PSYSCHOLOGY PSY101
PSY101 Introduction to Cultural Psychology
Lecture 2
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Part 1: Cross-cultural research methods
Part 2: Enculturation
Part 1: Cross-cultural research methods
Outline
Types of Cross-Cultural Research
Types of Cross-Cultural Comparisons
Exploratory vs. hypothesis testing
Contextual factors
Structure vs. level oriented
Individual vs. ecological (cultural) level
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Outline (cont'd.)
Designing Cross-Cultural Comparative Research
Getting the right research question
Designs that establish linkages between culture and individual mental processes and behaviours
Bias and equivalence
Conceptual bias
Method bias
Measurement bias
Interpretational bias
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Types of Cross-Cultural Research
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Types of cross-cultural research
Cross-Cultural Comparisons
Compare cultures on some psychological variable of interest
Most prevalent type of cross-cultural study
Different methods of cross-cultural studies are prominent at different times
Different methods have particular strengths and weaknesses
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Types of Cross-Cultural Comparisons
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Exploratory vs. Hypothesis Testing
Exploratory studies: examine existence of cross-cultural similarities and differences
Strength: broad scope for identifying similarities and differences
Weakness: limited capability to address causes of differences
Hypothesis-testing: examine why cultural differences may exist
Hypothesis-testing leads to more substantial contributions to theory development
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Structure vs. Level Oriented
Structure: comparisons of constructs, structures, or relationships with other constructs
Structure-oriented studies focus on relationships among variables
Attempt to identify similarities and differences in these relations across cultures
e.g. how do different cultures conceptualize intelligence?
Level oriented: comparisons of scores
Level-oriented studies ask whether people of different cultures have different mean levels of different variables
e.g. what are the mean individualism scores of different cultures?
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Individual vs. Ecological (Cultural) Level
Individual-level studies: individual participants provide data and are unit of analysis
Ecological- or cultural-level studies: countries or cultures are units of analysis
e.g. Hofstede's work-related values
Data from > 117000 participants, from 72 countries
Analysis of the country means on work related values led to five dimensions for describing cultures: Individualism vs Collectivism, Power distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Masculinity vs Femininity, Long vs Short term Orientation
Multi-level studies: Involve data collection at multiple levels of analysis
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Designing Cross-Cultural Comparative Research
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Getting the Right Research Question
Knowing the literature leads to knowing what research question to ask
Understanding why study is to be conducted leads to questions about how to conduct it
Easy to identify cultural difference, much more challenging to isolate source of cultural differences
Identify active cultural (vs. noncultural) ingredients that produce those differences
Researchers need to pay attention to many theoretical and empirical issues
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Linkage Studies
Studies that measure an aspect of culture theoretically hypothesized to produce cultural differences
Empirically link that measured aspect of culture with the dependent variable of interest
Types
Unpackaging studies
Experiments
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Linkage Studies
Unpackaging studies
Includes measurement of a variable
Assesses contents of culture thought to produce differences of the variable
Utilizes context variables
Individual-level measures of culture
Assess variable on individual level thought to be product of culture
e.g. Individualism versus collectivism
Idiocentrism: Individualism on the individual level
Allocentrism: Collectivism on the individual level
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Linkage Studies
Experiments
Studies in which researchers create conditions to establish cause-effect relationships
Priming studies
Experimentally manipulating mindsets of participants and measuring resulting changes in behaviour
Behavioural studies
Manipulations of environments and observation of changes in behaviour as function of environments
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Bias and Equivalence
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Bias and Equivalence
Bias: differences that do not have exactly the same meaning within and across cultures
If bias exists in cross-cultural comparative study, comparison loses its meaning
Important to understand many aspects of studies that may be culturally biased
Equivalence: similarity in conceptual meaning and empirical method between cultures
Bias refers to a state of non-equivalence,
and equivalence refers to a state of no bias
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Conceptual Bias
Is there equivalence of
Theoretical framework
Hypotheses being tested
e.g. do the cultures being compared have the same understanding of intelligence
Method Bias
Sampling bias
Are samples appropriate representatives of culture?
Linguistic bias
Are research protocols semantically equivalent across languages?
Procedural bias
Are procedures, environments, and settings equivalent across cultures?
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Measurement Bias
Degree to which measures used to collect data in different cultures are equally valid and reliable
Linguistic equivalence alone does not guarantee measurement equivalence
Different cultures may conceptually define a construct differently and/or measure it differently
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Interpreting Findings
Culture can bias ways researchers interpret their findings
Data from hypothesis-testing are correlational
Cultural attribution fallacies: claim that between-group differences are cultural without empirical justification
Linkage studies address this problem
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Part 2: Enculturation
Humans Engage in Cultural Learning
Enculturation and Socialization
Culture, Parenting, and Families
Whiting and Whiting’s Six Cultures Study
Diversity in Parenting as a Function of Economics
Parenting Goals and Beliefs
Global Parenting Styles
Parenting Behaviours and Strategies
A Domain-Specific Approach to Parenting
Siblings
Extended and Multigenerational Families
Outline
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Outline (cont’d.)
Culture and Peers
Exposure to Peer Groups
Culture and the Education System
School Systems
Parental and Familial Values
Attitudes and Appraisals of Students
Teaching Practices and School Environment
Putting it All Together
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Humans Engage in Cultural Learning
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Humans and Cultural Learning
Engaging in shared intentionality allows cultural learning
Learning not only from others but through others
Tomasello’s study
Children understand intentionality, social learning, and communication on a complex level
Provides the foundation for cooperation with other humans along with social learning and communication
Humans can create and transmit a culture in a sophisticated manner
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Enculturation and Socialization
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Enculturation and Socialization
Constant across cultures: people wish to become competent, productive adults
Different across cultures: meaning of "competent" and "productive”
Culture must be learned with practice through prolonged process
Socialization: process by which we learn and internalize rules and patterns of society
Enculturation: process of learning and adopting ways and manners of their culture
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Enculturation and Socialization
Socialization and enculturation agents
People, institutions, and organizations that ensure socialization and enculturation occurs
Parents who instil values in children
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory
Studying children in relation to their particular contexts is key to understanding development
Children contribute to their own development by interacting with and influencing people around them
Enculturation and Socialization
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory of Human Development
Culture, Parenting, and Families
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Culture, Parenting, and Families
Family: most important microsystem to child’s development
By observing parents we are observing essence of a culture (Margaret Mead anthropologist)
Study of parenting within cultural context tells us what is important to that culture
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Whiting and Whitings’ Six Cultures Study
Collected field data in Mexico, India, Kenya, USA, Okinawa, and Philippines
Major focus: examine child rearing and children's behaviour in varied cultural contexts
Child’s behaviour and personality is intimately connected to characteristics of broader ecology
Women's work roles contribute to
children's social behaviours
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Diversity in Parenting as a Function of Economics
Diverse economic conditions produce socialization processes that vary across cultures
Caregiving environment reflects set of goals ordered in importance:
Physical health and survival
Promotion of behaviours leading to self-sufficiency
Behaviours that promote other cultural values, i.e. prestige
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Parenting Goals and Beliefs
Parenting goals
provide motivation and framework for raising children
lead to variations in parenting behaviours across cultures
Parental ethnotheories (parental cultural belief systems)
motivate and shape what parents think is “right” way to parent
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Global Parenting Styles
Authoritarian parents: expect unquestioned obedience; child needs to be controlled
Permissive parents: warm and nurturing; allow children to regulate own lives with few guidelines
Authoritative parents: sensitive to child's maturity; firm, fair, reasonable and affectionate
Uninvolved parents: do not respond appropriately to children; indifferent
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Parenting Behaviours and Strategies
Studies using HOME Inventory describe three general areas in which cultures vary:
Warmth and responsiveness
Discipline
Stimulation/teaching
Parenting beliefs and practices are congruent with developmental goals dictated by culture
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A Domain-Specific Approach to Parenting
Criticism of global parenting: ignores differences due to particular child, situation, and context
Domain-specific approach:
Focuses on parenting behaviours rather than general styles
Emphasizes complexity of socialization process
Domains include: protection, control, reciprocity, guided learning, and group participation
Parenting practices must be appropriate for domain in which child is functioning
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Siblings
Siblings play important role in socialization of children
Siblings can fulfill many roles: tutors, buddies, playmates, caretakers
Skills important to culture are learned from siblings: perspective-taking, social understanding, conflict negotiation
Repeated and prolonged interaction means older siblings can be influential role model to younger siblings
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Extended and Multigenerational Families
Extended families: members other than parents and children (aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents)
Multigenerational families: grandparents in addition to parents and children or just children
Extended- and multigenerational-family child rearing is integral part of enculturation process
Extended and multigenerational families have in common sharing of resources, emotional support, and caregiving
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Culture and Peers
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Culture and Peers
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Exposure to Peer Groups
Cultures vary in exposure that children have to peer groups
Industrialized countries: children spend significant amount of time with same-aged peers
Solitary farm settlements: children will have limited options to interact with wide range of playmates
Hunting and gathering society: children may be socialized by multiple-age peers
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Culture and Education
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Culture and Educational System
Educational system - Formalized mechanism of instruction in many societies and cultures
Teaches and reinforces cultural values
School systems
Content taught in schools reflect the choices regarding what a culture believes is important to learn
Parental and familial values
Cultural differences in parenting beliefs about education impact children’s educational experiences
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Culture and Educational System
Attitudes and appraisals of students
Students around the world approach their academic work with different worldviews, attitudes, and attributional styles
Differences can be attributed to parental variations
Teaching practices and school environment
Differences exist in the classroom in terms of teaching style, and expectations across cultures
Actual behaviors contribute to children’s academic achievement
Putting it All Together
Each culture's way of raising children represents that culture's way of ensuring values and norms are transmitted to those children
Practices are ritualized to transmit information from generation to next generation
Contemporary theories
Children's active processing of information results in reproduction of culture and production of new elements
Enculturation is a life-long process
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