the ideas, customs and social behaviour of a particular group of people or society
cultural norms
behavioural expectations within a culture
surface culture
food, flags, festivals, music, literature, language, art
shallow culture
handling emotion, non-verbal communication, thoughts on wellness and diseases, personal space
deep culture
decision-making, concepts of self, spirituality, relationship to natureandanimals
emic research
studies a specific culture to understand their behavioural attributes, focusing on their cultural norms, values and customs
etic research
compares psychological phenomena across cultures to find the universal behaviour throughout
Cultural dimensions
used to refer to a set of scales to 'measure' and distinguish between cultures
individualism
weak interpersonal connections among people who are not part of a core 'family'
collectivism
people are supposed to be loyal to the group that they belong to and in exchange the group will defend their interests
Berry's line length task
participants are shown multiple different lines next to a singular one and are asked which line is the same length as the singular one. They repeated this twice and on the third one a line was circled and told that the majority of people in their respective culture had chosen this line. IN rounds 4-6 the line circled was wrong and was five lines away from the correct one.
how does berry's line task show conformity
The participant is more likely to choose the line the people from their culture chose
Why Temne are collectivist
they are a rice farming community so when the harvest comes in that's a significant part of their diet. If the harvest fails they starve and everyone is affected; so everyone works together to make sure the harvest is a success and everyone benefits.
why inuits are individualist
their culture is about hunting and fishing. If one person is successful in hunting then they and their respective family have food, if another fails than that failure is there's to bare on their own. Its up to someone's skill to be successful no matter anyone else.
levels of conformity in temne and inuit culture
Temne have a high level of conformity as they trust that their culture is correct, whereas the inuits are used to relying on their own skill so have a low level of conformity.