CULTURE AND PSYCHOLOGY – DAVID MATSUMOTO, LINDA JUANG – SIXTH EDITION
Chapter 1 – An introduction to culture and psychology
Culture, race, nationality and ethnicity aren´t the same thing. Culture is a unique meaning and infor-
mation system, shared by a group and transmitted across generations, that allows the group to meet
basic needs of survival, pursue happiness and well-being, and derive meaning from life. There are four
important sources of the origins of culture: 1) Group life: groups increase the chances for survival
because they increase efficiency through division of labor. The downside is that there’s a potential for
social conflict and chaos. 2) Environment: ecologies have a major impact on how groups live. The devia-
tion from temperature is important: humans need to regulate their body temperatures and have an
easier time doing so in temperate climates. The ‘easiest’ temperature to live in, is considered 22°C.
Harsher climates also create greater risks of food shortage and food spoilage and health problems.
Demanding climates require special clothing, housing, working arrangements, etc. Another ecological
factor is population density. What’s important about this is the number of people in an area in relation
to the amount of arable land (the type of land that can sustain life by food production of some sort) in
that area: the amount of land on which food can grow to sustain the people in that area. Most groups
live in a region with a previous culture, this will have an impact on the culture they have now. This is
especially true for immigrants, who come to a land with an already existing culture and must accultu-
rate. Finally, environments differ in the amount of contact they allow with other cultures through geo-
graphical proximity and accessibility. 3) Resources: these can be natural; little natural resources may
encourage teamwork and community spirit and interrelationships with other groups. The major type
of resource that influences cultures today is money. This is a human cultural product. Affluence, which
refers to the amount of money available to a person or group, can have a major impact on culture.
Abundant money can help buffer the consequences of a lack of resources and harsh climates, which in
turn have interesting psychological consequences. People and groups with more money can afford to
be less in sync with others because cooperation isn’t essential. 4) The evolved human mind: survival
depends on the degree to which people can adapt to their environments and the contexts in which
they live. Humans have basic needs related to reproductive success. These are associated with social
motives, which include the motive to achieve and to affiliate with others. Another resource is the uni-
versal psychological toolkit. This refers to the many abilities and aptitudes that nature and evolution
endowed humans with in order to help them to address their basic needs and social motives, and ulti-
mately to adapt and survive. These tools emerged with the evolution of the human brain, and are
Cognitive abilities Emotions Personality traits important parts of the
Language Basic emotions Extraversion human mind. Animals
Complex social cognition Self-conscious emotions Neuroticism see themselves as some-
Memory Moral emotions Openness what intentional agents,
Hypothetical reasoning Agreeableness but humans distinguish
Problem solving Conscientiousness themselves because they
Planning have the cognitive ability
to share their intentions with others (through language). Another important ability that humans have
is the ability to continually build upon improvements » the ratchet effect. Our cognitive skills also
include memory, and because we have memory, we can create histories, and thus we have traditions,
customs and heritage. Our cognitive skills also include the ability to think hypothetically and about the
future. This allows us to plan things and to worry about the uncertainty of the future, both of which
form the basis of cultural practices. Emotions are rapid information systems that aid humans in
reacting to events that require immediate action and that have important consequences to one’s
welfare with minimal cognitive processing. Human cultures are cumulative. This allows human cultures
to differ from animal cultures on complexity, differentiation and institutionalization.
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