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
Defining Culture
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Culture
Culture
Culture
Culture
as
as
as
as
Patterns/Syndromes
Intergroup Relations
“Border Crossing”
a Process
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)
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
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
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