Week 10 - Psychology In Culture

Question 1

What is culture?

Answer 1

Shared rules that govern the behaviour of a group of people and enable the members of that group to co-exist and survive

• culture is shared
• culture is learning and enduring
• culture is a powerful influence on behaviour
• systematic and organised
• largely invisible
• May be “loose” or “tight”

Question 2

Where does culture come from?

Answer 2

Lehman, Chiu and schaller(2004) Suggest all three possibilities:

1. Terror management theory: culture as a buffer against General anxiety of our own mortality. Being a member of a culture reduces this theory
2. Creation of a shared reality: humans need to feel that others feel the same way about things
3. By product of human interaction: by interacting we share beliefs and behaviours, culture can result from repeated interactions.

Question 3

What culture isn’t

Answer 3

1. Nationality (defines which nation stage to which a person owes loyalty)
2. Ethnicity (membership of a group linked by race)
3. Race (a socially defined population that is derived from distinguishable physical characteristics)

Question 4

What is enculturation?

Answer 4

Culture is transmitted from generation to generation through the process of enculturation
Indirect process of learning the rules, Norms behaviours of a culture
Socialisation which is direct, is also important for cultural learning. Can be thought of as a ‘deliberate shaping of an individual’.

Question 5

What’re some elements of culture?

Answer 5

Language
Dress and appearance 
Food and eating habits 
Music and dance 
Relationship with time 
Interpersonal relationships
Beliefs and attitudes

Question 6

Can a person be multinational or multiethnic?

Answer 6

Yes. Therefore they may display a variety of cultural behaviours.

Question 7

What is cultural psychology?

Answer 7

Studies the ways in which people are affected by the culture they live in (individual psychological processes are shaped by cultural context).

Example may be trauma research? Looks at the experience of life crisis for people from Sudan or Liberia and considered how culture impacts upon themes articulated.

Question 8

What’s cross-cultural psychology?

Answer 8

Compares the similarities and differences in behaviour across different society or cultures.

Eg. Big 5 personality
Measures big five personality traits in other countries and compares the results across culturally

Question 9

What is absolutism?

Answer 9

Assumes that psychological phenomenon are identical across different cultures

Question 10

What is relativism

Answer 10

Assumes that human behaviour is cultural determined

Question 11

What is universalism?

Answer 11

Assumes that there are basic principles underlying behaviour, but that culture determines the display of these principles
Dominant perspective in cross-cultural psychology research.

Question 12

What is the emic and etic perspective?

Answer 12

Emic: insider perspective involves focusing on one cultural group and examining particular psychological aspects of that group

Etic perspective: outsider perspective
Cross cultural and involves the search for commonalities or differences across cultures

Question 13

What are cross-cultural comparison studies

Answer 13

Involve comparing two or more different cultures in relation to a particular psychological variable.

Eg. What are the rates of depression in a Japanese sample compared to an Australian sample!

Question 14

What are cross-cultural validation studies?

Answer 14

Examine whether a psychological variable in one culture can be applied and have meaning in another culture.

Eg. Cross-cultural validation of the Beck depression inventory with Japanese people

Question 15

What does “unpacking studies” mean?

Answer 15

Try to explain why cultural differences may occur.

Eg. Does depression mean the same thing for Japanese people as it does for Australian?

Question 16

Guarding against confounds in cross cultural research:

Answer 16

1. Clearly define the culture and it’s boundaries
2. Choose sampling methods carefully
3. Consider equivalence of research context
4. Consider physical environment
5. Consider language equivalence
6. Accept that phenomena being studied may not be equivalent across cultures

Question 17

What is included in the big 5 personality framework?

Answer 17

Claims to be replicable across cultures

1. Opened to experiences
2. Conscientiousness
3. Extraversion
4. Agreeableness
5. Neuroticism

Attempt to translate a western questionnaire with items that may not extend across all cultures

Question 18

How can we redefine research?

Answer 18

Traditionally, research is ‘done on’ people.
Increased emphasis on doing research with people, particularly in indigenous psychology and with refugee communities
Colonisation and cultural imperialism in Western Psychology

Question 19

What’re some value dimensions

Answer 19

Power distance (ways of dealing with inequality)
Uncertainty avoidance (the degree of tolerance of the unknown)
Individualism-collectivism (the degree of integration of individuals within groups)
Masculinity-femininity (differences in the social roles of women and men)
Long versus short term orientation (the degree to which delayed gratification of material, social and emotional needs is encouraged)

Question 20

Context in cultures

Answer 20

High context cultures: pay close attention to nonverbal signs to decode real meaning behind words or actions (China Africa)
Low context cultures: interpret actions and words literally (USA Australia)
Right versus loose cultures
- refers to the extent to which people are required to adhere to cultural norms
-Japan (tight), Canada (loose)

Question 21

What is culture shock?

Answer 21

When moving from one culture to another leads to disorientation and anxiety as they try to adapt to the practises, rules and expectations of another culture.
People raised in one culture often have to travel and relocate into another. Can be for positive or negative reasons. Generally seen as negative and clinical view in acculturation
Focus can be shifted to positive (eg. Trying to learn language, norms, customs).

Question 22

What is acculturation

Answer 22

Adaptions to another culture involves through a process called acculturation. How well, in some way someone adapts depends on: how much the old cultural identity is valued, and how much the new cultural identity is valued.
Old cultural identify valued - new culture identity valued:
YES-YES: integration
NO-YES: assimilation
YES-NO:separation
NO-NO: marginalisation

Question 23

What is multiculturalism?

Answer 23

The presence of, or support for the presence of, several distinct culture or ethnic groups within a society.

Question 24

Multiculturalism in Australia

Answer 24

In 1901 Australia developed a formalised immigration policy (commonly knows as the white Australia policy)

• policy favoured people from the British Isles
• excludes non-Europeans

Narrow cultural distance among Australian population.
Cultural diversity and therefore cultural distance increased following WW2, refugees from many part of Europe
Diversity increased further after 1980.

Question 25

What is identification in multiculturalism?

Answer 25

Identification are bicultural individuals have a stronger identification of identity with culture of origin.

Question 26

What is cultural time conservation in multiculturalism?

Answer 26

Culture of origin country develops

Migrants retain a conserved version of original culture

Question 27

Strengths of diversity in multiculturalism

Answer 27

Increased tolerance and understanding
Economic and social strength
Food music and art

Question 28

Sources of conflict in multiculturalism

Answer 28

Ethnocentrism: tendency for a persons own culture to influence the way they view the rest of the world
Prejudice: negative stereotypes
Racism: pervasive assumption of inferiority
Discrimination: behavioural manifestation of prejudiced attitudes

Question 29

What are cultural stereotypes?

Answer 29

Generalised views that we hold about particular groups of people
Involve a mixture of positive and negative attributes and lead to distortions in thinking:
-accentuation if group differences (us and them)
- creation of selective thinking
- assumption of homogeneity in other groups

Question 30

Indigenous history

Answer 30

At creation of commonwealth in 1901, aboriginal people were excluded form vote, not counted as people, excluded from pensions and allowances, not allowed to work for many government departments.
Many of these restrictions were only gradually removed during the 1969s.
Cloud present day relationships.
Aboriginal protection act passed in 1909
-had the right to remove aboriginal children’s from families
-resulted in stolen generations
Aboriginal land rights were challenged
-early colonists assumed aboriginal Australians had no concept of land ownership

Question 31

Early research was cross cultural

Answer 31

In 70s and 80s, psychological research used an etic approach.
Comparisons between Aboriginal Australians and non aboriginal Australians.
Research was ‘on’ aboriginal Australians

In recent decades focus has shifted.
Focus on experience of being aboriginal. Research now ‘with’ them. Research partners.

Question 32

What’s the indigenous worldview?

Answer 32

Dreaming as an explanation for the creation of the world.

Central value is reciprocity : giving and receiving in equal amounts.

Question 33

What is AIPA?

Answer 33

The Australian Indigenous Psychologist Association.
AIPEP: Australian indigenous psychology education project.
APAC: Australian psychology accreditation council