PSYC BC 3162x Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Ethnography, American Babies, Thick Description
8 Nov 2015
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We"ve been looking at conventions in psychology: theories, methods, and how they were developed historically; how they gained the place of prominence they now hold in psychology, and their limitations. Last week we looked at methods: psych instruments/ways of gathering knowledge; limitations of conventional methodological approaches for cultural psych. Today, bringing all this together and discussing how we can put together a culturally informed psychology. To think about how psychologists can think about and work with culture, we must have a concept of what culture is. The goal of anthropologists has been working on culture. Since psych doesn"t think about culture as much, there"s no definitive idea about what culture is. We may talk about culture of a family, culture of college, etc. ; could be a way of interacting with others with a common goal in mind. Geertz says culture is public; we"ve grown up with similar ideas and values about what"s normal; similar ways of thinking and feeling.
