Cultural Psychology by S.J. Heine (third edition) – Summary chapter 1
Culture is:A complex whole which includes knowledge, art as well as capabilities and habits acquired by a member of society.A collective programming of the mind that distinguishes one group of people from another.Any kind of information that is acquired from other members of one’s species through social learning that is capable of affecting an individual’s behaviour.Socially transmitted informationIt includes a particular group of people living within a shared context and individuals exposed to the same cultural information. There is no consensus on the definition of culture although there are shared aspects of culture:Culture is acquiredCulture is shared among its membersCulture is socially transmittableCulture affects behaviour.Culture, however, is not:Culture is not the same as cultural values.Culture is not the same as a nation.Culture is not stable over time.Culture is not homogeneous within a group.Culture consists of implicit and explicit parts and can change through reflection upon their own values and ideas (1) and through globalization (2). People in different cultures differ in their psychology because psychological processes are shaped by experience and culture shapes experience, although psychological processes are constrained and afforded by the neurological structures that underlie them. Culture can affect psychological processes.One example of this is the Müller-Lyer illusion. This asks people which line is longer although both lines are equally long. Non-Westerners are better at this than Westerners and this might be because Westerners tend to employ more analytic thinking (1) and because Westerners tend to use carved corners to estimate depth (2). Cultural values are preferences for one state of affairs over another that distinguishes countries, rather than individuals, from each other. They are not exclusive categories and are part of a continuum. There is a lot of heterogeneity within cultures and...
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