Social and Cultural Foundations Flashcards
Macroculture vs. Microculture
The dominant or major culture in a country is the macroculture, often contrasted with the smaller
microculture
What is Acculturation?
Learning the behaviors and expectations of a culture is known as acculturation
Differerences between:
1) Universal Culture
2) National culture
3) Regional culture
4) Ecological culture
1) Universal culture implies that we are all genetically and biologically similar
“biological sameness” (i.e., we all need air, food and water)
2) National culture can determine our language, political views, and our laws
3) Regional culture gives us the behavior for a certain region
4) Ecological culture where factors such as earthquakes, floods, and food supply may influence our behavior
Racism
Racism occurs when one race views itself as superior to others. A given race has a set of genetically transmitted characteristics such as white, African American, or Asian.
Ethnocentricsm
Ethnocentrism means that a given group sees itself as the standard by which other ethnic groups are
measured.
Emic vs. Etic distinctions
In the emic approach the counselor helps the client understand his or her
culture.
In the etic approach the counselor focuses on the similarities in people; treating people as being
the same.
Autoplastic-alloplastic dilemma
Autoplastic–alloplastic dilemma. Autoplastic implies that the counselor helps the client change to cope
with his or her environment.
Alloplastic occurs when the counselor has the client try to change the
environment.
Paralanguage
Paralanguage implies that the client’s tone of voice, loudness, vocal inflections, and speed of delivery,
silence, and hesitation must be taken into consideration. It is part of the study of nonverbal communication and is usually considered more accurate than verbal communication.
Low context communication vs. High context communication
Low context communication versus high context communication was postulated by anthropologist
Edward T. Hall.
Low context implies that there will be a precise explicit verbal explanation and
possibly repetition such as summarizing at the end of a class, meeting, or a group counseling session.
Popular in the U.S., UK, Canada, and Germany.
High context communication is implicit. It is common in the Middle East, Italy, Spain, and Asian countries. It relies on nonverbal over verbal, respect for tradition and the past, and is readily understood by others in the culture with a shared frame
of reference.
Prejudice
Prejudice occurs when we have an opinion based on insufficient evidence.
Androgynous/androgyny
Androgynous/androgyny is the notion that psychologically healthy people possess both masculine and
feminine characteristics.
Proxemics
Proxemics addresses the issue of personal space, also known as spatial relations. A counselor who sits
too close to a client, for example, may make the client uncomfortable. Communication and social
relations are impacted by proxemics
Social Comparison Theory
Social comparison theory, popularized by early research conducted by Leon Festinger, simply postulates that we evaluate our behaviors and accomplishments by comparing ourselves to others. High self-
monitoring individuals care about their self-image and what others think of them.
Festinger is also well known for his cognitive dissonance theory, asserting that individuals will change
their beliefs to match their behavior when there is a mismatch. This reduces the tension created by the
initial inconsistency.
Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias is to acknowledge information that supports your point of view and ignore that
which does not.
Anglo-Conformity Theory
Anglo-Conformity Theory asserts that people from other cultures would do well to forget about their
heritage and try to become like those in the dominant macroculture
