Cultural Psychology

Introduction to Culture and Psychology

  • Based on Chapter 15 of Bernstein et al., J. Cranney & L. Mellish lecture material.
  • Four parts over two lectures.
  • Acknowledgement of Country.
  • Intended learning outcomes:
    • Describe culture, its relevance, and its dimensions.
    • Describe the importance of culture to health.
    • Identify the consequences of cultural contact.
    • Understand culture & psychology within the context of psychological literacy & global literacy.
    • Describe how we can research culture inclusively.
  • Blue text indicates material additional to the textbook.
  • Textbook references 2nd and 4th editions.

Stereotypes and Cultural Identity

  • Stereotypes: Are they true?
    • Sometimes, depending on context and reasons.
  • What is the dominant "Australian" culture?
  • Where do "Asians" and "Indigenous Australians" fit in?
  • Third-year psychology students’ responses:
    • "Australian":
      • Positive: Easy-going, humorous, friendly, barbecue-loving, lucky, fair.
      • Negative: Lazy, loud, harsh, racist, arrogant, obese.
    • "Asian":
      • Positive: Smart, disciplined, strong family values, polite, humble, quiet, reserved.
      • Negative: Sexist, bad drivers, competitive, stingy, critical.
    • "Indigenous Australian":
      • Positive: Family-oriented, spiritual, linked with the land, friendly.
      • Negative: Marginalized, polarized, health issues, ghetto, disorderly, drunk.

Preparation for Next Lecture

  • Watch Jane Elliott’s ‘Australian Eye’ video (approximately 50 minutes).
    • Accessible via Moodle or provided URL.
    • Content may be distressing.
    • Final exam Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) on this video.
    • https://search-informit- org.wwwproxy1.library.unsw.edu.au/doi/10.3316/edutv.35466
  • Statement exercise:
    • https://janeelliott.com/learning-materials-1
  • Jane Elliott quotes:
    • “Racial prejudice is an emotional commitment to ignorance.”
    • “God created one race: the human race. Humans created racism.”

International Competences for Undergraduate Psychology (ICUP)

  • Graduates should be able to:
    • Propose, implement, and/or evaluate interventions to meet psychological needs of communities (local to global).
    • Reference the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as eliminating racism and human habitat destruction.
      • (Nolan et al., 2025; https://osf.io/6vz8s)
  • Examinable content:
    • These lectures, including specific text topics.
    • ‘Cultural Psyc Interactive Module’ on Moodle.
    • ‘Australian Eye’ video.

Why Study Cultural Psychology?

  • Reasons for studying cultural psychology:
    • Curiosity about how culture influences thoughts & behavior.
    • Interest in improving cultural harmony.
    • Desire to work effectively with others from different cultures.
  • Key concept: Cultural responsiveness.
    • Definition: Capacity to “Apply knowledge and skills of psychology in a manner that is reflexive, culturally appropriate and sensitive to the diversity of individuals” (APAC, 2020, p.11).
    • Involves willingness to learn about another culture for respectful interaction.
    • Prerequisite: Active listening.

What is Culture?

  • Culture is:
    • Not a thing, place, or territory.
    • Dynamic and fluid.
    • Framework for understanding ourselves and our social world.
    • A set of shared meanings, values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of a particular group.
    • Often transmitted across generations.
    • Influences how we think and feel about ourselves and others.
    • Includes artifacts such as symbols, art, dance, and language.
  • Culture acts as a:
    • Filter through which we view reality (‘cultural trance’).
    • Learned consciously and unconsciously.
    • Developed and reinforced through rituals, history, cuisine, religion, clothing, government structures, laws, family structure, formal education, etc.
    • Relatively stable but changes over time.
    • Distinguishes one group from another.
    • See relevant Moodle Cultural psych interactive exercise

Cultural Blindness and WEIRD Psychology

  • Analogy: Culture is like water to a fish, hard to imagine life outside of it.
    • D.L. Medin, 2012
  • Cultural blindness refers to the difficulty in recognizing the influence of our own culture.
  • WEIRD psychology:
    • Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic.
    • See p.845 of text.
    • Sanches de Oliveira & Baggs (2023). Psychology’s WEIRD problems.
    • https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/psychologys-weird- problems/C324108A678435B4F18EF712EFB793BB

Dimensions of Culture

  • Psychological scientists focus on differences between individualist and collectivist cultures.
  • Individualism:
    • Emphasizes the autonomy of the individual.
    • Dominant in “Western” countries.
  • Collectivism:
    • Emphasizes the interrelatedness of all members of society and their collective endeavors.
    • Dominant in many “Asian” countries.
  • See Figure 15.1 in 4th ed. for visual representation.

Individualism vs. Collectivism: Australia vs. Japan

  • Example: Who looks after the grandparents in your culture?
  • Reference: Table 15.1 in 4th ed.

Hofstede's Dimensions of Culture

  • Geert Hofstede identified additional dimensions:
    • Power distance.
    • Uncertainty avoidance.
    • Masculinity/femininity or Quantity/quality.
    • Long-term/Short-term orientation.
    • Indulgence/Restraint.
  • Reference: Table 15.2 in 3rd ed.

Detailed Explanation of Hofstede's Dimensions

  • Power Distance:
    • Extent to which people accept differences in wealth and power.
    • Latitude of decision making, tolerance of disagreement.
    • Varies between Asia, Latin, and Western cultures.
  • Uncertainty Avoidance:
    • How people and groups cope with uncertainty.
    • High uncertainty avoidance groups:
      • More rules to control the future.
      • Less tolerance of change.
      • More belief in absolute truths.
      • More belief in the attainment of expertise.

Quantity vs. Quality of Life (Masculinity vs. Femininity)

  • Quantity of Life ('Masculinity'):
    • Financial focus, performance, 'success', assertiveness, competition.
  • Quality of Life ('Femininity'):
    • Cooperation, friendly atmosphere, solidarity, care for the weak.
    • Focus on job security and physical conditions.

Pragmatism / Time Orientation

  • Short-term orientation:
    • Past-present orientation values.
    • Respect for tradition.
    • Fulfilling social obligations.
  • Long-term orientation:
    • Future-oriented values (persistence, thrift).
  • Optional video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3oIiH7BLmg

Indulgence vs. Restraint

  • Extent of control of desires and impulses.

*Hofstede Dimensions Examples

  • Australia vs. Japan Numerical comparison.
    • Power Distance: Australia 36, Japan 54
    • Individualism: Australia 90, Japan 46
    • Masculinity: Australia 61, Japan 95
    • Uncertainty Avoidance: Australia 51, Japan 92
    • Long Term Orientation: Australia 21, Japan 88
    • Indulgence: Australia 71, Japan 42

Criticisms of Hofstede's Dimensions

  • Reflective of the period in which they were developed (1960s-70s).
  • Research participants (IBM employees) were not representative of the national population.
  • Relied on self-report data.
  • Assumes culture is static, but it is not.
  • Too broad and lacks predictive power.
  • Useful jumping-off point for discussing cultural differences and their influence on behavior.
    • See studies in Text (p.836-839).

Alternatives to Hofstede’s Dimensions

  • Loose Cultures:
    • Have weak social norms and a high tolerance of deviant behavior.
  • Tight Cultures:
    • Have strong social norms and a low tolerance of deviant behavior.

Culture and Identity: Enculturation

  • Enculturation:
    • Process of learning and understanding the values and norms of the culture you live in.
    • Both conscious and unconscious.
    • Transmission of culture and learning about heritage.
    • 'Cultural socialization'.

Culture and Identity: Ethnic and Racial Identity

  • Ethnic Identity:
    • Part of a person’s identity associated with their racial, religious, or cultural group.
  • Racial Identity:
    • Set of features or characteristics shared by a specific group.

Models of Ethnic Identity: Phinney's Model

  • Phinney’s (1989) ethnic identity development stage model:
    1. Unexamined:
      • Has not given much thought to their ethnic identity.
      • May identify with the dominant culture.
    2. Exploration:
      • Actively engages in learning about their ethnicity.
      • Results in deeper understanding.
    3. Achievement:
      • Has made a commitment to (and resolved) their ethnic identity.
      • Exhibits stability.

Models of Ethnic Identity: Helm's Model

  • Helm’s (1994) white racial identity development model:
    1. Contact:
      • Naive concerning the importance of race.
      • Unaware of racial group membership.
    2. Disintegration:
      • 'Whiteness' is acknowledged.
      • Awareness of racial moral dilemmas.
    3. Reintegration:
      • Displaced anger/hostility towards people of color.
    4. Pseudo-independence:
      • White guilt; belief that racism is only perpetrated by ‘bad whites’.
    5. Immersion and Emersion:
      • A search to define a non-racist white identity.
    6. Autonomy:
      • Racial humanism.
      • Internally defined non-racist identity.
      • Values racial diversity.

Current Perspectives on Ethnic-Racial Identity

  • Little evidence supports Helm’s model.
  • Current understandings draw on social-ecological theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1989).
  • Identity must be understood within the context of experiences, relationships, and systems across the lifespan.
  • http://thebeginningofpsych.weebly.com/psych-journal/journal-8-urie-bronfenbrenners-ecological-systems-theory

Psychology, Culture, and Health

  • Cultural Psychology:
    • Understanding culture from within.
  • Cross-Cultural Psychology:
    • Comparing and contrasting cultural dimensions.

Orientations in Studying Culture and Health

  • Three general orientations:
    1. Absolutism:
      • Assumption that all psychological phenomena are the same in all cultures.
    2. Universalism:
      • Culture affects the display of constructs, but basic psychological processes are the same.
      • Attempts to understand the role of culture through comparisons.
    3. Relativism:
      • Human behavior can only be understood within a cultural context.
      • Cannot compare cultural groups.

Importance of Culture to Health

  • To tackle health at a global level, we must consider the role and impact of culture.
  • Including systemic/structural aspects that disadvantage certain groups.
  • May 17: International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia.

Models of Health

  • Different models of health include:
    • The biomedical health model in Western culture.
    • Link between mental, physical, and natural environment in Asian cultures.
    • Holistic frameworks for Aboriginal Australian and Māori populations.

Social Emotional Well Being (SEWB) Framework

  • Mental health and wellbeing principles and practice.
  • National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People’s Mental Health and Social and Emotional Well Being (2004).
  • Holistic context: mental, physical, cultural, and spiritual health.
  • Land, family, and spirituality are central to well-being.
  • Recognizes strengths, creativity, endurance, and understanding of relationships between humans and their environment.
  • Centrality of family and kinship.

Social Emotional Well Being (SEWB) Resources

  • Gee et al., 2014.
  • Optional Activities:
    • Think of another minority group in Australia to which many of the SEWB principles may be usefully applied.
    • Think of some older, and some more recent Western health approaches that have similarities with many of the SEWB principles.
    • Think of how YOUR health and wellbeing may be influenced by the different sectors in Gee et al. ’s diagram.
  • 2024 video - Graham Gee et al.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFBVVhL- sXM&list=PLxeUTApVvhwPpwsLix9FbJd2-8DjJnnL8&index=2

Rob Riley's Challenge to Psychology

  • Understanding of Aboriginal culture, history, and contemporary issues is crucial for psychologists.
  • Responsibility to seek knowledge and ensure its availability in training programs.

Professional Requirements: Indigenous Psychology

  • Search “AIPEP Australian Indigenous Psychology Education Project”
  • Psychology Board of Australia core professional psychology competencies.
  • Optional: See new competencies: https://www.psychology board.gov.au/Standards- and- Guidelines/Professional- practice- standards/Professional- competencies-for- psychology.aspx

Does 'Normal' Cross Cultures?

  • Evidence suggests psychopathology may be cross-culturally absolute.
    • Universalism.
  • Cultural expression may differ.
  • Culture-bound syndromes exist across the world.
    • Relativism.
    • Table 15.4 in 4th ed.

Cultural Contact: Culture Shock and Acculturation

  • Culture Shock:
    • Clash between familiarity and a new country.
  • Acculturation:
    • Getting to know and understand other cultures.
    • Cultures in contact change.

Issues with Cultural Contact

  • Ethnocentrism:
    • Interpreting the world through our own ethnic or cultural origins.
  • Racism:
    • Ideas that suggest particular groups are superior or inferior.
  • Ben Pearson on ‘Harmony Day’:
    • https://indigenousx.com.au/the-truth-about-harmony-day/

More Issues with Cultural Contact: Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

  • Stereotype:
    • False assumption that all members of a group share the same characteristics.
  • Prejudice:
    • Uninformed attitude towards an entire group, usually involving stereotypes and negative feelings.
  • Xenophobia:
    • Fear or hatred of strangers or anything foreign and unfamiliar.
  • Discrimination:
    • Unjustifiable differential treatment of various groups.
      Pr
      rejudice or Discrimination

Consequences of Cultural Contact

  • Cultural contact can be pleasurable and rewarding.
  • Negative consequences may occur.
  • Historically, consequences have been catastrophic for many groups.

Negative Consequences of Cultural Contact

  • Genocide:
    • Intentional attempt to eliminate people belonging to other cultural or ethnic groups.
  • Moral Exclusion:
    • Positioning people or groups outside our scope of justice.
    • Allows unfair treatment.

Positive Consequences of Cultural Contact

  • Cultural ‘competence’:
    • Exposing people to cultural awareness, sensitivity, and safety training.

Stereotypes in Detail

  • A false assumption that all members of a group share the same characteristics (Bernstein et al.).
  • Generalized belief about the characteristics of a group.
  • Characteristics attributed based on group membership.
  • Can be positive and/or negative.
  • Forming stereotypes is a normal psychological process.
  • Categorization to predict behavior of others.
  • Need to question the basis.
  • Accurate?
  • Often not (e.g., McCrae & Terracciano, 2006).

National Personality & Stereotypes

  • 'Big 5' personality test of 51 national samples provides an average 'real' personality profile.
  • Respondents also rated 'typical' individuals from various countries, creating a national stereotype.
  • Two personality profiles were created for each country: actual and stereotype.
  • Australian 'real' average personality profile:
    • Neuroticism = average.
    • Extraversion = higher than average.

Stereotypes: Distortions of Reality (Canada vs USA)

  • Stereotypes accentuate group differences: “us-them” thinking.
  • Stereotypes create selective thinking: Confirmation bias.
  • Stereotypes assume homogeneity in other groups.

Examples of Discrimination & CULTURAL CONTACT

  • Bus field study (UQ researchers).
  • Discrimination.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSNvfk0zFNc
  • CRONULLA RIOTS
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA7CrXhyM-0&NR=1 = Chasers
  • See “Between the Flags” Tropfest video on Moodle.
  • http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1574690.htm = this photo Who are these people?
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbEeLsctzNg

Cultural Contact/Transitions and Culture Shock

  • Culture shock:
    • Feeling of disorientation and anxiety.
    • Occurs as people adapt to the practices, rules, and expectations of another culture.
    • Different languages, norms, social structures, political processes, etc.
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9CYssjP-e4

Four Stages of Culture Shock

  1. Honeymoon:
    • Initial euphoria and excitement.
  2. Disenchantment:
    • Disillusionment and hostility toward the new culture.
  3. Beginning Resolution:
    • Understanding grows of the new culture.
    • Adaptability increases.
  4. Effective Functioning:
    • Adjustment as the individual learns how to fit into the new cultural environment.
  • See textbook for discussion of complexities regarding culture shock.
  • Criticisms Table 15.6 in 4th ed.
  • Is it possible that culture shock can be experienced by people in their home country?

Reducing Prejudice and Increasing Cultural Responsivity

  1. Contact hypothesis:
    • Putting people from different groups together with a common, superordinate goal.
  2. Challenging false beliefs.
  3. Fostering empathy.
  4. Fostering collective guilt.
  5. Consciously trying not to label/stereotype people (when safe).
  6. Tackling unconscious bias:
    • http://www.aldenhabacon.com/unconscious-bias/
  7. Working to decrease systemic racism.
  8. Tools such as active listening.

UNSW Graduate Capability and Cultural Awareness

  • UNSW graduate capability includes global citizenship, with cultural awareness.
  • Value of cultural awareness includes:
    • Know the “universals” of human behavior, and the origins of different culture-specific thoughts & behaviors.
    • Recognize your own cultural heritage and implicit processing.
    • Explore your own ‘back yard’—your fellow students in your classrooms.
    • Actively listen to others!

Cultural Psychology, Psychological Literacy, and Global Literacy

  • Psychological literacy:
    • Capacity to intentionally apply psychology knowledge/skills/values (Cranney & Dunn, 2011; Morris et al., 2021).
      [see text!]
  • Global literacy/citizenship:
    • Understanding of global interrelatedness and contributing positively as a member of global communities (Cranney et al., 2012).
    • Overlaps with aspects of psychological literacy.

Cultural Responsiveness Defined

  • "Apply knowledge and skills of psychology in a manner that is reflexive, culturally appropriate and sensitive to the diversity of individuals” (APAC, 2020, p.11).

Psychological Principles Application

  • Level 1: self Knowledge
    • Application of psychological principles adaptively to oneself and immediate family & friends.
  • Level 2: local leaders
    • Application of psychological principles in a way that is adaptive for one’s local community
  • Level 3: global literacy
    • Applying psychological principles in local, national or global contexts, reflecting awareness of global issues and where one would need to play a leadership role
    • (Cranney & Morris, 2011) www.psychliteracy.com www.psychologicalliteracy.com

International Competences and Responsiveness

  • International Competences for Undergraduate Psychology (ICUP).
  • Nolan, Cranney et al., osf.io/6y38x
    1. Cultural Responsiveness and Diversity
      4.1 Demonstrate reflexivity regarding the impact of one’s own and others’ historical, social-cultural, and geopolitical contexts and roots in understanding self and others.
      4.2 Demonstrate cultural responsiveness and humility, behaviour that is respectful, compassionate, culturally appropriate, and sensitive in relation to individuals, groups and communities, from diverse cultural and personal backgrounds.
      4.3 Propose, implement and/or evaluate interventions based on psychological science to meet the needs of diverse cultural groups including marginalised groups.
      PSYCHOLOGICAL LITERACY & GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP
  • Cranney et al., 2022a,b
  • Cranney et al., 2022c.
  • Optional Recommended Book: Humankind: A Hopeful History. Rutger Bregman.

Cultural Competence and Active Listening (requisites)

  • Cultural “competence” (Walker et al., 2014):
    • Knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values necessary for effective intercultural interactions.
    • Operates at several different levels.
    • Dynamic, continuous process.
    • Requires self-knowledge and ongoing critical reflection.
  • Cultural competence/responsiveness is foundational to global literacy/citizenship.
  • Active listening is foundational to cultural competence/responsiveness

Active Listening: A Prerequisite to Cultural Responsiveness

  • Giving total and undivided attention to another person.
  • Showing that you care about what they think and feel.
    Exercise
  • Exercise: Think about an important person in your life. What kind of listening do you most often use when you are talking with them? (Morris et al., 2018)

Active Listening Tools

  • Exercise: In pairs, Person 1 talk for 2 min about a current issue they have eg balancing different demands on time. Person 2 use these tools. Person 1 rate (1-10) how well they feel ‘listened to’ . Try this at home!
  • See Morris et al. (2018) “The Rubber Brain” Chapters 8&9

Cultural and Cross-Cultural Research Methods

  • Cross-cultural researchers:
    • Explore and compare cultures.
  • Cultural researchers:
    • Understand cultures within their own context.

Frames of Reference for Research

  • Etic:
    • Outsider looking in (cross-cultural researcher).
  • Emic:
    • Insider perspective/subjective experience (cultural researcher).

Goals of Cultural and Cross-Cultural Research

  • Test generalizability of psychological constructs.
  • Assess the similarities and differences between groups.
  • Foster collaboration.
  • Promote internationalization.
  • Challenge monoculturalism of psychology.

Criticisms of Cultural and Cross-Cultural Research

  • Treats culture as an independent variable.
  • Often uses university students who are not representative.
  • Raises ethical questions.

Professional Requirements for Research with Australian First Nations

  • NH&MRC Guidelines:
    1. Reciprocity.
    2. Respect.
    3. Equality.
    4. Responsibility.
    5. Survival and protection.
    6. Spirit and integrity.

Psychology's WEIRD problems

  • WEIRD = Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic
  • Problems with participants, theory, methodology, and institutions.
  • Sanches de Oliveira, G., & Baggs, E. (2023). Psychology’s WEIRD problems. Cambridge University Press.
  • Optional activity: Return to the relevant box at the beginning of the chapter. Choose at least 2 aspects that are challenging for you as a student and/or as a human being, and work on them!

Applying Psychology Knowledge/ Skills

  1. How did white ‘settlers’ treat Australian First Nations peoples?
  2. What does ‘terra nullius’ indicate about the attitude of white settlers?
  3. What have been the consequences of dispossession and colonisation? (see Ch. 16)
  4. Do you think First Nations peoples have had equal ‘voice’ over the past 200+ years, even in the past year?
  5. Be a psychologically literate critical thinker, and examine what social factors shaped/shapes your beliefs about these issues?

Recommended Movies

  • Dudgeon, P., Milroy, H., & Walker, R. (2014) Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. 2nd ed. http://aboriginal.telethonkids.org.au/media/746839/Working-Together-Aboriginal-and- Wellbeing-2014.pdf (and previous editions)

Recommended Media

  • Some recommended TV Programs: Living Black; Message Stick… NITV
  • Some recommended Australian Books: My Place; Looking for Alibrandi… and see Stan Grant’s books
    *

Some references, Chapters, Articles and Guides:

  • our first year text—relevant chapters
  • Burton et al. (2016)—Psychology. Chapters on Culture, and Indigenous Peoples
  • Dudgeon, P. et al. (2015). Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practice. 2nd ed. http://apo.org.au/node/39689
  • Kevin Dunn’s work (Human Geographer, WSU)
  • Hill, M.E., & Augoustinos, M. (2001). Stereotype change and prejudice reduction: Short- and Long-term evaluation of a cross-cultural awareness program. J. of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 11, 243-262.
  • Morris, S., et al. (2018). The Rubber Brain. Australian Academic Press.