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Summary cultural psychology - introduction
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Week 1 – IntroductionPre-recorded lecture 1
What is culture?
Edward Burnett Tylor (1891): “culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals law, custom, and
any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. This is a definition of a cultural anthropologist.
So culture consists of a multitude of thing and it is something that we are not born with. It is something that we share as a
group.
Geert Hofstede (2001): “culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group of
people from another”. Again something that is acquired and we are not born with, and that distinguishes a group of people.
Steven J. Heine (2008): “culture is any kind of information (ideas, beliefs, technology, habit, practice) that is acquired from
other members on one’s species through social learning that is capable of affecting an individual’s behaviours.
Particular group of people that live within a shared context and exposed to same cultural information, e.g.
“Western” vs. “East Asian” cultures”. Again something that is acquired. There is an interesting addition. The information that
we acquire influences behaviour. We often use the word culture to distinguish one group from another.
Alex Mesoudi (2015): “socially transmitted information”. Mesoudi is a cultural evolutionist.
Culture is like an ice rock. There are some aspects which are easily observable, like habits & traditions, artifacts, behaviour
and institutions. These represent the top of the ice rock. Other aspects, like knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, norms and social
values are not so visible and observable. This represents the major part of the ice rock, which lies below sea level. We are
not only interested in the observable aspects, we are also interested in the aspects below sea level. Cultural psychologists
are interested in the below.
What is culture not?
It is important to know this in order to know what is it. Culture is not only cultural values. For example, it is also the things
that we do. Culture is not the same as nation. A lot of studies use nations as a proxy for culture. This because when you live
in the same nation there are a lot of shared aspect. But in some nations there is quite substantial variation. Culture is not
homogenous/invariant within a group. Because culture is not only in the head, but at the intersect of the world we engage
in. Some people may be typical culturally, some not. Culture is not stable over time. It is ever evolving and it is changing.
How unstable are cultural values? For example; the culture map. This signifies movements of culture.
General versus cultural psychology. Interesting about cultural psychology is that it is thought of as an alternative of general
psychology. It assumes something different.
General psychology Cultural psychology
Psychological processes are invariant and universal. Psychological processes are shaped by culture.
Differences are superficial, reflect “noise”. Differences are real and affect deep structure.
Mind independent from culture. The mind is thought of as Mind intertwined with culture.
a computer. A computer does not really change.
Goal: to understand the mind independent of context and Goals: to understand how the mind interdependent with
content. its content and context.
Section review: take a moment to answer the questions below. If you find it helpful, you can write your answer down. Keep
these questions and your answers in mind while reading the corresponding chapter(s) of the textbook.
, 1. Based on the definition of culture discussed, which groups of people deserve the label “culture” in your opinion?
Which groups not and why?
2. Which limitations do you need to keep in mind when you describe a group of people as a “culture”?
But how “deep” is the effect of culture?
This is called the figure line test. It is about relative and absolute size of the line. The results of the tests differ between East
Asians and American participants, as shown in the results below. This could be explained by the fact that if you have a more
holistic view of the world, the relative task could be easier, while the absolute task could be harder. So exposure to different
contexts has effect on the brain and cognition.
Which line is longer? If you give this task to different people, thew are not susceptible
to the illusion to the same extent.
Is the Müller-Lyer illusion Universal? If you grow up in an environment where these lines are not so prevalent (because of
living in huts versus houses), this kind of 3d perception might be different.
Universal or culture specific? There are elements that are universal, like languages. Also incest. This is a universal taboo. But
there are also culture specific elements. Variation in the specifics in which the incest is substantiated. For example, across
the world there are emotions. But the way in which they are expressed might differ. How do we know if something is
universal or not?
Levels of universality:
Why study cultural variation?
- Universality assumption: use of
WEIRD (Western, Educated,
Industrialized, Rich,
Democratic) samples1. The
majority of the psychological
studies use samples of WEIRD,
93% in the psychological
1
Article 1.
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