Cultural Psychology and Cross-Cultural Psychology

Cultural differences according to Adler "involves the integrated and maintained system of socially acquired values, beliefs, and rules of conduct which impact the range of accepted behaviors distinguishable from one societal group to another". (Adler, N. J. (1997). International dimensions of organizational behavior (3rd ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Shout-Western College Publishing)

Have you thought of someone’s culture as weird? Have you thought that you are completely different from them? If so, what prompts us to make that assumption. Culture is a very good reason for this. So, to what extent does one’s culture inform the way one views others and the world? Culture informs a person on the way others are and the world.

Cultural competency is critical in psychology practice. In the United States, the groups, which considered as cultural and ethnic minorities, are growing in the population (APA, 2003). Culture often influences the content and quality of people’s experience, perception, and response. Thus, it is important for psychologists to be aware of cultural influences on client’s presenting experience(s) (Gardiner & Kosmitzki, 2010). Without a regard for cultural influence, there is a significant risk for the psychologist to misunderstand, misinterpret, and misguide his or her client. Such misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and misguidance are not only unhelpful but can be detrimental for the client (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011; Pope, & Vasquez, 2011).

I like your example about the different acceptance between Haitian and American cultures. Not only Haiti but also many cultures believe that psychological disorders are from supernatural forces. Therefore, they want to seek spiritual and herbal treatment by their traditional healers whereas, people want to meet psychiatrists in Western culture. Cultures include custom, religion and patterns their ancestors made for a long time, so their belief or behaviors are various. As a result, symptoms of psychological disorders are similar, perception and treatment for the psychological disorders can be different in every culture.

The culture in which we were raised in has a big impact on who we are and how we behave. Our culture effects things such as how we dress, the way we interact with others, and our manners such as what we may or may not find funny or what we may find offensive or weird. In the Ethan Watters Article “Being WEIRD: How Culture Shapes the Mind” we see examples of how being raised in different cultures affects our decisions and the way we perceive things. For example, in the ultimatum game (which is played by giving the first player $100 dollars, he can then offer player 2 any amount of the $100 but if the second player rejects the money they both end up with nothing) we can see how differently Machiguengans and Americans were likely to play. We

The world culture has many different meanings depending on the person you ask. Each person has their own view on what they think culture is. To me, culture could be defined as different puzzle pieces that come together to create a person socially, physically and mentally. According to Chapter Three, Culture and the Culture-Learning Process, authors Cushner, McClelland, and Safford (2009) talks about culture and defines it as “Culture determines, to a large extent, people 's thoughts, ideas, patterns of interaction, and material adaptions to the world around them” (p. 61). This definition of culture explains that everyone culture is different based on their environment and influences around them. Culture starts at home and can then branch

Each one of us differs in culture; and because we differ in Culture, we individualistically perceive a situation indifferently. What is viewed by the U. S culture isn’t perceived the same from someone from a different culture. Each culture has different opinions; so how we see reality (the situation at hand) is different. Therefore, how we perceive the world isn’t really how it is because others will see it differently. And at times, we struggle to acknowledge other cultural differences, which intern leaves us to project and compare our perception of ourselves to others. Furthermore, this is why I believe cultural competence in psychology has the knowledge and skills to make a decision in someone else’s cultural context. Cultural competence in psychology has the knowledge and expertise to make a decision in someone else’s cultural context.

As many of us know, there are unlimited differences in cultures around the world from religion to the way we communicate with one another. What many of us may not know, however, is that there are actually specific psychological disorders found only in certain areas of the world. There are several well known culture-bound disorders as well as variances in disorders and on theoretical reasons behind the disorders themselves that will be discussed throughout.

Recent theoretical and empirical developments in psychology have brought the field to the point where researchers need to be mindful of the generalizability of Western findings to other cultural contexts (Heine & Norenzayan, 2006). Another shortcoming of psychological research is the majority of most influential research giving focus to comparisons of North Americans and East Asians. It is perhaps logical that North Americans specifically and Westerners more generally have usually served as the point of comparison in these studies, due to the majority of psychological theories did in fact arise from such samples. Nevertheless, this ought not to be the case. Heine and Norenzayan (2006) calls for cultural psychological research to go beyond only comparisons of East Asians nations with Western nations. At present, despite the growth of cross-cultural research, very little is known about the psychological processes of the majority of cultures of the world. Another shortcoming of psychological research is that it has largely been limited to explorations of the extent to which concepts and occurrences that have been developed and identified in the West generalize to non-Western cultures.

Studying cross cultural differences, it would be acceptable to analyze two different cultures: American, which represent West (not in geographic, but in cultural sense), and Japan, which is one of the largest and widely known East culture.

People’s attitudes can be influenced by the culture they are apart of, this is because individual thoughts, actions and feelings are influenced by social groups (Social influence, n.d.). This is also known as social influence which can contribute to the development of our attitudes as it may encourage members to change their beliefs, thoughts and feelings. People can conform with people in culture to have the same attitudes. Conformity can be formed through direct interaction between family, friends and teachers as well

Culture is fundamental to understanding human experience. It makes the world inspiring, entertaining, enables effective communication, and influences most factors of modern life, so it’s no surprise that psychologists are interested in the impact it has. Sociocultural psychology and cross- cultural psychology are two different approaches that explore cultural experience. The two disciplines, though different in their definitions of cultural impact, share many of the same goals and ideas, and can arguably offer great insight to the other approach. The potential for collaboration between the two disciplines to garner a rich insight into personal and social cultural influence means that the two approaches are by no means incompatible, and their compatibility can offer a wealth of positive contribution to psychological research.

Cultural psychology is a field in psychology that assumes that the idea that culture and mind are inseparable and that psychological theories in one culture are likely to be limited in applicability when applied to different cultures.

Culture is defined as the group of similar values, goals, outlooks, ideas and traditions that a shared by a certain group of people. The human race is diverse and varied, filled with many cultures. There are many differences in these cultures and because of these differences; the definition of normal differs from culture to culture. It only makes sense that diagnoses of psychopathologic disorders vary from culture to culture. However certain things will not change because fundamentally, we all still belong to the same species.

Cultural practices influence the way we perceive the world. Our Western world is more exposed to “different” things yet have a difficult time accepting Eastern cultures and how things beyond us work. A major issue that is affected by culture is sexuality. A subtopic of sexuality is, slut shaming. Slut shaming is, “the act of making any person feel guilty or inferior for certain sexual behaviors or desires that deviate from traditional or orthodox gender expectations,” (Your Dictionary). My outside source, “Teen girls’ sexual double standards and sexting: Gendered value in digital image exchange,” explains the prominent gender inequalities and sexual double standards. However, the issue of culture shaping thinking with slut shaming as the core issue at hand is asserting gender, religion, equality and parenting.