culture

Examples of culture in the following topics:

• Cultural Psychology

  • Cultural psychology seeks to understand how forces of society and culture influence individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
  • Cultural psychology is the study of how psychological and behavioral tendencies are rooted and embedded within culture.
  • The main tenet of cultural psychology is that mind and culture are inseparable and mutually constitutive, meaning that people are shaped by their culture and their culture is also shaped by them.
  • Cultural psychology is often confused with cross-cultural psychology; however, it is distinct in that cross-cultural psychologists generally use culture as a means of testing the universality of psychological processes, rather than determining how local cultural practices shape psychological processes.
  • So while a cross-cultural psychologist might ask whether Jean Piaget's stages of development are universal across a variety of cultures, a cultural psychologist would be interested in how the social practices of a particular set of cultures shape the development of cognitive processes in different ways.

• Influences of Culture and Gender on Personality

  • These traits may vary from culture to culture based on differing values, needs, and beliefs.
  • Positive and negative traits can be determined by cultural expectations: what is considered a positive trait in one culture may be considered negative in another, thus resulting in different expressions of personality across cultures.
  • There is a great deal of evidence that the strength of personality traits varies across cultures, and this is especially true when comparing individualist cultures (such as European, North American, and Australian cultures) and collectivist cultures (such as Asian, African, and South American cultures).
  • The cultural-comparative approach seeks to test Western ideas about personality in other cultures to determine whether they can be generalized and if they have cultural validity (Cheung van de Vijver, & Leong, 2011).
  • These traits vary from culture to culture.

• Influences of Culture and Gender in Psychotherapy

  • Those who favor multicultural therapy models focus on cultural specificity—that therapy should be adapted to specific cultures due to differing cultural norms, expectations, and identities.
  • Those who believe in culturally specific treatment point to differing standards across cultures for what is deemed normal and what is deemed abnormal, or psychopathological.
  • Advocates of cultural specificity argue that this reflects a power imbalance which denies many individuals culturally appropriate care.
  • Culture  and gender can influence the therapy process in a number of ways.
  • For example, different cultural groups communicate in different ways.

• Influence of Culture on Emotion

  • Culture can have a profound impact on the way in which people display, perceive, and experience emotions.
  • A cultural display rule dictates the types and frequencies of emotional displays considered acceptable within a certain culture (Malatesta & Haviland, 1982).
  • Although conventions regarding the display of emotion differ from culture to culture, our ability to recognize and produce associated facial expressions appears to be universal.
  • That these emotions are "universal" means that they operate independently of culture and language.
  • Give examples of universal vs. culturally dependent aspects of emotional expression

• Cultural and Societal Influences on Adolescent Development

  • The influence of parental and peer relationships, as well as the broader culture, shapes many aspects of adolescent development.
  • Culture is learned and socially shared, and it affects all aspects of an individual's life.
  • Many factors that shape adolescent development vary by culture.
  • Adolescents begin to develop unique belief systems through their interaction with social, familial, and cultural environments.
  • Culture is learned and socially shared, and it affects all aspects of an individual's life.

• Cultural Influences on Perception

  • All of these things are rooted in culture.
  • However, our perceptions of our emotions are affected by culture.
  • In Eastern cultures, the dominant cultural script is grounded in "dialectical thinking" and seeking to find a middle way by experiencing a balance between positive and negative emotions.
  • Another example is how Eastern cultures will perceive successes as being arrived at by a group effort, while Western cultures like to attribute successes to individuals.
  • Identify examples of how emotions, goals, and culture influence our perception

• Cultural and Societal Influences on Child Development

  • Culture plays an important role in influencing childhood development, and what is considered "normal" varies greatly from one culture to the next.
  • Culture plays an important role in influencing this development, and what is considered "normal" development varies greatly from one culture to the next.
  • Not all of the milestones were universal, meaning they are not experienced by all individuals across all cultures.
  • Effective parenting styles also vary as a function of culture.
  • Different parenting styles influence children differently depending on cultural norms and standards.

• Cultural Influences on Sexual Motivation

  • Though biology plays an important role, the way in which sexual motivation is expressed and acted upon is highly influenced by culture.
  • Different cultures, however, have established distinctive approaches to gender.
  • Different cultures vary in how they understand sexuality, and in what they deem to be "acceptable" or "normal. "
  • Homosexuality is perceived differently by different cultures and sub-cultures.
  • Analyze the ways in which the expression of sexuality is influenced by gender and culture.

• How Culture and Society Impact the Elderly

  • Depending on culture, aging can be seen as an undesirable phenomenon or as an accumulation of wisdom and status.
  • How people view and perceive the aging process varies greatly from culture to culture.
  • While countries like the United States and Japan focus more on independent care, Indian culture places greater emphasis on respect and family care for the elderly.
  • People also perceive death, whether their own or that of others, based on the values of their culture.
  • Depending on the culture, aging can be seen as an undesirable phenomenon or as an accumulation of wisdom and respect.

• Aggression: Harming

  • "Aggression" describes a range of behaviors that are intended to cause harm to others; aggression may be physical, mental, or verbal, and varies according to cultural factors.
  • Empirical cross-cultural research has also found differences in the levels of aggression in different cultures.
  • Within American culture, southerners were shown to become more emotionally aroused and to respond more aggressively than northerners when affronted (Bowdle et al., 1996).
  • Normative beliefs vary from culture to culture, and may partially explain cultural differences in aggression towards certain groups.
  • This sex difference has been noted across ages and cultures.