Cultural Influences

Question 1

Define the term ‘culture’.

Answer 1

Culture is not a group of people but rather the beliefs, attitudes, practtices, etc that a group of people share.

Question 2

Outline Moghaddam et al’s summary of the focus of different cultures when it comes to reltionships. (this is the main bit of the AO1)

Answer 2

• WESTERN: individualist, voluntary, tenmporary
• NON-WESTERN: collectivist, involuntary, pernament

Question 3

Outline Sternberg’s Traingular theory of love.

Answer 3

• It may be that those in non-Western cultures just define love differently.
• Consumate love consits of all three points: passion, intimacy and commitment.
• Those in non-Western cultures start from ‘companionate love’ (intimacy and commitment) and gain passion with time.
• Those in Western cultures start from ‘romantic love’ (passion and intimacy) and gain commitment as they go.

Question 4

What statistics are relevant to teh differene in divorse rates?

Answer 4

• Divorse is higher in love marriages than arranged marriages.
• 50% of USA marriages end in divorse compared to 4% in China