Cultural theme 1

culture

a dynamic group of people who share similar context with each other and are exposed to the same cultural messages.

Richard Schweder’s General psychology

the mind operates according to a set of natural and universal laws that are independent from context or content.

central processing unit (CPU) (general psychology)

the mind, because it operates independently of culture and environment (universal)

cultural psychology

the mind is connected to the cultural context it operates in, what people think and feel is shaped by their cultural environment. (goes against general psychology)

culture and mind make each other up (explain this)

culture comes from minds interacting with each other and in turn cultures shape how the minds operate.

4 levels of universality

• non-universal

• existential universality

• functional universality

• accessibility universality

non-universal

a psychological process does not exist in all cultures, it is a cultural invention (using chopsticks)

existential universality

a process exist in all cultures but is not used in the same way everywhere (parenting, is everywhere but very different between cultures)

functional universality

a process exists everywhere and serves the same function, but it is not accessible everywhere (learning language, all children have the ability to learn language but acces to good learning environments can vary)

accessibility universality

the process exists everywhere, is used in the same ways and is accessible in all cultures. (emotions)

WEIRD populations

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic

Color-blind approach (to stop discrimination)

stop paying attention to cultural differences because this leads to an ‘us versus them’ mindset which causes discrimination

multicultural approach (to stop discrimination)e

observe and appreciate cultural differences

ethnocentrism

judging people from other cultures by the standard’s of our own culture.

independent view of the self

the self-concept/identity is based on inner attributes and reflect who a person truly is. (inner essence)

interdependent view of the self

the self-concept/identity is based on relationships that the individual has (relational based)

individualistic cultures

Foster independence, personal achievement, and self-sufficiency

collectivistic cultures

group membership is important, family closeness etc.

self-consistency

how consistent our behavior and thoughts are in different situations.

cognitive dissonance

distressing feeling we get when we behave inconsistently (consequence of no self-consistency)

dissonance reduction

rid ourselves of cognitive dissonance by changing our attitude or acting more consistent.

subjective self-awareness

we see the world from our own perspective, we evaluate our self from our own perspective

objective self-awareness

when we look at ourselves from and external observer’s viewpoint, we are conscious about how we are perceived by others

incremental theory

the self is malleable and can change through effort

entity theory

the self is fixed and cannot change

subjective culture

the way people think, feel and believe within a culture (the internal, psychological part of culture)

material culture

the physical objects that people create, use or value in a culture (touchable and seeable things)

Etic aspects

the universal aspects that can be observed across different cultures (like emotions)

Emic aspects

culture-specific aspects (sinterklaas in Nederland, unieke aspecten van culturen)

Types of comparative studies, Van de Vijver

• exploration/hypothesis testing

• structure-oriented/level-oriented

1. psychological differences (no exploration)

2. generalizability (no hypothesis testing)

3. ecological linkage (yes exploration)

4. contextual theory (yes hypothesis testing)

exploratief

you don’t know what to expect, you’re looking for differences and similarities

hypothesis testing

you’ve got a theory or expectation that you want to confirm or debunk

structure-oriented

does the concept mean the same thing in every culture

level-oriented

who scores higher or lower on certain characteristics

4 types of structure-oriented comparative studies

1. structure-oriented psychological differences (Do psychological concepts mean the same thing in different cultures? —> like emotion or intelligence)

2. structure-oriented generalizability (Are already existing psychological models generalizable to other cultures?)

3. structure-oriented ecological linkage (Why are structures within societies different between cultures?)

4. structure-oriented contextual theory (basically the same thing as ecological linkage)

4 types of level-oriented comparative studies

1. level-oriented psychological differences (compares scores between cultures)

2. level-oriented generalizability (looks at if known psychological effects are the same across cultures —> are women more emotional than men everywhere?)

3. level-oriented ecological linkage (links score differences between cultures to background features like religion, educational level etc)

4. level-oriented contextual theory (tests and explains why the score differences exist)

why are these different types important?

• makes clear that not all cultural research is the same

• shows that we don’t only need to focus on differences but also on the why and how

• it helps researchers with making better decisions in the making and analyzing of their own research