Cultural Dimensions PsychologyC

culture

 values, beliefs, language, traditions and behaviours of a social group passed down from different generations

culture norms

set of behaviours and beliefs shared by members of a social group

Hofstede’s theory

Hofesede’s cultural dimensions theory is a framework used to understand the differences in culture across countries. It includes 6 key dimensions: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity femininity, and short vs long term orientation. 

compare individualistic cultures & collectivistic cultures

Individualistic cultures tend to use “I”, and are more focused on themselves and individuals are not as connected with one another. People are expected to look after themselves. They tend not to rely on each other, and tend to prefer doing tasks by themselves, and because of this they might develop better decision making skills, compared to collectivist cultures. 

aim of kulkofsky et al

the role of culture on flashbulb memory

sample

The sample was made up of 274 adults from five different countries. All participants were identified as "middle class."

procedure

1. Participants were given 5 minutes to recall as many memories of public events, and had to have occurred at least a year ago

2. They were then asked 5 questioned about how they learned about the event:  

• Where were you when you first learned of the event?

• What time of day was it?

• How did you learn about it?

• What were you doing at the time that you learned about it?

• Whom were you with?

3. Then they were asked questions about the importance of the event to them personally 

• How nationally or internationally important was the event?

• How personally important was the event?

• How surprising was the event?

• How many times have you talked about the event since it happened?

findings

• In a collectivistic culture (eg: China), personal importance and intensity of emotion played less of a role in predicting FBM

• More individualistic culture put greater emphasis on an individual's personal involvement and emotional experiences

• Due to chinese culture, the individuals own experiences are often de-emphasized therefore a lower chance of developing FBM

conclusion

Your culture can affect your FBM and can affect how you perceive different events