lesson 1

Question 1

impact of ethnic diversity

Answer 1

Different ethnic groups and new immigrants bring different cultures to american society

Ex: food, clothing/costumes, ceremonies (weddings, funerals etc), manners, holidays, etc

Question 1

how is american society changing?

Answer 1

becoming increasingly diverse

Question 2

what does having a diversified culture mean for the US

Answer 2

• Challenges and opportunities for people to grow and learn
• Also conflict among subcultures in US
  
  • Different values

Question 3

what is the implication for psychology of increased diversity?

Answer 3

• We have to broaden our understanding of human behavior and see if it applies culturally. We also have to broaden our knowledge of different cultures

Question 4

who is research done on? why?

Answer 4

Since start of modern psych (late 19th c) most research performed on American college students because…
- Easily available
- Lack of concerns about diversity and its impact on theory and research

Question 5

is it a problem that research is done on american college students?

Answer 5

• This research isn’t flawed in itself- the findings are true for that population

where there is a problem:
- Generality of findings- whether what research tells us about human behavior is applicable to people from other cultures

Question 6

Generality issue

Answer 6

What we have learned from psych research may not be applicable to people from other cultures

Question 7

purpose of cross-cultural psychology

narrowly and broadly

Answer 7

Designed to test possible limitations of psych knowledge by studying across cultures

narrowly:
- Having participants from different cultures as participants in studies for cross-cultural comparisons

broadly
- Concerned with seeing whether certain psychological principles can apply universally, or if they are culture specific

Question 8

quick definition for culture

Answer 8

“ways of living”

Question 9

types of common uses of culture in everyday life

Answer 9

• descriptive
• historical
• normative
• psychological
• structural
• genetic

Neumonic: normal historic building in jeans saying sike, writing a description

Question 10

Descriptive uses of culture in everyday life

Answer 10

different activities or behaviors
ex: facebook or SNS, buying behaviors (books, video, DVD)

Question 11

Historical use of culture

Answer 11

heritage or tradition for group of people

Question 12

normative use of culture

Answer 12

norms or rules
ex: smoking in public places

Question 13

Psychological use of culture

Answer 13

behavioral approaches

Question 14

structural use of culture

Answer 14

societal or organizational aspects

Question 15

Genetic use of culture

Answer 15

refers to origin of a culture

Question 16

why is concept of culture confusing?

Answer 16

• It is complex and abstract.
• It includes every aspect of human life for a group of people for a long period of time
• No single definition can grasp it comprehensively

Question 17

two aspects of culture

Answer 17

• subjective
• objective

Question 18

subjective culture

Answer 18

• behaviors
• beliefs
• attitudes

Question 19

Objective culture

Answer 19

• food
• clothes
• tools
  etc

Question 20

What does culture as an “explanatory” concept help us understand and categorize?

Answer 20

helps us understand and categorize
* within-group similarities
* between-group differences

between group ex) greetings between cultures)

Question 21

definition of culture in cross-cultural psych

Answer 21

a theoretical entity that explains differences in behaviors between groups of people

ex) ways of thinking/ viewing the world- greetings btwn cultures

Question 22

Culture as a “personal” construct- what is observed among people in the same culture?

culture as a “personal” vs “social” construct

Answer 22

• individual differences are observed among people in the same culture
• and individuals have their own mental representation of their culture

Question 23

Culture vs Personality differences- 3 parts

Answer 23

1) shared with others (individual level)
2) transmitted to next generations
3) macro or social concept

macro culture: system of meaning and information amoung a group of peop

Question 24

Culture vs race

Answer 24

two people of the same race may have different cultural dispositions
* cultures differ in their definition of race

biological or psychological (race)?
* biologically different races are more similar than different
* race is more a (very real) social construct than a biological one.

Question 25

Culture vs ethnicity

Answer 25

ethnicity (originally meant nation/tribe) is widely used in US to describe different groups of people

ethnicity doesn’t have much explanatory value is psych
* ethnicity and race don’t give us psychological info about a person. Culture does

Question 26

Culture vs Nationality

Answer 26

nationality refers to country of origin
* countries have cultures, and often subcultures. one country may have many cultures

we need to look into what makes cultures different and why, rather than just identifying those differences

Question 27

Culture vs Gender (+ sex vs gender)

Answer 27

sex vs gender:
* sex is biological
* gender more culturally defined
* sex roles = breastfeeding
* gender roles = behaviors a culture deems appropriate for genders

Question 28

Pancultural vs culture-specific

Answer 28

some beliefs, attidues, behaviors are found accross cultures (pancultural/ universal), while others are specific to cultures

ex) basic emotions are considered universal/pancultural

Question 29

Etics

Answer 29

aspects of life that appear to be consistent accross different cultures

neumonic: everyone has tics at a wedding

ex) language, social class, ceremonies, etc

Question 30

Emics

Answer 30

aspects of life that appear to differ across cultures (culture-specific)