Psychology and Culture
Psychology and Culture
Part 1
Cultures and Their Influences 8/22/12 * Culture is a set of attitudes, behaviors, symbols, shared by a large group of people and is communicated by successive generations * Psychology is the study of the mental process and human behavior * Cultural Psychology is the link between culture and psychology. Mental processes are the product of interaction between a culture and an individual. * Cross Cultural Psychology is the critical and comparative study of cultural effects of human psychology. Identifies similar and different people behaviors, emotions, motivations, and thoughts across cultures. * Society is a group of people. * Culture is a shared way of interaction that people practice. * Race is a group of people distinguished by certain similar and genetically transmitted characteristics * Controversy – is race a social category? * Most physical traits appear in all populations * Biologists – race is a term used to describe a population that differs in distinguishable physical traits * In the past - geographical isolation was a race creating factor * Now – differences more political, cultural, religious * Ethnicity – cultural heritage. Experience shares by people who have a common ancestral origin, language, traditions, often religion, geographic territory * Nation – people who share common geographic origin, history, language, and unified as a political entity – independent state recognized by other countries * Countries use terms race, ethnicity, and nationality differently. Ex: what we term race in U.S. is termed nationality in other countries * Different ethnic groups within nations * Different national groups within ethnic groups * Ethnocentrism – supports judgment about other ethnic, national/cultural groups and events from observer’s own ethnic or cultural perspective * View other groups as “less than”
Part 1
Cultures and Their Influences 8/22/12 * Culture is a set of attitudes, behaviors, symbols, shared by a large group of people and is communicated by successive generations * Psychology is the study of the mental process and human behavior * Cultural Psychology is the link between culture and psychology. Mental processes are the product of interaction between a culture and an individual. * Cross Cultural Psychology is the critical and comparative study of cultural effects of human psychology. Identifies similar and different people behaviors, emotions, motivations, and thoughts across cultures. * Society is a group of people. * Culture is a shared way of interaction that people practice. * Race is a group of people distinguished by certain similar and genetically transmitted characteristics * Controversy – is race a social category? * Most physical traits appear in all populations * Biologists – race is a term used to describe a population that differs in distinguishable physical traits * In the past - geographical isolation was a race creating factor * Now – differences more political, cultural, religious * Ethnicity – cultural heritage. Experience shares by people who have a common ancestral origin, language, traditions, often religion, geographic territory * Nation – people who share common geographic origin, history, language, and unified as a political entity – independent state recognized by other countries * Countries use terms race, ethnicity, and nationality differently. Ex: what we term race in U.S. is termed nationality in other countries * Different ethnic groups within nations * Different national groups within ethnic groups * Ethnocentrism – supports judgment about other ethnic, national/cultural groups and events from observer’s own ethnic or cultural perspective * View other groups as “less than”