Achieving a global psychology.

Abstract

Psychology has a long history in only a few countries of the world. Initially developed in Europe and the United States, it necessarily has close ties to the cultural traditions of those particular societies. As a result, the discipline and practice of psychology are largely culture-bound, limited in its origins, concepts, and empirical findings to only this small portion of the world. The discipline is also culture-blind, largely ignoring the influence of the role of culture in shaping the development and display of human behaviour. This article draws on concepts and strategies in psychology (particularly cross-cultural and intercultural psychology) to propose some remedies to these problems. It is based on a universalist vision for the discipline; this view asserts that basic psychological processes are common to our species, while their development and expression are culturally shaped. The eventual goal is to achieve a global psychology that incorporates concepts and findings from societies and cultures from all parts of the world.

Cultural universality and specificity of student engagement in school: The results of an international study from 12 countries

“…Berry () described three putative stages of the development of cross‐cultural psychology. The first stage involves an initial use of the imposed etic approach that aims to transport findings obtained in Western cultures to other cultures.…”

The Impact of Acculturation Style and Acculturative Hassles on the Mental Health of Somali Adolescent Refugees

“…Common components of acculturation involve learning a new language, norms, and customs, and becoming familiar with the mainstream culture. Berry posits the existence of four styles of acculturation based on one's relationships to their “heritage” culture/identity and the “host” culture [14, 15]. Low levels of both maintenance of heritage culture/identity, and relationships with the host groups, create a process of marginalization.…”

“You cannot forgive and you cannot forget”: The Serbian refugee settlement experience in Australia

“…The three factors of trauma, injustice, and intergenerational transmission acted as catalysts in a continual cycle, which played out in each participant's capacity to settle in Australian society (Figure ). This process strongly influenced the type of settlement experience in terms of integration, assimilation, marginalization, and or separation (Berry, ). These traumatic experiences resulted in a greater likelihood of separation, a similar finding to Colic‐Peisker and Walker ().…”

“…Similarly, Colic‐Peisker and Walker () qualitatively explored the settlement experiences of refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina. They reported that of the three acculturation strategies (integration, marginalization, and separation), separation was the most common strategy (Berry, ). The integration strategy tended to be adopted by people with high human capital (i.e., high levels of education and or social capital).…”