Test 1 Flashcards
(36 cards)
what are the cultural patterns?
introduced by Trandis. cultural complexity, individualism-collectivism and tight v. loose cultures
what is cultural complexity?
the number of relationships one has. as number of relationships increase, loyalty decreases. people become more independent as they become more affluent
what is Individualism-collectivism?
social behaviour is a function of ingroup norms to a greater extent in collectivist than individualist cultures
what is a loose culture?
a culture with unclear norms about most social situations or tolerate deviance from the norms. Allow you to be much more self-interested.
what is a tight culture?
often rigid in requiring that ingroup members behave according to the ingroup norms. members of tight cultures are more concerned about what members of the ingroup think of them.
what is Gordon Allport’s definition of social psychology?
how the thought, feeling and behaviour of individuals in influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of other human beings
what is the penguin definition of social psychology?
a branch of psychology that studies the psychological conditions underlying the development of social groups, the mental life, so far as it manifests itself in their social organization, and their institutions and culture, and the development of the behaviour of the individual, in relation to his social environment, or generally all problems having both an individual and social aspect.
describe Kurt Lewins social field
proposed the idea of a social field, trying to formulate mathematically to suggest how we fit into a world of social pressures and forces
- B = function of P & e ( internal to person, external to person)
describe Gergen’s social psychology history
- trying to make the case as social psych has to take into account for the nature of the problem we are trying to assess
- written when psychology was just starting to be in the science club, still very new
- Gergen argues that it will never become like physics or math because its too different and humans are much harder to predict with formulas
- social psychologists present human laws for events that are stable, to help predict behaviour, however its hard to predict for humans because every variable is unique
- we will change our behaviour if we don’t want to be a certain way and we recognize we are acting the way we dont want to be
- impossible to say what characteristics are without being evaluative or bias in its name/how its explained
- liberating effects of knowledge, if you understand a law you can change it
- values and culture. perspective bias of psychological theory. not on whats good/bad
describe sampson
- 2 views: sociohistorical and conventional
- sociohistorical = various accounts of human history and try to understand human behaviour. society in terms of time matter. not really one absolute truth
- the group you come from matters, scientists can not be objective
- concerned by relativism; if theres no truth does anything go? his argument only works when you think there is a point with only one truth
describe the second chapter of samson’s book
in the secon chapter he draws implications, says the individual is not a naturally occuring object in the way a rock is, it a social and historical construction.
social and historical beliefs establish their values for us. you don’t encounter something how it is
the proper role of social psychology conventions would argue that are discovering facts, the impact is not our concern
sociohistorics argue that it is not facts, you are telling stories that are part of our social beings, if you come up with something that impacts something it matters.
what does sampson believe?
we are part of the world we live in, not just players touches on the idea of a self built into where we live and when we live
what does gergen believe?
when we talk about ourselves as psychological entities we are part of the culture we are in; there is some sort of psychological being within us but it is not as individual/universal as we might believe.
- in his argument he used two books macdougall and ross
- macdougal defended that biology or instincts causes mind, which is primary
- ross defends that society (fashion, crowds, conventions) are primary and causes individuals
- we may generate a coherent version of social psychology either by reducing the social world to the ontology of the mind or by building a social psychology on the premise that the social world is a mental construction.
- Gergen rejects both of aschers papers here
what does Geertz believe self is
the west sees the self as unbounded, special, unlike any other self, it is consistent. Geertz believes that the western idea is very strange and other cultures would not understand the west’s definition
what does Triandis believe self is?
believes that there are some aspects of self that may be universal and that other elements are culturally specific
- triandis introduces 3 different selves; private, public and collective self
describe the private self from triadis’ paper
private self is who you are when no one is around, in some societies the idea of a private self is a strange idea and believes we are always acting
describe the public self from triandis’ paper
we change our behaviour when we are around other people and represent ourselves differently in public
describe the collective self from triandis’ paper
you see yourself as part of a specific group, so you represent yourself within this group as your collective self. it doesn’t matter what your family think of you but you must shape yourself to fit into the collective, the rules and values of this group matter to you
what were Triandis’ 3 cultural patterns?
- cultural complexity
- individualism - collectivism
- tight vs. loose cultures
describe cultural complexity
the number of relationships people have as number of relationships increase loyalty will decrease, people become more independent as they become more affluent
describe individualism-collectivism
social behaviour is a function of in group norms to a greater extent in collectivist than individualist cultures
What is a tight culture?
Cultures that are often rigid in requiring that ingroup members behave according to the ingroup norms. Often interested in what others and the ingroup thinks of you and what matters to them
What is a loose culture?
Loose cultures often have unclear norms about most social situations or tolerate deviance from the norm. Canada could be loose as we believe in tolerance and we are multicultural and our laws don’t say we need to strictly abide by religious rules. Loose cultures are much more self interested
What would be considered a loose and simple group?
Hunter gatherers
