Cross Cultural Psychology:

Culture refers to many characteristics of a group of people, including attitudes, behaviors,

customs, and values that are transmitted from one generation to the next. Cultures throughout the

world share many similarities but are marked by considerable differences. For example, while

people of all cultures experience happiness, how this feeling is expressed varies from one culture

to the next.

Cross cultural psychology is a type of psychology. Cross-cultural psychology is

concerned with the systematic study of behavior and experience as it occurs in different cultures,

is influenced by culture, or results in changes in existing cultures. [ CITATION psy21 \l 1033 ]. It

included both contemporary cross-cultural psychology and cultural psychology.

Contemporary cross-cultural psychology examines psychological phenomena in many

cultures. It measures psychological constructs equivalently in different cultures. By contrast,

cultural psychology uses a relativistic framework, and examines how culture and psychological

phenomena co-create each other. Thus, it focuses on one culture at a time, and examines how

psychological phenomena are modified by that culture.

Major topics in cross cultural psychology are emotions, language acquisition, child

development, personality, social behavior, and family and social relationships. [ CITATION

Ken201 \l 1033 ]

Goals of the Study of Cultural Factors in Cross-Cultural Psychology

The goals of comparative and non-comparative approaches can be discerned: (1) testing

the applicability of (usually) Western theories and measures in a non-Western context, (2)

exploring the role of cultural factors by extending the range of variation of cultural variables, and
(3) integrating culture into theories and measures in order to contribute to a truly universal

psychology.

The goal of cross-cultural psychologists is to look at both universal behaviors and unique

behaviors to identify the ways in which culture impacts our behavior, family life, education,

social experiences, and other areas.[ CITATION Ken201 \l 1033 ]

Cross Cultural Techniques

In cross cultural psychology there are three frames of references through which relation

between human behavior and cultural context can be find out.

The first frame of reference is a cultural-comparative psychology in which systematic

relationship between features of cultures, behavioral development and expression in all

behavioral domains by studying individuals in different cultures. It differentiates between group

culture and individual behavior. Comparative method and etic approach are used in this frame of

reference.

The second frame of reference links with cultural anthropology, it focuses on social

behavior and cognition. It does not distinct between cultural and behavioral levels of

phenomenon and claim that these are closely related to each other. In this emic approach is used

and works on the phenomenon that there are no universal rules, this frame of reference is

comparative in nature.

Culture, history, philosophy, and religion, the third frame of reference forms ties between

them. It is used in societies where western world has not yet affected their living. It uses both etic

and emic approach based on the situation. [ CITATION Joh131 \l 1033 ]

Cross Cultural Approaches

There are three major cross cultural approaches through which cross cultural psychology

is analyzed. These are etic approach, emic approach, and ethnocentrism.

In the etic approach the cultures are studied from the perspective of an outsider, in this

approach a set of universal rules and concepts are applied to measure all the cultures. In the emic

approach, it is entirely opposite to that of etic approach. In emic approach cultures is studied

from the perspective of an insider. There are no universal set of rules to be applied hence all the

concepts are analyzed and applied on the specific context through which the culture is observed.

Ethnocentrism is an entirely different approach than the other two. In this approach, the

culture of the observer or the researcher has lived in is marked as the standard and the culture to

be observed is judged and evaluated on the basis of it. For this approach one has to completely

understand his own culture first. This approach tends to make biases and see some things as

abnormal or negative. [ CITATION Ken201 \l 1033 ]

Cultural Diversity and Mental Health

Cultures affect mental health through various means such as stigmas of the culture,

resources, support by the community, and understanding of the symptoms. Every culture has a

different way of looking at mental health. In some cultures mental health is considered as a

weakness that’s why they don’t talk about mental health in such cultures. People struggle with

mental health in such cultures. In some cultures there are not much resources to tackle mental

health, and specific needs cannot be fulfilled in such cultures. In some communities there is zero

to none community support. [ CITATION Men191 \l 1033 ]

 Cultures differ in terms of seeking treatment from western health systems. Stigma also

causes many problems as in many cultures mental health can be viewed as a mark of shame,

disgrace, or disapproval. Racism and discrimination impact cultural groups as well. In different

cultures there are different coping mechanism and ways of resilience when analyzing cultures

through cross cultural psychology.[ CITATION Nar18 \l 1033 ]

Culture is a wide and problematic term that, depending on the individual's point of view,

may be defined in a variety of ways. As Tribe said, the idea of "gender, class, religion, language,

and nationality" is multidisciplinary and has several aspects to affect. In concept, when we look

at the ancient civilization, there are four widely observed cultural streams. Culture of India,

Egypt, Romania and China. The cultures I am going to discuss are Indian and Chinese

Cultural factors impacting mental health issues in Indian and Chinese culture

Belief system

There are a number of non-medical belief models in the Southern part of India, which

affect patterns of health research and are probably regarded less persuasive. During the post-

Vedic period, human behavior aberrations were documented and the subject was stressed largely

by psychological alterations in Upanishad, Bhagwad Gita, Yogic or Ayurvedic literature (Behere

et al., 2013). Psychotherapy in India must also be founded on cultural conceptions and on the

dominant system of beliefs, which is more acceptable to the patient throughout the years.

When it comes to explaining mental illness, supernatural beliefs are frequently attributed

to ethnic Chinese - e.g., spiritual possession, the consequences of past lifetimes or divine

retribution when rites of ancestor worship are not respected. Ethnic Chinese people frequently

have great confidence in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). TCM is an empirical tradition of
healing that has been synthesized over thousands of years. Though TCM lacks mainly

supernatural components, many academics also perceive the distinctive conceptual framework

within that framework as a barrier to the use of services. For instance, TCM prevents the classic

Western divide between mental and physical illnesses of the body and mind (Chen, Zhao and

Wang, 2020).

Cultural construction

Various etiological theories are also essential to the major traditional health systems in

nations such as India and China. In traditional Chinese medicine, for example, disease causes are

commonly attributed to a lack of balance between Yin and Yang illness factors. Mental health

may be seen as a consequence of karma or one-man activities, vaya or air or swabhave or one's

nature in the Ayurvedic traditional main medical method in India. A significant aspect in both of

these cures is the failure to stress the distinction between mind and body, and the complete

treatment of the patient is carried out in his/her external surroundings (Behere et al., 2013).

(Chandy and Padukone, 2018)

In India mental health and psychology combined have been exploring the human mind,

its functioning, awareness and dynamics of human behavior for millennia, since the Vedic

period.. A comparable association in South India occurs between insight, disease awareness, and

other clinical factors. However, the judgement could not have captured the explanatory

frameworks locally accepted. Chinese groups similarly approved greater unfavorable perceptions

of persons with mental illness and social limitations (Yang, 2007). Such increased stigma leads

to damages in preconceptions, disease concealment and other adverse psychological effects (Lee,

2005).
Religion and spirituality

We should first clarify that there are a great range of cultures and philosophical system in

India and that in recent years it has been difficult to find a uniform Indian mental and mental

disease paradigm via a historical combination with western thought modes. In India it's really

prevalent. In Indian depressed individuals, there is typically a sense of guilt (Gopalkrishnan,

2018). A Hindu is eager to accept the linkage of some undiscovered sin in past life if the

symptoms are attributable to some prior misdeeds. In Christianity the notion of original sin and

repentance is foreign to Hindu faith, where each individual is a part of and must finally join with

the cosmic soul. Desperate for centuries, Hinduism is still the dominating religion despite the

existence of nearly all religions in India.

China, like many Western countries are considered, is less religious. Yet the population

of China consists of Buddhists, Taoists, Muslims, Jews, Christians and a variety of other

religions. In fact, the Chinese people are different. Religious belief in China plays a limited

function in the promotion of 'healthy elderly' and solely via religion is it hard to enhance people's

health. Therefore, other actions must be made to promote people's health besides to focus on

religious advice on healthy living. Recent research show that religion may be used to cope with

stress as a social and psychologic resource (Liu et al., 2013). However, our empirical analyses of

data on Chinese college students reveal that a greater proportion of those with religious views are

more likely to experience despair or suicide than atheists.

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