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PSY 352 Cultural Psychology Study Unit 1 (Chapter 7: Culture in A…
PSY 352 Cultural Psychology Study Unit 1
Chapter 1: The Role of Cultural Psychology in
Psychology
What is Culture?
Culture can be used to indicate:
A specific kind of information
A specific group of individuals
Culture as specific information
In this view, culture can mean any kind of
information
that is
acquired
from other members of one's species
through social learning
that is capable of affecting an individual's behaviours
Culture as specific groups of individuals
In this view, culture are a group of people who are existing within a shared social context
Is there such a thing as a Cultural Mind
Cultural identities
individuals are shaped by strong cultural identities which may affect psychological generalisations.
However, shared cultural identities may
not
necessarily equate to shared personality traits.
Cultural boundaries
Cultural boundaries are vague and cultural information is
dynamic
and ever-changing. (i.e. changes in its political, economic or social views)
Chapter 7: Culture in A Multicultural Context
Adaption strategies Multicultural people
There are two models that can capture the ways multicultural people deal with their experiences in multi-cultural worlds.
Blending model
Frame-switching model
Blending model
If multicultural people respond to their experiences in different cultures by
blending and averaging
those experiences, we would expect them to show psychological responses that mediate and are intermediate between two cultures.
i.e. Asian-American may not think like either mainstream American or Asian. Their psychological
mindset may be an amalgamation of two cultures.
Frame-switching model
This alternative model suggests that multicultural people can develop
multiple selves
in contrast to forming a culturally amalgamated identity.
This view maintains that multicultural people develop mastery over both cultural worlds and develop divergent selves that can be
selectively activated by different cultural contexts.
Priming
External stimulus can prime an individual to invariably engage in frame-switching
This view is held by Hong and colleagues who suggested that cultural information is organised in clusters. As such, the evoking of a term from one particular cluster may invariably evoke the activation of that cluster of cultural information and elicit frame switching.
Attribution
Priming can lead to the eliciting of either internal or external attribution
The Study by Hong suggests that Chinese American, when primed with
Chinese prime, engages in external attribution
when suggesting why single fish is separated from a school of other fishes (i.e. the lone fish is chased away from the group)
When primed with an
American prime, they engage in internal attribution
by explaining that the fish is independent or is leading the other fishes.
Bi-cultural identity integration
Not all biculturals should necessarily frame-switch to the same degree
People high in bicultural identity integration
Integrate both aspects of their cultures together
People low in bicultural identity integration
See their cultural identities in opposition with each-others.
Cannot identify with both cultures simultaneously (i.e. Chinese American).
More prone to culturally inconsistent behaviours
Acculturation
is the
process
by which people
migrate
to and learn a
culture that is different
from their original culture.
Acculturation is especially challenging if one’s source
heritage culture
(or the culture that an individual hails from) and
host culture
(the recipient society of the migrant) is different.
Challenge and influences
Moving to a new culture involves psychological adjustment
Integrating with the host culture
That is, whether host society members generally
(1) expect of migrant members to observe their customs and conventions, or
(2) approve of the integration of migrant groups into the host culture, especially when migrant groups possess a very distinctive culture
Retaining heritage culture
Depending on the nature of their heritage culture, migrants may
(1) desire the retention of their heritage membership
(2) and/or are expected to retain them by one’s fellow migrant community members sharing the same culture
(3) and/or are expected to retain them by resident members of the host society
The acculturation U-curve based on Oberg study
Stage 1 Honeymoon
First few months. Positive views. Often associated with the tourism industry.
Stage 2 Culture shock
6 to 18 months new cultural experiences becomes tiring and difficult. Lack effective language skills and knwoledge to communicate effectively
. Feelings of anxiousness and irritable
Stage 3 Adjustment
occurs over several years
people become more proficient in their new culture (i.e. adopt display rules and language)
Adjusting to a new culture
Cultural fit
Refers to the degree to which an individual’s personality is more similar to the dominant cultural values in the host culture
The smaller the cultural gap (cultural distance) that an individual is required to overcome, the higher the extent of cultural compatibility (cultural fit)
Hypothesis: People who score high on extraversion are more likely to move to other countries.
People who are high in extraversion fare well in largely extraverted cultures.
People with more independent self-concepts suffer less distress.
This correlation is more complicated that it first appear.
Cultural distance
Refers to is the difference between two cultures in their overall ways of life.
The
larger the cultural distance, the more difficulty
that person may face in acculturating.
Language
cultural distance can be mapped out through language. (i.e. TOEFL)
The easier it is for migrants to learn
the language of their host culture, the better they should fare in the acculturation process.
i.e. The ease with which people learn English is influenced by how distant their mother tongue is from English , and thus how much new learning is involved
Acculturation strategies
According to Berry and colleagues, two issues are critical to the outcome of one's acculturation.
Attitude towards host culture
Attitude towards own culture
Hypothesised to yield different outcomes
Integration
Positive toward host culture
Positive toward heritage culture
Also hypothesised to be the most sucessful acculturation strategy.
Most successful acculturation
Likely due to lack of prejudice and discrimination due to the evoking of two cultural communities
Assimilation
Positive toward host culture
Negative toward heritage culture
Separation
Negative toward host culture
Positive toward heritage culture
Marginalisation
Negative toward host culture
Negative toward heritage culture
Factors that may also affect acculturation
A variety of factors influence which strategy a migrant is likely to pursue.
• Prejudice against one’s heritage cultural group
• People who have distinctly different physical characteristics
People low in socioeconomic status (SES) generally adopt separation or marginalization strategies.
Acceptance of multiculturalism is more likely to encourage integration or assimilation.
Psychology of cultural adaptation
Acculturating may not always be beneficial.
Length of stay linked to rates of obesity.
Engaged in less-healthy behaviours.
Embracing little of heritage culture linked to a greater risk of coronary heart disease.
Less integration linked to better grades in school & fewer delinquent act.
Stereotype threats
A
disruptive concern
, when facing a negative stereotype, that one will be
evaluated based on a negative stereotype.
Unlike self-fulfilling prophecies that hammer one’s reputation into one’s self concept, stereotype threat situations
have immediate effects
How does stereotype threat undermine
performance?
Stress
Self-monitoring
Suppressing unwanted thoughts and emotions
Example
Cultural stereotype (Women do not do well in maths)
Creates stereotype threat (Female student might fail maths)
Leads to:
performance Deficit
( - Does not do well in maths due to
self-confirming apprehension
)
cognitive Disidentification
(Disidentify with stereotype domain - Math is not important to women anyway)
Race prime study
This study demonstrated that when people experience stereotype threat they often end up acting in ways that are precisely consistent with the stereotype, and their behaviour ends up proving it.
African-American scored lower in the SAT when race primed.
Self-fulfilling prophecies
A self-fulfilling prophecy refers to a belief or
expectation
that an individual holds about a future event that leads one to
unconsciously behave
in such a manner so as to
confirm his expectation
According to Allport (1954), the impact of prejudice can be grouped into two types
Blame external causes
the victim may fight back, become suspicious and increase group pride.
Self-blame
the victim may engage in withdrawal, self-hate and aggression against one’s own group
Creativity – A Benefit of Multicultural Contact
Possible explanations why multicultural people are more creative
• Seeing things differently.
• Having more than one perspectives available.
• Outside-the-box creative solutions to a problem.
• Tourist vs. living in another culture.
Example: Study on how multicultural experiences could lead to creativity:
Participants were exposed to three conditions:
• First condition: Participants imagined themselves
adapting
to a foreign culture.
• Second condition: Participants imagined themselves
observing
a foreign culture.
• Third condition: Participants were given
no instructions
.
Those who displayed adapting prime were significantly more creative, followed by neutral condition and the least creative were those who were expose to observing prime.