Lecture 1 Flashcards
What is culture?
Culture is any idea, belief, technique, habit, or practice acquired through social learning of others. Cultures are groups of people that exist within some kind of shared context.
It is a set of implicit and explicit guidelines/information that individuals acquire as a member of a particular society or context, regarding:
- How to view the world
- How to experience emotions
- How to behave
- Supernatural believes of God etc.
This implicit part of culture can be seen as a ‘lens’ through which the individuals perceive and understand the world.
Enculturation
Culture provides a way of transmitting the cultural guidelines and believes to the next generation.
Challenges of defining culture
- The boundaries of cultures can not be clearly defined.
- Cultures are dynamic and change over time.
- Within a culture there is great variation between individuals.
3 levels of culture
- Tertiary level: clearest, explicit and most visible to outsides (traditional clothes, cuisine etc.)
- Secondary level: underlying shared beliefs and rules, social norms. Known by insiders, but unknown by outsiders.
- Primary level: deepest level, rules that are known to all, obeyed by all, but implicit and often out of awareness. (Hidden, stable and resistant to change)
Ethnocentrism
Perceiving one’s own culture as a standard of comparison. Causes the tendency to judge people from other cultures as negatively by comparing them to your own culture.
Absolut approach of cross-cultural psychology
Psychological phenomena are the same across cultures, but the behavior varies.
Relativist approach of cross-cultural psychology
Psychological processes are shaped by experiences, but all humans share the same biological influences / constraints.
General psychology
Focusses on universals and tries to control for cultural variation.
Cross-cultural psychology
Assumes that mind and culture are entangled and that thoughts are shaped by context. Aims to better understand the full distribution of human psychology, and the implications of cross-cultural variation. Learning about cross-cultural variation helps us to interact in a globalising world, especially in multicultural societies.
Universality vs. variability
Whether a process is universal or culturally variable depends on the level of definition. Abstract definitions generally lead to evidence supporting universality. Concrete definitions generally lead to evidence supporting variability.
Non-universial
A cognitive tool that is not found in all cultures. This is a cultural invention that only exists in some cultures.
Example: abacus (calculating tool).
Existential universal
A cognitive tool found in all cultures, BUT is used differently and is NOT equally available everywhere.
Ez: de existence is overal gelijk –> existential universal (maar het wordt anders gebruikt).
Functional universal
A cognitive tool found in ALL cultures that serves the SAME function in all cultures, BUT is accessible to DIFFERENT degrees in different cultures.
Ez: de functie is overal gelijk –> functional universal (maar het is niet overal verkrijgbaar in dezelfde mate).
Accesibility universal
Strongest case for universality. A cognitive tool that is found in ALL cultures, AND with the same function in all cultures, AND accessible to the same degree.
Ez: accesilibity is overal gelijk –> accesibility universal (EN functie is overal hetzelfde).
Ez: A = A-game
Ex: social facilitation
Cultural dimensions theory (Hofstede)
Cultures can be distinguished according to 5 dimensions (PLUIM):
1. Individualism - collectivism
2. Uncertainty avoidance (how do people deal with ambiguity)
3. Power distance (how hierarchical a culture is)
4. Long vs. short-term orientation: connection with tradition and economic orientation.
5. Masculinity - femininity: how distinct are the gender roles.
The color-blind approach
Emphasises common human nature, ignores cultural differences. Even trivial distinctions between groups often lead to discrimination.
Multicultural approach
Recognises that group identities are different and making room for different cultural backgrounds, because ignoring these differences can lead to negative consequences.
Methodological equivalence
The concerns which making sure participants from different cultures understand the research questions or situations in equivalent ways.
How easily can you apply measures across cultures? Cognitive tests, physiological measure, naturalistic observations? This is why extensive piloting and validation is needed!
Central themes in cultural psychology
- Universality of a specific trait
- Influence of a specific trait on thinking and behaviour
- Studying a culture as a whole rather than individual
- Comparisons: what are the right contexts?
Questionnaire translation
Difficult and sensitive process of forward and backward translation to achieve equilibrium. Repeated if necessary, and validated in new population! (n>300).
Response bias
Different cultures can have different ways of answering questions.
Moderacy bias
Witholding strong opinions. Can be solved by:
- Forced choice answers
- Standardisation
- Reverse-scoring items
Reference group effects
The responses to questions may depend on the group that one is using for reference. Can be solved by:
- Using objective measures
- Concrete definitions
Deprivation effects
The tendency for people or cultures to report to the value they would LIKE and not what they HAVE.
