Psychology 121 – Chapter 15 – Culture – March 6th, 2023
Social Psychology Research Methods
• Social psychologists are interested in how cultural forces influence psychological processes.
o Social psychologists and anthropologists ask different types of questions and use different methods.
o Anthropologists often conduct ethnographic studies.
§ Ethnographic studies: the scientist spends time observing a culture and conducting interviews.
• Social psychologists' study cultural psychology often via interviews.
o Open-ended questions
• Emphasize participant’s own definition, language and understanding of their own lives.
• Group Comparisons can be made based on themes created by researchers
• Cultural psychology is distinct from cross-cultural psychology.
• Cross-cultural studies: use standard forms of measurement to compare and contrast people from different
cultures.
Social psychology research methods
• Culture & cross-culture studies have both advantages & disadvantages
Ethnographic study Cross-cultural study
advantages Culturally sensitive, studies people in Able to make comparisons between
their natural environments groups
disadvantages Difficult to make Comparisons Vulnerable to ethnocentric bias
between cultures
What is culture?
• Culture: refers to a collective understanding of the way the world works, shared by members of a group &
passed down across generations.
Four features of Culture
1. versatility: culture can change and adapt
• People have multiple cultural identities that change across context
o Situational identity
2. sharing: culture is the product of people sharing with one another.
• Humans cooperate and share knowledge. Skills with other members of their networks.
• The way they share, and the content, helps make up culture
o Passing down stories from grandma to child
3. accumulating: cultural knowledge is cumulative (information is “stored”)
• A culture’s collective learning grows across generation
4. patterns: there are systematic and predictable ways of behavior or thinking across members of a culture
• Patterns emerge from adapting, sharing, and storing cultural information
• Patterns can be both similar and different across cultures
• Currently our culture is going to high school – at 18 graduate – go to college – meet someone in college – get
married – have kids – restarts
Thinking about culture
Three ways to think of culture
, 1. progressive cultivation: include a small subset of activities that are intentional and aimed at “being refined”
• For example, learning to play a musical instrument, appreciating visual art, and attending theater performances
• This was the predominant use of culture through the mid-19th century.
• In the late 19th century, as global travel began to rise, this understanding of culture was largely replaced with an
understanding of it as a way of life.
2. ways of life: distinct patterns of beliefs & behaviors widely shared among members of a culture
• Emphasizes patterns of belief & behavior that persist over generations
• However, there is also a great deal of cultural variation within cultures.
3. shared learning: enculturation refers to the ways people learn about and shared cultural knowledge
• It is a fluid & dynamic process that emphasizes that culture is a process that can be learned
• Thus, a person can have multiple cultural scripts.
Culture concepts
Cultural concept Examples Social impact Highlighted themes
Progressive Cultivation • College education A distinction between Deliberate pursuit of
• Advanced elites and the masses, mental refinement; efforts
technology between “higher to create and improve
• Ballet civilizations” and abilities that seem to offer
• Formal etiquette “barbarians” between men better prospects of
and women wellbeing, power, or
dignity
Ways of Life • National traditions Geographical or ethical Similar belief and values
• Religious doctrines distinctions between large within populations, but
• Organizational and spatially segregated difference between them;
culture populations strong cultural identity and
stereotyping out-group
members; stability of
culture over time
Shared Learning and • Parenting Emphasis on the An understanding of
Enculturation • Teaching developmental potential of diversity within
• Apprenticeship everyone and on the populations, individual
• Information- different ways in which exposure to multiple
sharing and individuals develop, cultural influences,
influencing through depending on different negotiation and debating
social networks forms of enculturation. about cultural values and
identities.
Implications of Culture as a Learned Pattern – March 9th, 2023
• Members of different cultures learn different ways of behavior. These differences can sometimes become a
source of tension.
• People can adopt an appreciation of patterns of behavior that are different than their own.
The self and culture
• Individualism: individualists define themselves as individuals.
o they seek personal freedom and prefer to voice their own opinions and make their own decisions.
• Collectivism: collectivists are more likely to emphasize their connectedness to other.
o They are more likely to sacrifice their personal preferences if those preferences come in conflict with the
references of the larger group.
Social Psychology Research Methods
• Social psychologists are interested in how cultural forces influence psychological processes.
o Social psychologists and anthropologists ask different types of questions and use different methods.
o Anthropologists often conduct ethnographic studies.
§ Ethnographic studies: the scientist spends time observing a culture and conducting interviews.
• Social psychologists' study cultural psychology often via interviews.
o Open-ended questions
• Emphasize participant’s own definition, language and understanding of their own lives.
• Group Comparisons can be made based on themes created by researchers
• Cultural psychology is distinct from cross-cultural psychology.
• Cross-cultural studies: use standard forms of measurement to compare and contrast people from different
cultures.
Social psychology research methods
• Culture & cross-culture studies have both advantages & disadvantages
Ethnographic study Cross-cultural study
advantages Culturally sensitive, studies people in Able to make comparisons between
their natural environments groups
disadvantages Difficult to make Comparisons Vulnerable to ethnocentric bias
between cultures
What is culture?
• Culture: refers to a collective understanding of the way the world works, shared by members of a group &
passed down across generations.
Four features of Culture
1. versatility: culture can change and adapt
• People have multiple cultural identities that change across context
o Situational identity
2. sharing: culture is the product of people sharing with one another.
• Humans cooperate and share knowledge. Skills with other members of their networks.
• The way they share, and the content, helps make up culture
o Passing down stories from grandma to child
3. accumulating: cultural knowledge is cumulative (information is “stored”)
• A culture’s collective learning grows across generation
4. patterns: there are systematic and predictable ways of behavior or thinking across members of a culture
• Patterns emerge from adapting, sharing, and storing cultural information
• Patterns can be both similar and different across cultures
• Currently our culture is going to high school – at 18 graduate – go to college – meet someone in college – get
married – have kids – restarts
Thinking about culture
Three ways to think of culture
, 1. progressive cultivation: include a small subset of activities that are intentional and aimed at “being refined”
• For example, learning to play a musical instrument, appreciating visual art, and attending theater performances
• This was the predominant use of culture through the mid-19th century.
• In the late 19th century, as global travel began to rise, this understanding of culture was largely replaced with an
understanding of it as a way of life.
2. ways of life: distinct patterns of beliefs & behaviors widely shared among members of a culture
• Emphasizes patterns of belief & behavior that persist over generations
• However, there is also a great deal of cultural variation within cultures.
3. shared learning: enculturation refers to the ways people learn about and shared cultural knowledge
• It is a fluid & dynamic process that emphasizes that culture is a process that can be learned
• Thus, a person can have multiple cultural scripts.
Culture concepts
Cultural concept Examples Social impact Highlighted themes
Progressive Cultivation • College education A distinction between Deliberate pursuit of
• Advanced elites and the masses, mental refinement; efforts
technology between “higher to create and improve
• Ballet civilizations” and abilities that seem to offer
• Formal etiquette “barbarians” between men better prospects of
and women wellbeing, power, or
dignity
Ways of Life • National traditions Geographical or ethical Similar belief and values
• Religious doctrines distinctions between large within populations, but
• Organizational and spatially segregated difference between them;
culture populations strong cultural identity and
stereotyping out-group
members; stability of
culture over time
Shared Learning and • Parenting Emphasis on the An understanding of
Enculturation • Teaching developmental potential of diversity within
• Apprenticeship everyone and on the populations, individual
• Information- different ways in which exposure to multiple
sharing and individuals develop, cultural influences,
influencing through depending on different negotiation and debating
social networks forms of enculturation. about cultural values and
identities.
Implications of Culture as a Learned Pattern – March 9th, 2023
• Members of different cultures learn different ways of behavior. These differences can sometimes become a
source of tension.
• People can adopt an appreciation of patterns of behavior that are different than their own.
The self and culture
• Individualism: individualists define themselves as individuals.
o they seek personal freedom and prefer to voice their own opinions and make their own decisions.
• Collectivism: collectivists are more likely to emphasize their connectedness to other.
o They are more likely to sacrifice their personal preferences if those preferences come in conflict with the
references of the larger group.
