Cultural Influences on Psychology: Research Methods, Ethics, Communication, and Mental Health
Topic 1: Issues in Cross-Cultural Research
Cross-cultural research identifies cultural similarities and differences. It compares psychological variables between cultural groups.
Bias and Equivalence
- Bias: Differences that do not have exactly the same meaning within and across cultures.
- Equivalence: Similarity in conceptual meaning and empirical method between cultures.
Types of Bias
- Measurement Bias: A measure is consistent and accurately measures what it intends to.
- Construct Bias: The concept being measured is understood the same in all cultures.
- Linguistic Bias: Translation issues (e.g., idioms) when using measures across languages.
- Response Bias: People respond differently; responses may vary across cultures.
- Socially Desirable Responding: The habit of providing socially acceptable answers.
- Acquiescence Bias: The tendency to agree regardless of content.
- Extreme Response Bias: The tendency to choose extreme responses.
- Reference Group Effect: The influence of cultural norms on responses.
- Model Bias: Some psychological models may not apply universally.
- Sampling Bias: Participants may not adequately represent their cultures as a whole.
- Procedural (Administration) Bias: Consistency in how research is conducted across cultures (matching settings).
- Interpretational Bias: Researchers’ cultural backgrounds may shape the interpretation of results. Cultural variables can affect outcomes.
Dealing with Non-Equivalent Data
- Avoid making comparisons if non-equivalence renders them meaningless.
- Reduce non-equivalence (e.g., remove non-equivalent questions from a measure).
- Interpret non-equivalence rather than ignoring it. Cultural bias influences research questions, measurement tools, and the interpretation of results.
Sampling and Generalizability: Consider factors like language barriers, cultural norms, accessibility, and cultural variability.
Ethical considerations include informed consent, privacy, confidentiality, and cultural sensitivity.
Cross-cultural research can be structural or level-oriented. [Level-Oriented studies examine cultural differences in mean variables]
Researchers should participate in rigorous research to refine research design and measurement instruments.
Topic 2: Culture and Moral Reasoning
Culture encompasses the things we do, our rules, patterns of problem-solving, traditions, origins, history, and more.
The function of culture: To provide rules of living, providing structure to group life.
Socialization: The process by which we learn and integrate social norms and practices.
Enculturation: The process of learning and assimilating cultural customs and behaviors.
Impact on Family and Peers
Family and peers play a crucial role in a child’s growth, reinforcing cultural norms and values.
- Post-figurative cultures: Elders share knowledge, resulting in slow cultural change.
- Configurative cultures: Adults socialize children, but peers play a greater role, leading to faster cultural change.
- Prefigurative culture: Younger people teach adults more, leading to a rapidly evolving culture.
Impact of Education Systems
What is taught in schools reflects cultural values. Parental opinions about education influence children’s academic beliefs.
Moral Reasoning
Morality and ethics dictate suitable behavior. Morals are based on ideals; conventions are norms.
Kohlberg’s Moral Theory
- Preconventional: Follows laws to avoid punishment or receive rewards (ages 0-9).
- Conventional: Follows societal rules for acceptance (adolescents to adulthood).
- Postconventional: Relies on personal values and conscience (rare in adults).
Three Ethical Approaches
- Autonomy: Emphasizes individual rights and justice.
- Community: Emphasizes interpersonal relationships and community.
- Divinity: Centers on religious beliefs and spirituality in moral reasoning.
Topic 3: Intercultural Communication
Intercultural communication is the exchange of ideas, thoughts, concepts, and emotions among people of diverse cultural backgrounds.
Cultural Differences and Communication Challenges
- Language differences hinder verbal and nonverbal communication.
- Nonverbal misinterpretations arise from cultural body language, facial expression, and gesture implications.
- Ethnocentric viewpoint [Cultural/Ethnic Prejudice]: Viewing the world through one’s cultural lens.
Avoiding Issues
- Retranslating questions prevents linguistic bias in studies.
- Mindfulness = Ethnorelativism: Viewing one’s culture in the context of others.
- Uncertainty reduction strategies: Clarification, not presumption.
Cultural factors influence the encoding and decoding of messages. Decoding principles include social cognition, ethnocentrism, filters, emotions, values, and preconceptions.
Topic 4: Culture and Psychotherapy
Traditional Psychotherapy: Originated in Western Europe. Freud’s psychoanalytic model emphasized personality and psychopathology. Rogers introduced client-centered therapy focusing on self-growth.
Contemporary Psychotherapy (CBT): Emphasizes changing thoughts and behaviors. Changing thinking leads to a change in behavior and then emotion. Cultural assumptions influence psychotherapeutic techniques.
Cultural Limitations of Psychotherapy
- Effectiveness varies for non-Europeans.
- Culture impacts behavior assessment.
- Functionality is culturally determined.
Psychotherapy Across Cultures
- Incorporates cultural elements globally.
- Religion integration enhances therapy.
- Challenges include effective treatment in diverse cultures.
US Context
APA guidelines address ethnic minority mental health services. Culturally adapted CBT works for groups (e.g., African Americans, Latinos).
Disparities and Barriers
Lower-income countries face treatment gaps. Language barriers, stigma, and beliefs hinder mental health access. Social structures impact service access.
Removing Barriers
Address racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic factors. Hire bilingual staff, increase outreach, and reduce stigma.
Measurement bias – same validity and reliability across cultures
Poortinga [1989] dealing with non-equivalent data – precluding comparison
Ecological theory – children contribute to their enculturation and socializing processes
Mead – Post-figurative – low-level peer, prefigurative – high-level peer influence
Biologically based style of interacting with the world exists from birth – temperament
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development concern – cultural variation – child gets skills in Piaget’s stages
Sees stealing as bad = against the law and bad in society – conventional morality
Three ethics to morality [Jensen 2011] – ethic of divinity [centrality of religion in morality]
Markus & Katayama [1991] – people with an independent view of self – virtue = standing out
Individualistic cultures = higher self-esteem compared to collectivistic
All cultures self-enhance differently – tactical self-enhancement
Not recognized in a self-identified group – identity denial
Psychological anthropology national character – each culture has a modal personality type
Perspective of personality assumes that psychological processes are culturally constituted – cultural indigenous
FFM vs FFT – FFM= universal personality traits FFT= the source of those traits
See behaviors and relationships as dependent on their own behavior – Internal locus of control
Universal and culture-specific understanding of personality – multidimensional influence by culture and biology
Hofstede 2001 masculine vs feminine cultures – higher masculinity have moralistic attitudes about sex
Berry 1976 study, what cultures need a higher degree of conformity on gender roles – tight
Biological differences – sexes with the environment make culture-specific sex roles to adapt – biosocial model
Theory that people in urbanized places expect squared corners – carpentered world theory
Analytic vs holistic perception – A = context-independent processes – salient objects independent to context
Explaining others’ behavior using internal attributes BUT yours using external – fundamental attribution error
Steele and Aronson 1995 – performed worse than the Black students who weren’t primed to think about race before
Transient neurophysiological reactions to events that have consequences for our welfare – Emotions
What emotions focus on self-associated with cognitive representations of self and others – self-conscious
Tomkins and McCarter, Ekman and Izard – pancultural universality of facial expressions of emotion
Research on culture how mentions are perceived – collectivism associated with greater emotion intensity
Levy 1973 less forms of knowledge than usual – hypo cognition LEXICON – words in a language
High context culture – messages conveyed indirectly, low – conveyed primarily and directly in verbal
Emblems – nonverbal gestures carry meaning, paralinguistic – pitch, pace, pause projection convey
MacLachlan 1997 – balance and imbalance Berkman & Syme 1979 – psychosocial factors change health
Li Repac 1980 – Chinese American clients rated worse mentally than European American therapists
Cultural syndrome of distress – clustered symptoms for individuals in cultural groups or contexts
Effective treatment for collectivist cultures – analysis & intervention is individual to others
Context treating people from diverse cultures – therapists convey respect is culturally determined
Assimilators – reject home culture and connect to host culture Integrators – connect to both
Negative correlation in lab report – UA low, SW high and vice versa – results = non-significant