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    © All Rights Reserved
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    11 views31 pages

    Lonner Chapter 3

    Uploaded by

    Caio Moretto

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 31
    ‘The continuing challenge of discovering psychological ‘order’ across cultures WALTER J. LONER nis the fein of acento dover the extn of «pel ign fore innate and nd the canes governing thi nde, rit Mende (18-1907) ‘Thereae wo te of people Tote who sot peopl int categorie and hee who dn ‘The fit of the above quotes is by one ofthe most famous and etemed ‘cients in history and could wel be adopted a a slogan for much of pycholog. The second may be a re ai is humorous I sees to have been Mendeleyer’s ite to dicover a "tein of order, which he did with his development ofthe Periodic Table of Chemical ements, The famous hemists mission seems especialy velevant for croe-clturlpoyhologit, One could argue tat 4 major reson why osrcalturl, or calle comparative, psychobgy exists 10 find s wemblance of order among the Panopl of constr ideas nd perspectives something akin to ducovering 4 Rosta Stone (or Sons) ~ that edu help guide crse-caltaralpaycholo- ‘iss as they ply the trade in this important perspective of paychological ‘Science This iespecily rein the area of personality and soci psychology. where the measurement of indvidaal difference, ot variations in ‘pero ‘variables prevail (Mache, 1977), (Chapter overview ‘The man purpose ofthis chaper ito pont out that cross-cultural psycho sts gencrly, but ofcourse ot exlsively, tend to embrace the challenge of finding some kind of oder or rythm of repuries governing human aon ‘They dos by sing famevorks that have been desiged 1 sot indivi ‘ells cultures into some taxonomic, dasifeation or dimensional scheme Pattern that secs credible and useful To thei redit om the ther hand theft that all curly oriented pychologie tend to ‘think outside the ‘or’ and dlicoer nev things in new paces Yet, ven with that in mind many 6 nel to est he temptation to ve the word nem of some hind (emai nomenclature, ad oie avec and coment opion ftir nwatgatoAssmyions othe onieaty of x ems Teswnd When ar! ars sth John ery he sect! mode) Ge Hotsede (hve dimensions of maton caer) Hany “and (Gahran), Shalom Seat (human alu), ate Maha aed Shinobs Kitayama independence nedependene of ls ef Mcrae ‘Con and eeu (te ‘hig Fe fcr peronaly) ot Robert Nie (the eopupy of thought) and others ean) dee ative {pplantoy fameverts or model, lage nunber of clogs and ercarchey nee dacs, are deadly stadt them Ss feet su Perhaps he best ean of an xara “hoon hich 0 fang various “asthe concep of individual cect (ale {el coninaum aad einer aon ‘reat Divide’ perspective), which the mon wid ied of Hodes fv dimensions of cate (we ow). ‘aren, INDCO a ts ofen breve) bas Become treat 2 {nowaa Sone to many who ty to nl down patie cpaaioca for fulure-beiourntractns. This connaum done alongwith coe {ence famevork of independence-iterdpendenc conc hat inary opr h ino! ve), cre the ost wily sd ened conep to hep exper ttrencs and sinarsn ought fd behaviour. how ar can ccwrclunl peyote ran with ny fl end somentat convincing rca or we rone rd Wha se Zs inis? Moremer bow doc one know when te miso hn toe complied “he othr ite ofthe cape i to give an overview of scion of featurecomparstve bcs and unveil both of whlch ted ach ex nes hres sone plasble aoe to ke cmparons and coir ‘nto etre ~ tat some sot of taxonomic or etegoiton tin = [iy auemptocxpin ore dep» convincing cs forties woul be impose istoricl background ‘The modas operandi of many crx-cltaral pycholoite “Having dtinested che basic intent ofthis caper, the type mindset of the ‘ny psychologist who injec ‘clare’ ito their research, scholarship and ‘teaching should beept in mind. Most contemporary peychologis, rear 4s of the extent to which they are enthusiastic students of the cultural fontext of though: and behaviour, have been tained and professionally ‘ocalsed to thik in terms of quantative and nomothetc methodology nd subsequent amiss ofthe pychologial wodd asthe define, discover, |eenmruct and meas it As proiactsofedvation and trang in the highiy « wacran J tonne ‘psychologic’ Western world payhologists often tend to use various convenient terns taxonomies, dimensions or eaegries of behaviour and ‘ought tht may accommodate anes research design and fit ely nto ‘appropri ad orthodox mode! that ends itl wo some kindof acceptable sisi anass, To scale, to measure, to identify credible pigeonhole and “maps ofthe ind tha maybe help tothe common aus of secking oer in complex phenomena ~the opposite of which must be eter some sr of «aos or exgustely mance thik description (Geeta, 973) ofconter it tludes measurement but invites a sensitive and lat poste understanding and interprettion~is to have the kind of methodolgia rigour that cence has cherished for centuries AS EL. Thorndike once proce in an ‘suthortativeenpiscal voice, If something exit, exs in some amount, ‘and therelore can be measured’ The fd of peycholoialsscament and ‘esting, most of it emphasising some sort of quantification seen predicated on this mindset. Follower of raw Thorndiian empiticin fee argue that ifs peychologit snot meting something by sing appropelne quantitative tchniques then he or she isnot practising ‘eal peyology (ae sho Kars, this volume; Eckeasberger this volume). A dee to decane anything akin to Mendelye’s ‘eign of order’ and to defend whatever i found in human activites and thought i ss noted above, strange for ‘ultre-omporaiepeychologiss Some device tat might be aered sa to all~ psychological linglstcaly and in varousepplations- would ia ‘ne broad and careful cast ofthe et, bringin ot of fish tat could be “sae (no pan intended) wit cherished equanimity, The presumed ete transcending data thas collected would then lp. provisional iter 0 confirm (or met) university in some dimension or category of inert tothe psychological community. Such actions would thereby help them 10 Understand the competes of culture through a broad nomottc and ‘comparative (assumed etic) lens as opposed to 2 naromlyfoesed iio ‘rphic and contextual emi’) Ber covering the lens The ater, of ours, quires neither peychometrc lingua fanca nor a methodologies! tempat, hile the forer demands both, aiture-oriented psychologists general seem to gravitate fo the prospec and promises of adding to their methodologic toolbox devices that ts) parall Mendsee's or Linnaeus’, or Krapetin views of world replated by Phenomens or proceses, often cca wing to be understood by those rho dre to dscover them. Crose-culturl pchologias especialy. rea {ted to some hind of structure or template that would hel them dacoer ad ‘plain themaric cultural variations. The famous erly Greek mo icons (Galen and expecially Hippocrates, developed the ies of humours dat reside in the body, tus leading to four tempetaments (persorlity types, ough) . Functional Universal. "To quali here 1 noted in 1980, a psychological ‘cory would have to be sensitive to societal variations of interested Sehaviours that ave the same social consequence? (p. 169). 1 noted that McCleland’s extensive research on achievement motivation was at that time the most wide studied example ofa functional univers McClellnd’s notion of Need Achievement x hey based on an import ant aspect of Henry Murrays treatment of ‘prchogenc ned? (Powe ‘Afflation and numerous ethers, which themuelves may be wives), "Need Achievement may fonction a univer only ifcertsn propostions reste, These condition incude the spr of capitalism! and what it means in cultural context, competing with some sort of standard of ceelnce (defined ‘emia, the nature and function of clearing ‘rates and a amber of other antecedents to this particular need. The famous Si Cultures Project (Whiting and Whiting, 1975) wed a pycho- ‘ural model of parenting, and it is another example of «funcional ‘iver. The Whiting model wil work ony if certain types of families ‘nd sociation practices arin place The strate of fale around the world would fit in this category of univesals because the family unit funtionstosatisy numerous needs (Georga etal, 206; Kaiba, 2007). Diachronic Unies. The basi idea of lachroni universal i tht they ar temporally invariant laws, but changes over vast periods of time may Ihave tobe considered if they are used to help expsinbehaiou, Homan ‘memory for example, surely hs existed for ens. However, vas changes in ‘he social fibic ofa society, of masive technalogil advances, ot slow bt sure changes in nutrition, to give thre examples, would hve to be ‘considered a nfences on memory, ‘thologically Oriented Univeral I human thought and behaviour ate to be considered under this category, then the considerable seca ard Tteratare on chimpanzees and ater primates would be guides Reply increasing tterature in the emergent and popular field of evolutionary perchology would have tobe consid for inughs in hil of univer salt thinking. Human behaviour ean be understood bet if fundamen ‘al proposition is aceped: humans are hapes slaves of two unrelenting ‘master: biology and culture. Ethologically oriented universal sem to DISCOVERING PSEEHOSOGIEAL "ORDER ACROSS EXETUMES 75 fesde where these two power forces that aff all human activity imersel. hope it m0 to simplistic to aay thatthe uma drama isanalogousto « complex play of determinate length: logy presents ‘nimple sage while culture prover the raaghifuent setting and urmplex chorcopaphy. Im georpect, this iype of universal shoal ave ‘ben (in 186) subsumed ute Sipe and Vaitorm User above) becuse of thr tong linkage wth oly and the Darwin ec. '. Sptematc Bia oul Univeral This velo universal en ace, ote lay, arg perertage of tscech exursiune sd sy efits hy ‘rosette aod eat payline 1980 chute suggested ‘he following porte cassiatin of arises in ths wategry {8 Dynamic nd lit, The best example ry he Frei tty an al ‘of is componet pars ang, Aéle Alp and mero eth ‘hologia the ies that entre the whole porson seo she ever in dynamic ways with his or her emitonnen were ies nex. ‘Sage and invariant Any perpectve in paychlogy~ some theory 1 principle canbe eared 16 eter ceitores and pu to an eri tes The most widely aed perapestves fr such exon ae tse that invaie stags sates, typologies, oxonomis, syminanes or other ays tn clearer chsier people. Gao! expe ofsich approaches hae been Piagts theory which hae enjoyed much atention eros

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