Culture and Psychology: Perspective of Cross-Cultural Psychology

In spite of the heritage of cultural orientation the mainstream psychology accords only a peripheral place to culture in the study of behaviour. In its practice it became culture blind as well as culture bound. Experimental psychology eclipsed culture. However, as humans are natural and cultural beings there is need to have a culturally rooted psychology. The cross- culture psychology has recognised this and different kinds of culturally relevant studies have been undertaken. They vary with reference to the entry of culture in the psychological arena. Now culture is being treated as a system having bi-directional influences. Recent works from non-western cultures have increasingly shown the relevance of culture in understanding psychological processes.

Things Fall Apart? Psychological Theory in the Context of Rapid Social Change

It is argued that a number of discontinuities occur when psychology is practised in an environment different from that out of which it emerged – when it moves from the First World into the Third. In the words of Achebe ‘Things fall apart.’ These dislocations stem from the frequent failure to articulate the relationship between individual and social change. Two causes for this failure are explored: the absence of constructs in most models of psychology for dealing with the process of change, and difficulties in defining the construct of culture. An adequate psychological theory of behaviour in the context of social change must explicate the relationship between the individual and society in terms of social action. A theoretical framework that specifies this relationship, and which provides a context for understanding behaviour in the context of rapid social change is proposed. It is based on a conception of humans as self-reflexive beings and a definition of culture as a set of control mechanisms. It also draws on the advances made by the Soviet socio-historical school of psychology. The analysis is concluded with an interpretation of Achebe's novel, based upon the proposed theoretical framework.

A Comparative Study of Turkish and Belgian Youth

In a comparative study of Belgian and Turkish youth and Turkish migrant youth in Belgium, the psychological relevance of individualistic-collectivistic value orientations for personal motivation was studied. A new Motives Questionnaire with cross-culturally equivalent scales for general motivational dimensions is presented. A multiple-strategy approach is proposed to establish equivalence, combining factor analysis and individual difference scaling (INDSCAL) with a measure of external validity in each group. Our findings support partial equivalence and allow a refinement of the individualism collectivism opposition, revealing motivational conflicts of individualistic Self-Realization and Autonomy poles with respectively collectivist Social Contact and Group Loyalty poles. Effects of social and cultural change on motivation are discussed. Preference for individualistic Self-Realization together with collectivist Group Loyalty in modern Turkish youth integrates individualistic-collectivist values into a group-oriented achievement motive.

Individualism-Collectivism

Individualism-collectivism emerges from the literature as a high-order concept, explaining cross-cultural differences over a wide range of situations, with collectivists more inclined than individualists to provide for others. The present study challenges this conceptualization. Not only the readiness to support others (input) but also the expectation to receive support (output) has to be taken into account. Subjects in Hong Kong, Turkey, Greece, The Netherlands, and the United States (New York State) completed a questionnaire asking how much support they expected to receive from and give to persons in a range of social categories. Results showed that (a) the ratio between input and output as well as (b) the patterning of input and output over social categories were similar in all samples. Ratings of emotional closeness that were also obtained could account for most variance between social categories. The findings fit an interpretation of cross-cultural differences in terms of specific patterns of interpersonal relationships.

The Relationship of Family Bonds to Family Structure and Function Across Cultures

This study, using a contextual approach, explores the relationship of family bonds to family structure and function across five cultures: Greece, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Britain, and Germany. Its long-term goal is the construction of measures of family structure and functioning that are useful in cross-cultural research. Differences in emotional closeness, geographic proximity to relatives, and frequency of telephone contacts and meetings were not found among the five cultures with respect to members of the nuclear family. Differences between Greece and Cyprus, selected as relatively collectivist cultures, and Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, individualist cultures, on these variables were found with respect to members of the extended family. By showing a pattern of cross-cultural similarity and differences, although moderate, among extended family members, this study shows that family structure and function are context variables that can explain variability between psychological variables and thus add to the explanatory power of cross-cultural psychology.

Explaining Cross-Cultural Differences

Contrary to the tradition in cross-cultural psychology in which bias is identified with the stimulus by culture interaction in an analysis of variance design, it is argued (and illustrated) here that any main effect or interaction term in such a design can reflect bias. It is suggested that difficulties in the interpretation of observed cross-cultural differences in data can be avoided only if the researcher succeeds in introducing external variables in terms of which the variance in the factor culture can be reduced to zero. This implies, somewhat paradoxically, that in a satisfactory cross-cultural study there is no variance left to be explained in terms of culture.

Cultural consonance and psychological distress: examining the associations in multiple cultural domains

Cultural consonance is the degree to which individuals, in their own beliefs and behaviors, approximate widely shared cultural models. In previous research in Brazil and the United States we found that higher cultural consonance in the cultural domains of lifestyle and social support was associated with lower psychological distress. The aim of this paper is to expand on these results in two ways. First, the measurement of cultural consonance has been improved through a closer link of cultural domain analyses and survey research. Second, the number of domains in which cultural consonance has been examined has been expanded to include-along with lifestyle and social support-family life, national identity, and food. We found that cultural consonance in these five domains can be conceptualized as two latent variables of generalized cultural consonance, and that this generalized cultural consonance is associated with lower psychological distress. These results continue to support the usefulness of cultural consonance as a theoretical construct in the explanation of human social suffering.

Conceptualizing and critiquing culture in health research

Given the growing diversity of U.S. society, the federal mandates for health research with multicultural populations, and persistent confusion about the concept of culture, the purpose of this article is to present various definitions and biases of culture as found in current nursing research. By addressing various definitions and biases, the debates can help investigators become more culturally sensitive, avoid serious pitfalls, and eventually ensure the provision of culturally competent health care. Authors familiar with concepts of culture in research recommend investigators use culture in their health research, including strengthening research designs, embedding culture into research models, using culture-sensitive instruments, employing emic perspectives, and replicating interventions across diverse and changing populations.

Deviance Regulation: A Theory of Action and Identity

The authors propose a behavioral decision theory relevant to the maintenance of desirable identities. The theory, termed deviance regulation theory (DRT), predicts that actions translate into meaningful identities to the extent that they cause the individual to deviate from reference group norms. This straightforward proposition is used to predict the patterning of behavior across a wide array of social contexts. The authors present evidence that predictions generalize across Eastern and Western cultures and to both personal and collective identities. Finally, they show how DRT alters current theoretical assumptions about social motives and social and cultural influence, and they illustrate how it can help explain the structure of both informal and formal social forces.