What is Cultural Psych
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Transcript of What is Cultural Psych
Benjamin Cheung
Langara College September 29, 2009
Definition of Culture?
• Mutual constitution, influence, and interpenetration of people and world (Shweder, 1991)
• We act on the world as the world acts on us
• Intrinsic factors vs. Extrinsic influences – the “noise” the others are missingRichard Shweder
Godfather
We, with intentions, manipulate and affect the world:
Is this a uni-directional influence?
We act/change, adapt to the world as it influences us:
Very dynamic People World mutual influence
Culture = horrible and useless label
Cultures are (broadly):
Systems with information being shared
Systems where people are influenced by the information being shared
Given this definition, what are some cultures you can think of?
What actions do we perform that are not bound by culture?
Heavily dependent on how “culture” is defined
“Unpacking” culture (we’ll return to this in Lecture 2)
About “Difference in Concepts,” not necessarily “Difference in Geographical Groups”
Admittedly, who makes the most noise? What appeals to people the most?
Broad definition of culture diverse areas of study,
Evolutionary Psychology
Religious Psychology
Cross-cultural Psychology
**N.B. Branches of cultural psychology not always easily divisible, and are not necessarily mutually exclusive
Origin of Cultural Practise
Current Changes in Cultural
Practise
Current Cultural Norm
Evolutionary rationale for given cultural practises
Socioculturalchanges leading to changes in practises
Visible and testable manifestations of “culture”
Cultural Studies (incl. Cultural Psychology)
Macro-level
Evolutionary origins of cultural practises
Examining changes over time
Comparing current norms
Micro-levelStudying units of
cultural transmission (memes)
Humans possess psychological mechanisms that defend against pathogens (like many other animals)
Social behaviours that serve anti-pathogen defence function more likely to shape cultural populations
Occurs amidst perception of vulnerability to disease
What role might collectivism/individualism play?
Negative correlation of pathogen prevalence with individualism
Farther away from average, cultures more disparate
Response to H1N1 – East vs. West
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Early communities were relatively small
Cooperation and prosociality relied on reputation, mutual familiarity, no anonymity within community
Larger communities necessitate more than reputation
Moreover, supernatural moral authority in religions provide framework for larger communities to cooperate
Effect of “moral authority” on our minds
Common religious identity could help social cohesion, social identity, and mutual trust
Can you think of large societies supported by lack of religious moral authority/authorities?
Cultural psychology ≠ field of usurpers
Contributions made to: Developmental Psychology; Personality Psychology; Social Psychology
Successfully shaken foundations of other psychology branches
Considered fundamental for ALL people in 1960’s
American participants: more dispositional attributions than situational attributions
Is this a universal finding? (Hint: This is a cultural psychology class)
American adults make more dispositional attributions than Indian adults
American adults make less situational attributions than Indian adults
But..but…this is FUNDAMENTAL!
Implications for much of psychology research?
Weird has two meanings: Exceptional
WEIRD people are those from:
Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic societies
What happens when <15% of world’s population is basis of theories about 100% of the world?
Not just N. Americans, but N. American university students dominate subject pool
Which line is longer?
(a) (b)
How much longer does line b have to be until a = b?
How representative is American data?
Cultural psychology as relatively new field (Shweder’spaper written in 1991)
Cultural STUDIES have existed, but not as an independently recognised field
Measurements and methodologies still crude
What difficulties do you think cultural psychology has in studying cultural differences?