Chapter 1

What is culture?
- There are so many different aspects that make a culture
o Ex: shared behavior, beliefs
- Six use of culture in every language
o Descriptive: specific behavior and activates associated with a culture
 The primary langue one speaks
o Historical: groups heritage and traditions
 The celebration a culture partakes in
o Normative: rules that govern the behavior of a group
 Gender ruls
o Psychological: behavioral processes
 Learning and problem solving
o Structural : the organizational elements of a culture
 Important of extended family
o Genetic: the original of that culture
 Physical appearance of a culture
- Culture: practices of a group of people expressed through symbols, values, and beliefs
passed down from generations.
Culture and world View
- World view: the way people perceive their relationships to nature, institutions, others
and things
o This determines how we think and act
o Different cultures act and behave with their environments
- Loose cultures: cultures with weak social norms
o Breaking norms is okay
- Tight cultures: cultures with strict social norms
o Breaking norms is punishable
 - Biological definition of race: Group of people that share physical characteristics that set
them apart from others
- Socio-cultural concept of race: characteristics, values, and behaviors that are associated
with a group of people who share different physical characteristics, which provides a
way for outsiders and members of the group to view themselves and others
- Race is a socio-cultural concept rather than a biological one
Ethnicity
- Combination of race and culture
o Physical , cultural, and natural characteristics
- Intersectionality: how different social statuses interact
What is cross-cultural psychology
- Psychology: the study of behavior, cognition, and affect
- Comparative study of psychological functioning in various cultural and ethnocultural
groups
o Cultural comparisons
- Psychology is Eurocentric, individualistic and decontextualized
- Goal is to identify universal psychological characteristic found in large numbers
- Quantitative in nature
Cultural psychology
- Study of human psychological process within a cultural context
o Historical and every day life experance
- Goal is to look at specific cultures instead
- Qualitative in nature
What is ethnic psychology
- Study of social classificational and social opportunities of subordinate groups
o Promotes social equality and change
- Examines cultures that were exposed to oppression and colonization
Multicultural psychology
- Research conducted on different ethnic groups or different pack grounds living in a
pluralistic nation
- Focuses on cultural diversity and socal cohesion
- Cultural contact: people from different cultural come into contact with each other
o By wither working together
o Visiting other countries
 Tourism, business, or study
- Basic assumptions of multiculturalism
o Tolerance - A fair, open, and objective attitude toward people and ideas that
differ from yours
o Respect - To value, appreciate, and show regard or consideration for differences
o Inclusion - Active efforts to reverse the historical exclusion of certain groups in
society
o Sensitivity - Awareness that cultural differences exist and taking these
differences into account in our interactions
o Equity - Equal access to opportunities and resources; this includes providing
extra assistance to those who have historically not been given equal access
o Empowerment - Helping members of marginalized and mistreated groups stand
up for their rights
o Social justice - Efforts aimed at providing equal distribution of rights, privileges,
opportunities, and resources within a society
o Social change - Widespread change in the institutions, behaviors, and
relationships within a society
- Fourth force: refers to the major influences that this perspective has on the field of
psychology
- Paradigm shift: major change in the way people think about human behavior
- All behavior occurs in and is impacted by cultural contact
- When you understand nature and contribution of culture
o It then alters and expand the way we study and understand behavior
Biopsychological Model
- Explain the effect of culture on behavior
- Focuses on understanding of psychological, social, and biological factor
- Cognitions : thoughts and all basic mental processes
o Memories, perceptions, beliefs
- Affects: feelings or emotions
- behavior can be understood on many levels
- Focuses on 4 levels
Reflects the values, beliefs, and
practices of a group.

Large, complex stable social relationships involving ppl

working together addressing basic human needs

Impacts of social relationships on

our behavior

Effects our thoughts and feelings

have on our behavior

Historical background
- Structuralism: early form of psychology attempting to examine contents of ppls minds
- Structural intersection: ppl reporting on their own mental experiences
o Derived from structuralism
Chapter 2 : cross cultural issues involving research and testing
Research methods
- Goal is to have a pool of participants and assigned them to a
o Control group
 Receives treatment or doesn’t
o Experimental group
 Given a regimen to make a difference
- Internal validitay: how strong a research method is
o When change in procedure = to change in behavior
o Is essential in experimental design
- External validity: generalization of results to the study (2 types)
o Population
 Ability to generalize the results of study to other populations
o Ecological
 Ability to generalize the results of study to other setting
 Ex: lab – real life setting
Quantitative research
- Research that turns questions into numerical values
- Correlational research is a type of quantitative study
- Logical positivism: attempts to measure real phenomenon through method of numbers
and statistical analysis
- Experimental research needs to be conducted to
o Independent variable is manipulated to see how it affects the dependent
variable
- Interrater realiability : degree which coders agree on a rating system
 - Cross sectional design: gathers data across different age groups
- Langitudinal design : follows a set of individuals over time
- Sequenctial design: combination of cross- sectional & longitudinal design

Qualitative research
- Information is lost when you only look at numerical values
- Looks at meaning
- Used when it’s hard to translate a question to a numerical response
- Qualitative methods are more difficult to employ than quantitative methods because
they typically use far fewer research participants and require more time to gather
information because of the interview format of data collection.
- Western bias toward the logical positivistic approach unfairly places qualitative
researchers in a defensive position while ignoring the limitations of logical positivism.
- There is no agreement on the best ways to interpret the information collected.
Biases in cross cultural research
- Bias: reduces the validity of the measurement that are used in different cultures
o Doesn’t happen at random
o Systemic errors in the measurement
- Construct bias – construct that is being studied is not identical
o Ex: happiness is different across cultures
- Method bias: has 3 different biases
o Sample bias: when samples that are not the same (different characteristics) is
being compared
o Instrumental bias: one culture has a higher degree of familiarity with the
questions than the other group
 Ex: Canadian student filling out multiple choose questions compared to
Iranian students
 Response style bias (type of instrumental bias): tendency to agree rather
than disagree
  Also uses endpoint of a scale
 Ex: Australian student use extreme ends of the scale compared to Asian
students
o Administrative bias: challenges that happen when collecting data
 Ex: ambiguous instructions and communication problems
- Item bias: items have different meaning across cultures
o E.g. “I never take a long trip without checking the safety of my car.”
- Bias of user: when the test user has pre-existing bias and introduces it while taking the
test
- Bias in the usage: biased introduced when a test is used in an inappropriate manner that
disadvantages the test taker
Equivalence of measures
- Functional equivalenced : items that can be functionally intended of literality equated.
o Ex: asking children about conclusions of fairy tales
 North American perspective : beauty and the beat
 Other countries: fairy tales about those countries
- Conceptual equivalence: terms and phrases are equivalent in different cultures
o Ex: term of depression doesn’t exist in certain cultures but the conditions if
sound cross culturally
- Linguistic equivalence: similarity of linguistic features of a text across
o Back translation: traslanting form original frazing to new language
 Sometimes it doesn’t go as plan
- Metric equivalence: patterns of numerical scores and psychometric across cultures
o Some are risk averse and might not pick extreme
Language baries
- Can lead to miscommunications, misinteriatation, and inaccurate finding
- Even if a language barirar isn’t the issue language cultural differences is still present
o Ex: when directaly translating one langue to another( somali to English)
 o Somali people use a lot of action words and hard to explain sometimes (health
care)
- To over come he have to look at the likelihood of the barrio in a medical setting
- Have to pay attention to a persons
o Immigration
o Cultural background
o Socioeconomical situation
o Language abilities
- When giving assessments have to understand cultural exchange that might be taking
place as well
Replication in psychology
- Trying to see if a previous work and be replicated using the same techniques
- Increases internal validity, unbiased and reliable scientific activity, decreases sampling
error
- Some inconsisties
o Group of psychologist found they could not replicate all the 100 studies
 Only could replicate 40%
o Traditionally scientist are reworded for bring forth original ideas not replicating
- To fix this : 6 principles
o Open data
o Open source
o Open access
o Open methodology
o Open peer review
- Researchers have to pre-register their study
- Have to publish in a peer reviewed
o We can only follow work that has been replicated and reviewed as factual
o Otherwise its supplicative
Collaborative problems solving
 - Studies has shown that boys are better with collaborate work
- Disadvantage children place more infances of teamwork than advantage children
- Shared understanding within a group is need where knowlaged is pooled together
Intelligence testing
- Use cultural knowledge for an overall measurement of knowledge
- Using certain standardized
Intelligence and context
Chapter 3 : diversity and world views
Different approaches to investigate culture
- Etic approach: attempts to find commonalities across cultures
- Emic approach: only examines one culture within that culture
o Indigenous and cultural psychology approach
Imposed ethics
- An outsider’s views which can be imposed on a different culture
- Delay of gratification: ability to wait for a more desirable reward instead of taking a less
desirable reward immediately
o Ex: European- American children and African American children
 The first decided to wait and get reword later
 Whereas the later wanted instant gratification due to not believing they
would get their reward at all.
Long-term orientation
- Societies value delayed gratification of needs
o Ex: china, Japan. Hong kong
- Collectivist countries tend to want to fit in rather than stand out
- They learn to supress their feelings and wants and needs
- Positive feelings towards gratitude which helps with delayed gratification
short-term orientation
- Societies that value instant gratification
o Ex: Canada, united states, Australia, Scandinavia etc.
Understanding difference from within
- Individualistic societies: individual rights and goals over the rights of collective and the
groups goals
o Self is autonomous
o Good decision making
- Collectivist societies: place collective goals over the individual ones
o Social norms
o Self and group interdependent
o Paying attention to other = good decision making
Male and female perspective
- Gender differences relates to power differences between the 2
- General gender roles can cause violence against women if they decide to work
- Most cultures are patriarchal
- Women’s march
- Metoo movement
- Different experiences in work field
Idiocentrism
- Based on personal achievement and giving priority to personal goals
Allocentrism
- Values based on inter-personal achievement and collective goal
- Individuals that are part of individualistic societies that have allocentric values
o Will find conflict with themselves and society
Individual and collectives cultures reflect the dominate form of interaction
Countercultural individual
- Idiocenrtic individuals that are in a collective society or allocentric individuals in a
individualtic societies
Western countries are individualistic and eastern countries are more individualist
Masculine- feminine dimensions: authority from hierarchical to egalitarian
- Also known as power distance (Hofstede)
 - Masculine countries: people who are high in authority and ones that are not
- Feminine countries: less power distance between authority hierarchy

- everyone’s equal.
- Equal opportunity - Competition
- Indecent of others between person and
others
-
- Individual accedes to the
- Shared happiness collective
- Family is more
important than
individual

Guilt
- Negative emotion that involves individualistic sense of persona; regret for having
engached in a negative behavior
Shame
- Negative emotion that individuals feels due to negative behavior that reflects badly on
the family
- Shame and shaming helps reinforce societal expectation and proper behaviors
o Ex : loss of face
Face saving , face giving and social support
- Shame relates to the sense of regrate
- Losing face : to lose respect and face humiliation due to behavior
- Saving face: avoid humiliation by adopting social skills and strategies
o Ex: Asian countries helping each other to save face
o Ways to not loss face is to avoid sticking out , or attract negative criticism
- Face-giving/ giving face: parsing the virtue of another person in public
o Asian countries dislike drawing attention to them selves
 o Its better for others to talk about your accomplishment instead
Models of value orientation and world view
Kluckhohn and Strobeck’s value orientation model *
- Time focus : past, present and future are important
- Human activity
o Being  ( accepted for what you are)
o becoming and doing  (motivated to become something more than u are)
o Doing  ( value of activity)
- Social relations dimension
o Lineal hierarchy of authority
o Collateral  keeping family and friends in mind during decision making
o Individualistic  only keeping what you want in mind
- People/ nature relationship : how ppl relate to nature
o Subjugation  subjection to external forces (God, fate)
o Harmony with nature  allowing nature to take over
o Mastery over nature  control nature
Schwart’s theory of human values
- Universal values that are important in guding ppls lives
- Achievement: ambition, competence, and success
- Benevolence: helpfulness, enhancing welfare of others, and forgiveness
- Conformity: self-discipline, restraining impulses, and
honouring parents/elders
- Hedonism: pleasure and gratification for oneself and of life
- Power: social status, prestige, wealth, and authority
- Security: safety, social order, and societal and family security
- Self-direction: independence, freedom, and creativity
- Stimulation: excitement, novelty, and adventure
- Tradition: respect and acceptance of traditional customs and religion
- Universalism: open-mindedness, appreciation, and tolerance of all people and enviro
 - The opposite side Is always in conflict with the other side
Derald wing sues world view model
- Locus of control: perception of having control over outcomes of one’s life (internal or
external)
- Locus of responsibility: perception of having responsibility for ones position of life
(internal and external)
If they didn’t face oppression or racism they
would have control over their lives
Have control over their lives b/c
of their own abilites

Little control over life Little control over life and believe that
Accept dominate societies view that they are dominat cultre’s fault
responsible

World views of different ethnic groups

- white ethnics: ppl who’s family immigrated from Europe or have ties to their European
origin
- white privilege: socio economic advantages that white ppl have in society
social expectation and world views of women
- women deal with higher rates of mental health
- more gender similarities
o social dominance orientation: the tendency of being dominate in group settings
World view of lgbtq2s+ individuals
- feel they are always on display
- sexual orientation is their identity
world view based on social class
- ppl that are in different socioeconomic classes see the world differently
- poverty affects a person world view throughout life
World view based on age
- younger generation have a different view that older one
o ex: engaging in more social justice activism
 global movement
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5 : immigrants, refugees, and the Acculturation Process
Immigrants and refugees
- Migration : movement of a person away from their place of usual residence
o Ppl migrate for different reason
 Ex: economical and educational
o Refuges are those who flee from their birth countries due to conflict
o Immigrants: ppl that leave their country of birth or residence voluntarily and
settle to another country
Immigrants
- International immigrants : ppl who move into a county other than their country of
origin
o Become resedienrs of new country
- Want to improve their lives
- Social support networks are more available for them
- Migration is usually planned
- Have the opportunity to return to their home country
- Cultural shock: experience individuals have when moving to a country where culture is
very different from their own
- Immigrant population rising
o This gives them ways to create their own networks
o Less assimilation
o Less control from the host country
o They now have electoral power due to large numbers
Refugees and asylum seekers
- Refugees: individuals that are forced to flee their own country due to persecution, war,
violence
o Unable to return home
- Asylums seekers : special class of refugees, who request international protection
o Refugee claims not been decided by the country they seek the protection from
 o Uncertainty
- Families that leave together don’t stay together
- They also experience significant distress in application process
- They accrue ptsd
- Syrian refugee crisis
o Largest humanitarian crises of 2010
o Over 6.6 million individuals displaced
o Migration to a specific country can lead to xenophobia and racism
o Slovenia refuges were depicted as an out-of-control catastrophe
o Muslim refuges tend to be portrayed as violent and disrespectful to women
o Canada created welcome refugees and provided social assistance as refugees
arrive?(questionable in todays climate )
Migration phase
- Has 3 phases
o Pre-migration phase : time before ppl leave their home country
 Disruption of set norms and familial relations effects ppl
 Depends on the persons age and time they leave
 Experience during this stage determines how they will be able to tolerate
outside experiences
 Rituals are looked at as abnormal in host country
 After migration they do not feel comfortable to freely practise their
rituals
 Have to re-establish their rituals in certain diverse communities where
they feel welcome
o Migration phase : experience leaving the home country
 Have the opportunity to really think about their decision
 Can have feeling of isolation, loss, trauma
o Post-migration phase: continued stress experienced by immigrants, related to
new societal and cultural contexts.
  Ones related to new societal and cultural context
 Feelings of ambiguity and confusion
 Ones that can’t adjust face suffer financially, emotionally, and mentally
Six stages of refuge journey ( Berry’s six)
- Predeparture: force refuges to flee
o Wars, revolutions, natural disasters
- Flight : pried of transit away from homeland
o Maximum uncertainty
o Don’t know where and when they are leaving
o Just feel the need to go
- First asylum: first place refugee settles
o Can be safe and unsafe
o Have a high likelihood of being unemployed and incarcerated
o Lower education opportunities
- Claimant: first country of potential resettlement
o Refugees can be deported and reported
o Sometime are only allowed to stay in country for a limited time
- Settlement: country of settlement
- Adaption: adjustment to new country of settlement
o Also known as acculturation
 Unaccompanied minors can face developmental disruptions
o Which threaten educational, economic, social, and psychological well being
Common experiences of immigrants and refuges
- Ppl in host countries do not distinguish between immigrants and refugees
o If you lump them together: ppl think they should be kicked out
o If lumped up as refugees: tax dollars should not go towards them
 Freedom should be enough
o Ex: Asians come to Canada to find work
 They were used as cheap labour
  Canadians believed they were taking their jobs
 In 1886 Canada tried to tax chines immigrants
 Chinese exclusion act was created from 1923-1947
Language barriers
- Younger generations adapted better and faster
- Difference in directness and indirectness
o This causes awkward and guarded relationships b/w ppl
- Ppl feel unsuccessful within mainstream society’s due to language barriers
o Can be seen when specific ethnic groups occupy certain towns or cities
- Acculturative stress: behavioral and psychological reactions characterized different by
uncertainty, anxiety, depression
o Results from contact between cultures
Support network
- Immigrants and refuges fear being turned away or humiliated because of their English
o Since limited community services only target English speaking refugees, some of
them remain isolated
- Perceived quality of social support is more accurate predictor of psychological distress
than quality of social support
- Ingroup social support: support provided by members of a persons community, cultural
group, and family
o Decreases levels of loneliness and depression
o Increases community involvement and political consciousness
- Outgroup social support: support provided by members of the lager society
o Included both formal and informal support
Family structure
- Changes in family structure occurs
- Decision making and family hierarchy might shift after migration
- Western cultures tend to have the Canadian view on hierarchy and individualism
o But some see the mother the head of the house hold
 - Eastern societies are more collectivist and are patriarchal
- Process of acculturation distuots the hierarchy for most families
o This is due to individualistic coulaties from host countries
o Grandparents are highly respected
 But when they immigrant to the west everyone is independent and
working and have less respect for the old ways
New family roles
- Family roles changes
o Seeing dad can be stay at home
o The breadwinner is no longer the man only
- Grandparents who migrate become strangers
- Children now have more responsibility than pre-migration
- If families are too rigid it becomes hard for them to readjust resulting in break down of
relationships
- If families can adjust they face dissociation
Employment
- Higher education does not always mean good economic outcomes
- Most immigrants have more higher education than the average Canadian
Acculturation
- Process where groups and individuals change as a result of intercultural interactions
with other cultures
- Used to measure individual levels of acculturation
o Depending on the changes they encounter ppl will have different stress levels
- It is a bidirectional process
o As the group try to acculturate the way the host culture perceives them is
important
- Enculturation ”individuals retain or deepen their learning oof their own culture
o Individuals that contact with their own culture promotes resilience
Modules of acculturation
-