Understanding Cross-Cultural Psychology

Remember that all things are only opinions and that

it is in your power to think as you please.

MARCUS AURELIUS (112–180 C.E.)—

ROMAN EMPEROR AND STOIC PHILOSOPHER

Some customs appear more appropriate than others depending on the country or
culture under consideration.
A 12-year-old girl named Ana Maria married a 15-year-old boy named Birita. We have heard of
arranged marriages in Africa and India, but in this particular case the marriage took place in Romania,
a European country. Why were so many people outraged about this incident in Romania but remain
virtually indifferent to thousands of similar weddings in other parts of the world?
 Some customs around the world

 In Sierra Leone, West Africa, during hunting, men

 In Morocco, as in many traditional
do not call each other by name, because they are Islamic countries, people believe in
afraid that the devils might learn their names and demons, or jinni, who possess people’s
later harm them. bodies and abuse their psyches, causing
psychological disorders.
 Some customs around the world

 People’s behavior and beliefs are both similar and different. We are different

because we had different upbringings and resources available to us, learned from

different textbooks, ate different foods, and pledged allegiance to different flags.

 We are similar because we are human beings who listen, see, feel, act, and share.

Cross-cultural psychology seeks to identify and comprehend both the similarities and
differences of people’s behaviors, emotions, motivations, and thoughts across cultures.
 WHAT IS CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY?

Before reaching adulthood, most of us do not choose a place to live or a language to

speak. Growing up in cities, towns, and villages, no matter where—near a snowy Oslo

or in a humid Kinshasa—people learn how to take action, feel, and understand events

around them according to the wishes of their parents, societal requirements, and

traditions of their ancestors. The way people learn to relate to the world through

feelings and ideas affects what these individuals do.

 WHAT IS CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY?

Cross-cultural psychology is the critical and comparative study of cultural

effects on human psychology. Cross-cultural psychology examines psychological

diversity and the underlying reasons for such diversity. In particular, cross-

cultural psychology studies—again, from a comparative perspective—the links

between cultural norms and behavior and the ways in which particular human

activities are influenced by different, sometimes dissimilar social and cultural

forces (Segall et al., 1990).

 BASIC DEFINITION

Culture;
Culture as a set of attitudes, behaviors, and symbols shared by a large group of people
and usually communicated from one generation to the next. Attitudes include beliefs
(political, ideological, religious, moral, etc.), values, general knowledge (empirical and
theoretical), opinions, superstitions, and stereotypes. Behaviors include a wide variety of
norms, roles, customs, traditions, habits, practices, and fashions. Symbols represent
things or ideas, the meaning of which is bestowed on them by people. A symbol may have
the form of a material object, a color, a sound, a slogan, a building, or anything else.
 BASIC DEFINITION

Culture;
Cultures can be described as having both explicit and implicit characteristics. Explicit
characteristics of culture are the set of observable acts regularly found in this culture.
These are overt customs,
Implicit characteristics refer to the organizing principles that are inferred to lie behind
these regularities on the basis of consistent patterns of explicit culture. For example,
grammar that controls speech, rules of address, hidden norms of bargaining, or particular
behavioral expectations in a standard situation may be viewed as examples of implicit
culture.
 BASIC DEFINITION

Society, Race and Ethnicity; the terms like

society, culture, nationality, race and ethnicity
are used interchangeably. However, they are
different. A society is composed of people,
whereas a culture is a shared way of interaction
that these people practice.
 BASIC DEFINITION

Race is defined as a group of people distinguished by certain similar and

genetically transmitted physical characteristics. For example, Rushton (1995)
looks at each race as a more or less distinct combination of heritable traits,
morphological, behavioral, and physiological characteristics.

As an illustration, narrow nasal

passages and a short distance
Nasal openings shaped like an upside- Distinct cheekbones
down heart typify a Black African. identify a Mongoloid. between eye sockets mark the
Caucasian.
 BASIC DEFINITION

The term ethnicity usually indicates cultural heritage, the experience shared by
people who have a common ancestral origin, language, traditions, and often
religion
and geographic territory.
A nation is defined as group of a people who share common geographical origin,
history, and language, and are unified as a political entity—an independent state
recognized by other countries. For example, those who acquire the status of a
national of the United States, that is, become citizens, are either born in the United
States or obtain their national status through a naturalization process.
 CULTURAL TRADITIONALISM

Two types of cultural influences can be recognized.

Traditional culture; It is a cultural construct rooted in traditions, rules, symbols,
and principles established predominantly in the past.

Non-traditional culture; is based on new principles, ideas, and practices. The

prevalence of science-based knowledge and technology-driven developments is
typically associated with nontraditional cultures.
 CULTURAL TRADITIONALISM

Traditional culture; tends to be confined in local and regional boundaries. It tends

to be conservative and intolerant to innovations. Traditional cultures tend to be
restricting: The image of reality embraces only a certain set of ideas associated
with a particular religious doctrine, tribe, ethnic group, or territory.

Non-traditional culture; tends to be absorbing and dynamic.

CULTURAL TRADITIONALISM
We often refer to people by saying, “She is from a different
culture,” or “Let us think about his unique cultural
background.” Are there different types of cultures? Cultural
differences can be conceptualized in terms of cultural
dichotomies. Among such dichotomies are high- versus low-
power distance, high- versus low-uncertainty avoidance, and
collectivism versus individualism.
Power distance is the extent to which the members of a society

accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed

unequally (Hofstede, 1980). It is assumed that there are cultures high

and low on power distance. Most people in “high-power distance”

cultures generally accept inequality between the leaders and the

led, the elite and the common, the managers and the subordinates,

and breadwinners and other family members.

For instance, people in hierarchical, high power-distance cultures

tend to assign stricter behavior rules associated with social status

(for example, “when you become a father you should always act

like a respectable head of the family”). On the other hand, people

in egalitarian, low power-distance cultures are less preoccupied

with the behavioral rules attached to the status (“a father is just a

man, after all”).

Uncertainty orientation refers to common ways used by people to handle

uncertainty in their daily situations and lives in general. This phenomenon is

measured on a continuum between uncertainty acceptance and uncertainty

avoidance.

Uncertainty avoidance is the degree to which the members of a society feel

uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity. People in cultures high on

uncertainty avoidance tend to support beliefs promising certainty and to

maintain institutions protecting conformity.

 Collectivism and individualism
Individualism is typically interpreted as complex behavior based on concern for
oneself and one’s immediate family or primary group as opposed to concern for
other groups or society to which one belongs. For instance, European Americans as
a group, were found to be both more individualistic, that is, valuing personal independence.

Collectivism, however, is typically interpreted as behavior based on concerns

for others and care for traditions and values. China have been evaluated as being

both less individualistic and more collectivistic compared to other groups.

ETHNOCENTRISM
 ETHNOCENTRISM
Ethnocentrism in social science and

anthropology—as well as in colloquial

English discourse—means to apply one's own

culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference

to judge other cultures, practices,

behaviors, beliefs, and people, instead of

using the standards of the particular culture

involved.