2. How Cultures Differ

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this lecture, we think about how cultures differ in the context of psychological research, focusing in particular on: (i) the recognition that psychology is considered to be culture bound and culture blind, resulting in it being referred to as emic; (ii) the relevance of single-culture studying in certain research circumstances, including where the results of the study are only going to be applied to one culture; (iii) the importance of differentiating between conceptual replications and exact replications when performing cross cultural studies, depending on the desired outcomes for the research; (iv) three key questions which are important to consider when deciding whether a cross cultural version of a research study will be beneficial.

Course

In this course, Dr Ayoub Bouguettaya (University of Birmingham) explores cross cultural psychological research. In the first lecture, we think about how we understand culture in the context of psychological research. In the second lecture, we think about what differences exist between cultures which psychological researchers might study, and the traditional consideration of psychology as an emic science. In the third lecture, we think about some ways in which researchers have tried to include different cultures in their studies and the failures that this process has given rise to. Next, we think about the presence and consequences of cultural differences in developmental and clinical psychology. In the fifth lecture, we think about how culture can impact cognition, perception, and social psychology, with a specific focus on collectivist versus individualistic cultural viewpoints. In the sixth and final lecture, we think about debates which exist in the field of cross cultural psychology, and whether the subject can be considered racist, given its continued ignorance of non-western cultures.

Lecturer

Dr Ayoub Bouguettaya is a lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Birmingham. Dr Bouguettaya’s research interests are in social psychology and how knowledge from that field can be applied to others, particularly health, including how we can apply social identity theory to societal problems, as well as investigating the different perspectives one might take on those issues. Some of Dr Bouguettaya’s recent publications include 'The relationship between gambling advertising and gambling attitudes, intentions and behaviours: a critical and meta-analytic review' (2020) and 'The Effect of a Food Addiction Explanation Model for Weight Control and Obesity on Weight Stigma' (2020).