Cross-Cultural Psychology Psychology Raymond T. Garza, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Spring 2009 M.W. 4:00-5:15

Cross-Cultural Psychology: Introduction and Overview  How does culture affect human behavior?  Is psychology relevant in developing countries?  How do personality and child-rearing practices differ across cultures?  Do multi-cultural work groups perform well in organizations?  Is crossing cultures stressful?  What methods should you use for conducting cross-cultural research?

Course Objectives  Examine the role of culture in the development and validation of psychological theories at the conceptual level.  Increase awareness and understanding of the critical issues in the application of psychological theories developed in the United States and Western Europe to other cultural groups, including ethnic minority subgroups.

Course Objective (continued)  Examine the cultural appropriateness of various research methods and procedures.  Examine the role of culture in personality and social development.  Review cultural issues in specific content areas including human developmental processes, inter-group relations and communication, leadership and organizational behavior, and clinical assessment and treatment.

Overarching Topics  Defining culture  Factors that influence culture  Groups that have cultures  Contrasting culture, race, personality and popular culture  The psychological contents of culture  How does culture influence human behaviors and mental processes?  The contribution of the study of culture

What is Culture?  We use “culture” to describe and explain broad range of activities, behaviors, events and structures  Descriptive, historical, normative, psychological, structural, genetic  General characteristics, food & clothing, housing & technology, economy & transportation, individual & family activities, community & government, welfare, religion & science, sex & life cycle  As a result, much confusion and ambiguity

 One of the most well-known and quoted often definitions was put forth by Kroeber & Kluckholm (1952):  “Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments of artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e., historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may on one hand be considered as products of action, on the other as conditioning elements of further action” (p. 181).

THE STUDY OF CULTURE IN PSYCHOLOGY

Cross-Cultural Research and Psychology  Most theories in psychology based on studies with American university students  Are these theories true for all people, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, culture, class or lifestyle?  Cross-cultural psychology answers this question by testing people of differing cultural backgrounds

Cross-Cultural Research and Psychology  Definition of cross-cultural psychology  Research method testing the cultural parameters of psychological knowledge by comparing data from participants of more than one cultural background  Cross-cultural psychology is scientific philosophy  Not topic specific

Cross-Cultural Research and Psychology  Contribution of Cross-cultural psychology  tests limitations of our knowledge in psychology by examining whether theories are universal or culture-specific  methodological change in psychology studies by varying cultural background of the samples being studied

The Growth of Cross-Cultural Psychology  Cross-cultural psychology has had a substantial impact on psychology worldwide, especially in the in the past decade or two.  In part, this popularity is due to increased awareness of importance of culture and increasing frequency of intercultural conflicts.  Cross-cultural studies in cross-cultural and culture and psychology journals, and increasingly, in top-tier mainstream journals.

Figure 1.1

Where does culture come from? Figure 1.2

Where does culture come from?  In order to survive, people had to meet biological needs (e.g. reproduction, eating) AND social motives (e.g. negotiating complex hierarchies)  Universally need to come up with solutions on how to adapt to environment to address needs and motives

Where does culture come from?  These solutions dependent on context (e.g. physical environment, social factors, types & sizes of families and communities).

Where does culture come from?  These solutions are culture  Product of interaction between universal biological needs, social motives and context  Solution to the problem of individual’s adaptation to their contexts to address their social motives and biological needs

Is culture a uniquely human product?  Many aspects of human culture are shared with other animals  Therefore culture is NOT uniquely human product

What is unique about human culture?  Unique human skills 1) Language 2) Complex social cognition 3) Ratchet effect  As a result, human culture have three characteristics: complexity, differentiation, institutionalization  Humans evolved to have human culture

The difference between society and culture  Society is “a system of interrelationships among people”  Both humans and non-human animals have society  Culture is meanings and information associated with social networks  Humans give social groups unique meaning  Non-humans do not have human culture associated with social groups

Factors Influencing Culture  Ecological Factors  geography, climate, natural resources  Social Factors  population density, affluence, technology, government, media, religion  Biological Factors  temperament, personality

A Meta-theoretical Framework  How can we categorize the various systems and variables that make up culture? 1. The Ecology: - physical environment, resources, geography. 2. The Subsistence System:  methods of exploitation of the ecology to survive – agriculture, fishing, gathering, industrial work.

A Framework… 3. The Socio-cultural System:  institutions, roles, norms and values as they exist outside the individual. 4. The Individual System:  perception, learning, subjective culture, including the perception of elements of the cultural system. 5. The Inter-individual System: - patterns of social behavior, including child rearing methods.

Groups that have Culture  Nationality  Country of origin and each country has own culture (as well as subcultures)  Ethnicity  Racial, national or cultural origins  Gender  Behaviors society/culture deems appropriate for men and women

Groups that have Culture  Disability  Some type of physical impairment in senses, limb, or other parts of bodies  Sexual Orientation  Person with whom one forms sexual relationships