psychology power point presentation
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team_a_presentation.pptxIntroduction
Cultural bias
Stereotypes
Ethnocentrism
To provide optimal mental health care for clients, it is important to consider cultural differences that may influence or determine diagnoses and treatment. We will discuss cultural differences attachment, cognition, moral reasoning, developmental models, language, attention, sensation, and perception. As mental health professionals, we must ignore cultural biases and stereotypes and resist ethnocentrism. Our culture is not the only one in the world. People think about the world and situations in different ways. As mental health workers, we must resist the temptation to view other groups or cultures from our perspective. Understanding the how different cultures perceive problems and distress, and how they interpret the world around them will allow us to provide effective and comprehensive mental health decisions.
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Culture Influence on Sensation, Perception
Sensation
External stimuli encounters the body
Absent defect, sensations are universal
Perception
Influenced by culture
Optical Illusions
Strength of effect determined by environment
Retrieved from http://www.davidbordwell.net/essays/commonsense.php
Sensation occurs when external stimuli comes into contact with the body or, in the case of visual perception, light reflected off of other objects comes into contact with receptor cells in the eye. Everyone with normal vision regardless of race, nationality, sex, age, or culture senses the world the same way. However, how those senses are perceived and interpreted by the brain are greatly influenced by our experiences and our culture.
Perception is interpretation. A good way to describe how different cultures perceive things differently is to consider differences in perceptions of optical illusions. When viewing optical illusions such as the Mueller-Lyer Illusion and Hudson’s (1960) picture of depth perception, researchers have uncovered perceptual differences among people from industrialized and non-industrialized environments (Matsumoto & Juang, 2013). For example, people from industrialized environments tend to view the picture of the man with the spear as about to throw it at the deer. Meanwhile, a large elephant stands on the hill in the background. When a person from the Bantu tribe was shown the same picture, they tended to see the man about to spear a baby elephant. This evidence suggests that people from industrialized environments such as cities tend to use three dimensional ques when looking at a picture whereas people from non-industrialized environments tend to see the picture in only two dimensions.
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Culture and Attention
Individualism
Initiative
Independent
Self-motivated
Resolves conflicts by
Attending to justice
Collectivism
Conforming
Loyal
Resolves conflicts by
Attending to relationship preservation
This sign on a Japanese train car informs passengers to set cell phones to silent and refrain from making calls.
Retrieved from http://melissadreamsofsushi.com/?p=4688
Attention
People tend to pay more attention to things that are important to them. Different cultures prioritize importance based on either individual or collective needs. America is a highly individualistic society. A person deserving of admiration is one who shows initiative, works well independently, and is highly self-motivated. Conversely, a person to admire in a collectivist society is one who conforms well and is loyal to the group. Japan is a highly collectivist society. Japanese tend to pay attention to the needs of the group before the needs of the individual. American tend to pay more attention to what effects them individually as opposed to what effects the larger group. For example, I have a friend in Japan who moved there from America. She told me that it is considered very rude to talk on your cell phone on the bus or a train. She explained that people there pay attention to the needs of other people more so than Americans. Talking on a cell phone or talking loudly in public is considered very rude. An article by Harry C. Triandis (2002) adds that when encountering a personal conflict, people in collectivist societies pay more attention to preserving the relationship (Triandis, 2002). People from individualistic cultures pay more attention to achieving justice.
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Culture and Thinking "Higher-order processes
Culture and Thinking "Higher-order processes
Chapter 5 (128 - 139)
Culture and Consciousness
Differ among cultures
Some place importance on interpretation
Environment plays a role
Important for cultural information passing
According to the text, not all cultures place importance on dream interpretations, or meanings (Matsumoto, 2013). In some cultures dream interpretation has a huge role in their society, and is said to have important messages; so they place more importance on the unconscious mind (Matsumoto, 2013). There have been numerous studies around the world that show the environment plays a role on the types of dreams one has (Matsumoto, 2013). Dreams are also meant to pass down cultural folk wisdom, and passing of the information (Matsumoto, 2013).
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An Example of Differences
Child with Conflict
More external anxiety
External area is filled with conflict
Dreams most likely not important
Child without Conflict
More internal anxiety
External area somewhat easy going
May have dream sharing
Across cultures the environments can be drastically different, and many studies have shown that it does cause a difference in dream content (Matsumoto, 2013). Children located in areas such as Pakistan are shown to have dreams filled with more external anxiety ridden dreams, than those children located in stable areas such as the United States (Matsumoto, 2013). Another impact on consciousness from culture is the importance of dreams in the culture, some place high importance on the dreams in order to pass down cultural folk lessons (Matsumoto, 2013). More industrial areas like Pakistan, and the United States do not place high value on dreams so there are less dream sharing, and more external anxiety within their societies (Matsumoto, 2013). However, in more indigenous societies where the passing of cultural folk tails are important there is more dream sharing, and often less internal anxiety within dreams because of less war torn areas within the society (Matsumoto, 2013).
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References
Matsumoto, D., & Juang, L. (2013). Culture and psychology (5th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Triandis, H. C. (2002). Individualism-Collectivism and Personality. Journal of Personality, 907–924. doi:10.1111/1467-6494.696169
