Introduction to Cross-Cultural Psychology

Samantha Craig

Psy/450

8/19/2016

Sayida Peprah

Introduction

Cultures are found and appreciated throughout the whole world and according to (Merriam-Webster, 2016) Culture is "the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group." What does culture have to do with psychology? Psychology is about trying to understand why people behave a certain way and what caused it. Culture psychology plays off of that but delves deeper into how their culture effects their behaviors as well. It is where a person can observe another individual and think of how their ecologies, resources and other people can alter another's behavior. This means that the land or population they grew up around, the basic necessities such as food and water and just the motivations that being around others can provide can make a person act another way than the person standing next to them. This paper will help show what the relationship between cross-cultural and cultural psychology is along with Discuss the methodology associated with cross cultural psychology. Then it will shine light on a case study chosen to understand culture and how enculture might play a role in the study.

Relationship between Cultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology

Cultural and Cross Cultural psychology both work with understanding individual within a culture. However, when it comes to cross-cultural it focuses in on two different groups and relies on research to compare the psychological behaviors between them. (Matsumoto & Juang, 2013) While cultural pays attention to only one group along with the individuals within it while observing how their beliefs and lifestyles effect their behaviors. Cultural psychology also has a key focus on studying about when individuals have the tendency of internalizing the qualities of their along with if their culture effects their individual mental process based on their cultural interactions. Cross cultural is also a more broad range of studying due to the fact that it has to have two or more cultures to even begin observation. Which then makes this about cultural group differences along with its establishments in a way such as what are the commonalities of individuals in numerous or possibly other culture. Another concern of Cross Cultural psychology is the differences and establishments of commonalities of individuals in multiple cultures.

Methodology associated with Cross Cultural

Cross Cultural Psychology is used when researchers have a need to understand the different aspects and their influences of the human behavior in various cultures. This means that the researchers need to conduct scientific investigations that use the appropriate methods of research in order for them to find the answer they seek. There are two research methodologies that are commonly used known as Quantitative research which tendencies for the human behavior is in measurements on their activity. While Qualitative research is focused mainly on the relationships between variables. These are then used to help validate and verify the findings of the research observed and gathered from the cultures being studied.

Overview of case study

The case study that was chosen for this paper is cross cultural research on groups of individuals Australia and China and the similarities and differences in their cognitive theories define what is competent or incompetent in communications in order to prevent interpersonal conflict. Depending on where the person is from the word communication can have various meanings According to (Brew, Tan, Booth, & Malik, 2011) that in China "conversational behavior in Chinese culture is traditionally used for enhancing relationships and harmony rather than imparting information." This study also looked at how the levels of conflict changed with their predictions of how it would be handled by both cultures. In the end both cultures each had their own ways of prediction and prevention and had various definitions of what communication meant. However, even with the differences within their ways or meanings they were able to reach a similar conflict resolution that got them the outcome that was desired through the study.

Case Study Worldviews & Enculturation

This case study has showed that no matter what part of the world and culture a person belongs to that there are separate views about communication and how things are predicted or prevented. Yet, it also shows that in the end they usually have the same form of concept. It can be hard understanding ethnicity, race and any other cultural divide. This study did show that it can be hard to see that divide but it does provide insight to see the differences but also to see what the similarities of the concept of what those methods and meanings are. When it comes to if this study provided a role for enculturation I would personally say that it does provide a small window into the cultures. According to (Matsumoto & Juang, 2013) enculturation "is the process of learning about and being indoctrinated into a culture." This means that the individual from a different culture is brought into another culture and is given the chance to understand it in depth. It is greatly important to take chances in understanding other cultures due to the fact that ignorance can bring on hostility and miscommunication.

Conclusion

There are many different cultures in the world that can be deeply looked into and understood. Religion, beliefs, race and social groups are just a tiny bit of what makes up a culture. In the case study about understanding cognitive appraisals between Western and Chinese cultures provided a prime example of what Cross Cultural Psychology and research is really about. Researchers can collect a lot of information from observing one culture at a time. However, cross cultural research allows them the opportunity to be able to find similarities and differences between multiple cultures. This also allows those who are reading about the finding so understand what they did not before about the other cultures. However, just as it is important that those who are doing the cross cultural research is making sure that all observations have strong information provided by the methodologies.

References

Matsumoto,D,. & Juang, L. (2013). Cultural and Psychology (5th ed.) Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook collection Database