researching psych and culture

• Non western words for happiness

  • Yogic sciences; Atman- pure happiness is achieved when the an instant desire is fulfilled and the mind relaxes

  • Ananda; a moment of pleasure
• non western words for happiness:

  Buddhist; Equanimity; piece of mind and happiness- detaching oneself form thecycle of craving to achieve transcendent bliss
• culturally free and embedded approaches:

  • culturally free approach: emphasises the universality of human strengths, values, and happiness across cultures
  • the culturally embedded approach: takes into account the variability resulting from cultural context, and researches cultural values
• importance of cultural values

  • steel et al. explored whether cultural values impact individual and national financial and subjective well-being
  • on an individual level: found that cultural values emphasising relationships and social capital were strongly associated with an individual's subjective well-being and life satisfaction
  • at a national level: individualistic countries with personal freedom, tolerance of diversity, openness to innovation, social mobility, a successful educational system are happier than countries with opposite chatacteristics
• happiest countries:

  • finland
  • denmark
  • switzerland
  • iceland
  • netherlands
• unhappiest

  • afghanistan
  • zimbabwe
  • rwanda
  • botswana
  • lesotho
• 6 major distinctions between eastern and western ideas of flourisihing

  eastern

  1. self transcendence
  2. eudemonism
  3. harmony
  4. contentment
  5. valuing suffering
  6. relevance of spirituality and religion
• western cultures of flourishing

  western

  • self enhancement
  • hedonism
  • mastery
  • satisfaction
  • avoiding suffering
  • relative irrelevance of spirituality and religion
• character strengths across majority of cultures

  • wisdom
  • courage
  • humanity
  • justice
  • temperence
  • transcendence
• self-transcendence versus self-enhancement

  • Western concept of the self is primarily based on the ideals ofindividualism,
  • • Consistent with the Western understanding of the self, enhancing autonomy, independence, self-esteem, and a strong ego is considered to be a vital ingredient of a good life in these cultures.
  • • Eastern traditions tend to regard the self as a small part of the collective and the cosmos.
  • In Asian traditions, the individual self is de-emphasised in one wayor another. For example, in Buddhism, the existence of an individualself is considered an illusion
• hedonism - pursuing happinesss

  eudaimonis- virtues
• harmony - eastern cultures

  master - western
• satisfaction vs contentment

  • satisfaction - western
  • contentment - eastern
• conceptual bias in cross cultural research:

  • whether there is equivalent meaning and relevance of theory and hypothesis across cultures being compared
• cross-cultural research

  method bias

  • sampling - whether samples are equivalent and representative of their culture
  • linguistic - whether tools used have the same meaning across languages in the study
  • procedural - whether the data collection efforts mean the same in all cultures
• cross cultural research

  measurement bias

  • whether measures and instruments demonstrate reliability and validity across cultures in the study
  • response bias - whether people of cultures in the study respond differently or have biased response when tested
• interpretational bias

  • whether interpretations and results of a study have practical meaning or biased in some way