Cultural Norms

Phonetics

study of universal sounds used in all human languages

individualistic cultures

identity is defined by personal characteristics Emphasis on personal rather than social Persons are viewed as unique Individual autonomy and self expression are valued Competitiveness and self-sufficiency are highly regarded

Culture

A set of attitudes, behaviors, and symbols shared by a large group of people and usually communicated from one generation to the next - shiraev and levy 2004

WHO (1983)

AIm A study of diagnosis and classification of depression in Switzerland, Japan, Iran, and Canada Procedure 573 patients were studied Used a standard diagnosis system for the four countries Findings 40% of patients displayed symptoms that were not on the classification system Strong demonstration of cultural factors (Marsella et al 1985) Most patients experienced several symptoms that were the same in all four countries 76% reported sadness, joylessness, anxiety, and a sense of insufficiency Conclusion Diagnosis and classification systems need an Emic (Culture specific) approach because socially acceptable norms are different in different cultures

Hofstede 1967

Aim Identify traits through the classification of behaviour according to culture Procedure: Participants were 60,000 IBM employees from over 50 countries Asked to fill out surveys Lasted for 10 years Findings Found 4 bipolar cultural dimensions Individualism - collectivism Masculinity - femininity Power distance Uncertainty avoidance

Wei et al. (2001)

Aim Investigate the extent in which the dimension of individualism and collectivism influenced conflict resolution styles Procedure 600 managers working in singapore were selected randomly Divided into 4 groups: Japanese, Americans, Chinese Singaporeans working in multinational companies, and chinese Singaporeans working in local companies Questionnaires and correlational analysis were used to find relationships between scores on cultural dimension and conflict resolution style Results The higher the score in the individualist dimension, the more likely the manager was to adopt a dominating conflict resolution style American managers more likely to adopt a dominating conflict resolution Most asian managers did not adopt the avoid conflict resolution as predicted Some american managers who had been in singapore for several years had adopted a more asian conflict resolution style Discussion of Results Relationship between individualism/collectivism and conflict resolution style was only somewhat confirmed Concluded that conflict resolution styles are complex and cannot be reduced to cultural dimensions alone Evaluation Used a large and representative cross-cultural sample in singapore > results can be generalized Study relies on self-reports > may be issues of reliability of data, but overall reliable

Etic Approach

Aims to discover what all humans have in common Addresses the universals of human behavior Extensively used in cross cultural studies This approach is used when theories developed in a particular culture are tested cross-culturally

Cultural Norms

Cultural norms are patterns of behavior typical of a specific group normally passed down from generation to generation Often passed down generations through observational learning by the group's gatekeepers - parents, teachers, religious leaders and peers

Cultural Dimension

Culture should be seen as a collective phenomena that may distinguish one group from another on specific dimensions It can be seen as a "mental software" Determines the way a person acts and thinks Understanding the influence of cultural dimensions on behavior can help to make easier international understanding and communication - Hofstede

Emic and Etic in mental health research

Etic - assumes that all underlying psychological mechanisms and the ways psychological disorders are subjectively experienced are very similar (maybe even universal). All culture can do is influence the way abnormal behavior manifests itself Emic - based on the idea that abnormal behaviors can be understood only in the context provided by the culture within which they occur. It studies abnormal behavior as it occurs in specific cultures

Bond and Smith Meta-analysis of Asch's paradigm

Meta-analysis of 133 Asch's paradigm studies in 17 countries Findings Individualist societies tend to have a lower rate of conformity (US, UK, France) Collectivist societies tend to have a higher rate of conformity (Hong Kong, Fiji, Brazil) Conclusion Displayed the effect of culture on conformity Evaluation Uses an emic approach: took care the cultural differences individually Evaluative points from asch's paradigm apply

Norms

Set of rules based on socially or culturally shared beliefs of how an individual ought to behave Regulates behavior When individuals break away from social/cultural norms, they may be punished, marginalized, stigmatized, or creating and affecting change in the society As humans are social animals, the need to belong plays a strong role in the desire to conform to group norms.

Collectivist Culture

Social is emphasized rather than personal The self is defined by long-standing relationships and obligations Individual autonomy and self expression are not encouraged More emphasis on achieving group harmony rather than individual achievement

Emic approach

Specialized in culture-specific phenomena Discovery of distinctive behaviors are explored through this approach, which adds to its uniqueness Does not import theoretical frameworks from another culture Assumed that the meaning of behavior can be defined from within the culture studied

Manson et al. (1985)

The use of interviews and native informants, the authors found 5 hopi illness categories related to depression: Worry sickness Unhappiness Heartbroken Drunken-like craziness disappointment Most hopi participants could not identify a word equivalent to depression, but were all familiar of the hopi illness categories

Combining Etic and Emic approaches

Through research, it is concluded that although depression is a universal disease, the way it expresses itself is culturally determined Best approach is combining the two Ex. Derived etic approach - assumed that although the phenomena under study is the same across cultures, its development and expression may show cultural differences The way depression expresses itself in a culture can one of which be based on the individualism/collectivism dimension (Marsella et al. 2002)

Pike (1954)

believed that emic-etic distinction can be generalized beyond linguistics, and applied it to research in social sciences as two different approaches

Phonemics

study of sounds that are particular to a specific language