Lecture Notes - CT: Introduction to Cultural Psychology
Week 1: What is Culture & How to Study it? 28/10/2025 & 30/10/2025
What is culture?
- Burnett-Tylor (1871): A complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities/habits acquired as a member of
society
- Hofstede (2001): the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the
members of one group of people from another
- Heine (2008): any kind of information (ideas, beliefs, technology, habit, practice) that is
acquired from other members of one’s species through social learning that is capable of
affecting an individual’s behaviors. And, a particular group of people living within a shared
context and exposed to the same cultural information, e.g., “Western” vs. “East Asian”
cultures.
- Mesoudi (2015): Socially transmitted information
- Richerson & Boyd, 2005: Culture is any kind of information that is acquired from other
members of one’s species through social learning that can influence an individual's
behaviors. AND, a group of people who exist within some kind of shared context
There is a small part of culture we can observe, which is the primary interest of an
anthropologist, but psychologists are interested in the big chunk of culture that lies beneath
the surface.
What is not culture?
- Only cultural values → It is also the things that we do, the physical environment that we
engage in.
- It is not the same thing as a nation → when you live in the same nation, you often share a
lot of cultural features, but there are substantial differences between countries.
- Homogeneous / invarious within a group → some people are more or less typical for
certain cultures
- Culture is not stable over time → through the years, cultures become more or less
traditional
General vs cultural psychology:
General Psychology:
- Psychological processes are invariant and universal
- Differences are superficial, reflected as ‘noise’
- The mind is independent of culture
- Goal: to understand the mind independent of content and context
Cultural Psychology:
- Psychological processes are shaped by culture
- Differences are real and affect the deep structure
- Mind is intertwined with culture
- Goal: to understand how the mind is interdependent on its content and context
1
,Effect of culture (Hedder et al., 2008): They see the stimulus quickly, and are given 1 task.
1. Absolute task: They have to copy the line’s length of the stimulus (keep
the same length as the stimulus), but let the box shrink
2. Relative task: They have to shrink the box and shrink the line in the box
relative to the box.
Results between Americans and east-asians:
Americans found the absolute task fairly easy, while the asians did
not; they needed a lot of attentional control for the absolute task.
Americans found the relative task more challenging than the asians,
but the asians also had a little difficulty (less than the absolute task).
Conclusion:
If you have a more holistic way of thinking, it is easier to reproduce the relative task, as it
stays relative to the stimuli (East Asians were good at this).
The analytical way of thinking that has been trained in school to take information out of
context helps do the absolute task (Americans were good at this).
Muller-Lyer illusion: The lines of both arrows are equally long, but they are perceived
differently. There is no answer to why this illusion works. A hypothesis is that it has to
do with the way we perceive distance, based on corners in rooms, for example. But if you
are not used to rooms because you live in a tribe, this mechanism is not as trained as it is in
people who live in houses with rooms.
Universal vs culture-specific processes
Universal: Psychological processes that are shared by people across different cultures (e.g.,
languages using 10-70 phonemes, incest aversion)
Culture-specific: Psychological processes that differ between people depending on their
culture. (e.g., languages differ in the extent to which pronouns can be dropped, Trobriand
islanders (a matrilineal society) think differently about incest).
Levels of Universality (Heine, 2015)
Accessibility universal: Cognitive tool found in all cultures that serves the same
function(s) and is accessible to the same degree (e.g., social facilitation)
Functional universal: Cognitive tool found in all cultures that serves the same
function(s) but is used to different degrees in different cultures (e.g., differences
in the degree of punishment because of violation of ‘rules’).
Existential universal: Cognitive tool found in all cultures, BUT serves a different
function (e.g., intrinsic motivation based on success or failure)
Non-universal: Cognitive tool not found in all cultures (e.g., abacus reasoning)
Why study cultural variation: Universality assumption → use of WEIRD (Western, Educated,
Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) samples. Multicultural communities in a globalized world
need to address group differences (culture-blind vs. multicultural approaches).
- Most psychological research is based on an American sample, but it still can be an outlier!
They often belong to the WEIRD group: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich,
Democratic. It is argued that this is an unrepresentative sample of the ‘human’ population. At
the same time, it is important to keep in mind that “culture” is not something that “others”
2
, have – even though WEIRD samples are overrepresented and untypical, they do represent a
certain cultural context.
- To understand differences in today’s multicultural societies: in a globalized world, it is
important not to be culture-blind. When people adopt a multicultural approach and attend to
cultural differences, people of different cultural groups get along better and feel more
engaged.
How to study cultural variation? Compare elements between multiple cultures and find
explanations for them. Which aspect of that culture explains this element, behavior, or
value?
Cultural values: Preference for one state of affairs over another that distinguishes countries
(rather than individuals) from each other. Hofstede and Gelfand researched this topic.
Hofstede identified the values of Individualism and Collectivism, while Gelfand
distinguished ‘tightness’ and ‘looseness’.
Individualism and Collectivism: The extent to which individuals prioritize their own personal
goals vs their group goals.
Tightness and looseness: Tolerance of deviant behavior and severity of punishment to norm
violators → Drinking alcohol (in Japan, drinking alcohol is fine with colleagues after work, but
not at other times), displaying affection in public, etc.
Be aware!:
- There is heterogeneity between but also within cultures.
- Think of cultural values/dimensions as a continuum rather than exclusive categories.
Both ends exist in all cultures, but one end tends to predominate.
- Neither end is better, but one may be more functional or historically prevalent in a
given culture than the other end.
- A key to understanding cultural variation, but also a limitation (other
non-psychological factors may also play a role, e.g., climate, affluence, etc.)
COSI-concerns: Pitfalls in research across cultures:
Causation: How do I design my study, and what conclusions can I draw? → Culture cannot
be manipulated, which means that causal claims about cultural influence are limited, but can
be researched by (Combinations are the best choices):
- Survey: easy to sample many participants, used for looking at patterns, but
bias-prone, and no experimental manipulations
- Field experiments: high ecological validity, but extraneous variables cannot be
controlled (weather, strikes, mood/emotions).
- Neuroscientific methods: Draws conclusions about biological causes of cultural
variation, but are very expensive, and uses small samples.
- Situation sampling: Participants from different cultures describe situations. These
situations are used for a new survey where they present both cultures with situations
from both cultures and let them evaluate these. It sheds light on how culture affects
people, but it is time-intensive. It can lead to two effects:
Situation effect: Do situations from one culture lead to different responses than
those from the other culture?
3
Week 1: What is Culture & How to Study it? 28/10/2025 & 30/10/2025
What is culture?
- Burnett-Tylor (1871): A complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities/habits acquired as a member of
society
- Hofstede (2001): the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the
members of one group of people from another
- Heine (2008): any kind of information (ideas, beliefs, technology, habit, practice) that is
acquired from other members of one’s species through social learning that is capable of
affecting an individual’s behaviors. And, a particular group of people living within a shared
context and exposed to the same cultural information, e.g., “Western” vs. “East Asian”
cultures.
- Mesoudi (2015): Socially transmitted information
- Richerson & Boyd, 2005: Culture is any kind of information that is acquired from other
members of one’s species through social learning that can influence an individual's
behaviors. AND, a group of people who exist within some kind of shared context
There is a small part of culture we can observe, which is the primary interest of an
anthropologist, but psychologists are interested in the big chunk of culture that lies beneath
the surface.
What is not culture?
- Only cultural values → It is also the things that we do, the physical environment that we
engage in.
- It is not the same thing as a nation → when you live in the same nation, you often share a
lot of cultural features, but there are substantial differences between countries.
- Homogeneous / invarious within a group → some people are more or less typical for
certain cultures
- Culture is not stable over time → through the years, cultures become more or less
traditional
General vs cultural psychology:
General Psychology:
- Psychological processes are invariant and universal
- Differences are superficial, reflected as ‘noise’
- The mind is independent of culture
- Goal: to understand the mind independent of content and context
Cultural Psychology:
- Psychological processes are shaped by culture
- Differences are real and affect the deep structure
- Mind is intertwined with culture
- Goal: to understand how the mind is interdependent on its content and context
1
,Effect of culture (Hedder et al., 2008): They see the stimulus quickly, and are given 1 task.
1. Absolute task: They have to copy the line’s length of the stimulus (keep
the same length as the stimulus), but let the box shrink
2. Relative task: They have to shrink the box and shrink the line in the box
relative to the box.
Results between Americans and east-asians:
Americans found the absolute task fairly easy, while the asians did
not; they needed a lot of attentional control for the absolute task.
Americans found the relative task more challenging than the asians,
but the asians also had a little difficulty (less than the absolute task).
Conclusion:
If you have a more holistic way of thinking, it is easier to reproduce the relative task, as it
stays relative to the stimuli (East Asians were good at this).
The analytical way of thinking that has been trained in school to take information out of
context helps do the absolute task (Americans were good at this).
Muller-Lyer illusion: The lines of both arrows are equally long, but they are perceived
differently. There is no answer to why this illusion works. A hypothesis is that it has to
do with the way we perceive distance, based on corners in rooms, for example. But if you
are not used to rooms because you live in a tribe, this mechanism is not as trained as it is in
people who live in houses with rooms.
Universal vs culture-specific processes
Universal: Psychological processes that are shared by people across different cultures (e.g.,
languages using 10-70 phonemes, incest aversion)
Culture-specific: Psychological processes that differ between people depending on their
culture. (e.g., languages differ in the extent to which pronouns can be dropped, Trobriand
islanders (a matrilineal society) think differently about incest).
Levels of Universality (Heine, 2015)
Accessibility universal: Cognitive tool found in all cultures that serves the same
function(s) and is accessible to the same degree (e.g., social facilitation)
Functional universal: Cognitive tool found in all cultures that serves the same
function(s) but is used to different degrees in different cultures (e.g., differences
in the degree of punishment because of violation of ‘rules’).
Existential universal: Cognitive tool found in all cultures, BUT serves a different
function (e.g., intrinsic motivation based on success or failure)
Non-universal: Cognitive tool not found in all cultures (e.g., abacus reasoning)
Why study cultural variation: Universality assumption → use of WEIRD (Western, Educated,
Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) samples. Multicultural communities in a globalized world
need to address group differences (culture-blind vs. multicultural approaches).
- Most psychological research is based on an American sample, but it still can be an outlier!
They often belong to the WEIRD group: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich,
Democratic. It is argued that this is an unrepresentative sample of the ‘human’ population. At
the same time, it is important to keep in mind that “culture” is not something that “others”
2
, have – even though WEIRD samples are overrepresented and untypical, they do represent a
certain cultural context.
- To understand differences in today’s multicultural societies: in a globalized world, it is
important not to be culture-blind. When people adopt a multicultural approach and attend to
cultural differences, people of different cultural groups get along better and feel more
engaged.
How to study cultural variation? Compare elements between multiple cultures and find
explanations for them. Which aspect of that culture explains this element, behavior, or
value?
Cultural values: Preference for one state of affairs over another that distinguishes countries
(rather than individuals) from each other. Hofstede and Gelfand researched this topic.
Hofstede identified the values of Individualism and Collectivism, while Gelfand
distinguished ‘tightness’ and ‘looseness’.
Individualism and Collectivism: The extent to which individuals prioritize their own personal
goals vs their group goals.
Tightness and looseness: Tolerance of deviant behavior and severity of punishment to norm
violators → Drinking alcohol (in Japan, drinking alcohol is fine with colleagues after work, but
not at other times), displaying affection in public, etc.
Be aware!:
- There is heterogeneity between but also within cultures.
- Think of cultural values/dimensions as a continuum rather than exclusive categories.
Both ends exist in all cultures, but one end tends to predominate.
- Neither end is better, but one may be more functional or historically prevalent in a
given culture than the other end.
- A key to understanding cultural variation, but also a limitation (other
non-psychological factors may also play a role, e.g., climate, affluence, etc.)
COSI-concerns: Pitfalls in research across cultures:
Causation: How do I design my study, and what conclusions can I draw? → Culture cannot
be manipulated, which means that causal claims about cultural influence are limited, but can
be researched by (Combinations are the best choices):
- Survey: easy to sample many participants, used for looking at patterns, but
bias-prone, and no experimental manipulations
- Field experiments: high ecological validity, but extraneous variables cannot be
controlled (weather, strikes, mood/emotions).
- Neuroscientific methods: Draws conclusions about biological causes of cultural
variation, but are very expensive, and uses small samples.
- Situation sampling: Participants from different cultures describe situations. These
situations are used for a new survey where they present both cultures with situations
from both cultures and let them evaluate these. It sheds light on how culture affects
people, but it is time-intensive. It can lead to two effects:
Situation effect: Do situations from one culture lead to different responses than
those from the other culture?
3
