PSYC1004 Study Guide - Final Guide: Geert Hofstede, Cultural Psychology, Culture Shock
Cross-Cultural Psychology
What is culture?
• Schein (1980) defines organisational culture as:
1. a pattern of basic assumptions
2. invented, discovered or developed by a given group
3. as it learns to cope with problems of external adaptation and internal integration
4. that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore
5. is to be taught to new members as the
6. correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to these problems.
• Enculturation - the process of absorbing and internalising the rules of the culture we live in.
• Language shapes the way we think and therefore language can shape culture.
Cross-cultural vs. Cultural Psychology
• Cross cultural psychology (etic) compares the similarities and differences in behaviour across different
societies or cultures (BWK).
• Cultural psychology (ernic) is the study of the way in which people are affected by the culture they live
in (BWK).
Issue: Cultural and Cross-Cultural Research
• "Decolonisation" of research - people need to see the benefits of why they're participating and how the
research can be relative to them.
• Needs from the cultural groups own perspective - their own perspective needs to be captured
somehow.
• Methods to understand and explain cultural groups 'reality'.
• The problem of interpreting results - the same behaviours in two different countries may have
completely different meanings.
• Sensitive issues - research on cultural issues can identify points of difference between cultural groups
which can become the basis for conflict and misunderstanding.
Is psychology WEIRD (Western Educated Industrialised Rich Developed)?
Could it be more cross-cultural?
• Researchers assume they are utilising "standard subjects" when they sample from the university
educated undergraduate population.
• Represent small percentage of world population and cultural diversity.
• Theory development and triangulation.
• Number of examples: WEIRD outliers (time, emotional display rules, interpersonal space, verbal/non-
verbal).
• Eg: Line illusion – results different across cultures → evidence for WEIRD.
• Eg: Other-race effect - we are more likely to remember/recognise faces from our own culture due to
lifetime perceptual experience.
• Weird - not so much the population that we're testing the theory on, but the theory that we're testing -
triangulation has to go on.
What are the differences between culture?
• Harry Triandis - Defining Attributes:
• Characterises cultures but can also characterise people in cultures.
• People can have both collectivist and individualistic characteristics.
Collectivist Cultures
Individualist Cultures
The self is interdependent with some group.
The self is independent of groups.
The goals of the group have priority over
individual goals and in-group and individual goals
are usually the same.
The goals may be different, and if they are in conflict
the individual's goals have priority over the goals of the
group.
Norms, obligations, and duties guide behaviour.
Attitudes, personal needs, individual rights, and the
contracts the individual has established with others are
important determinants of behaviour.
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Document Summary
Enculturation - the process of absorbing and internalising the rules of the culture we live in. Language shapes the way we think and therefore language can shape culture. The problem of interpreting results - the same behaviours in two different countries may have completely different meanings. Sensitive issues - research on cultural issues can identify points of difference between cultural groups which can become the basis for conflict and misunderstanding. Eg: line illusion results different across cultures evidence for weird. Characterises cultures but can also characterise people in cultures. People can have both collectivist and individualistic characteristics: harry triandis - defining attributes: The goals of the group have priority over individual goals and in-group and individual goals are usually the same. The goals may be different, and if they are in conflict the individual"s goals have priority over the goals of the group.
