culture Flashcards
(15 cards)
what is culture?
a collection of discrete behavioural norms and cogntiions shred by people within a population that are distinct from those in another population.
- bowing in one cultur to say hi, and hand shaking in another to say hi.
culture; where is it?
culture is every and it affects us everyday.
culture can be hard to find- unless we comapre it to another curlure, we won’t notice it.
- anthropologist Kluckihn noted, it would hardly be the fish who discovered the existence of water.
- culture is so immersive that it can be hard to detect.
why should we study culture?
why do cultural psychology?
- pps in most psych studies are
- female, north american, psych undergrads
- “the psych of the psyc 101 student”
- seen in top journals (JPSP) (personality and soc psych)
- 92% written by NA authors, 96% pp are western, industralized countries.
- only 12% of worlds pop is WEIRD.
- so why should we only focus on them if we can’t generalize the findings.
- are we really studying human behaviour or just a limited sub-set?
what does weird stand for
w; western
e; educated
i; industrailized
r; rich
d; democratic
muller-lyer illusion
westerners; raised in spaces ore exposed to corners; things with corners are further away (indented) whereas others who grew up in tents don’t see this.
in this example students were asked if two indentical lines with two vertical lines facing upwards or downwards were the same.
weird students said the outwards one was longer because of the aforementioned explanation.
the solution to weird
cultural psych; if we want to understand humans, we need to study more than jut weird samples
- we need to study human behaviour in different cultures and contexts
- in fact, cultural psych allows us to do 4 things.
what are the 4 things that cultural psych allows us to do
**1. test cross cultural generality of a theory **
- is our theory of observation true in all cutlures?
- if we were studying eating practices in NA, we may think eveyrone eats with a fork, but if we want to know is this is true across countries, we would go there and see.
- we cant make assumption
- if we want to make a claim that something is unverisal, then we have to find evidence.
**2. discover human universals **
- if our theory isn’t cross-culturally true, we can use that info to figure out the real universal.
**3. discover relationship b/w culture and the mind **
- culture is really important! how does it affect our psychology?
- the culture we are i infleunces how we think which influences how we engage with and process information.
4. discover unqiue psychological experiences or phenomena in a culture.
- some emotions seem universal…
- do western psych know all the emotions yet?
- emotion called schadenfreude; german; positive emotion in which people take pleasure in someone elses pain.
- amae; positive depedent love for a person; a love a child feels for a parent.
culture; self concepts
independent self- concept
independent self concept; is encouraged in high- individualism cultures.
- people in NA, independent ucltures, see themselves as a standalone self, and have relationships with people important in their lives, but they remain distinct and seperate from who we are.
- default in USA/ Can
- stable traits and preferences
- do not change over time, situation, or context.
- we see ourselves in a consistent way and frown upon two faced peoples. we expect stability.
- External factors don’t tie into our self-perception.
culture; self concepts
interdependent self-concept
interdependent self-concept is encouraged in cultures high in collectivism
- default in east asia.
- salient traits and preferences depend on the context and who is around you
- more quieter around parents than with friends.
- feel connected with others, part of your identify
- relationship with people is a larger part of your identity.
- More common to feel more connected to others; how you interact with others becomes part of your identity.
two ways of thinking
**analytic thinking **
- a type of thinking in which people focus on the properties of objects without considering their surrounding context
- common in western cultures
- bob; focus on objects and attribute; features that do no involve context (persoanlity, hair colour)
- bob has brown hair, he is smiling so may be friendly. he has features of a male.
- used to explain/ categorize attributes
holistic thinking
- a type of thinking in which people focus on the overall context, particularly the way in which things relate.
- see connection to whole.
- common in eastern cultures (japan, china, korea)
- bob; focus on objects in context
- pay attention to relationships b/w context & objects used to explain events and categorize objects.
- hes a husband, father, son.
- he is smiling cause everyone else is smiling.
- used to explain/ categorize relational info, context.
two ways of thinking; Grad Student Goes Berserk
Example of analytic vs. holistic thought: Grad Student Goes Berserk
- A Physics graduate student lost an award competition, unsuccessfully appealed it, and failed to get an academic job.
- On October 31, 1991, he entered the University of Iowa Physics Department and shot his advisor, the person who handled his appeal, several fellow students and bystanders, and then himself.
- Why? New York Times vs. The World Journal
Morris & Peng (1994) compared newspaper descriptions of the student.
- World Journal (leading Chinese) paper vs. the New York Times (leading English) paper for info –
- How were the event and student described?
- Did explanations differ? Who/what is to blame?
- Morris & Peng (1994)
**Dispositional ** (western)
- Very bad temper
- Sinister edge to his character
- A darkly distributed man
Situational (eastern)
- Did not get along with his advisor
- Isolation from the community
- Availability of guns in the US
Morris & peng wanted to see if the newspaper from different cultures differed.
- World Journal (in Chinese) offers more situational explanations *(Holistic Thought) (situational; relational info) *
- The New York times; NYT offers more dispositional explanations *(Analytic Thought) *
- More analytic, focusing on the actor themselves and paying relatively less attention to context. (dispositional; attributes)
But is it holistic /analytic?
- Chinese newspapers emphasized situational context.
- English newspapers emphasized dispositional attributes
- Remember the Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)?
- Maybe the Chinese newspaper writers are nicer?
- Similar findings in other non-social categorization tasks!
preferences for emotions: culture
culture and ideal affect
- ideal affect; emotional states people strive and want to be in.
- Not many people want to strive in a negative state
- Level of ideal emotional level can differ across cultures
- In the east, Calmness, Serenity Restfulness
- In the west, Excitement, Enthusiasm Elation
- Religion; Buddhism; Calmness Serenity Restfulness
- Christianity; Excitement Enthusiasm Elation
preference for uniqueness
culture also shapes the desure to be unique
- independent culture; uniquess is valued ; think outside the box
- interdependent culture; conformity is valued; the nail that stands out is the first one pounded down
- more respectful to be aware of experiences of others
preference for uniqueness
Studies by Heejung Kim & Hazel Markus
* North American and East Asian participants select between common vs. uncommon item
Predictions?
- N. Americans- the desire to be unique (want the thing that was rare)
- E. Asians- desire to fit in (less likely to pick a rare object, more likely to pick a common object)
- pp recruited at SF airport
- asked to complete a questionnaire in exchange for a pen
- ra reached into bag an dpulled out 5 pens
- orange majority- green minority.
- pick green stand out, pick orange choose common one.
- uncommon colour; europeon americans prefer unique pens significantly more than east asians
- common colour; eastg asians chose one more available.
tight vs. loose cultures
- Tight cultures have strong norms and a low tolerance for deviant behaviour
- Loose; cultures have weak norms and a high tolerance for deviant behaviour
- Cultural differences and individual differences
- How intensely you adhere to social norms has a major implication
- Being aware of your preferences and style can be informative… and help navigate relationships w others
