Lecture 30- Indigenous Psychology Flashcards
Does Indigenous Psychology fit perfectly within cultural psychology?
No, it is interdisciplinary in nature
What is the basic idea/ purpose behind Indigenous psychology?
Look to explore people within their own context and looks to use language/ methods relevant to them (involves the human experience specifically within a culture: unique!).
Explore people without need for cross-cultural methods
What is the idea of positive self-regard?
People in general are motivated to seek and maintain a positive view of themselves
What is the common western perception of positive self- regard?
Self enhancement….
The tendency to dwell on and elaborate positive information about
the self relative to information about one’s weaknesses
• Strongly related to self-esteem
How does evidence of the self-enhancement mindset arise in Western/ European cultures? How does this compare with those from more eastern/ Asian societies?
93% of European Canadians reported self-esteem scores above
the midpoint of a common self-esteem scale.
• E.g. “I feel that I have a number of good qualities” (5-point scale)
• Self-serving (tendency to exaggerate positive characteristics)
Self-enhancing behaviours appear to be far weaker, if not largely
absent, among people participating in East Asian contexts.
What is the common eastern perception of positive self- regard?
Self-Improvement
-Don’t describe themselves as much with positive statements
-Instead focus on ‘Saving face’ : The social value others give you if you live up to
the standards associated with your position (Heine, 2020). Focus on how others view you?
What does the difference in positive self- regard between cultures show?
Using ‘common’ self-esteem scale (93% of European Canadians had positive self esteem) while only 55% of Japanese participants had high self-esteem
This shows issues with using the same survey across all cultures. European Canadians and Japanese just that they conceptualize self-esteem in a different way. We are using a very westernized scale so of course the Japanese will come out as having lower self esteem. It doesn’t actually follow that this distinction is accurate.
What does Granovetter’s riot model show?
-The two populations were indistinguishable in terms of group characteristics but behaved in very different ways due to the interactions within the group (individual thresholds for action).
-Therefore, you can only understand how the different riot outcomes emerged
by investigating the dynamics within the group. This relates to the purpose of indigenous psychology: exploring the individual within their social context
What is etic research?
Research in which a classification system is imposed on what is
being studied. The classification or criteria is external to what is being
studied
What is emic research?
Research in which the classification system is discovered within, rather than imposed
How does the use of etic and emic research differ within the context of cultural psychology?
Etic: Applying theorizing and methodologies onto and across cultures to discover similarities and differences across psychological constructs
Emic: Conducting research that works within a culture to discover indigenous psychological constructs.
What is the definition of indigenous psychology used in this lecture?
‘‘the study of human behaviour and mental processes within a cultural context that relies on values, concepts, belief systems, methodologies, and other resources indigenous to the specific ethnic or cultural group under investigation.’’
What are the 5 core elements of indigenous psychology?
Study of human behaviour (or the mind) where:
1. The knowledge systems and meanings are native to the specific ethnic
or cultural group under investigation (context is key)
2. These knowledge systems form the basis of the research
3. Research is conducted bottom-up and from within
4. Designed for its people
5. Methodological diverse
How did indigenous psychology emerge?
A movement in reaction to Western-oriented (largely American) psychology
• American psychology is an indigenous psychology
• Awaken identity and national consciousness
Basically, researchers from other cultures felt underappreciated, ignored, misrepresented and banded together to form the discipline
What do we mean when we say indigenous psychology was designed for the people?
As opposed to being focused on the researcher.
Involves indigenous populations throughout the whole process
