Module 1: Understanding Cross-Cultural Psychology Flashcards
What is culture?
It is shared attitudes, behaviours, and symbols
What are the shared attitudes of culture?
Ideologies (ideas), values (family, community, respect, etc.), and beliefs (religion, atheism, etc.)
What are the shared behaviours of culture?
Traditions, fashion, leisure (sports, time spent)
What are the shared symbols of culture?
Flag, architecture, colour
What are explicit characteristics?
Explicit characteristics are overt customs and observable practices (eg. greeting styles)
What are implicit characteristics?
Implicit characteristics are organizing principles such as negotiation styles, honourifics (language beautification), and humilifics.
What are humilifics?
They are words that are not meant to show respect for His or Her Grace, but to emphasize the insignificance of the speaker and other underlings (eg. Catholics say before communion: “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you”)
What are the aspects of nationality?
Geographical origin and history, political entity
What are the aspects of ethnicity?
Cultural heritage, ancestral origin, language, tradition, religion
What are the aspects of race?
Distinct combinations of heritable traits
What are the outdated categories of race?
Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Congoid
Why is race considered to be a “social construct”?
The existence of races makes little sense - humans have lower genetic diversity than almost any animal. The concept of “race” is created by societies to serve the purposes of the majority.
What are other terms for race?
Continental origin, Anthropological designation (eg. Caucasian), and colonial history (eg. Latino)
Name some examples of other kinds of groups from countries that can be argued to have cultures
Urban culture, LGBTQ culture, high socioeconomic status culture, vegetarian culture, millennial culture, francophone culture vs. anglophone culture, McGill culture vs. Concordia culture, Vanier culture, Mac-user culture, Trekkie culture, cosplay culture
What makes these other groups arguably qualify as “cultures”?
Their members exist within a shared context, they have ways of communicating with each other, have some shared norms that distinguish them from other groups, and have some common practices and ideas.
What are Hofstede’s 6 dimension of culture?
Power distance Masculinity vs. Femininity Uncertainty avoidance Long-term orientation vs. Short-term orientation Indulgence vs. Restraint Collectivism vs. Individualism
What is Power distance?
Power distance is the degree of acceptance of unequal distribution of power.
What is High Power Distance?
It is the acceptance of inequality between leaders and the led (eg. Latin American and Arab nations)
What is Low Power Distance?
The belief that all people should have equal rights (eg. Scandinavian and Germanic speaking nations)
What is Masculinity vs. Femininity?
It is the distribution of emotional roles between genders
What is Masculine?
The preference for achievement, heroism, assertiveness and material rewards for success; very competitive (eg. Germany, Japan)
What is Feminine?
Consensus-seeking, gentleness, modesty, and caring for the weak (eg. Nordic countries, the Netherlands)
What is Uncertainty Avoidance?
The degree of discomfort with uncertainty.
What is High Uncertainty Avoidance?
It is the support of beliefs promising certainty (eg. Greece, Portugal)
What is Low Uncertainty Avoidance?
Non-conformist attitude, unpredictability, creativity (eg. Sweden, Hong Kong)
What is Long-term orientation vs. Short-term orientation?
This dimension associates the connection of the past with the current and future actions/challenges.
What is Long-term orientation?
People’s views are adaptable and circumstantial, pragmatic problem solving is a necessity. A strong propensity to save, invest, thriftiness, perseverance (eg. China and Japan).
What is Short-term orientation?
Traditions are honoured and kept while steadfastness is valued. Weak propensity to save for the future, focus on achieving quick results (eg. Pakistan, Nigeria).
What is Indulgence?
Society that allows free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun.
What are some Hedonistic countries?
Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, El Salvador.
What is Restraint?
A society that suppresses gratification of needs and regulates it by means of strict social norms (eg. Egypt)
Wha is Collectivism vs. Individualism?
It is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups.