ideas of “truth” with regard to
culture.
Mead (1935)




Anthropologist
Documented many instances of cultural
variations in gender in her study of three
different cultures living close to each
other in New Guinea.
The Arapesh people were characterized by
women and men having the same sensitive and
non- aggressive behavior, and “feminine”
personalities; among the Mundugamor, both men
and women were ruthless, unpleasant, and
“masculine”; in the Tchambuli community,
women were dominant and men were more
emotional and concerned about personal
appearance- an apparent reversal of western
norms.
Showed that a valid indication of how
society can powerfully influence genderrole development.
Cultural norms
Are behavior patterns that are typical of
specific groups.
 Passed down from generation to
generation by observational learning by the
group’s gatekeepers- parents, peers,
teachers, and religious leaders.
 Includes
- how marriage patterns are chosen
-attitude towards alcohol consumption
- acceptance (or rejection) of spanking
children

Pop Quizz!!

In Looner (1995) definition of culture
is???

Hofstede (2002) definition of culture
is???

Some examples of Cultural Norms??
Work Cited


http://ibpsychologynotes.files.wordpress.
com/2011/02/13-define-the-termsculture-and-cultural-norms3.pdf
http://iseibpsychology2012.wikispaces.c
om/Define+the+term+culture+and+cultur
al+norms.