Culture and Personality – Lecture 1 (Chapter 2)

These flashcards cover core definitions, historical milestones, key cultural processes, theoretical models, and applied practice points from the lecture on Culture and Personality. They are designed to help you recall essential concepts for Week 1 assessment and future exams.

How does psychology define “personality”?

A unique and stable pattern of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterizes a person.

What is the psychological definition of “culture”?

The shared symbols, language, values, and norms that guide human behavior within groups.

Give one example of how culture can emphasize or suppress a trait.

Assertiveness is emphasized in the U.S., whereas modesty is emphasized in Japan.

What central question does cultural psychology investigate?

How psychological processes are shaped by cultural context and how individuals become cultural beings.

In collectivist societies, which self-conscious emotion tends to regulate behavior more—shame or guilt?

Shame.

Name two major challenges researchers face when conducting cross-cultural studies.

Ensuring linguistic equivalence and controlling response bias.

Which type of cultural research develops theories rooted in a local culture rather than comparing cultures?

Indigenous psychology.

Whose 1930s study of Samoan adolescence highlighted cultural variation in development?

Margaret Mead.

During which decades did formal subfields such as cross-cultural and indigenous psychology emerge?

The 1980s–1990s.

Differentiate between enculturation and acculturation.

Enculturation is internalizing one’s native culture; acculturation is adapting to a new culture through migration or exposure.

Which sociologist argued that culture influences biological processes such as family planning?

Pitirim Sorokin.

List five key cultural factors commonly discussed as shaping personality.

Religion, race, ethnicity, gender, age, and disability.

How can religion strengthen resilience?

Through community support, shared values, and spiritual coping practices.

Race is best understood in psychology as what kind of construct?

A social (and political) construct with systemic implications rather than a strictly biological category.

What aspect of personality is primarily shaped by cultural gender roles?

Traits that are considered appropriate, such as assertiveness or nurturance.

How can cultural expectations toward the elderly differ worldwide?

Some cultures revere and respect elders, while others may marginalize or neglect them.

Define biculturalism in the context of identity.

Maintaining and integrating two cultural identities within a coherent sense of self.

What does the term “intersectionality” refer to?

The overlapping of multiple identity markers (e.g., race, gender, class) that collectively shape experience.

State the core idea of the Social Model of Disability.

Disability results from environmental and societal barriers rather than solely the person’s impairment.

How might martial arts contribute to empowerment for people with disabilities?

By fostering mind-body integration, confidence, and social inclusion.

Which psychologist is best known for narrative psychology and the idea that identity is built through stories?

Dan McAdams.

Name McAdams’ three levels of personality.

(1) Dispositional traits, (2) characteristic adaptations, and (3) life stories.

What kind of information does the Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) in the DSM-5 seek?

Cultural definitions of the problem, perceptions of cause and context, factors affecting coping, and help-seeking preferences.

Define cultural competence for mental-health practitioners.

The awareness, knowledge, and skills needed to work effectively across cultural differences.

How does cultural humility differ from cultural competence?

Cultural humility stresses ongoing self-reflection and openness to learn from clients, rather than assuming mastery.

Why can culturally adapted therapies be more effective than unadapted ones?

Because they align interventions with clients’ cultural narratives, values, and help-seeking styles.

In the case of a young Muslim woman preferring spiritual guidance, what cultural value is especially salient?

Collectivist family support and religious (Islamic) coping traditions.

What is one bias a Western-trained psychologist might bring to that Muslim client’s case?

Assuming individual talk therapy is universally acceptable or superior to spiritual healing methods.

Identify a major limitation of many Western personality models when applied cross-culturally.

They often assume individualism and autonomy are universal values.

Summarize the concept of Ubuntu.

An African philosophy—“I am because we are”—emphasizing relational identity, community, and mutual respect.

Give one example of an indigenous healing practice that can complement Western therapy.

Storytelling rituals facilitated by traditional healers.

How does autoethnography bridge theory and experience in cultural psychology?

By encouraging individuals to analyze and write about their own cultural narratives as data.

What is the main takeaway from cultural studies in personality about identity?

Identity is fluid, multilayered, and continually shaped by cultural context.

Why must psychological constructs undergo cross-cultural validation?

To confirm that the construct has the same meaning and relevance across different cultural groups.

What global trend underscores the need for culturally responsive mental health care?

Increased migration and globalization exposing people to diverse cultural stressors.