Culture and Psychology

Conceptualizing Culture in Psychology

Why Study Culture in Psychology? To check the generality of psychological

research To conduct natural experiments and

quasi-experiments To extend understanding of “culture” To understand the process of cultural

change To reduce ethnocentrism and promote

intercultural understanding.

What is Culture? Material/Objective Culture

Buildings, tools, clothing, methods of transportation, etc.

Subjective Culture Characteristic ways of viewing the

environment (e.g., ideas, theories, and political, religious, scientific, aesthetic, economic, moral and social standards for judging events in the environment.

Subjective culture can be institutionalized in government, education, religion, etc. systems.

Defining Culture Range of activities, phenomena in human life Transmission from generation to generation;

accumulated knowledge Socialization/enculturation Implicit and explicit assumptions about life Shared rules to govern activity of a group Patterns of organization Genesis of culture (out of habitat, social

interaction, etc.) A psychological construct

Approaches to the Psychological Study of Culture

Absolutism Universalism Relativism

Approaches to the Psychological Study of Culture Cross-Cultural Psychology

Is concerned with the systematic study of behaviour and experience as it occurs in different cultures, is influenced by culture or results in changes in existing cultures (Triandis, 1980, p. 1)

Approaches to the Psychological Study of Culture Cultural Psychology

Is the study of all the things members of different communities think (know, want, feel, value) and do by virtue of being the kinds of beings who are the beneficiaries, guardians and active perpetuators of a particular culture (Shweder et al., 1998, p. 867)

Study of meaning, intentions

Approaches to the Psychological Study of Culture Indigenous Psychologies

A psychology of a cultural group based on the day-to-day behaviour of its members, for which local points of view provide the paradigms that guide the collection and interpretation of psychological information. (Berry et al., 2002, pp. 459-460)

Approaches to the Psychological Study of Culture Ethnic Minority Psychology

“… is concerned with the use of culturally appropriate methods to understand the behavior and experiences of specific ethnic groups … historically marginalized groups in North America.” (Goldstein, 2000, p. vii)

Approaches to the Study of Culture Culture as Patterns/Syndromes Culture as Intergroup Relations Culture as “Border Crossing” Culture as a Process

Culture as Patterns (Triandis, 1980)

Cultural Syndromes A pattern of beliefs, attitudes, self-

definitions, norms and values that are organized around some theme that can be identified in a society.

Elements of Subjective Culture

Knowledge-Related Constructs Norm-Related Constructs Self and Social Relationships Values

Knowledge-Related Constructs Schema

An organized body of information including categories and their associations, stored in memory. Schemata provide structure that help with perceiving, organizing and remembering information, allowing for efficient processing of social information.

Beliefs

Norm-Related Constructs Norms

Implicit or explicit generalized expectations regarding what is appropriate behaviour for members of a group

Kinds of Norms Descriptive Prescriptive vs. proscriptive (mores vs. taboos) Institutionalized norms

Roles

Values Values are principles that guide

our lives. They are designed to lead us to our ideal world (Schwartz, 1992) Transcend specific situations Guide selection or evaluation of

behaviour and events Ordered by relative importance

Value Dimensions (Hofstede, 1980) Power Distance

the tendency to see a large social distance between those in the upper part of a social structure and those in the lower part of the social structure.

Control of others’ behaviours Uncertainty Avoidance

Avoidance of situations where the outcome is uncertain Security, low risk-taking, state religion

Masculinity-Femininity Emphasize differences between men and women Focus on “achievement” and “success” vs. “interpersonal

harmony” or “caring for others and quality of life” Individualism-Collectivism

Tendency to give priority to personal goals even when they conflict with the goals of important groups.

Chinese Culture Connection (1987)

CBC Integration Human-

heartedness Confucian work

dynamism Moral discipline

--

Hofstede Collectivism Masculinity --

Power distance (high)

Uncertainty avoidance

Value Dimensions (Schwartz, 1992)

Self-Direction

Universalism

Benevolence

Tradition

Conformity

SecurityPower

Achievement

Hedonism

Stimulation

Self and Social Relationships Fiske (1990, 1992)

Communal Sharing Share resources according to need

Authority Ranking Distribute resources according to rank

Equality Matching Share resources equally

Market Pricing Distribute resources equitably (the more you give,

the more you get)

Independent and Interdependent Self-Construals (Markus & Kitayama, 1991)

SELF SELF

MotherCoworker

Friend Neighbour

Mother Coworker

FriendNeighbour

Independent Interdependent

Independent and Interdependent Self-Construals (Markus & Kitayama, 1991)

Independent Separate from social

context Bounded, unitary, stable Internal, private

(feelings, thoughts) Life tasks: Be unique,

express self, self-actualization

Direct communication Self-esteem depends on

ability to express self, validate internal attributes

Interdependent Connected with social

context Flexible, variable External, public (roles,

statuses, relationships) Life tasks: belong, fit-in,

engage in appropriate action, promote others’ goals

Indirect communication Self esteem depends on

ability to adjust, maintain harmony, restrain self

Cousins (1989)

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General Format ContextualizedFormat

AmericanJapanese

Proportion ofattributes inself-description

Self-Construals and Emotion(Kitayama, Markus, Kurokawa, & Negishi, 1993)

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0.1

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Japan U.S.

engaged emotiondisengaged emotion

Correlationwithgeneralpositivefeelings

Self-Construals and Motivation (Iyengar & Lepper, 1999)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Personal Choice ExperimenterChoice

Mother Choice

Anglo-AmericanAsian American

Secondsspent on anagramsduring free play

Culture as Intergroup Relations Ingroup: The social group to which

an individual perceives herself or himself as belonging (“us”).

Outgroup: Any group other than the one to which individuals perceive themselves as belonging (“them”).

Culture as Intergroup Relations 3 Factors Suggested to Explain the

Psychological Importance of Ethnicity (Phinney, 1996) Cultural values, attitudes, and

behaviours that distinguish ethnic groups

Subjective sense of group membership (i.e., ethnic identity)

Experiences associated with minority status (e.g., powerlessness, prejudice)

Culture as Intergroup Relations Social Identity Theory (Tajfel,

1978) Social categorization Social identity Social comparison Psychological group distinctiveness

Culture as Intergroup Relations, cont. Social Identity Theory, cont.

Social categorization The cognitive tendency to divide the

social world into categories (i.e., social groups). This categorical differentiation has the effect of sharpening the distinctions between the categories and blurs the differences within them.

Culture as Intergroup Relations, cont. Social Identity Theory

Social identity That part of the individual’s self-concept

which derives from knowledge of his or her membership in a social group, together with the value and emotional significance associated to that membership.

Culture as Intergroup Relations, cont. Social Identity Theory, cont.

Social comparison The process through which

characteristics of the ingroup are compared to those of the outgroup.

Culture as Intergroup Relations, cont. Social Identity Theory, cont.

Psychological Group Distinctiveness The state desired by individuals in which

the ingroup has an identity that is perceived by the group members as being both distinct and positive vis-à-vis relevant comparison groups.

Reactions of Minority Groups Social mobility

Exit from the disadvantaged group and join a more positively evaluated group.

Social creativity Look for new dimensions of comparison,

redefine the current dimension of comparison, or compare with a different outgroup.

Social competition Directly challenge the position of the

relatively positively evaluated group.