Cross-cultural psychology

Question 1

components of culture

Answer 1

Beleifs
values
artefacts (food..)
symbols and language

Question 2

why do groups differ (2 reasons)

Answer 2

• Ecological environment (Humans differ in culture due to physical, ecological environment)
  E.g., Iban house in Borneo, Ibans living in long houses built this way to protect from potential predators
  • Social environment
    E.g., Collectivist versus individualistic structures

Question 3

how culture is defined

Answer 3

Culture: Group of people who have a shared context (geographical, historical, linguistic, etc.) Information shared by and acquired from different members of that group

Question 4

what do you need to study to undertsnad human behaviour

Answer 4

triadic pespectives
- developmental, comparative and cross-cultural

cross-cultural studies help us to alsp understand diffrences in development

Question 5

how culture is aquired therory of mind

Answer 5

• Understanding that other’s beliefs, intentions, emotions, and knowledge are different from ours
  
  • Guides our behaviours and understanding of others’

Question 6

how we aquire culture (social learning ‘ratchet effect’ and its two types, indvidual learning )

Answer 6

Social learning
- Vertical learning (learning from someone older / more knowledge)
- Horizontal learning (learning from others e.g., peers)

Individual learning
- Improvements and inventions

Social learning
‘Ratchet effect’: modifications and improvements stay in the culture once spread (Tomasello, 2001)
Once something is leant and embedded into the culture it is hard to get rid of it this happens overtime making it cumulative cultural evolution. e.g., different artefacts (tools, rock to hammer)

Question 7

Cumulative culture:

Answer 7

Cumulative culture: Cumulative build-up of complexity in cultural behaviour over generations, leading to cultural traits that ‘no one individual could have invented in their lifetime

Question 8

what does cultural psychology study

Answer 8

• study the variability of human behaviour
• study the universals of human behaviour (capturing diversity)
• study the interaction between inherited predispositions and cultural context

Question 9

what methods do cultural psychology use

Answer 9

Methods
- anthropological record
- Observation
- Surveys
experimentation

Question 10

how many particpants are from western industrlizsed countired in human psychology

Answer 10

· 96% of all participants are from western industrialized countries.
· 96% of all participants are from countries, which host only 12% of the world’s population.
· 70% of all participants are psychology undergraduates.

Question 11

example studies in visual perception

Answer 11

Visual perception how we see certain stimuli (typically look at two cultures as far away as possible on map, if similarities then likely not diff. est.. Max difference approach)
e.g., north Americans - focal object (anaclitic) and Japanese contextual info. (holistic) test:
- Framed line test (square and line) asked to either draw just the length of the line or asked to draw the line in line with size of square

Question 12

whats the broad sweep approch

Answer 12

testing as many countrys as possible

Question 13

do western tests work in other countrys

Answer 13

!! Westernisation of methods - western tests don’t always work in other country’s. not everyone sees things the same way. May need mixed methods rather then quantitative methods

Question 14

study on animals and humans culture and there cognative skills

Answer 14

Supporting the cultural intelligence hypothesis and contradicting the hypothesis that humans simply have more “general intelligence,” we found that the children and chimpanzees had very similar cognitive skills for dealing with the physical world but that the children had more sophisticated cognitive skills than either of the ape species for dealing with the social world.

Question 15

evidence for animals having culture

Answer 15

learning new techniques- humans teaching tech. to one member of the group, this tech. spreds through grouo og monkeys after (whiten et al. 2007)

• evidnce of cultutre but not a natural behaviour of monkeys (but tool use, diffrences in foraging technuies in colonys of monkeys)
  why? cultutre defintion: - Behaviour that is socially learnt and acquired, shared by members of a group or community and persistent over time (Laland & Janick, 2006)

Question 17

What does the acronym WEIRD stand for in behavioral science?

Answer 17

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic.

Question 18

Why are WEIRD societies considered unrepresentative for generalizing human behavior?

Answer 18

Research on WEIRD societies, including young children, shows that they are among the least representative populations for generalizing human behavior across cultures.

Question 19

What are the two main observations regarding existing behavioral science literature?

Answer 19

(1) The database is drawn from a narrow slice of human diversity.
(2) Behavioral scientists often assume these findings generalize to all humans.

Question 20

How do industrialized societies differ from small-scale societies in terms of visual perception?

Answer 20

San foragers of the Kalahari were unaffected by visual illusions, while American undergraduates saw a line as 20% longer than another line, showing cultural variation in perception

Question 21

how does fairness and cooperation in economic decision-making vary?

Question 22

How do folk biological reasoning and industrialized samples differ?

Question 23

What role do linguistic and cultural differences play in cognitive processes?

Answer 23

Differences in languages and cultural practices influence how humans represent directions, color, and numbers, affecting cognitive processes.

Question 24

How do basic color perception abilities vary across societies?

Answer 24

While the ability to perceive colors is universal, the number of color terms and categories can influence how color is perceived.

Question 25

What did research by Ekman on emotional expression show?

Answer 25

Facial expressions of basic emotions are largely universal across cultures, though more research is needed in non-industrialized societies.

Question 26

How do false belief tasks differ across cultures?

Answer 26

While all societies studied pass the false belief task, the age at which they do so varies, with industrialized societies passing at a younger age.

Question 27

What is the relationship between analog numeracy and cultural practices?

Answer 27

Numerical thinking is based on a primitive "analogy" number sense that exists even in societies with limited counting systems.

Question 28

What did studies on self-serving biases reveal?

Answer 28

Self-serving biases were found to be more pronounced in Western populations compared to non-Western ones.

Question 29

How do European-American and Asian-American children differ in motivation when making choices?

Answer 29

European-American children perform better when they make their own choices, while Asian-American children show equal motivation regardless of who makes the choices.

Question 30

How does conformity differ across cultures?

Answer 30

American participants were more likely to conform to a majority's incorrect judgment, while Koreans preferred common objects, and Americans favored unusual ones.

Question 31

How do reasoning and categorization differ between Westerners and East Asians?

Answer 31

Westerners tend to rely on rules for categorization, while East Asians are more likely to group items based on family resemblance.

Question 32

What are the universal findings on mate preferences across cultures?

Answer 32

In all 37 populations studied, males ranked physical attractiveness more highly than females, while females valued ambition and industriousness in mates.

Question 33

What are the author's suggestions to improve behavioral research?

Answer 33

Researchers should discuss and defend the generalizability of their findings, and universities should invest in more diverse subject pools for research, including testing in varied environments like bus terminals or villages.

Question 34

What are three points on sound perception in the context of WEIRD populations?

Answer 34

Cultural Variations: Sound perception can vary across cultures, influenced by language, environment, and cultural practices. Research Comparisons: Studies show differences in sound perception between WEIRD and non-industrialized societies, affected by linguistic and cultural factors. Limited Understanding: The overreliance on WEIRD populations in research limits our understanding of sound perception across diverse human groups.

Question 35

What are three points on spatial cognition in the context of WEIRD populations?

Answer 35

Cultural Variations: Spatial cognition can differ across cultures, with different societies having unique ways of representing and navigating physical space. Linguistic Influences: The way languages structure spatial terms influences how individuals perceive and navigate space, with cultural practices impacting spatial reasoning. Limited Generalizability: Research focused on WEIRD populations limits the understanding of spatial cognition across human societies, as findings may not apply universally to all cultures.