Test 3 Flashcards
What is culture?
Culture is the psychological aspect of groups.
The psychological features that build up a culture include shared:
Languages, Modes of thinking, Values, Norms, Ethnicity
-Usually typological approaches are taken to culture
How do cultures differ?
Etics vs. Emics
Emics in cultures differ
Notions of how cultures may differ: easier vs. tougher Achievement vs. Affiliation Tightness vs. Looseness Head vs. Heart Individualism vs. Collectivism
What is acculturation?
acculturation is changing cultures (American to Canadian)
Why study culture?
Studying culture increases
International understanding,
External validity,
and Understanding whole persons (goal of personality psychology)
Discuss international Understanding
- understanding can decrease misunderstandings
- misunderstandings can cause embarrassment or crimes
Examples
- “x” in a check box means no in India but yes to the item in North America
- unattended children means something different in other cultures
- World leaders being insensitive to other cultures
- Vandalism is terrible crime in other countries
What does Canada warn about traveling to America?
- Don’t incriminate self with Marijuana
- Don’t drive hitchhikers over state boundaries
What does America warn about traveling to Canada?
-Canadians don’t respect red lights as much
Discuss external validity as it pertains to studying culture
-psychologists care about personality of not just westerners but people
-80% of participants in studies are WEIRD
Western
Educated
Industrialized
Rich
Democratic
which represents only 12% of people
-getting better and more diverse by engaging in cross-cultural research, but slowly
What does WEIRD mean?
Western
Educated
Industrialized
Rich
Democratic
-12% of people represent 80% of participants in psychology studies which is a problem of external validity/generalizability
-WEIRD people are the ones who can have the time/money to participate in studies & researchers usually live in WEIRD countries
Discuss how Understanding Whole Persons relates to studying culture
- People of different cultures have different experience of the world and it is important to understand their experience
- Understanding Whole Persons means understanding the meaning of their different/cultural behaviors
examples
- a WEIRD person would be more scared in a rainforest than someone whose tribe lives there
- European people would be harsher criticizing research than North Americans but it doesn’t mean they liked it less
Discuss how Understanding Whole Persons relates to studying culture
- People of different cultures have different experience of the world and it is important to understand their experience
- Understanding Whole Persons means understanding the meaning of their different/cultural behaviors
examples
- a WEIRD person would be more scared in a rainforest than someone whose tribe lives there
- European people would be harsher criticizing research than North Americans but it doesn’t mean they liked it less
what are Etics?
Universal core or components of an idea
-ideas that have the same meaning across cultures
What are emics?
Specific aspects or particulars of an idea
-specific aspects of an idea that are bound to a specific culture
Some things might be too emic to compare, a concept a culture has that cant be translated into another culture because it’s too different
Examples:
Korea: “Chemyon” social face
Japan: “Amae” (Sweet?) Indulgence & dependence
Taiwan: “Yuan” Predestined relationship
Difference between etic and emic example?
Duty would be an etic, almost all cultures have some sort of concept d Duty
But, different countries have different emics of duty such as a difference between how Canada, Germany, and New Guinea handle duty
Discuss the notion of Easier Cultures vs. Harder Cultures
Easier cultures: people can pursue many paths to success
Harder cultures: few paths to success
-idea: core etic of success and countries vary in how hard it is to be successful
-Research on this dimension died off in the 80s
-Scientists thought toughness would correlate to murder rates
What is an “easier culture”
People can pursue many paths to success
-compared to a culture where a woman only has 1 path to success (motherhood), an easier culture may consider her successful whatever her occupation
What is a “harder culture”?
Fewer paths to success as an individual in a society
-certain cultures may only think women are successful is if they are a mother, and not caring about anything else
Discuss the notion of Achievement vs. Affiliation
-First work said best way to measure achievement vs. affiliation was that the morals represented in the culture’s children’s stories would represent which they emphasize more. (ex: little engine that could)
Achievement-focused cultures:
- Higher power consumption
- more likely to move/migrate
What is “Achievement”?
Achievement means the culture emphasizes the need to achieve, to stand out, be the top of their class, Harvard university would be achievement-oriented. Notion that you should accomplish great things, be productive.
What is “Affiliation”?
Affiliation-oriented cultures would emphasize love, affiliation, social harmony, connectedness.
What does “Tightness” mean?
Tightness means in it is not okay to deviate from that culture’s norms.
Example:
Hong Kong considered tight
What does “Looseness” mean?
Looseness means it is okay to deviate from that culture’s norms.
There aren’t as strict expectations or guidelines about what behavior should look like in certain situations
Example:
USA considered loose
-people often cut in line which is a deviation but there’s not really conseuquences
Discuss tightness vs. looseness examples
How different cultures handle:
- priority seating
- jaywalking
Discuss tightness vs. looseness examples
How different cultures handle:
- priority seating
- jaywalking
- population density (as you cram more people in a space, you need them to behave tighter. As population density increases, the culture gets tighter)
- Diversity (more diverse countries are looser because intermingling cultures means it’s harder to have strict adherence.)