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Psychology 307: Cultural Psychology

January 7

Lecture 1

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Vignette 1

John was born to Canadian parents of European descent. Soon after his birth, his parents left their home in Toronto to work in China as missionaries. Orphaned in infancy, John was raised by a Chinese family in a remote village. As an adult, John returned to Canada to live and work. Although he has adjusted to Canadian culture, he maintains that those who have met him describe him as “Chinese in his style of expression and modes of thought.” Indeed, despite his blue eyes and light hair, John describes himself as Chinese-Canadian.

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Vignette 2

Ghalib’s grandparents migrated to Uganda from India in the 1930s. Both he and his parents were born in Uganda. However, when Ghalib was 5 years old, Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of all South Asians from Uganda. Ghalib and his family migrated to England, where they remained for 2 years. Thereafter, they migrated to Canada. Ghalib has now lived in Canada for more than 30 years. When asked about his cultural of origin, Ghalib remains divided. Sometimes he describes himself as Indian, sometimes he describes himself as African, and sometimes he describes himself as Canadian.

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Vignette 3

As an infant, Michelle was abandoned on the streets of Vietnam. She was found in a paper bag on the side of the road by a passerby. Michelle was subsequently placed in an orphanage, from which she was adopted at the age of 10 by a couple living in Canada. Given her features, Michelle believes that she is the product of an affair between a Vietnamese woman and an American soldier. Michelle has spent the bulk of her life in Canada and is now married to an eighth-generation Canadian of European descent. When asked about her cultural identity, Michelle describes herself as Canadian.

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Vignette 4

Pla was born in Thailand, the daughter of a Chinese mother and a Thai father. At the age of 23, Pla moved to Canada where she met Tim, a Canadian of Aboriginal and British descent. Pla and Tim married and had a daughter, Anna. Anna, now 6 years old, is a Canadian citizen and has spent her life in Canada. When Anna’s parents describe her, they refer to her as “one-quarter Chinese, one-quarter Thai, one-quarter Aboriginal, and one-quarter British.”

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Vignette 5

Colleen, now in her late 70s, is a Canadian of Japanese descent. Although she was born in Canada, during World War II she and her family were placed in a Japanese internment camp. Highly traumatized by the discrimination that she encountered and the experiences that she had while in the camp, Colleen disavowed her Japanese origins in her younger years. However, in her 40s, Colleen embraced her culture of origin: She learned to speak Japanese and cook Japanese food, developed friendships with other Japanese-Canadians, and began to participate in Japanese cultural practices and events. Today, Colleen describes herself as a proud Japanese-Canadian.

• Your support team: Sunaina Assanand, Ben Cheung, Daniel Sude, Crystal Byun, Jonathan Chan.

• Please read the course syllabus thoroughly.

Course syllabus

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• Course description:

Research methods. Cultural transmission and evolution. Values, the self-concept, motivation. Personality. Groups, relationships, interpersonal attraction, and love. Emotions. Morality. Perception and cognition. Mental health. Acculturation.

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• Course format:

Lectures. Discussion. Activities. Readings.

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• Course website: http://www.psych.ubc.ca/~assanand. Password: cultures.

Slides will be posted after class.

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• Textbook: Heine, S. J. (2012). Cultural Personality.

Purchase the 2nd edition.

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• Evaluation:

Exams: 3 x 33.33% each (without paper); 3 x 25% (with paper).Multiple choice/open-ended extended response questions.Non-cumulative.Material presented in lecture and textbook.

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Paper: Optional.25%; only included if it increases your final grade.

Two options:

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Option A: Write a literature review on a topic in cultural psychology that was not discussed extensively in class or the textbook.

Option B: Compare the practices that are used to address an issue of universal psychological importance in two or more cultures.

• Peer mentor program:

Optional tutorial sessions, led by peer mentors. Discuss questions in small and large groups. Submit questions of concern or interest ahead of time. Assess, explore, collaborate! Dates and times TBA.

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• Participation:

Strongly encouraged and appreciated. Respect classmates’ efforts to contribute to discussion. Refrain from dominating discussion. Positive and informative classroom environment.

• The “?” bag:

Questions, suggestions, comments. Anonymous.

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• Missed classes and student contacts (spaces provided in syllabus):

Name? Year of study? Major? Hometown? Reasons for enrolling in Psychology 307? Interests and concerns related to this course?

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• Laptop use: If used for inappropriate activities in class (e.g., “surfing”), sit in back three rows of classroom.

• Academic concession:

For medical, emotional, or personal problems, contact me before exam dates and paper due date.

You may be able to obtain academic concession from the dean of your faculty.

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• Psychology Department’s policy on distribution of grades: For 300-level courses, required mean = 66-70%, SD=13%.

• Withdrawal dates: January 20 (no “W”), February 14 (with “W”).

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Questions, concerns, comments?

Let’s begin!

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Introductory Concepts

1. What is culture?

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Learning Objectives

• A list of the knowledge or abilities that you should acquire from the information discussed in each class period.

• Use as a diagnostic tool to monitor your progress.

• Create essay questions from the learning objectives to assess your mastery.

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• Learning objectives are not presented in the textbook.

Consider constructing learning objectives for each section of the textbook (e.g., what should I take away

from this section?).

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1. describe the categories of definitions of culture that have been identified in the literature.

By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

2. explain why “race” is not a valid construct.

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What is culture?

● A multitude of definitions of culture have been proposed by theorists.

● As early as 1952, Kroeber and Kluckhohn identified 160 definitions of culture in the anthropological

literature. They classified these definitions into several categories:

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(a) Descriptive definitions

E.g., Culture refers to “all social activities in the broadest sense, such as language, marriage, property system, etiquette, industries, art, etc.” (Wissler, 1920).

(b) Historical definitions

E.g., “As a general term, culture means the total social heredity of mankind, while as a specific term a culture means a particular strain of social heredity” (Linton, 1936).

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(c) Normative definitions

E.g., “Patterns for living ... the individual's role in the unending kaleidoscope of life situations of every kind and the rules and models for attitude and conduct in them” (Brooks, 1968).

(d) Non-genetic definitions

E.g., “Culture consists of all phenomena that have been directly or indirectly caused by … non-genetic communication of phenomena from one individual to another” (Hart, 1941).

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1. describe the categories of definitions of culture that have been identified in the literature.

By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

2. explain why “race” is not a valid construct.