Cross Cultural and Indigenous psychology Flashcards
Culture …
Is not race, nationality or ethnicity
Race: Observable physical attributes, e.g. skin colour, hair type, body shape, eye colour etc.
Nationality: Citizenship, e.g. Australian citizen
Ethnicity: Any aspect of race, language, culture, religion, geography etc. e.g. Sunni or Shi’ite Muslim
Is hard to define
Not a fixed thing: Culture is a dynamic process of (re-)interpretation and construction
Individual differences: Individuals within a group differ
Is easier to describe
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Culture is described in many ways …
As a set of rules
The set of shared and unwritten rules that govern the behaviour of a group of people
Something that everyone within the culture learns to abide
Rules enable the members of a group to co-exist and survive
Rules that reflect shared values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours distinguish/differentiate members of one group from another
Often, cultural rules are not apparent to people from other cultures (i.e. they are implicit)
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Culture is described in many ways …
It shapes our identity
The use of artefacts, rituals, tradition and text develop/reinforce a shared sense of identity
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Culture is described in many ways …
It shapes our understanding of ourselves and the world
It underpins our basic assumptions and beliefs
Shapes our awareness of the world around us
Is a filter through which we see and understand our current reality
Helps us organise and make sense of everyday life
Is shaped by historical influences
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Culture is described in many ways …
Is relatively stable
Is handed down from generation to generation through tradition, e.g. food and clothing
Mostly stable from one generation to the next, but also evolves slowly over time
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culture is learned
We are not born with culture; it is not instinctual/innate
Learning can be either conscious or subconscious
Enculturation: The process by which we learn, absorb and internalise the rules of the culture we live in
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Cultural psychology
Studies the way in which people are affected by the culture they live in
E.g. How does your culture affect your self identity?
Cross-cultural psychology
Compares the similarities and differences in mental states and behaviour across different societies or cultures
E.g. Is moral development universal across cultures?
Indigenous people are the original inhabitants of a land or country
They typically now share their traditional homeland with others
They are found around the world
A common experience of all Indigenous people is oppression due to colonisation
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Historically, research on non-Western cultures has been conducted by Western researchers
This represents an ethnocentric bias in methodology and interpretation
It also fails to collaborate with (i.e. include) the ‘participants’
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The objectives of Indigenous psychology are to develop psychologies:
That are not imposed
That are influenced by cultural context
That are developed from within the culture
That result in locally relevant knowledge
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Six principles for ethical research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (NHMRC, 2003):
Reciprocity: Balance the benefits with potential risks
Respect: Affirm the right to have different beliefs, customs and aspirations
Equality: Treat all people as equal
Responsibility: Work with people and communities to ensure it does no harm to the people or their cultural beliefs
Survival and protection: Reinforce the social and cultural bonds of Indigenous people with their communities and cultural heritage
Spirit and integrity: An overarching value that binds the other five over time
Cultures vary on several dimensions:
Time
Emotion
Interpersonal space
Context
Heterogeneity
Emphasis on the individual over the group
Monochronic cultures:
Time is divided into linear segments and closely regulated
Attention is focused on one task at a time
Time commitments are treated seriously and deadlines/appointments are always met
The schedule rules; activities and interactions with others are organised according to the clock
Time is rigid, divisible and inflexible
Future oriented – no living in the past
Polychronic cultures:
Time is more fluid and less closely regulated
Multiple tasks can be carried out at the same time
Time commitments are considered flexible and deadlines/appointments are not always met
Activities and interactions with others rule; sticking to the clock is less important
Time is fluid and can move in different cycles
The past and its legacy are viewed as important
Emotion
Because of ‘cultural display rules’, cultures differ in what they consider appropriate expression of emotions in response to particular situations/social circumstance
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Apollonian cultures:
Modest and stoic expression of emotion (e.g. Japan, UK)
Dionysian cultures:
More extreme and hedonistic expression of emotion (e.g. Italy, USA)
Hall (1966): Three types of interpersonal space ‘zones’
Intimate space: Acceptable only with close friends, lovers and family
Social or consultative space: Amount of space people feel comfortable when interacting socially acquaintances and strangers
Public space: The distance apart people feel it hard to interact with others, or perceive interactions as impersonal
Interpersonal space
The distances that apply for each of these zones vary across cultures
E.g. You may think someone is talking to you ‘too closely’
Cross-cultural differences may be related to population density in the country of origin
E.g. Social and public space may be smaller in high-density populations
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High-context cultures
Pay close attention to the context or circumstance producing a behaviour (situation)
Because of the emphasis on the situation, there is greater consideration of and reliance on …
Interpersonal relationships
Nonverbal cues (e.g. body language) to decode the real meaning behind words or actions
Intuition and interpretation
E.g. Middle East, Asia, Africa and South America
Low-context cultures:
Pay close attention to consistency in behaviour across different contexts or circumstances (person)
Because of the emphasis on the person, there is greater consideration of and reliance on …
The needs of the individual (and less concern with interpersonal relationships)
Verbal cues (e.g. what people actually say and do); people say exactly what they mean
Fact and logic; Literal interpretation with less regard to accompanying circumstances
E.g. North America, Australia, Western Europe
Tight cultures
Group members are expected to closely adhere to cultural norms and expectations
Deviation from group norms is not tolerated
Behaviour is ‘homogeneous’
Loose cultures
Norms are either unclear or deviance from the norm is tolerated
Behaviour is ‘heterogeneous’
Individualism:
The individual is the basic unit of society
The concept of self is defined as separate and independent from the group
People define themselves in terms of individual attributes
The interests of the individual are given priority
The independence and autonomy of the individual are emphasised
The pursuit of fulfilment of individual goals are expected
Behaviour is explained in terms of individual decisions and attributes
Accumulation of individual wealth and possessions is the norm
Self reliance, leadership, competitiveness, aggression and achievement are normal, rewarded and admired
Collectivism:
The family group is the basic unit of society
The concept of self is defined only in relation to the group
People define themselves in terms of group attributes
The interests of the group are given priority
The interdependence and solidarity of people within the group are emphasised
The pursuit of group happiness and harmony are expected
Behaviour is explained in terms of adherence to group norms
Collective ownership of resources is the norm
Group conformity, obligation, sense of duty, collective responsibility and group/community-orientated achievement are normal, rewarded and admired
Multiculturalism
When multiple cultures exist within a country and where the number of inhabitants representing those minority cultures is significant
Pluralism
General acceptance not just of the existence of many different cultural and ethnic groups but also of their right to retain their cultural heritage and coexist
Achieving pluralistic harmony is not easy and does not naturally emerge from multiculturalism
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Why is Australia so multicultural?
Originally inhabited by ATSI people
European colonisation in 1788
The gold rush in the 1850s brought people from China, India and Afghanistan
Migration post WWII brought people from Italy, Greece and Holland
The abolition of the ‘White Australia Policy’ in 1973
Migration post the Vietnam War brought people from Vietnam
Skilled and family migrant visas brought people most especially from Asia
Humanitarian program brought refugees and asylum seekers from many places
International students
What is Australia’s current diversity?
24% of people in Australia originate from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB)
43% of people in Australia have one or both parents born overseas
The largest groups (in order) originating from overseas are …
UK, Ireland, NZ, Italy, China, Vietnam, Greece, India, Philippines, Germany, South Africa, Malaysia, Netherlands and Lebanon
Adjustment to multiculturalism is indicated by:
Culture shock
Acculturation
Ethnic identity
Culture shock
The feeling of disorientation and anxiety as people from one culture encounter and adapt to the practices, rules and expectations of another culture
It arises because people have to cope with differences in language, unwritten rules of behaviour, social structures, political and legislative processes and other aspects of daily life
Four phases of culture shock (Eckermann et al., 1994):
Honeymoon: Initial euphoria and excitement
Disenchantment: Disillusionment and even hostility towards the new culture as values and habits conflict with local attitudes and beliefs
Beginning resolution phase: Recovery from shock as confidence and understanding of the new culture grows
Effective functioning stage: Adjustment as the individual learns how to fit into the new cultural environment
Acculturation
Berry (1980)
When people and groups come into contact with another culture they have conflicting needs for cultural preservation and cultural adaptation
Thus, they can be high or low on either/both
Acculturation
LaFromboise et al. (1993):
Assimilation: Absorption into the dominant culture and abandonment of traditional culture
Acculturation: Competence in a second culture without complete acceptance of it
Fusion: Combining two cultures to form a new culture
Alternation: Bicultural competence (being able to slip between cultures)
Multiculturalism: Maintaining distinct cultural identities within a single multicultural social structure
Ethnic identity
The ethnic group a person feels they belong to, identifies with, and takes pride in
It is subjective
Thus, people can have multiple ethnic identities, e.g. Italian-Australian
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Many Australians are …
Proud of their ethnic composition, mutual tolerance and social cohesion
View multiculturalism as positive for both social and economic development
But …
Multiculturalism introduces us to ethnic differences in race, culture, religion and/or language
Ethnic differences can lead to misperception, misunderstanding, harmful judgements and poor social interactions, e.g. racism and discrimination
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Racism: Prejudice + Power
Prejudice: The use of a negative stereotype to pre-judge a person based on their membership to a racial group
Racial ‘categories’ are based on physical features and societal loadings attached to those features
Negative attitudes are based on an individual’s psychology
Power: Social, economic and/or political capacity to exert influence over others
Oppression is based on group dynamics
Together, prejudice and power …
Creates a pervasive and systematic assumption of inferiority
Leads to the unfair and differential treatment of others based on the assumption of inferiority
Discrimination:
Behavioural manifestation of prejudicial attitudes
What factors contribute to racism?
There is no one answer to this question
Some factors include:
Personality Social influences Emotions Cognitions Identification processes Economic factors
Authoritarian personality
A tendency to hate people who are different or downtrodden (Adorno et al., 1950)
Emerged from the psychodynamic perspective
Asserts that people with these personalities have a dominant, stern and sometimes sadistic father and a submissive mother
Fear and hatred of their father becomes repressed for fear of punishment for exposing the true feelings
As adults, this rage is projected or displaced onto groups seen as ‘different’
E.g. Adolf Hitler
Social influences
Prejudice is learned; it is not innate
Reinforcement from parents and peers can increase prejudice
People can feel a sense of shared identity (validation) with others who have the same prejudices
Gender, lack of education and right wing political views predict prejudice
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Emotions
Xenophobia: Fear or hatred of anything foreign or unfamiliar
Self esteem: Prejudice is often associated with low self-esteem
We try to feel better about ourselves by degrading others
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Cognitions
Stereotypes: A generalised view about a group based on a belief that all members of a group share common traits or behaviours
They are normal and useful because they save us time
They are an example of schemas
They can be positive and/or negative
But any prejudicial attitudes underlying racism are based only on negative stereotypes
They allow cognitive biases to occur
These biases then cause and entrench prejudi
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Three types of cognitive biases that stereotypes allow are:
- Accentuating differences between groups
‘Us vs. Them’ (in-group vs. out-group)
E.g. Jane Elliott’s (1977) ‘Blue-eyed, brown-eyed’ experiment
We tend to focus on between-group differences and ignore between-group similarities
- Selective thinking
Because of the ‘confirmation bias’ we tend to pay more attention to (attention), think more deeply about (encoding), and have better recall (retrieval) for information that is consistent with our schemas/stereotypes
Confirmation bias: The tendency to seek out information that confirms our hypotheses
- Accentuating similarities in the out-group
Also known as the ‘out-group homogeneity bias’, e.g. “All Asians look the same”
We tend to focus on within-group similarities and ignore within-group differences
All members of other groups are similar to each other or behave the same way
Yet all members of my group are highly unique and individual
Ethnocentrism:
When a person uses their own culture to judge the values, standards, attitudes and behaviours of other cultures
My culture is ‘normal’, yours is ‘strange/inferior’
E.g. Stolen Generation
From 1910-1970, between one in 10 and one in 3 Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and communities to be ‘saved’ from themselves and ‘civilised’ by superior white families and institutions
Reflects ethnocentric policies of assimilation
Identification processes
Social identity theory: People derive part of their identity from the groups they belong to
E.g. Ethnic group, football club, occupation type, etc.
If a person’s sense of identity depends largely on the groups they belong to, then in-group favouritism and denigration of the out-group tend to be high
In-group favouritism
Overt: Helping members only of the in-group
Subtle: Giving members of the in-group the benefit of the doubt
While there may not be hostile feelings toward the out-group there may be an absence of positive ones
Economic factors
Good schools, jobs, neighbourhoods, etc. are limited
Thus, we denigrate the ‘out-group’ to justify our worthiness/deservingness of these limited economic resources
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A word on racism today …
‘Old-fashioned racism’: Overt (obvious) and openly expressed
E.g. Segregation of blacks and whites, the right to vote denied, etc.
Modern racism: More subtle, less overt racism
E.g. Refusing to recognise overseas qualifications
Currently …
Overt racial discrimination has decreased because of human rights legislation
Overt racism is met with public disapproval because of societal pressure to be ‘politically correct’
Legal and societal pressure to not be racist can lead to (i) the private (rather than public) expression of racism and (ii) the development of implicit (or unconscious) racism
The four most common vilified and racially attacked groups in Australia are: Aboriginal people, Asians, Muslims and Jews
Despite the overall decrease in explicit racism, there are still many identifiable examples, e.g. One Nation, Cronulla riots, etc.
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Reducing prejudice, racism and discrimination
Because there are many causes, combating racism requires many different strategies
Four levels for the implementation of strategies (APS, 1998):
Macro level: Federal and state government should form policy/legislation (e.g. The Racial Discrimination Act, 1975), and provide funding for programs aimed at reducing racism
Institutional level: Anti-racism policies should be reviewed and training programs be conducted in institutions, professions and community groups
Psychology courses: University programs should include courses on cross-cultural issues
Individual level: Become active in groups that promote (tolerance and) respect
Four ways in which racism can be reduced:
- Contact hypothesis: The more contact there is between cultural groups, the more they will break down barriers and prejudices
There is only some support for this hypothesis
Mere exposure does not necessarily reduce racism
- Super-ordinate goals: Collaborative interaction between different cultural groups working together on cooperative tasks with a common goal will decrease racism
E.g. Jigsaw puzzles (Aronson, 2002); team sports (Sherif et al, 1961) etc.
There is stronger support for this hypothesis - Redefining ‘us’ and ‘them’:
To be ‘Australian’ means being Indigenous, Anglo Saxon and/or NESB - Cultural competency:
(i) cultural awareness/knowledge, (ii) sensitivity and respect for cultural differences, and (iii) self-reflexive aptitude to apply cultural knowledge in a meaningful but non-stereotypical way
