Cross-cultural psychology Flashcards
(28 cards)
What is culture?
- The set of cognitions and practices that characterise a specific social group and distinguish it from others
- A set of meanings, not genetically transferred between individuals, shared within a population and enduring for generations
- Culture is the expression of group norms at the national, racial and ethnic levels
What is there a reciprocal relationship between?
individual psychological processes and culture
What does it mean that psychology has been culture blind?
- Most psychologists were middle-class white male Americans
- We tended to ignore culture in our research
- Laboratory experiments were the preferred method and were controlled for culture
What are the three main questions of cultural psychology?
- Are Western psychological theories valid in other cultures?
- Are there psychological constructs that are culture-specific?
- How can we evolve a psychology with universal relevance?
What can said to be the main difference between Eastern and Western cultures (over-generalisation)?
- Western cultures are more individualistic – emphasise personal achievements at the expense of group goals
- Eastern cultures are more collective – more emphasis placed on the family and loyalty and working towards group goals
How could you define the independent self?
An autonomous self with clear boundaries between self and other. Thoughts feelings and attributes less affected by social context. Behaviour by internal characteristics
How could you define the interdependent self?
Interdependent-flexible and diffuse boundaries between self and others. Tied into relationships and much more responsive to social context
Give features of the independent self
- Bounded, stable, autonomous
- Personal attributes guide action
- Achievement-oriented
- Formulates personal goals
- Defines life by successful goal achievement
- Responsible for own behaviour
- Competitive
- Strives to feel good about the self
What are features of the interdependent self?
- Connected, fluid flexible
- Participates in social relationships that guide action
- Oriented towards the collective
- Meets obligations and conforms to norms
- Defines life by contributing to the collective
- Is responsible with other for joint behaviour
- Is cooperative
- Subsumes self in the collective
What is the attribution bias?
you think that you have succeeded because of your personal self, however you think that other people’s successes are due to the environment. You think that your failures are based on the environment and their failures are based on themselves
What culture differences are there in attributional style?
the fundamental attribution error/ correspondence bias is NOT present in collective cultures (Kitayama and Uskul. 2011)
In studying culture and cognition what difference did Shen, Zhang & Hunt, 2008 between Chinese and US participants?
Chinese participants conformed more to stereotypes due to their collective nature (comparative), but more able to supress attitudes than US participants as they were less concerned about their individual ideas
In studying culture and cognition what difference did Lehmen et al. find between East Asians and Americans?
thought processes differ between East Asians and Americans. East Asians more holistic and relationship oriented whereas Americans are more linear and analytic
What did Smith and Bond (1998) find in their meta-analysis of 31 Asch-type studies in US and 16 other countries?
Conformity stronger outside of western Europe and North America
In Hofstede’s (1980) questionnaire to 117,000 managers in 40 countries what different dimensions of values did make because of the trends between different cultures?
Power distance (degree to which unequal power is accepted)
Uncertainty avoidance (how much we plan for stability)
Masculinity-femininity (how much we value typically masculine and feminine attributes)
Individualism – collectivism
Time perspective (how we think of the now)
What was • Fiske, Kitayama, Marcus & Nisbett (1998) three groupings of nations in terms of values?
- Western European nations are individualistic and egalitarian (focus on equal rights for all)
- Eastern European nations are individualistic and hierarchical (obey others above you)
- Asian nations are collectivist and hierarchical
What is the differences in the classroom between east and west and why is this significant?
- We have a small teacher: student ratio in west
- Large teacher: student ratio in east
- Large teacher: student ratio means the students don’t just focus on the teacher and interact with each-other more
What is most contact between other cultures and why is this not beneficial?
- Too short a time to make changes in attitudes
- Brief contact tends to enhance stereotypes and prejudices
- Don’t get to get to know the culture
- Just focus on difference between the cultures
What are factors that lead to negative outcomes when there is contact between cultures?
Language difference, non-verbal difference (gestures) pre-existing prejudice, ethnocentrism, intergroup anxiety, history of intergroup conflict, if a culture if viewed to be very dissimilar
What is acculturation?
the process of internalizing the rules and behaviours of another culture is acculturation
What is marginalization?
When you have a low home culture and low dominant culture identity
What is separation?
When you have a high home culture identity but low dominant culture identity
What is assimilation?
When you have a high dominant culture identity but low home culture identity
What is integration?
When you have a high home culture and high dominant culture identity
