Psychology & Culture – Flashcards
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            Concept of culture
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        particular kind of information, any kind of information that is acquired from other members of one's species through social learning that is capable of affecting an individual's behaviors. Culture is a kind od idea, belief, technology, habit, or practice that is acquired through learning from others. Also particular group of individuals.
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            what is cultural psychology?
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        ...
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            theory of mind
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        people understand that others have minds that are different from their own, and thus that other people have perspectives and intentions that are different from their own.
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            Emulative learning
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        the learning is focused on the environmental events that are involved-how the use of one object could potentially effect changes in the state of the environment.
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            imitative learning
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        the learner internalizes something of the models goals ad behavioral strategies.
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            Difference btw emulative and imitative learning
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        emulative learning does not require imitating a model's behavioral strategies. An emulative learner is only focusing on what the model appears to be doing, rather that what the model intends to accomplish.
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            ratchet effect
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        after an initial idea is learned from others it can be modified and improved upon by other individuals. The cultural information grows in complexity, and often in utility, over time. Continues to accumulate without losing the earlier information.
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            Social brain hypothesis
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        those primates who were most successful at navigating the intricate and elaborate webs of social relationships would have been more likely to attract mates, secure resources, and protect themselves and their offspring from dangers than those who were left to fend for themselves.
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            neocortex ratio
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        used as a proxy measure of intelligence, as the most notable way that primates brains differ from those of other mammals is that their neocortexes are larger
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            bias of language
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        distinction btw description and evaluation "what is it" "what is good or what is bad" often descriptions are not neutral "to describe is to prescribe" Important when describe persons or groups. "the liquid is hot/cold" "the person is hot/cold" Keeping that in mind, becoming aware of personal values.
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            Dichotomous vs. continuous variable
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        Dichotomous variables: Division into two mutually  exclusive categories  One or the other  Continuous variables: Infinite number of points lying  between two polar opposites  More or less / Degrees  Often we confuse the two types of variables  Think in dichotomic terms when in fact deal with  continuous dimension  Differentiate dichotomous vs. continuous variable
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            Similarity-uniqueness paradox
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        Most phenomena are both similar and different  Explore both similarities and differences  Compare, contrast, identify points of distinction  Look for commonalities  Ask yourself what is the purpose/goal of your analysis  Don't be swayed by individuals who subscribe to one  alternative (and not the other)  "These events are exactly the same"  "You can't compare these events because they have  absolutely nothing in commo
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            Barnum Effect "one size fits all"
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        Barnum statement = personality description about  a particular individual or group that is practically  true of all human being  Barnum effect = tendency to accept the overly  inclusive or generic statement as true/valid  "De-Barnumizing" statements by incorporating  qualifiers, modifiers, or adverbs
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            Assimilation Bias
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        Categorization = cognitive tool to simplify the word  Contrast: Increase perceived differences between  groups/categories  Assimilation: Increase perceive similarities within  groups/categories  Leads to application of schemas (simplified knowledge  structures)  Schemas are often reflections of our own perspective, beliefs,  values, personal experiences  Keeping that in mind  Switching lenses (practicing perspective taking
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            Differences btw general psychology & cultural psychology
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        Goal of general psychology is to  reveal the underlying and universal  central processing unit (CPU)  Isolate CPU from context and  content  Detect a clear signal  Cultures increase the amount of  noise  "Real" mind is the CPU, which is  universal  No "real" cultural variation  In contrast, cultural psychology  maintains that the mind cannot be  separated from content or context  Mind and culture are mutually  constituted  Mind arises from participating in a  culture  Culture arises from the participation  of the minds within it
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            Limits with psychological data base
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        Psychologists generalize from a very narrow  sample  Do the findings apply to other samples?  Psychologists generalize from a "weird"  sample  Is the sample unusual in the context of the  world's cultures
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            psychological universals
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        Accessibility universal (no variation): exists in all cultures, is used to solve the same problem across cultures, and is accessible to the same degree across cultures. Functional universalism (variation in accessibility): a cognitive tool exists in multiple cultures, it is used to solve the same problem across cultures, yet it is more accesible to people from some cultures than others Existential Universal (variation in function): to exist in multiple cultures, although the tool is not necessarily used to solve the same problem, nor is it equally accessible across cultures Nonuniversal (cultural invention) : cognitive tools thatare not universal do not exists in all cultures and can be said to be cultural inentions.
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            proximal and distal causes of cultural variations
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        proximal: are those that have direct and immediate relations with their effects. distal causes: are those initial differences that lead to effects over long periods of time, and often through indirect relations.
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            evoked and transmitted culture
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        evoked culture: is the notion that all people regardless of where they are from, have certain biologically encoded behavorial repertoires that are potentially accessible to them and these are engaged when the appropriate situational conditions are present transmitted: people come to learn about particular cultural practices through social learning or by modeling others who live near them.
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            ideas as replicators
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        biological evolution is possible because it involves replicators that are able to make copies of themselves. longevity; genes have remarkable longevity and typically last the lifetime of a cell. Fidelity: copying of genes as accurate (not always perfect) Fecundity: those replicators that are especiall fecund and produce many copies of themselves will become to be more common in future generations than those replicators that rarely reproduce MEmes: are the smallest units od cultural information that can be faithfully transmitted.
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            epedemiology of ideas
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        epidemology of ideas. A variant of the "ideas as replicators" approach to understanding cultural evolution. It is the branch of medicine that is concerned with the distribution of ideas in a particular population and explores the features of ideas that facilitate or inhibit the likelihood that an idea will be passed on. True replication of ideas is not occurring, each individual recreates his or her own reasonable facsimile of what was learned from the others.
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            factors that cause ideas to spread
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        communicable ideas spread; for ideas to spread they need to have some way of moving from one persons head to another. Through langauge; some ideas are more likely to be communicated than others.
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            dynamic social impact
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        posits that individuals come to influence each other, and they do so primarily in terms of how often the individuals interact, which ultimately leads to cluster of like-minded people that are separated by geography-cultures in other words.
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            natural/ sexual selection
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        natural selection is the evolutionary process that occurs when 3 conditions are present: 1) individual variability: among members of species on certain traits 2) those traits are associated with different survival rates 3) those traits have a hereditary basis. Sexual selection "the fecundity of the sexiest" those individuals who can best attract a mate or who can attract the healthiest trait. disadvantage that predators can easily spot them.
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            individual/collectivism
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        individualistic: include a variety of practices and customs that encourage individuals to prioritize their own personal goals ahead of those of the collective collectevists: include many cultural practices, institutions, and customs that encourage individuals to place relatively more emphasis on collective goals.
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            tradition/non tradition culture
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        Traditional culture  Cultural construct rooted in traditions, rules, symbols, &  principles established in past  Non-traditional culture i.e., modern  Based on new principles, ideas, and practice   Social roles prescribed to  individuals  Evaluation of individual  behavior based on  custom/routine  Clear distinction between  good & evil in behavior  Truth is not debatable  Individual choices  restricted to social  prescriptions VS  Social roles achieved by  individuals  Evaluation of individual  behavior based on  individual choice  Good & evil is relative  Truth is revealed through  competition of ideas  Individual choices aren't  restricted to social  prescription
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            masculine & feminine culture
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        Feminine  Caring, consensusseeking, gentleness   e.g., Netherlands,  France Portugal, Costa  Rica, & Thailand  Masculine  Assertive, decisive,  lively, highly ambitious  e.g., Japan, Germany,  Britain, Mexico,  Philippine
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            horizontal/vertical cultures
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        Vertical  People refer to each other from power and  achievement standpoints (very hierarchical;  Emphasize freedom (vertical) but not equality  Horizontal  Benevolence and equality  Emphasize equality (horizontal) but not freedo
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            power distance
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        Extent to which members of a society accept that  power in institutions and organizations is distributed  unequally  High power distance cultures accept inequality  between elite or leaders and subordinates, also  between breadwinners and other family members  (e.g., patriarchy
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            uncertainty avoidance
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        High uncertainty avoidance cultures  support beliefs promising certainty and conformity  Low uncertainty avoidance cultures  maintain nonconforming attitudes,  unpredictability, creativity, and new forms of  thinking or behavior
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            formation of global culture
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        many large companies are now global entities that have outgrown their cultural boundaries. The internet is allowing cultural information to be shared across national boundaries without people ever having to leave their homes.
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            cultural changes in the US
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        ...
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            Methodological equivalence
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        having one's methods perceived in identical ways across different cultures.
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            Conducting cross-cultural research with surveys
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        ensure that you have a good translation of all materials -beware of response bias.
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            Back-translation
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        the process of translating a document that has already been translated into a foreign language back to the original language
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            Moderacy and extremity biases
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        moderacy and extremity biases: the tendency to use the middle or extremes of a scale.
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            Acquiescence bias
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        acquiescence bias: a category of response bias in which respondents to a survey have a tendency to agree with all the questions or to indicate all the positive connotation.
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            Reference-group effects
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        people come to understand themselves by comparing themselves to similar others. -in different cultures, the comparison others are different, resulting in divergent standards.  -this can result in making comparisons between apples and oranges.
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            Conducting cross-cultural research with experiments
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        - experiments allow conclusions about cause-effect relationships - shift the comparison away from comparing means between two cultural groups, to comparing means between two conditions within each culture.  - participants in experiments are not always representative of larger populations.  - All of the culture's various response biases and reference groups are held constant.  - Disadvatanges: costly
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            cultural priming
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        a technique to make ideas more accessible, by presenting them to participants.  -the idea is that when people are exposed to these kinds of primes they should start thinking in ways that are more closely related to independence or interdependence.
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            Evidence for a culture of honor
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        the prevailing culture of the southern united states is said to be a "culture of honor", that is a culture where people avoid unintentional offense to others and maintain a reputation for not tolerating improper(dishonoring) conduct by others. Ex. Herders and culture of honor (threats to violence)
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            Differences between US Northerners and US Southerners
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        aSee also Critical thinking skills under lecture 2 south: -culture of honor norms persist most strongly.(they are closer to the traditional herding cultures) -homicide rate is over twice as large. -more violent -southerners were more likely to agree that a man has the right to kill a person to defend his house or family.  North:  -found the insult in experiment humorous. -northerners showed no significant difference in their behavior between the insult and control conditions,