Psychology and Culture

Abstract

Psychological processes influence culture. Culture influences psychological processes. Individual thoughts and actions influence cultural norms and practices as they evolve over time, and these cultural norms and practices influence the thoughts and actions of individuals. Large bodies of literature support these conclusions within the context of research on evolutionary processes, epistemic needs, interpersonal communication, attention, perception, attributional thinking, self-regulation, human agency, self-worth, and contextual activation of cultural paradigms. Cross-cultural research has greatly enriched psychology, and key issues for continued growth and maturation of the field of cultural psychology are articulated.

Individualism–collectivism and group creativity

“…Typically, this research has compared differences between East Asians and European North Americans (Lehman, Chiu & Schaller, 2004) using nationality as a proxy for a person's underlying cultural values of individualism versus collectivism (Brockner, 2003). In spite of such between-country differences, however, it should be recognized that there can also be substantial within-country variation on this dimension.…”

Culture, Mind, and the Brain: Current Evidence and Future Directions

“…This change is evident in a greater focus on mechanisms of cultural influence (Lehman et al 2004;Schaller & Crandall 2004). A number of researchers have focused on cognitive mechanisms that mediate cultural influences with ingenious use of priming techniques.…”

Integrating intercultural communication and cross-cultural psychology: Theoretical and pedagogical implications

“…Intercultural communication research typically focuses on identifying cultural differences specific to groups and the process of communicating across them, whereas cross-cultural psychology as a sub-discipline of psychology is more interested in locating fundamental human universals and their variants across cultures (Lehman et al, 2004). Integrating the two lines of research, conceptually as well as empirically, will generate insights into the important relations between communication and psychology, and the contribution of culture to both.…”

“…The content of intercultural communication is also constrained by many different psychological considerations. For example, socially shared stereotypes are influenced by concerns ranging from impression management to social identity (Lehman, Chiu, & Schaller, 2004).…”