Cross Cultural Psychology

Module A Lesson 1 Tutorial

Created by: Professor Hokerson

American River College

Last Updated: Fall 2015

Using this Tutorial

• Use the navigation buttons across the

bottom of the screen.

• Click on hyperlinks when prompted

• Have fun and learn!

Table of Contents

• Objectives• Module A Objectives #5 & 6

• Action Items• Cross cultural psychology

• Worldviews

• Differences

• Conclusions

MODULE A OBJECTIVES

By the end of this tutorial you will be able to…

#5 - Compare values, behaviors, and attitudes of individualistic

and collectivistic cultures, as it relates to cross-cultural

psychology.

#6 - Differentiate cross-cultural differences in time perspective

and communication, as well as the characteristics of “tight” and

“loose” cultures.

ACTION ITEMS

Defining Culture

• Watch: What is culture?

• We belong to many cultural groups.

• Survey: Which cultural groups do you belong to?

• Gender Poll

• Ethnicity Poll

• Political Affiliation Poll

• Socioeconomic Status Poll

• Age Poll

Cross-Cultural Psychology

• Definition: “The study of how cultural factors influence

behavior” (Hockenbury, Nolan, and Hockenbury, 2015)

• Read Chapter 1

• The Cross-cultural perspective (p. 12)

• What is Cross-Cultural Psychology? (p. 13)

• Activity: Which countries tend to be individualistic? Which tend to be

collectivistic? Take a piece of paper, fold it in half and list the countries

on the left that fall under collectivistic and a list on the right that fall

under individualistic. You will use this over the next couple of slides.

• Summarize: What did you learn about these concepts?

• Social loafing vs. social striving

• Sleeping Habits

Worldviews

• Explore: This video Cultural Dimension: me or we will help to get

a better understanding of the difference between individualistic

and collectivistic cultures. Are you an “I” or a “we”?

• Hint! Individualism and collectivism influence how we perceive and

interact with the world around us!

• Outline: Use this table to help differentiate the characteristics between

these two world views using your folded piece of paper.

Individualism Collectivism

What are the values, beliefs, and

behaviors?

In what countries are these more

prevalent?

What are the values, beliefs, and

behaviors?

In what countries are these more

prevalent?

• Summarize: On a piece of paper summarize cultural differences in

communication (p. 1-4) of “high vs. low context”, monochromic vs.

polychromic time, and space and proxemics in this publication titled

“Improving Cross Cultural Communication Skills: Ask-Seek-Knock.”

• Caution! Although we all carry this “cultural baggage” with us,

the ways in which we were taught to view and interact with our

world:

• These differences don’t apply to every individual within a

culture.

• Situational factors can and do influence individual behavior, too.

Cultural Differences

More Cultural Differences• Listen to a 4 minute podcast on NPR titled Of War and Kisses: How

Adversity Shapes Culture about cultural variations in attitudes

toward general behaviors, such as cursing, kissing, and eating.

• Activity: Which countries tend to be “loose”? Which tend to be “tight”? Take

another piece of paper, fold it in half and list the countries on the left that are

described as “loose” and a list on the right that are described as “tight.”

• You may have to pause and rewind the podcast a couple of times to get all

of the details. I also recommend listening to it one time at the end, to check

for accuracy and missing information.

“tight” “loose”

What are characteristics of this type

of culture?

In what countries are these more

prevalent?

What are characteristics of this type

of culture?

In what countries are these more

prevalent?

A Comparison• Activity: Now let’s compare the list of Individualistic and Collectivistic to

the list of countries and characteristics of “loose” and “tight” cultures.

• Do you see any similarities between collectivist and “tight” cultures?

• Caution! Do not over-generalize. You should never make

assumptions or predictions about the values, beliefs or behaviors of a

person based on their nationality, gender, or ethnic background.

Conclusions

• Cross cultural psychology provides important information about

the experiences of cultural groups and how they may vary in

beliefs, values, and behaviors.

• These differences are not absolute.

• These differences should not be assumed.

• Our experiences are shaped by our cultural identities.

• Those experiences should be validated!

MODULE A OBJECTIVES

After completing this tutorial you should now be able to…

#5 - Compare values, behaviors, and attitudes of individualistic

and collectivistic cultures, as it relates to cross-cultural

psychology.

#6 - Differentiate cross-cultural differences in time perspective

and communication, as well as the characteristics of “tight” and

“loose” cultures.

MODULE A OBJECTIVE #5

After completing this tutorial you should now be able to…

Compare values, behaviors, and attitudes of individualistic and

collectivistic cultures, as it relates to cross-cultural psychology