lesson 1 Flashcards
impact of ethnic diversity
Different ethnic groups and new immigrants bring different cultures to american society
Ex: food, clothing/costumes, ceremonies (weddings, funerals etc), manners, holidays, etc
how is american society changing?
becoming increasingly diverse
what does having a diversified culture mean for the US
- Challenges and opportunities for people to grow and learn
- Also conflict among subcultures in US
- Different values
what is the implication for psychology of increased diversity?
- 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
who is research done on? why?
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
is it a problem that research is done on american college students?
- 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
Generality issue
What we have learned from psych research may not be applicable to people from other cultures
purpose of cross-cultural psychology
narrowly and broadly
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
quick definition for culture
“ways of living”
types of common uses of culture in everyday life
- descriptive
- historical
- normative
- psychological
- structural
- genetic
Neumonic: normal historic building in jeans saying sike, writing a description
Descriptive uses of culture in everyday life
different activities or behaviors
ex: facebook or SNS, buying behaviors (books, video, DVD)
Historical use of culture
heritage or tradition for group of people
normative use of culture
norms or rules
ex: smoking in public places
Psychological use of culture
behavioral approaches
structural use of culture
societal or organizational aspects
Genetic use of culture
refers to origin of a culture
why is concept of culture confusing?
- 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
two aspects of culture
- subjective
- objective
subjective culture
- behaviors
- beliefs
- attitudes
Objective culture
- food
- clothes
- tools
etc
What does culture as an “explanatory” concept help us understand and categorize?
helps us understand and categorize
* within-group similarities
* between-group differences
between group ex) greetings between cultures)
definition of culture in cross-cultural psych
a theoretical entity that explains differences in behaviors between groups of people
ex) ways of thinking/ viewing the world- greetings btwn cultures
Culture as a “personal” construct- what is observed among people in the same culture?
culture as a “personal” vs “social” construct
- individual differences are observed among people in the same culture
- and individuals have their own mental representation of their culture
Culture vs Personality differences- 3 parts
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
Culture vs race
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.
Culture vs ethnicity
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
Culture vs Nationality
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
Culture vs Gender (+ sex vs gender)
sex vs gender:
* sex is biological
* gender more culturally defined
* sex roles = breastfeeding
* gender roles = behaviors a culture deems appropriate for genders
Pancultural vs culture-specific
some beliefs, attidues, behaviors are found accross cultures (pancultural/ universal), while others are specific to cultures
ex) basic emotions are considered universal/pancultural
Etics
aspects of life that appear to be consistent accross different cultures
neumonic: everyone has tics at a wedding
ex) language, social class, ceremonies, etc
Emics
aspects of life that appear to differ across cultures (culture-specific)
