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SOCIOCULTURAL APPROACH (CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON INDIVIDUALS (Enculturation…
SOCIOCULTURAL APPROACH
CULTURAL ORIGINS OF BEHAVIOUR AND COGNITION
Cultural dimensions by Hofstede
Long/short term orientation
(added in 2001) ((super confusing)): the extent to which long-term gain is valued over short-term gain.
Indulgence/restraint
(added in 2010): the extent to which a society allows its members to live freely, have basic human rights, and have fun. Indulgence present in the West, restraint in the East. Estonia only scores 16 on the indulgence index.
Individualism/collectivism
Individualism
values the well-being and needs of the individual. Cultures in North America and Western Europe tend to be individualistic.
Collectivism
values the well-being and needs of the group/nationality. Cultures in Asia, Central and South America, and Africa tend to be collectivistic.
In
1967, Berry
compared two societies with subsistence-level economies, the Temne and the Inuit, to investigate the role of conformity in individualist and collectivist cultures. He applied the
Asch paradigm
to both groups. The study showed that conformity was higher in the more collectivist Temne culture. In theory, this happens because an agricultural economy (Temne) demands a higher degree of cooperation than a hunter-fishing economy (Inuit).
Masculinity/femininity
: the extent to which a society is "masculine" (competitive, ambitious) or "feminine" (cooperative, compassionate).
Masculine: Japan, European countries influenced by German culture (Hungary, Austria, Switzerland)
Feminine: Nordic countries
Uncertainty avoidance
: a society's level of comfort with uncertainty and ambiguity.
Power/distance
: the extent to which less powerful members of a society accept inequality. Russia, India and China score high on the power distance index (accept a social hierarchy).
Hofstede (1983)
: research conducted in 50 countries,
factor analysis
used
Evaluation
:heavy_minus_sign: The system's validity is questionable due to the fact that more cultural dimensions have been added over the years.
:heavy_minus_sign:
Schmitz & Weber (2014)
found that the uncertainty avoidance dimension had no supporting evidence and did not appear to be a valid construct.
:heavy_plus_sign:/:heavy_minus_sign: Behaviour within a country is very diverse and different between individuals. There is evidence that cultural dimensions filter into behaviour at a personal level, however, this effect may be exagerrated.
Culture
refers to a set of ideas, behaviours, attitudes and traditions that exist within a group of people.
Two levels of culture
Surface culture
refers to the norms that are often associated with a certain culture.
Deep culture
refers to the innate beliefs, values, and norms of a culture; it is culture at the cognitive level.
Culture has an influence on behaviour and cognition. This occurs through
socialization
.
Effects from cultural influence have been noted in many areas, notably day care, mental health, and obedience.
CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON INDIVIDUALS
Enculturation & acculturation
Enculturation
is the process of learning the behaviours, characteristics and norms of the culture that one belongs to.
Enculturation occurs through
socialization
: the process by which we learn to become part of a group.
Cultural transmission
is the means by which we learn to behave appropriately in our own culture.
Oblique transmission
occurs between two individuals of different generations who are not related.
Vertical transmission
occurs between genetically related individuals of different generations.
Horizontal transmission
occurs between individuals in the same generation.
Evaluation
:heavy_plus_sign: Idea well supported, cross-cultural studies distinguish it from social learning.
:heavy_plus_sign:/:heavy_minus_sign: Cultural transmission is becoming less significant as cultures are becoming more similar through globalization.
Acculturation
is the changing of a person's behaviour and characteristics as a result of contact between different cultures.
Four levels of acculturation by
Sam and Berry (2010)
Assimilation
: individuals adopt the norms of the new culture, and do not maintain their heritage culture identity.
Separation
: individuals maintain the norms of their heritage culture and do not adopt the norms of the new culture.
Integration
: individuals maintain their heritage culture, but interact with other groups and adopt some norms of the new culture.
Marginalisation
: individuals do not maintain their heritage culture, do not interact with other groups and do not adopt the norms of the new culture.
De Mamani et al. (2017)
examined how level of acculturation can affect mental health and quality of life in a sample of black and Hispanic patients with schizophrenia. They found that integrated participants showed the best quality of life scores, followed by assimilated, then separated, then marginalized patients. This demonstrates that acculturation can help individuals who have poor mental health, but retaining some of one's own culture is important too.
Universalism & relativism
Universalism
is the viewpoint that all humans are the same and behaviour is generalizable globally.
Relativism
is the viewpoint that behaviour is culture-dependent and therefore not generalizable across cultures.
Cultural relativism
is the viewpoint that there is no global "right" or "wrong" and that it is important to consider the behaviour of the individual within their culture before making a judgement. Mental health is greatly affected by culture.
Emic & etic perspectives
Emic
(relativist) approaches provide an insider's perspective. This kind of research usually focuses on one culture at a time, in order to gain an understanding of behaviour specific to that culture. This is often done from within the social group, which is important for understanding how a given culture interprets and understands its own behaviour.
Etic
(universalist) approaches provide an outsider's perspective. This kind of research tends to make comparisons across cultures. In doing so, it determines whether some psychological phenomenon is culturally universal, or culture-specific.