Cultural psychology

Cultural psychology is the study of how cultures influence and shape the way people think and feel. It is based on the idea that our minds and our cultures are closely connected and affect each other.

People are shaped by the culture they grow up in, and at the same time, the culture is shaped by the people who live in it. This helps us understand why different groups of people might think or act differently.

The goal of cultural psychology is to learn more about what culture is and how it relates to our thoughts and feelings. As Richard Shweder, a leading expert in this field, explains, cultural psychology looks at how traditions and social habits influence and change the human psyche. This shows that while all humans share many basic qualities, there are also many differences in mind, self, and emotion among different cultural groups.

History

Cultural psychology has two main meanings: as an old tradition and as a newer movement that started in the late 1900s. The tradition goes back to ideas from the 1800s in Western countries, with early thinkers like Giambatista Vico and Herder helping people think about how culture affects us.

The formal study began with a journal started in 1860 by Moritz Lazarus and Heymann Steinthal. Later, Wilhelm Wundt added to these ideas, looking at how culture and society shape our minds. In the 1920s, Russian psychologists like Vygotsky, Luria, and Leont'ev also explored how our actions are tied to social and historical settings.

Even when interest in culture faded in psychology, some anthropology researchers, such as Margaret Mead, kept studying how culture and personality connect. By the 1970s and 1980s, there was a growing push to understand cultural differences more deeply, influenced by new ways of thinking about knowledge. This helped cultural psychology grow, with important books and journals shaping the field.

Relationships with other branches of psychology

Cultural psychology is sometimes mixed up with cross-cultural psychology. Even though they both study how culture affects the mind, they look at it in different ways. Cross-cultural psychologists often check if certain mind processes are the same in all cultures. For example, they might wonder if Jean Piaget’s ideas about how children think apply everywhere. But cultural psychologists are more interested in how the special ways of living in a culture shape how people think and learn.

Cultural psychology works with many areas of psychology, such as cross-cultural psychology, social psychology, cultural-historical psychology, developmental psychology, and cognitive psychology. It also uses ideas from people who study cultures, languages, and philosophies. This helps us learn more about different cultural habits and traditions. However, cultural psychology often looks at how thoughts and actions change with culture, which is different from many other areas of psychology that look for things that are the same for everyone.

Importance

Need for expanded cultural research

See also: The WEIRDest People in the World

According to Richard Shweder, studies in Western psychology often don’t work the same way in other parts of the world. This shows that we need more research from many different cultures to make psychological theories better for everyone, not just Western countries. Many scholars agree, supporting the idea of indigenous psychology. Pradeep Chakkarath points out that psychology from the West isn’t the only way to understand the mind; there are many local ways of thinking that are just as important.

The term W.E.I.R.D. stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. Most psychology research has focused on these kinds of groups, making up 96% of study participants, with many from the United States. This means findings from these groups are often treated as universal, but they may not fit other cultures well. Research now shows that cultures differ in thinking and values. For example, people from the United States, Canada, and Western Europe often think by looking at objects alone, while people from Asia may think more about how things and situations relate to each other. By only studying W.E.I.R.D. groups, we miss out on the diversity of the world’s 88% non-W.E.I.R.D. population, which can lead to mistakes in understanding how different cultures think and feel.

Mutual constitution

People and society affect each other in many ways. Our actions and choices can change the world around us, and the world around us also shapes who we become. This idea is called mutual constitution, meaning that individuals and society continuously influence one another.

Some groups understand this idea better than others. For example, a school might promise to create a friendly environment, but this can only happen if everyone works together. When people know their actions matter, communities can grow and improve, helping everyone inside them as well. This idea is explored in a journal article titled "Cultures and Selves: A Cycle of Mutual Constitution" by Hazel Rose Markus and Shinobu Kitayama.

Criticisms

Some people worry that studying how different cultures affect our thinking can lead to stereotyping. This means treating everyone in a culture the same, even though people within a culture can think and act very differently. For example, someone might grow up in a certain culture but not always agree with its common beliefs.

Researchers also face challenges with how they collect information. Asking people directly about their thoughts and feelings is easy, but it might not always give a clear or accurate picture. Because of this, some cultural psychologists use other ways to study, like observing behavior or using tasks that test thinking skills.

Methods

Cultural psychologist Richard Shweder says that our thoughts and feelings grow together with our culture, and they cannot be separated. Some people think that asking people questions might not always give clear answers, especially when cultures are very different. But asking questions is still one way to learn, even if it’s not the only way.

Cultural psychologists use many tools to study, just like other scientists do. They watch people, do experiments, and look at numbers. For example, some researchers studied how history and culture affect behavior in different parts of the U.S. They found that in areas where people have traditionally taken care of animals, there can be more strong reactions to protect what is theirs. In another study, students in Japan spent more time on tasks they did not do well, showing a desire to improve — something often seen in East Asian cultures. Researchers also looked at how people in China and America see pictures differently, with Chinese students often looking at the whole picture and American students focusing more on parts of it.

They also count things like art and photos to learn about cultures. For example, they found that western media often shows more about the individual, while East Asian media shows more about the group. Scientists even use special machines to see how the brain works. In one study, Chinese people showed more brain activity linked to thinking about family, compared to people from western countries. All these different ways help make cultural psychology studies stronger and more trustworthy.

Cultural models

People use ideas and practices from their culture to understand the world around them. These ideas and practices are part of everyday life, like stories, songs, and buildings.

There are four main ways culture shapes who we are: Individuals, Interactions, Institutions, and Ideas. For example, in the United States, people often think of themselves as independent and unique. In Japan, people often think of themselves as part of a group and consider how their actions affect others.

Interactions, like stories and signs, help teach us cultural values. Institutions, like schools and governments, also shape our behavior. Big ideas about life and beliefs are also part of our culture, helping us understand the world.

The Whiting model looks at how a child's surroundings, like family and community, shape their growth and learning. This helps us see how culture influences how we develop.

Culture and motivation

Different cultures shape how people feel about themselves. In places where people think of themselves as independent, they often want to feel good about who they are. This can lead them to focus on their strengths and achievements.

In other cultures, where people feel closely connected to their groups, the goal is often to make sure others see them in a good light. This helps maintain harmony and respect within the group.

Culture and empathy

Cultural orientation: collectivistic and individualistic

A key idea in studying psychology and culture is the difference between individualistic and collectivistic cultures. People from individualistic cultures often see themselves as independent, focusing on personal goals. In collectivistic cultures, people tend to think more about the group, focusing on what helps everyone. Research shows these differences affect how people understand behavior. For example, in America (an individualistic culture), people might blame an individual for mistakes more often than in India (a collectivistic culture), where they might look at the situation more broadly.

Empathy across cultures

Because cultures have different values, how people show and understand empathy can vary. Empathy can be thought of in two ways: intellectual empathy (understanding someone’s thoughts) and emotional empathy (feeling what someone else feels). Studies show that people from collectivistic cultures often show more dispositional empathy (the ability to notice and understand others’ feelings), while those from individualistic cultures may show more experienced intellectual empathy (understanding others’ thoughts in specific situations). These differences help explain how people from various cultures might see the world and others differently.

Intercultural and ethnocultural empathy

Understanding and accepting cultures different from our own is important. This is called cultural empathy. A deeper idea is ethnocultural empathy, which not only accepts other cultures but also understands how their values shape empathy. One big challenge is ethnocentrism—seeing the world mostly through our own culture’s eyes. To build better intercultural empathy, we need to learn more about other cultures, understand their experiences, and recognize common human experiences. This helps us connect better with people from different backgrounds.

Cultural Influences in the mental health treatment

Some studies show that clients may feel more comfortable when their therapist shares a similar cultural background. This can help them feel more connected and understood. However, many mental health services still mainly serve the majority population, showing that there is a need for more diverse mental health professionals to support everyone equally. Recent years have brought more attention to how culture affects psychology and mental health care.

Nijmegen school

The Radboud University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands started a department studying culture and religion in 1956. By 1986, this department split into two parts, one focusing on religion and the other on cultural psychology. This new focus aimed to understand how culture influences behavior, seeing it not as a separate idea but as something created through human interactions.

This change means we can’t just say “it’s our culture” to explain certain behaviors. Instead, we need to look deeper to understand why these patterns exist. A main book from this department, Culture as Embodiment, offers tools to better understand these behaviors. In 2020, a new study by Ernst Graamans criticized using “culture” to defend harmful practices and suggested alternative ways to change these traditions.

Research institutions

• Institute of Cultural Psychology and Qualitative Social Research (ikus)](/wiki/Laboratory_of_Comparative_Human_Cognition_(LCHC))
• Culture and Cognition, University of Michigan
• Hans Kilian and Lotte Köhler Center for Cultural Psychology and Historical Anthropology (KKC)
• Culture and Self Lab, University of British Columbia