PSYC 110 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Cultural Psychology, Social Cognition
29 Jun 2018
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TEXTBOOK NOTES CH 1 PSYCHOLOGY 110 AUDIOBOOK (jotted down)
X Social-psychological explanations = often phrased in terms of people’s con-
scious or unconscious beliefs
X AKA cognitive explanations.
X Many modern social psychologists refer to their specialty as social cognition.
X ex: A social psychologist interested in jealousy -> focus on the norms and be-
liefs concerning romance, mating, and jealousy that surround and influence the
jealous person.
X An understanding of such influences explains a social-psychological
explanation of the person’s feelings and behavior.
X Researchers find consistent cultural differences even in the ways that people perceive
and remember aspects of their physical environment.
X While social psychologists use concepts such as conformity and obedience to explain an
individual’s behavior, cultural psychologists more often refer to the unique history, economy,
and religious or philosophical traditions of a culture to explain the values, norms,
and habits of its people.
X For example, a cultural psychologist might contend that the frontier history of North
America, in which individuals and families often had to struggle on their own with little
established social support, helps explain why North Americans value independence and
individuality so strongly.
X Concerning jealousy, a cultural psychologist would point to significant cultural
differences in romantic and sexual mores. For example, some cultures are more
tolerant of extramarital affairs than are others, and this difference affects the de-
gree and quality of jealousy that is experienced.
XSome cultures have a strong double standard that condemns women far more harshly
than men for sexual infidelity, and in those cultures violent revenge on the part of a jealous
man toward his mate may be socially sanctioned. In other cultures, the same violence
would dishonor the perpetrator and land him in jail.
XA full cultural analysis would include an account of each culture’s history to
examine differences in the ways infidelity is understood and treated.
Document Summary
Textbook notes ch 1 psychology 110 audiobook (jotted down) X social-psychological explanations = often phrased in terms of people"s con- scious or unconscious beliefs. X many modern social psychologists refer to their specialty as social cognition. X ex: a social psychologist interested in jealousy -> focus on the norms and be- liefs concerning romance, mating, and jealousy that surround and influence the jealous person. X an understanding of such influences explains a social-psychological explanation of the person"s feelings and behavior. X researchers find consistent cultural differences even in the ways that people perceive and remember aspects of their physical environment. X for example, a cultural psychologist might contend that the frontier history of north. America, in which individuals and families often had to struggle on their own with little established social support, helps explain why north americans value independence and individuality so strongly. X concerning jealousy, a cultural psychologist would point to significant cultural differences in romantic and sexual mores.
