Introduction Flashcards
A subdiscipline within psychology that examines the cultural foundations of psychological processes and human behavior.
Cultural Psychology
It includes theoretical and methodological frameworks that posit an
important role for culture and its influence on mental processes behavior, and vice versa
Cultural Psychology
The Goals of Psychology
- Build a knowledge about people
- Allow others to take that body of knowledge and apply it to intervene in people’s lives
Most research today is based on WEIRDOS. WEIRDOS are ________
Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic cultures
A research methodology that tests the
cultural parameters of psychological knowledge. Traditionally, it involves research on human behavior that compares psychological processes between two or more cultures. This approach is primarily concerned with testing the possible limitations of knowledge gleaned from one culture by studying people of different cultures
Cross-cultural research
A psychological process that is found to be true or applicable for all people of all cultures.
universal
A psychological process that is considered to be true for some people of some cultures but not for others.
culture-specific
A unique meaning and information system, shared by a group and transmitted across generations, that allows the group to meet basic needs of survival, pursue happiness and well-being, and derive meaning from life.
culture
Factors That Influence Culture/Origin of Culture
Group Life
Environments
Resources
The Evolved Human Mind
Increase our chances for survival because they increase efficiency through division of labor.
Group Life
The ecologies of that have a major impact on how they live.
Environment
The degree to which the average temperature of a given region will differ from what is considered to be the
relatively “easiest” temperature to live in, which is 22°C (about 72°F).
deviation from
temperate climate
The number of people living within a given unit of space.
Population Density
The type of land that can sustain life by food production of some sort.
Arable Land
can be natural, such as the presence or absence of water or land to farm to grow vegetables or raise animals
Resources
The amount of money available to a person or group
Affluence
The need to eat, drink, sleep, deal with waste, and reproduce if they are to survive.
physical needs
The need for hygiene, shelter, and warmth
safety and security needs
The motive to achieve and the motive to affiliate with others.
social motives
A set of basic psychological skills and
abilities that people can use to meet their needs.
universal psychological toolkit
Contents of the Universal Psychological Toolkit
Cognitive Abilities
Emotions
Personality Traits
Knowledge about motivations concerning behaviors that are common among people in a group.
shared intentionality
The concept that humans continually improve on improvements, that they do not go backward or revert to a
previous state. An improvement never goes backward; it only goes forward and continues to improve on itself.
ratchet effect
A unique meaning and information system, shared by a group and
transmitted across generations, that allows the group to meet basic needs of survival, pursue happiness and well-being, and derive meaning from life
Human Culture
Is culture uniquely a human product?
No, animals have culture too. They have at least a rudimentary form of culture consisting of social customs.
Cumulative culture allows human cultures to differ from animal cultures on
___________, ___________, and ______________.
complexity, differentiation, institutionalization
“a system of interrelationships among people.”
Society
It refers to the structure of relationships that exist among individuals
Society
It refers to the meanings and information that are associated with those social networks
Culture
Groups That Have Culture
■ Nationality
■ Language
■ Ethnicity
■ Gender
■ Disabilities
■ Sexual Orientations
Groups That Are Not Culture
■ Race
■ Personality
■ Popular Culture
It refers to a person’s country of origin
Nationality
Difference in dialects
Language
It is derived from the Greek ethnos, meaning people of a nation or tribe, and is usually used to denote one’s racial, national, or cultural origins.
Ethnicity
Socially expected roles
Gender
It refers to the biological differences between men and women, the most obvious being the anatomical differences in their reproductive systems.
Sex
It is used to describe the behaviors and patterns of activities men and women engage in that are directly related to their biological differences and the process of
reproduction (such as breast-feeding).
Sex roles
It refers to the behaviors or patterns of activities that a society or culture deems appropriate for men and women. These behavior patterns may or may not be related to sex and sex roles
Gender
It refers to the degree to which a person adopts the gender-specific and appropriate behaviors ascribed by his or her culture.
Gender role
It is characterized by impairment, participation restriction, and activity limitation.
Disability
Sexual relationships with others. It is the particular psychological outlook and characteristics that are shared by and unique to each orientation.
Sexual Orientation
Population gene frequencies
Race
It refers to the unique constellation of traits, attributes, qualities, and characteristics of individuals within those frames; it refers to the individual differences that exist among
individuals within groups
Personality
It refers to trends in music, art, and other expressions that become popular among a group of people
Popular culture
Two Contents of Culture
Objective Elements
Subjective Elemets
These involve objective, explicit elements that are physical (e.g., clothes, food, art, Internet). These would include architecture, clothes, foods, art, eating utensils, and the like.
Objective Elements
They include all those parts of a culture that do not survive people as physical artifacts. They include psychological processes such as attitudes, values, beliefs, as well as behaviors
Subjective Elements
The Subjective Elements of Culture
Values
Beliefs
Norms
Attitudes
Worldviews
A trans-situational goals that serve as a guiding principle in the life of a person or group. They are guiding principles that refer to desirable goals that motivate behavior.
Values
Two Levels of Values
Personal Values and Cultural Values
They represent transitional desirable goals that serve as guiding principles in people’s lives.
Personal Values
These are shared, abstract ideas about what a social collectivity views as good, right, and desirable
Cultural Values
Five Value Dimensions According to Hofstede, 2001
Individualism versus Collectivism
Power Distance
Uncertainty Avoidance.
Masculinity versus Femininity
Long- versus Short-Term Orientation
the degree to which cultures will encourage, on one hand, the tendency for people to look after themselves and their immediate family only, or, on the other hand, for people to belong to ingroups that are supposed to look after its members in exchange for loyalty.
Individualism versus Collectivism
The degree to which cultures will encourage less powerful members of groups to accept that power is distributed unequally.
Power Distance
The degree to which people feel threatened by the unknown or ambiguous situations, and have developed beliefs, institutions, or rituals to avoid them.
Uncertainty Avoidance
This dimension is characterized on one pole by success, money, and things, and on the other pole by caring for others and quality of life. It refers to the distribution of emotional roles between males and females
Masculinity versus Femininity
The degree to which cultures encourage delayed gratification of material, social, and emotional needs among its members.
Long- versus Short-Term Orientation
Seven Cultural Values that are Universal (Shalom Schwartz)
Embeddedness
Hierarchy
Mastery
Intellectual Autonomy
Affective Autonomy
Egalitarianism
Harmony
The degree to which cultures will emphasize the maintenance of the status quo, propriety, and restraint of actions or inclinations that might disrupt the solidarity of the group or the traditional order. It fosters social order, respect for tradition, family security, and self-discipline.
Embeddedness
The degree to which cultures emphasize the legitimacy of hierarchical allocation of fixed roles and resources such as social power, authority, humility, or wealth
Hierarchy
The degree to which cultures emphasize getting ahead through active self-assertion or by changing and mastering the natural and social environment. It fosters ambition, success, daring, and competence.
Mastery
The degree to which cultures emphasize promoting and protecting the independent ideas and rights of the individual to pursue his/her own intellectual directions. It fosters curiosity, broadmindedness, and creativity.
Intellectual Autonomy
The degree to which cultures emphasize the promotion and protection of people’s independent pursuit of positive experiences. It fosters pleasure and an exciting or varied life.
Affective Autonomy
The degree to which cultures emphasize transcending selfish interests in favor of the voluntary promotion of the welfare of others. It fosters equality, social justice, freedom, responsibility, and honesty.
Egalitarianism
The degree to which cultures emphasize fitting in with the environment. It fosters unity with nature, protecting the environment, and a world of beauty.
Harmony
Values considered to be nonnegotiable. They differ from normal values because they incorporate moral beliefs that drive action in ways dissociated from prospects for success
Sacred Values
A proposition that
is regarded as true.
Beliefs
These are general beliefs and premises about oneself, the social and physical environment, and the spiritual world.
Social Axioms
Two Social Axiom Dimensions (Bond, 2004)
Dynamic Externality
Societal Cynicism
This dimension represents an outward-oriented, simplistic grappling with external forces that are construed to include fate and a supreme being. Cultures high on this dimension tend to be more collectivistic, conservative, hierarchical; have high unemployment levels, less freedom, and fewer human-rights activities; and have aspirations for security, material resources, and a longer life.
Dynamic Externality
This dimension represents a predominantly cognitive apprehension or pessimism of the world confronting people. Cultures high on this dimension believe that the world produces malignant outcomes, that they are surrounded by inevitable negative outcomes, and that individuals are suppressed by powerful others and subjected to the depredations of willful and selfish individuals, groups, and institutions.
Societal Cynism
Organized systems of beliefs that tie together many attitudes, values, beliefs, worldviews, and norms. They provide guidelines for living.
Religion
A generally accepted standard of behavior within a cultural or subcultural group.
Norms
A dimension of cultural variability that refers to the variability within a culture of its members to norms.
tightness versus
looseness
They have less variability and are more homogeneous with respect to norms. (Example: Japanese)
Tight culture
They have more variability and are more heterogeneous. (Example: Thais)
Loose cultures
They are culturally prescribed conduct or any kind of established procedure or routine
Rituals
This is a code of behavior that describes expectations for social behavior according to contemporary cultural and conventional norms within a cultural group. What kinds of behaviors are deemed polite, and thus appropriate and “good.
Etiquette
Evaluations of objects occurring in ongoing thoughts about the objects, or stored in memory
Attitudes
These are culturally specific belief systems about the world; they contain attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and values about the world
Cultural Worldviews
The cognitive representations of who one is, that is, the ideas or images that one has about oneself, especially in relation to others, and how and why one behaves
Self-concept
The process by which individuals learn and adopt the ways and manners of their specific culture
Enculturation
Beliefs about the underlying causes
of behavior
Attributions
Aspects of life that appear to be consistent across different cultures; universal or pancultural truths or principles.
Etics
Aspects of life that appear to differ across cultures; truths or principles that are culture-specific.
Emics
Appreciating that society is made up of different groups with different interests needs, skills and talents, religious beliefs and sexual orientation.
Cultural Diversity
It refers to the ability of the human brain to process, store, and extract information, including attention, memory, and reasoning ability. It is a key psychological element for people to successfully complete an activity.
Cognitive Abilities
