PSYC14H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Operationalization, Alpha Wave, Collectivism
Company culture…?
● Many companies are trying to build and
sustaining lasting cultures
● Company culture may be lost in digitization
Rituals at work?
● Remember: best, strongest groups have
rituals
● We need to make sure rituals last through
digitization
Ritual/culture in the age of remote world?
● + flexibility
● - shared/physical experience
○ Translates into ritual
● Dropbox’s principles
○ Principles are rituals you do no
matter what changes occur in the
company
○ Dropbox sends a box with a
cupcake baking kit and shit, ppl
think it’s pointless but it’s very
important in maintaining culture
Methods in cultural psychology
Goal of research: close in on “truthiness”
● Gather knowledge = represent a “truth”
about our world around us (and inside us)
○ Different methods
○ Earliest philosophers and
theologians asked and answered
questions
○ Sub-disciplines
○ Scientific method is what we use …
is it the best
approach?
● Scientists aren’t just
objective observers,
everyone sees different things (duck vs.
rabbit)
○ We need to build in different
mechanisms because we have
motivated perception -- we see
what we want to see, so we are not
objective
Insiders vs. Outsiders
● Psychologists pride themselves on
objectivity
○ Approach based on concerns about
bias from being too close to the
groups of interest
■ So we do our experiments
in lab settings
● In contrast, anthropologists pride themselves
on getting highly interested and involved
○ Approach based on truly
experiencing culture
● So: who has a better handle on truthiness?
○Psychologists have a better hold
on what variable is causing what
result; there are a lot of variables
when it comes to anthropologists
Example: the ins and outs of rituals
● A fundamental psychological (and neural)
basis of ritual behaviours: they begin at the
individual brain
● VS.
● Embedded in a larger system of culture,
meaning, and symbolism: rituals can only be
looked at through culture
Does science ruin our sense of wonder?
● Is any phenomenon - natural, physical, or
social - merely the sum of its individual
parts?
● Risk of getting into the “statistical mood”
“The universe is a strange and wondrous place. The
truth is quite odd enough to need no help from
pseudo-scientific charlatans.”
Before beginning research…
Develop knowledge about the cultures of interest
● Read ethnographies, texts, qualitative
reports
Document Summary
Many companies are trying to build and sustaining lasting cultures. Company culture may be lost in digitization. Scientists aren"t just objective observers, everyone sees different things (duck vs. rabbit) We need to make sure rituals last through digitization. Principles are rituals you do no matter what changes occur in the company. Dropbox sends a box with a cupcake baking kit and shit, ppl think it"s pointless but it"s very important in maintaining culture. Gather knowledge = represent a truth about our world around us (and inside us) Earliest philosophers and theologians asked and answered questions. Scientific method is what we use is it the best approach? mechanisms because we have motivated perception -- we see what we want to see, so we are not objective. Approach based on concerns about bias from being too close to the groups of interest. So we do our experiments in lab settings. In contrast, anthropologists pride themselves on getting highly interested and involved.
