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PSYCHOLOGY
Cross-
cultural
Psychology
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UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY ........................................................................................7
1 WHAT IS CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY ............................................................................................................... 7
1.1 Aims of cross-cultural psychology ................................................................................................................. 9
1.2 Ethnocentrism ................................................................................................................................................ 9
2 THEMES OF DEBATE (MAJOR DIFFERENCES) ...................................................................................................... 10
2.1 THEME 1: CULTURE AS INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL TO THE PERSON ............................................................... 10
2.2 Theme 2: Relativism-Universalism ................................................................................................................. 10
2.3 Theme 3: Psychological organization of the cultural differences .................................................................. 11
3 INTERPRETATIVE POSITIONS ............................................................................................................................. 11
3.1 Culture-comparative psychology ................................................................................................................ 11
3.2 cultural psychology...................................................................................................................................... 14
3.3 Indigenous psychology ............................................................................................................................... 14
4 DESIGNING CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH .......................................................................................................... 15
4.1 Sampling* cultures ...................................................................................................................................... 15
4.2 Qualitative and quantitative approaches ................................................................................................. 16
5 DEALING WITH THREATS TO INTERPRETATION (IMPORTANT CHALLENGE:HOW ARE WE GOING TO INTERPRET
THE DATA?) ..................................................................................................................................................................... 18
6 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................................................... 19
UNIT 2: INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT ..........................................................................................................................21
1 CULTURE AS CONTEXT FOR DEVELOPMENT ...................................................................................................... 21
2 MODES OF TRANSMISSION: ................................................................................................................................. 24
3 CULTURE AND GENDER ............................................................................................................................................... 25
4 PARENTING AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCIES ........................................................................................................................ 29
4.1 Parental ethnotheories ............................................................................................................................... 29
4.2 Parental strategies (Keller): socialization goals relate to parental behaviors ........................................ 30
5 INFANCY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD ......................................................................................................................... 31
5.1 Cultural variation in infant development .................................................................................................. 31
5.2 attachment patterns .................................................................................................................................. 32
5.3 Early social cognition ................................................................................................................................... 35
6 CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE ........................................................................................................................ 36
6.1 Child and adolescence as a cultural notion ................................................................................................... 36
6.2 Childhood as formative period for adulthood ......................................................................................... 37
7 ADULTHOOD ......................................................................................................................................................... 40
7.1 early adulthood: mating and partnership ..................................................................................................... 40
7.2 Middle adulthood: Generativity ................................................................................................................. 42
7.3 late adulthood: Integrity (integrity vs. desperation) ............................................................................... 43
7.4 Applied perspective on development ......................................................................................................... 44
UNIT 3: SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR ........................................................................................................................................45
1 SOCIAL CONTEXT AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR ..................................................................................................................... 45
2 VALUES..................................................................................................................................................................... 48
2.1 Hofstede (1980) ........................................................................................................................................... 49
2.2 Triandis: Individualism vs collectivism ....................................................................................................... 50
2.3 schwartz ....................................................................................................................................................... 52
2.4 Inglehart ...................................................................................................................................................... 56
2.5 Leung & Bond: social axioms ........................................................................................................................ 61
2.6 Discussion value studies: ............................................................................................................................. 62
3 SOCIAL COGNITION .................................................................................................................................................... 62
4 CULTURE AS A SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSTRUCT ....................................................................................................... 66
5 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................... 68
UNIT 4: PERSONALITY .................................................................................................................................................69
1 TRAIT DIMENSIONS .................................................................................................................................................... 69
1.1 BIG FIVE: ........................................................................................................................................................ 69
1.2 Other trait traditions .................................................................................................................................. 70
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1.3 National Character ...................................................................................................................................... 71
1.4 Conclusions trait approach: ........................................................................................................................ 72
2 PERSON IN CONTEXT .................................................................................................................................................. 73
2.1 Effects of environment: Locus of control by Rotter: .................................................................................. 73
2.2 Self in social context ...................................................................................................................................... 74
2.3 Critical findings: ........................................................................................................................................... 75
3 SOME NON-WESTERN CONCEPTS ................................................................................................................................ 75
3.1 Indigenous approach: try to study the culture from within......................................................................... 76
4 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................................................ 78
UNIT 5: EMOTIONS .....................................................................................................................................................79
1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................................... 79
2 DIMENSIONAL APPROACHES ................................................................................................................................. 79
3 FACIAL EXPRESSIONS ............................................................................................................................................. 83
3.1 basic emotion theory ................................................................................................................................... 83
4 EMOTION AND LANGUAGE .................................................................................................................................... 86
5 EMOTION COMPONENTS....................................................................................................................................... 87
6 CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................................................................... 91
ASSESSING THE MEANING OF EMOTION WORDS IN ATHEORY-BASED WAY: THE GRID INSTRUMENT .....................93
1 GENERAL AIM......................................................................................................................................................... 93
2 THEORETICAL RATIONALE .................................................................................................................................... 93
2.1 CULTURAL / CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE ............................................................................................... 93
2.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE .................................................................................................................... 94
2.3 LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE ............................................................................................................................ 96
3 CONSTRUCTION OF THE GRID INSTRUMENT ......................................................................................................... 96
3.1 SELECTION OF EMOTION TERMS (24) ........................................................................................................... 96
3.2 SELECTION OF EMOTION FEATURES (144) .................................................................................................... 97
3.3 RESPONSE SCALE ........................................................................................................................................... 97
3.4 WEB-BASED SURVEY.................................................................................................................................... 97
3.5 SAMPLES ....................................................................................................................................................... 98
4 RESULTS ................................................................................................................................................................. 98
4.1 FEATURE PROFILE PERSPECTIVE.................................................................................................................... 98
4.2 DIMENSIONAL PERSPECTIVE ....................................................................................................................... 98
4.3 CATEGORICAL PERSPECTIVE ...................................................................................................................... 100
4.4 DETAILED FEATURE PROFILE PERSPECTIVE ................................................................................................. 101
5 CULTURAL / CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE....................................................................................................... 102
6 DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................................................... 104
UNIT 6: LANGUAGE ................................................................................................................................................... 107
1 LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY .............................................................................................................................................. 107
2 CODING AND CATEGORIZATION OF COLOUR ................................................................................................................ 110
3 SPATIAL ORIENTATION ............................................................................................................................................. 113
4 UNIVERSALITY IN LANGUAGE ..................................................................................................................................... 115
5 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................................................... 117
UNIT 7: COGNITION ................................................................................................................................................... 119
1 HISTORICAL LEGACY ................................................................................................................................................. 119
2 GENERAL INTELLIGENCE ............................................................................................................................................ 120
2.1 The notion of "g" ........................................................................................................................................ 120
2.2 Comparative studies .................................................................................................................................. 121
2.3 Indigenous approaches ............................................................................................................................. 125
3 COGNITIVE STYLES .................................................................................................................................................... 127
4 COGNITION IN THE EAST AND THE WEST ..................................................................................................................... 129
5 CONTEXTUALIZED COGNITION ................................................................................................................................... 131
6 CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................................................................... 134
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UNIT 8: PERCEPTION ................................................................................................................................................ 135
1 HISTORICAL ROOTS .................................................................................................................................................. 135
2 SENSORY FUNCTIONS ............................................................................................................................................... 135
3 PERCEPTION OF PATTERNS AND PICTURES ................................................................................................................... 137
4 FACE RECOGNITION ................................................................................................................................................. 141
5 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................................................... 142
UNIT 9: CONTRIBUTIONS OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY ..................................................................................... 143
1 CONCEPTIONS OF CULTURE ....................................................................................................................................... 143
1.1 Cultural evolution ...................................................................................................................................... 146
1.2 Cultural relativism ..................................................................................................................................... 146
1.3 Cultural universals ..................................................................................................................................... 147
2 ETHNOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................................................ 148
2.1 Ethnographic fieldwork ............................................................................................................................. 148
2.2 Ethnographic archives ................................................................................................................................ 149
3 COGNITIVE ANTHROPOLOGY ..................................................................................................................................... 150
4 RELIGION ............................................................................................................................................................... 152
4.1 Religious knowledge takes precedence .................................................................................................... 152
4.2 Science and religion are separate ............................................................................................................. 153
4.3 Research with Post-Critical Belief scale ..................................................................................................... 153
4.4 Science takes precedence about religion ................................................................................................. 154
5 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................................................... 155
LECTURE 10: EQUIVALENCE AND BIAS ....................................................................................................................... 157
1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................ 157
2 EQUIVALENCE AND BIAS: A GENERAL FRAMEWORK........................................................................................................... 157
3 LEVELS OF EQUIVALENCE ............................................................................................................................................ 158
4 TYPES OF BIAS .......................................................................................................................................................... 159
5 RESEARCH AND DATA ANALYTIC METHODS...................................................................................................................... 160
6 CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................................................................... 160
UNIT 11: ACCULTURATION ........................................................................................................................................ 161
1 DEFINITIONS AND FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................................................... 161
2 THEORETICAL MODELS AND PERSPECTIVES ................................................................................................................... 163
3 ACCULTURATION PROCESSES....................................................................................................................................... 165
3.1 Acculturation strategies ............................................................................................................................ 165
4 ACCULTURATION OUTCOMES .................................................................................................................................... 166
5 METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES ........................................................................................................................................ 168
6 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................................................... 170
UNIT 12: INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS .................................................................................................................. 171
1 INTERCULTURAL STRATEGIES .................................................................................................................................... 171
2 MULTICULTURALISM ............................................................................................................................................... 171
3 CENTRAL THEORIES .................................................................................................................................................. 175
4 KEY CONCEPTS ......................................................................................................................................................... 176
5 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................................................... 178
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UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
1 WHAT IS CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
“Cross-cultural research in psychology is the explicit, systematic comparison of psychological variables under
different cultural conditions in order to specify the antecedents and processes that mediate the emergence of
behavior differences” (Eckensberger, 1972, p.100)
̶ Focus on behavioral differences. If people behaved the same way, there would be noneed for CCP.
̶ How can we explain the differences between people? He wants to identify the reason why there are
differences.
“Cross-cultural psychology is the empirical study of members of various cultural groups who have had different
experiences that lead to predictable and significant differences in behaviour. In the majority of such studies,
the groups under study speak different languages and are governed bydifferent political units” (Brislin, Lonner,
& Thondike, 1973, p. 5).
̶ Father´s of cross-cultural Psychology
̶ Comparable to Eckensberger´s definition in the sense that it also focuses in differences in behaviour.
̶ What they add is the importance of language and different political units (e.g. capitalism vs.
communism)
▪ cultural groups = different languages and different political units.
̶ What are these experiences that cause differences in behavior?
“Cross-cultural research is any type of research on human behavior that compares behavior of interest across
two or more cultures” (Matsumoto, 1996, p. 5).
̶ Most broad definition. He emphasizes the comparison aspect: you have to compare different cultures.
̶ This is typically a definition for the comparative approach. E.g. Matsumoto, emotionresearcher.
“Cultural psychology [is] the study of the culture's role in the mental life of human beings” (Cole,1996, p. 1).
̶ Cole is not talking about cross-cultural, but about the cultural aspect: it is the study of the role of culture
in people's mental lives. There is no reference to antecedents. The idea is that you look at culture, and
you see how it impacts people's mental lives.
Cultural psychology “has a distinctive subject matter (psychological diversity, rather than psychological
uniformity): it aims to reassess the uniformitarian principle of psychic unity and develop a credible theory of
psychological pluralism” Shweder, 2007, p. 827).
̶ One of the founding fathers of Cultural Psychology movement.
̶ What you see here is a very different position from the previous one. Cultural Psychology has a
distinct subject matter namely psychological diversity rather than psychological uniformity.
̶ It aims to reassess the uniformitarian principle of psychic unity and develop a theory of
psychological pluralism.
̶ Psychological uniformity/ psychic unity: people´s basic psychological processes across cultures are the
same. Culture has no impact.
̶ Cultural Psychology movement debates this statement. To which extent our psychological variables are
created by culture? E.g., Are some cultures more extroverted than others?
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What can we conclude of these different definitions?
̶ Culture is central to all definitions (but none of these definitions define culture)
̶ Preliminary definition of culture: “the shared way of life of a group of people”
̶ Different aspects:
▪ cause-consequent relations
▪ cultural experiences
▪ comparisons between cultures
▪ mutual interactions between culture and behavior
▪ differences in psychological functions and processes
None of the previous definitions focuses on these aspects, limited attention for:
̶ Uniformity: all these definitions assume that cultural groups differ from one another in psychological
reasoning. To state that something is different you need a point of reference, what is uniformity?, what is
stable across groups?
̶ Biological and ecological aspects
▪ Biological aspects: To what extent is our behavior defined by our biological heritage? Especially
important when talking of emotions, e.g. evolutionary development of emotions.
▪ Ecological aspects: not just cultural aspects but also the environment in which you live. E.g., for
instance, if our climate zone changes due to climate change, this will have an influence on the way in
which we function.
̶ Cross-national approaches and minorities: ethnocultural groups
▪ Culture is often equated with country but within any country there can be many different cultures.
E.g., Indian castes, immigrants, minorities
̶ Change. Cultures are not fixed entities they change. Cultural differences are expected to remain the same.
but cultures change, habits change… So cultural differences can change too! E.g., Intergenerational
differences.
A more comprehensive definition:
“Cross-cultural psychology is the study: of similarities and differences in individual psychological in various
cultural and ethnocultural groups; of ongoing changes in variables reflecting such functioning, and of the
relationships of psychological variables with socio-cultural, ecological and biological variables”
This is a more comprehensive definition where all aspects are included and it is the working definition that will be
used throughout this course. We are interested in the individual, how the individual behaves, but in relation to
the cultural group the individual comes from.
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1.1 AIMS OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
Why and how should we study CCP?
̶ Transport and test. Applying tests and psychological tools developed for an specific culture in a another
cultural group. For example, applying a personality Western test in an Asiatic population. This type of
research is weak an prone to very biased! (does the instruments work in the same way? If you find a
difference, what do actually mean?) Sowe have to be careful with these studies.
Trying to bring our vision to another culture.
̶ Exploring cross-cultural differences. People want to better understand why different groups react
differently. There isa danger: you may magnify the differences and not notice what is actually the same
Now, we are going to explore the other culture.
̶ Developing a (quasi-)universal psychology. Cross-cultural psychologists are aware that Psychology
is to a very important extent a Western science. That doesn´t mean that it doesn´t exist a universal
characteristic but is developed from one particular perspective. If we want to get to a diverse
psychology, we have to study CCP, is through its application that we can get to look at the full range of
behavior and then try to identify what applies universally.
By looking at the diversity of cultural behavior, by cross referencing we can identify characteristics that are
really similar, that are stable across cultural groups.
̶ Behavior change through psychological interventions in other cultural contexts. Practical aim. This is
very important! To achieve a behavioral change through a psychological intervention this must be
adapted to the cultural context. E.g., For example, AIDS: this is a medical problem, but also a behavioral
one! There are big differences in convincing people to use condoms. A group of psychologists tried to
implement in Mexico a Western intervention addressed to increment the use of condoms. For most
people there it felt extremely weird. Participants experiences ¨pena¨, shyness, because is a taboo to speak
about sex. You have to understand the culture better and adapt the intervention to the group!
So the first 3 are rather theoretical and the fourth rather an application.
1.2 ETHNOCENTRISM
Ethnocentrism as (quasi-) universal characteristic of intergroup relations. People in general find their own
cultural group better than other cultural groups.
̶ It is important that you take a neutral position when studying CCP but
▪ our evaluations are often implicit and automatic. E.g., In Western societies it is expected in a
conversation for people to look into each other's eyes when they talk to each other, otherwise it
would be interpreted as rude, shy, insecure… But there are cultural groups where it is very rude to
look straight in the eye! When you meet such a person you almost automatically interpret it as
them being shy, rude, etc.
▪ not noticing shifts in meaning. Words and behaviors cannot be simply translated E.g., (1) There
are huge differences in connotation between languages in the term “being alert”. In some
cultures has a negative connotation, i.e. English, means that there is some danger; while in other has a
positive connotation and it means just being very attentive to what it is happening. (2) In Spain
“desesperación” has a more close connotation of hopelessness compared to the word despair in Vasco.
▪ affects theory development. In terms of deindividuation and separation, from a Western
perspective we value being separated from others. In Western thinking, autonomy in children is
considered important, relevant and necessary. The lack of separation is seen as a series of
psychological problems. But in other cultures, separation from your parents is just not a positive
thing, and the connection you have with your parents is emphasized in psychology. Cultures have
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total different value systems that will affect how an specific psychological theory it is developed.
▪ affects research topics. The different cultural contexts affect the research questions themselves,
what should be studied? What matter to some cultures doesn´t necessarily matter to others.
2 THEMES OF DEBATE (MAJOR DIFFERENCES)
2.1 THEME 1: CULTURE AS INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL TO THE PERSON
̶ External: climate, subsistence mode, political organization, affluence* , schooling, …
▪ Climate: There were/are researchers who thought/think that the challenging climatic
conditions in the West forced people to develop compared to the favorable conditions of the
tropics where there was plenty of food. Climate can influence behavior. It even has an impact on
how babies are carried.
▪ Subsistence mode: How do we provide for our livelihood? Do we hunt? Collect? Now in West
Post-Industrial Society: Services
▪ Political: We live in a democratic system, but there are many more systems in the world.
Capitalism, communism: what is the impact of living in another system? If you value
communism, you also value conformity whereas if you value capitalims you value
competitivity and ambition.
▪ Affluence: Affluence is a very important aspect: how wealthy are you? There are many things
that correlate with this! We live in a prosperous society, that has an impact.
▪ Schooling: Western schooling has a huge impact on psychological functioning.
̶ Internal: ideas, values, beliefs, philosophies, … (social environment becomes internalized)
Both in anthropology and in cross-cultural psychology a shift can be observed from an external to an internal
approach.
One of the central questions is whether itshould be looked at internally or externally. We see that depending on
the approach one or the other is envisioned, but it is generally agreed that both are important, so you have to
look at both external and internal aspects. But we now see more focus on the internal aspect, previously more
external.
*affluence: opulencia, riqueza
2.2 THEME 2: RELATIVISM-UNIVERSALISM
To which extent are psychological processes universal? Do we have 5 personality dimensions everywhere for example?
Do we find it everywhere or is it relativistic? Specific for the cultural context?
A process being universal doesn´t mean that the cultural context has no impact. Universalism assumes that processes
are the same and that the differences are more in terms of quantity.
̶ E.g., words for colors and color perception. One of the examples is color perception. It's a nice area to
explore, because on the one hand we have a clear physical side: biological. The way we see biologically is
universal. On the other hand, we have big differences in the number of words they have for colors. Some
cultures have only two words for colors: dark or light. Other cultures have all kinds of words to refer to
colors. Will having a word for colors affect our color perception?
̶ Used to be seen as a dichotomy. Either people would identify with a relativistic perspective or a
universalistic perspective
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