Cultural Psych Exam #1

culture is information…

acquired from others through social learning that can influence behavior

culture is a group…

of people within a shared context (e.g., geographical, historical, linguistic, etc.)

culture is a set of ____ and the meaning behind these ____

tasks

what are three challenges to defining culture?

1. cultural boundaries are not always clear-cut

2. cultures are dynamic and change over time

3. there are many variations within cultures as there are between cultures and people belong to multiple cultures

cultural psychology results are not meant to be reflective of all individuals in ____ culture or be applied ______ to all members of a culture

one, equally

cultural psychology results reflect ______ tendencies between cultural groups

average

general psychology focuses on _______

universals

general psychology assumes the mind is _______ from context or content

independent

general psychology tries to observe the ____ mind at baseline

“raw”

general psychology considers cultural variation as ______ noise

unwanted

cultural psychology focuses on ______ variation

cultural

cultural psychology assumes that the mind is ___ ______ of context and content

not independent

cultural psychology studies the different ______ ______ we create in our minds in response to living in different environments

meaning systems

cultural psychology sees culture as the _______ rather than the noise

message

general psychology sees culture as _______

overlay

cultural psychology sees culture as _______ _______

constitutive element

culture and the ____ make each other up

mind

cultures emerge from _____ interacting together and cultures shape how those ____ operate

minds

culture can inform the content of our thoughts, leading to _______ differences across cultures

systematic

differences in the way people think or behave in different cultures can be _________ ________, rather than explained away

meaningfully explained

we cannot consider the _____ separate from its ______

mind, culture

the vast majority of psychological studies are ______ to particular samples

limited

most participants in psychological studies are ______

WEIRD (Western, Education, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic)

psychologists try to make broad claims about universal human psychology but WEIRD psychology is ___ ________ of the rest of the world

not representative

WEIRD psychological responses are often on the ______ ____ of the distribution of possible responses

extreme end

we study cultural psychology to better understand the full ________ of human psychology

distribution

we study cultural psychology to understand the implications for _______ in psychology

variation

does variation always mean that something doesn’t happen or isn’t reliable?

no

culture-blind approach

emphasizes common human nature and ignores group differences

multicultural approach

recognizes that group identities are different

those in favor of the culture-blind approach argue that people will often favor their own group over others, so ______ the ______ of group boundaries might be helpful

discouraging, salience

the culture-blind approach is _______ ________

unintentionally problematic

those in favor of the multicultural approach argue that people ______ _____ their groups and identities

meaningfully value

those in favor of the multicultural approach argue that downplaying differences may suggest minority groups conform to a _______ majority-group norm

“groupless”

those in favor of the multicultural approach argue that perhaps the solution is to ______ and ________ differences in group characteristics

observe, appreciate

multicultural messages are more effective when they highlight benefits for ______ and ______ groups

majority, minority

trying to understand differences may be better than ____ _______ to them

not attending

ethnocentrism

judging other cultures by comparing them to our culture, using our own culture as the standard of comparison

animals seem to ___ ____ picky about whose behaviors they imitate

not be

humans are more ______ about who they choose to learn from

selective

prestige bias

humans prefer to learn from people who are respected by others and receive their attention

prestige bias appears in children as young as ________

4-year-olds

what is the evolutionary purpose of prestige bias?

a prestigious person may teach you a necessary skill and skills are a survival advantage

similarity bias

humans prefer to learn from people who are similar to them

children imitate people similar to them in _____, ______, ______, even ______

gender, ethnicity, language, accent

what is the evolutionary purpose of similarity bias?

imitating someone like you indicates you’re part of a shared group

conformist transmission

humans prefer to learn behaviors that are more common

the most _____ behaviors should be the ones that are being performed the most

useful

what is the evolutionary purpose of conformist transmission?

if everyone is doing it, it’s likely essential to survival

________ and _______ taking are necessary for cultural learning

mentalizing, perspective

mentalizing

taking an interest in the mental state and perspective of others (e.g., intentions, goals, preferences, strategies) 

imitative learning

the learner internalizes the model’s goals and behavior strategies

imitative learning involves _____ ______ what you think that person is trying to do

copying exactly

imitative learning leads to cultural learning due to the ________ nature

imitative

emulative learning

focus on the context/environment involved in the behavior

emulative learning does not require _______, uses the environment in a ___ way to accomplish the model’s goal

imitation, new

imitative learning ______ model’s goals

internalizes

imitative learning _____ copies actions and behaviors

directly

imitative learning focuses on the goal of the _____

model

imitative learning uses ________

mentalizing

imitative learning is more common in _______

humans

emulative learning involves copying the _______, not the specific behaviors

result

emulative learning involves a focus on manipulating ______ to achieve goal

context

emulative learning ____ ____ use mentalizing

does not

emulative learning is more common in _____

chimps

the ratchet effect

cultural information becomes more complex and useful overtime; information can continue to build without losing earlier information

cumulative cultural evolution

begins with a creative invention that is then socially transmitted; requires precise initiative learning and sophisticated communication

has any non-human species shown evidence of significant cumulative cultural evolution?

no

what aids cumulative cultural evolution?

population size and interconnectedness

population size

the larger the group of people, the better cultural information can be maintained and improved upon

interconnectedness

culture evolves faster in larger groups that are interconnected

compared to other similar sized mammals, our brains are _____

huge

our brains use a massive amount of ______

energy

the human brain uses ____ of total metabolic energy

16%

the average mammal brain uses ____ of total metabolic energy

3%

humans evolved to have less ____ _____ than chimpanzees (and others) because of their larger brains 

muscle mass

more ____ requires more _____

muscle, energy

human digestive tracts are ____ smaller in humans than other primates of similar size

60%

we spend less energy ______ ______ and more energy _____

digesting food, thinking

we can have a shorter digestive tract because humans digest much of their food ______ of their body

outside

______ food extracts the energy

cooking

our ______ contributed to the evolution of our _____

culture, genes

gene-culture coevolution

the interaction of genes and culture where genetic evolution produces skills that enhance cultural learning and cultural habits then shape genetics 

social brain hypothesis

the cognitive demands of living in a social society led to the development of larger brains

cultures change over time as new _____ develop and _____ changes

ideas, context

cultural psychology findings represent a _______ in time  

snapshot

as cultures evolve, people’s _________ processes change and evolve too

psychological

culture can adapt from the ______ and ______ of a society

ecology, geography

our physical surroundings can influence how our societies are _______ and the _____ we adopt

structured, values

proximate causes

a cause that has a direct and immediate relationship with its effect

distal causes

an initial difference that leads to effects over a long period of time, often through an indirect relationship 

evoked culture

all people, regardless of where they are from, have a biologically based repertoire of behaviors that are accessible to them

these biologically based behaviors are _______ for appropriate situations.

appropriate

these biologically based behaviors are not ______ from others

learned

cultural variation

universal tendencies being activated in response to specific conditions

cultures that have a greater history of ________ conform more

disease

evoked culture is tied to specific _________ environments

geographic

transmitted culture

people learn certain cultural practices by social learning, observing, and imitating others near them 

dynamic social impact theory

individuals influence each other through interacting directly; leads to like-minded people clustered by geography 

factors that lead to spread of information

communicable, emotional, useful, and occasionally unexpected