Culture and Psychology

When you think about different cultures, you probably picture their most visible features, such as differences in the way people dress, or in the architectural styles of their buildings. You might consider different types of food, or how people in some cultures eat with chopsticks while people in others use forks. There are differences in body language, religious practices, and wedding rituals. While these are all obvious examples of cultural differences, many distinctions are harder to see because they are psychological in nature.

Learning Objectives

At the end of the chapter, you should be able to:

1. Identify the key elements and goals in the field of psychology and cultural psychology.
2. Identify the four goals of psychology and demonstrate an understanding regarding how each of these goals is achieved in research and application efforts.
3. Identify the limitations of the traditional approach of conducting research with WEIRDos
4. Define and distinguish between the elements of culture.
5. Define and elaborate how psychology is both universal and culturally specific.
6. To differentiate objective versus subjective elements of culture.
7. Define each of the five dimensions of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
8. Describe how different cultures around the world facilitate the enculturation of individuals differently across each of these domains.
9. Define ethnocentric bias and cultural relativism.