PSYSCHOLOGY PSY101

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PSY101Lecture21.pptx

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PSY101 Introduction to Cultural Psychology

Lecture 2

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

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

Types of Cross-Cultural Research

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

Types of Cross-Cultural Comparisons

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

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?

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

Designing Cross-Cultural Comparative Research

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

Humans Engage in Cultural Learning

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Culture and Peers

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

Culture and Education

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

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