Culture

1
Culture

• Define culture and how it relates to
  psychological functioning.
• What aspects of your culture influence your
  behavior.
• Generally, this discussion focuses on such easily
  observable aspects of culture as language,
  customs and traditions, and nationality.
• It is important to understand that various
  disciplines in the social sciences (anthropology,
  psychology, and sociology) have extensively
  studied culture in one way or another, there is
  no real consensus concerning its definition.

2
Cultural Influences

• 1. Think back to the time you began to attend
  school or earlier if you can, and try to remember
  all the different cultural influences in your
  life. Think about your gender, religion, race,
  class, and other groups that were represented in
  your neighborhood. List the cultures that you
  believe had some influence on your development
  and your view of the world.
• 2. Next, think about the first time you realized
  that something about your upbringing was
  different from someone else's. What was the
  difference? How did you feel when you realized
  the difference? Did you do anything about it? If
  so, what?

3
Cultural Influences cont.

• 3. Finally, identify the two cultures from
  Question 1 that you think had the strongest
  influence on you as you were growing up. Using
  the table for each topic listed in the left-hand
  column, write down the messages each culture gave
  you as you were growing up.

4
Goals of psychology

• First goal
• Build a body of knowledge about people
• Second goal
• Applying the knowledge from above
• Any problems with these goal?
• If yes, thus the need for

5
Cross-cultural psychology

• Cross-cultural approach
• Why is it needed?
• Culture-specific or universal
• Provide examples

6
Culture

• Dynamic system of rules, explicit and implicit,
  established by groups in order to ensure their
  survival, involving attitudes, values, beliefs,
  norms, and behaviors, shared by a group but
  harbored differently by each specific unit within
  the group, communicated across generations,
  relatively stable but with the potential to
  change across time.

7
Factors that influence culture

• Environment
• Population density
• Affluence
• Technology
• Climate
• Etc. ????

8
Culture cont.

• How is culture different from pop-culture?
• How is culture different from race?
• How is culture different from ethnicity?
• Provide some examples

9
Defining Race and Ethnicity

• Define race and ethnicity. Next, list the types
  of attributes associated with each term and give
  a few examples.
• Compare and discuss their definitions with
  others.
• Consider where the boundaries are between
  different races or ethnicities and between the
  terms race and ethnicity.
• For example, some North American Jews are more
  shaped by their ethnic (Jewish) identity than by
  their racial (Caucasian, Latino, African, or
  other) identity. Blacks from the Caribbean
  experience themselves and others differently than
  do African Americans. There are overlaps as well
  as differences between race and ethnicity.

10
Culture cont.

• Race
• No clear definition without argument
• Typically identified by physical characteristics
• From a psychological standpoint race is more of a
  social construct
• Ethnicity
• Greek word ethnos means people of a tribe or
  nation
• Generally used to in reference to groups
  characterized by a common nationality,
  geographical origin, culture or language

11
Etic vs. Emic

• Etics
• Refer to those aspects of life that appear to
  consistent across different cultures.
• Universal
• Emics
• Refer to those aspects of life that appear to
  differ across cultures.
• Culture specific

12
Examples

• Definitions of intelligence (Emic)
• People experience and expression depression
  (Emic)
• Romantic love is valued as the primary basis upon
  which to establish a long-term relationship or
  marriage. (Emic)
• Attractiveness and personal appearance are key
  factors that contribute to the formation of
  positive impressions. (Etic)
• In general, most cultures view men as stronger
  and more active than women. (Etic)