Cultural+Psychology

 Cultural psychology looks to generalize psych theories to more than just one culture, but to all humans. As opposed to cross-cultural psych, which compares cultures. According to Dr. Hazel Markus, a cultural psychologist at Stanford University, cultural psychology is based on the “discovery of humans as a social process or a social product” (Markus, 2001). Cultural psychology looks at how culture shapes social, cognitive, and developmental psychology. Cross-cultural psychology looks at these same aspects but contrasts them. A cultural psychologist would ask: how does Indian culture affect development? How does religion affect social interaction in Pakistan, in China, in America, in Europe? A study in cross-cultural psychology would want to compare all the areas mentioned in the above question. A study could also ask: what is the difference in gender roles between Guatemala and France? How does child rearing differ in the South Pacific to the Middle East? Cultural psychology is a relatively new branch of psychology emerging strongly in the past few decades. It stems from social psychology and cross-cultural studies. However the first surfacing of Cultural Psychology occurred in 1924 in the Soviet Union by a psychologist Kornilov. Kornilov applied Marxist theory to psychology and created his version of behaviourism, which was cultural psychology. It wasn’t until Michael Cole visited the USSR in 1962 that Cultural Psychology was brought to the western world. The school of thought he brought with him was the one most closely derived from that of Leontyev, a student of Kornilov(Blunden, 2005). Slowly it has gathered a following more and more research in cultural psychology occurs. Cross-cultural psychology, however, occurred anytime two different cultures interacted and someone asked what made the societies different. It has been in play for many years even without being an official discipline. The International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology was founded in 1972 to help “facilitate communication among persons interested in cross-cultural psychology” (IACCP). Some psychologists and examples of their publications that support this specialty: Dr. Hazel Markus: Markus, H. R., Uchida, Y., Omoregie, H., Townsend, S. S. M., & Kitayama, S. (2006). **Going for the gold: Models of agency in Japanese and American contexts. ** //Psychological Science, 17 // , 103-112. Julia Shaftel and Timothy L. Shaftel: Shaftel, J. & Shaftel, T. L. (2010). Measuring intercultural attitudes of undergraduates who study abroad: Scale development and validity. //International Psychology, //  14 (1), 12-15. Anna Wierzbicka: Wierzbicka, A. (2004). **The English expressions of good boy and good girl and cultural models of child rearing. ** //Culture & Psychology, // 10, 251-278.