What is Culture?

Question 1

Define Culture

Answer 1

Culture encompasses the belief system or the way of life of an individual within a society. It is concerned with their language, cuisine, norms, values, rituals, traditions, arts, architecture and clothing.

It is a macro, social, group-level construct.

Question 2

Differentiate Culture from Society

Answer 2

Society refers to a group of people living together in a community with common traditions, interests and institutions. Culture refers to the norms and social behavior found in a society such as customs, habits, beliefs, and laws.

Question 3

Define Society

Answer 3

A group of people who live together in a particular social system.

Question 4

What is the Function of Culture?

Answer 4

Group Life
Social Complexity
Needs for social coordination
Behavior that increase social coordination and reduce social chaos.

Question 5

Culture in Groups

Answer 5

Culture and Nationality
Culture and Language
Culture and Ethnicity
Culture and Gender
Culture and Disability
Culture and Sexual Orientation
Culture and Race
Culture and Personality

Question 6

Define Nationality

Answer 6

Refers to a person’s country of origin ( American, Mexican, Filipino)

Question 7

Define Language

Answer 7

It is means of communication between people expressed in words, syntax, grammar and pragmatics.

Question 8

Define Ethnicity

Answer 8

Derived from the Greek word, “ethnos.” This refers to the people of a nation or tribe and is usually used to denote one’s racial, national, or cultural origins (Tagalog, Bisaya, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon Bikol, Waray). In the United States ethnic groups include African Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, Hispanics and Latinos, and Native Americans.

Question 9

What variables related to ethnicity account for psychological differences among groups of individuals?

Answer 9

Knowing the ethnicity (or race) of a person does little to explain psychological outcomes in cognition, emotion, motivation, or health. Given these limitations, psychologists need to go beyond the use of ethnic labels to explain individual and group differences in psychology.

Question 10

3 key aspects of ethnicity that deserve further attention:

Answer 10

cultural norms and values;
the strength, salience, and meaning of ethnic identity;
attitudes associated with minority status.

Question 11

Define Sex

Answer 11

Refers to the biological differences between men and women, the most obvious being the anatomical differences in their reproductive systems.

Question 12

Define Sex Roles

Answer 12

Behaviors and patterns of activities men and women may engage related to their biological differences and the process of reproduction (such as breast-feeding)

Question 13

Define Gender

Answer 13

Refers to the behaviors or patterns of activities that a society or culture deems appropriate for men and women that may or may not be related to sex and sex roles.

Question 14

Define Gender Roles

Answer 14

Refers to the degree to which a person adopts the gender-specific and appropriate behaviors ascribed by his or her culture.

Question 15

Why does gender differences emerge?

Answer 15

Gender differences arise because of differences in the psychological cultures transmitted to men and women.

Question 16

Why does persons with disabilities differ from the normal population?

Answer 16

Persons with disabilities differ from those without disabilities because of the physical impairment in their senses, limbs, or other parts of their bodies.

Question 17

What makes person with disabilities similar from the normality?

Answer 17

Persons with disabilities share the same feelings, ways of thinking, and motivations as everyone else.

Question 18

Define Sexual Orientation

Answer 18

It is the particular psychological outlook and characteristics that are shared by and unique to each orientation—whether straight or gay, mono or bi.

Question 19

Is culture the only important underlying feature of these social groupings?

Answer 19

There may be a host of other factors:
personal and social
psychological and biological
innate and environmental
But culture is probably a very important factor in understanding individuals.

Question 20

Define Race

Answer 20

A category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits.

Question 21

3 Major Races

Answer 21

Caucasoid- lighter- complexioned racial group
Mongoloid- racial group of native people
Negroid- indigenous group of central and southern Africa.

Question 22

Controversies about the origin of race

Answer 22

Prevalent theories posit a common ancestor originating in Africa 200,000 years ago, whose descendants then migrated to other parts of the world.

Other theories and apparently conflicting sets of evidence, however, suggest that humans may have existed in multiple regions of the world.

Psychologists today agree that race is more of a social construction than a biological essential.

Thus, our view is that “racial” differences are of little scientific or practical use without a clear understanding of the underlying causes of the similarities and differences observed.

Question 23

Define Personality

Answer 23

It refers to the individual differences that exist among individuals within group such as traits, attributes, qualities, and characteristics.

Question 24

Define Popular Culture

Answer 24

Popular culture generally refers to trends in music, art, and other expressions that become popular among a group of people.

Question 25

Difference between Culture and Pop Culture

Answer 25

Culture involves a system of rules that cuts across attitudes, values, opinions, beliefs, norms, and behaviors. Popular culture may involve sharing in the value of a certain type of expression, but does not necessarily involve a way of life.

A second important difference concerns cultural transmission across generations. Popular culture refers to values or expressions that come and go as fads or trends within a few years. Culture is relatively stable over time and even across generations (despite its dynamic quality and potential for change).

Question 26

Define Cross-cultural Research

Answer 26

It involves participants of more than one cultural background and then compares findings obtained across those cultures.

It is a way of understanding principles about human behaviors within a global perspective.

Because cross-cultural research is a method, it is not topic-specific.

Question 27

What distinguishes cultural psychology from mainstream psychology?

Answer 27

The interest in understanding cultural influences on behavior, and the testing of limitations to knowledge using cross-cultural research methods.

Question 28

Contribution of the Study of Culture on Psychological Truths

Answer 28

It gives definitive knowledge of people of a certain culture (or race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, or sexual orientation).

It distinguished researches in which students and faculty hypothesized of being truly applicable only to themselves.

It is a two-way source of knowledge between the Psychology instructors and the students in which they can both learn and understand a theory and the research that supports it.

The field of psychology can produce accurate knowledge that reflects and applies to them.

Cross-cultural research plays an important role in helping psychologists produce that accurate knowledge for all because it tests whether what is true for some is also true for others.

Cultural diversity in findings and cultural differences in research are widespread and commonplace in all areas.

These differences are forcing psychologists to take a good, hard look at their theories and, in many cases, to call for revisions, sometimes major, in the way we have conceptualized many aspects of behavior.

Culture incorporated as a necessary and important ingredient in mainstream psychology.

Question 29

The Contribution of the Study of Culture in our Own Lives

Answer 29

Much of this popularity is due to the increased awareness of the importance of culture as an influencing factor on behavior in research, and, unfortunately, to increased awareness of the frequency of intercultural conflicts within and between countries, which have also led to much interest in cross-cultural research.

The number of research articles incorporating people of different cultures has increased tremendously in all top-tier mainstream journals as well, such as the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Developmental Psychology, and Psychological Science.

Theoretical models are increasingly incorporating culture, and the number of books involving culture has also increased.

In a broad perspective, an increased interest in cultural psychology is a normal and healthy development in psychology. As psychology has matured, many scientists have come to recognize that much, but not all, of the research and theories once thought to be universal for all people is indeed culture-bound.

Question 30

Similarities of Culture and Pop Culture

Answer 30

Popular culture and culture share an expression and it is value by a group of people.