L1 - Intercultural psychology Flashcards
What is the traditional view of understanding psychology?
To search for cultural universals
- What was the same in every culture*
- These theorists lay the foundation for a lot of our research*
What is meant by cultural universals?
Aspects of behaviour and experience common to all cultural settings
In modern times, how has psychology shifted in regards to viewing different cultures?
We now value differences in psychological variables within different cultures
i.e. indigenous psychology
What is the current consensus regarding the nature v nurture debate?
That they both play a role
Cross-cultural psychologists are looking more into valuing 1)____ in culture rather than looking for 2)____
1) Differences
2) Universals
Indigenous Psychology is under what branch of psychology?
Cross Cultural Psychology
What are 3 useful features regarding cross-cultural psychology?
1) Test hypotheses and findings obtained in western cultures to other cultures
2) Explore other cultures in order to discover cultural variation
3) Integrate findings to generate a more global psychology
What are the 2 key assumptions regarding cross-cultural psychology?
1) Psychic Unity (theoretical assumption)
2) Cultural Equivalence (methodological assumption)
What is meant by the theoretical assumption of Psychic Unity?
The assumption is that everyone shares a set of psychic structures (mind, memory, perception etc.)
Differences in how things might be reported (e.g. european to african children) are put down to cultural differences rather than cognitive differences
What is meant by the cultural equivalence methodological assumption?
Cross-cultural psychologists cannot use randomisation when comparing cultures from two groups and so they must rely on a quasi-experimental design. Everything else must be equivalent.
If the researcher finds a difference, they assume it to be a cultural difference.
What steps does the cross-cultural psychologist take when designing a study?
It is important to have ‘equivalence of meaning’ when translating from one culture to another.
What are 2 ways of making sure there is ‘equivalence of meaning’?
Backwards and forwards translation
Translate from language 1-2 and then back from 2-1 to make sure meaning is the same
Team translation
Psychologists from two different cultures write as a team and translate as a team
What did Hofstede measure in his cultural variability study?
He used psychometric measures to assess average differences between groups of people at the cultural level (rather than individual).
What were the three comparative groups that Hofstede developed?
Individualism-Collectivism (IC)
Power-Distance (PD)
Tight-Loose (TL)
What does Hofstede’s Individual-Collectivism (IC) refer to?
The degree to which a culture sanctions feelings of uniqueness or individualism (I), or collective belonging (C).
