The process by which individuals learn and adopt the ways and manners of their specific culture

parent expects unquestioned obedience and views the child as needing to be controlled.

viewed as firm, fair, and reasonable. Seen as promoting psychologically healthy, competent, independent children who are cooperative and at ease in social situations

a culture in which change occurs rapidly. Both adults and peers socialize young people. Young people may have to turn to one another for advice and information in this type of culture.

the process by which individuals learn and adopt the ways and manners of their specific culture.

parental cultural belief systems.

parents allow children to regulate their own lives and provide few firm guidelines.

a culture in which change is slow and socialization occurs primarily by elders transferring their knowledge to their children. Elders hold the knowledge necessary for becoming a successful and competent adult.

a culture that is changing so rapidly that young people may be the ones to teach adults cultural knowledge.

the process by which we learn and internalize the rules and patterns of behavior that are affected by culture. This process, which occurs over a long time, involves learning and mastering societal and cultural norms, attitudes, values, and belief systems.

the people, institutions, and organizations that exist to help ensure that socialization occurs.

parents are often too absorbed in their own lives to respond appropriately to their children and may seem indifferent to them.

the tendency to agree rather than disagree with items on questionnaires.

refers to collectivism on the individual-level. On the cultural level, collectivism refers to how a culture functions. Allocentrism refers to how individuals may act in accordance with collectivistic cultural frameworks.

the belief that all things, including inanimate objects, are alive.

the type of land that can sustain life by food production of some sort.

evaluations of objects occurring in ongoing thoughts about the objects, or stored in memory

beliefs and inferences about the causes of events and self and other behaviors

a technique of translating research protocols that involves taking the protocol as it was developed in one language, translating it into the target language, and having someone else translate it back to the original. If the back-translated version is the same as the original, they are generally considered equivalent. If it is not, the procedure is repeated until the back-translated version is the same as the original.

a proposition that is regarded as true. People of different cultures have different beliefs.

differences that do not have exactly the same meaning within and across cultures; a lack of equivalence.

a term denoting all mental processes we use to transform sensory input into knowlegde.

a mental category we use to classify events, objects, situations, behaviors, or even people with respect to what we percieve as common properties

the degree to which a theory or set of hypotheses being compared across cultures are equivalent-that is, whether they have the same meaning and relevance in all th cultures being compared.

variables that operationalize aspects of culture that researchers believe produce differences in psychological variables. These variables are actually measured in unpackaging studies.

any variable that can explain, partly or fully, observed cross-cultural differences. These may involve characteristics of the participants (such as socioeconomic status, education, and age) or their cultures (such as economic development and religious institutions).

people's ability to work together toward common goals.

cross-cultural comparisons

a study that compares two or more cultures on some psychological variable of interest, often with the hypothesis that one culture will have significantly higher scores on the variable than the other(s).

a research methodology that tests the cultural parameters of psychological knowledge. Traditionally, it involves research on human behavior that compares psychological processes between two or more cultures. In this book, we also incorporate knowledge contrasting human cultures versus nonhuman animal cultures. This approach is primarily concerned with testing the possible limitations of knowledge gleaned from one culture by studying people of different cultures.

Cultural attribution fallacies

a mistaken interpretation in cross-cultural comparison studies. Cultural attribution fallacies occur when researchers infer that something cultural produced the differences they observed in their study, despite the fact that they may not be empirically justified in doing so because they did not actually measure those cultural factors.

a subdiscipline within psychology that examines the cultural foundations of psychological processes and human behavior. It includes theoretical and methodological frameworks that posit an important role for culture and its influence on mental processes behavior, and vice versa.

culturally specific belief systems about the world. They contain attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and values about the world. People have worldviews because of evolved, complex cognition; thus, having a worldview is a universal psychological process. The specific content of worldviews, however, is specific to and different for each culture.

a psychological process that is considered to be true for some people of some cultures but not for others.

the concept underlying the procedure of back translation that involves eliminating any culture-specific concepts of the original language or translating them equivalently into the target language.

Deviation from temperate climate

the degree to which the average temperature of a given region will differ from what is considered to be the relatively “easiest” temperature to live in, which is 22°C (about 72°F).

aspects of life that appear to differ across cultures; truths or principles that are culture-specific.

transient, neurophysiological reactions to events that have consequences for our welfare, and require an immediate behavioral response. They include feelings, but also physiological reactions, expressive behaviors, behavioral intentions, and cognitive changes.

the process by which individuals learn and adopt the ways and manners of their specific culture.

a state or condition of similarity in conceptual meaning and empirical method between cultures that allows comparisons to be meaningful; a lack of bias.

aspects of life that appear to be consistent across different cultures; universal or pancultural truths or principles.

studies designed to examine the existence of cross-cultural similarities or differences. These are generally simple, quasi-experimental designs comparing two or more cultures on a psychological variable.

the tendency to use the ends of a scale regardless of item content.

a statistical technique that allows researchers to group items on a questionnaire. The theoretical model underlying factor analysis is that groups of items on a questionnaire are answered in similar ways because they are assessing the same, single underlying psychological construct (or trait). By interpreting the groupings underlying the items, therefore, researchers make inferences about the underlying traits that are being measured.

the behaviors or patterns of activities a society or culture deems appropriate for men and women. These behavioral patterns may or may not be related to sex and sex roles, although they often are.

Hypothesis-testing studies

studies designed to test why cultural differences exist. They go beyond simple quasiexperimental designs by either including context variables or by using experiments.

refers to individualism on the individual level. On the cultural level, individualism refers to a how a culture functions. Idiocentrism refers to how individuals may act in accordance with individualistic cultural frameworks.

Indigenous cultural studies

studies that use rich, complex, and in-depth descriptions of cultures and cultural differences to predict and test for differences in a psychological variable.

Individual-level measures of culture

measures that assess psychological dimensions related to meaningful dimensions of cultural variability and that are completed by individuals. They are often used as context variables to ensure that samples in different cultures actually harbor the cultural characteristics thought to differentiate them.

a category of individuals people of all cultures create. Ingroup members generally have a history of shared experiences and an anticipated future that produces a sense of intimacy, familiarity, and trust.

the degree to which different items in a questionnaire are related to each other, and give consistent responses.

studies that examine cultural differences in mean levels of variables.

refers to the degree of semantic equivalence between protocols (instruments, instructions, questionnaires, etc.) used in a cross-cultural comparison study.

studies that attempt to measure an aspect of culture theoretically hypothesized to produce cultural differences and then empirically link that measured aspect of culture with the dependent variable of interest.

cultures that promote direct communication in which messages are conveyed primarily and directly in verbal languages and the effects of context are minimized.

the degree to which measures used to collect data in different cultures are equally valid and reliable.

studies that involve data collection at multiple levels of analysis, such as the individual level, context, community, and national culture.

the smallest and most basic units of meaning in a language.

a generally accepted standard of behavior within a cultural or sub-culture group.

the ways researchers conceptually define a variable and measure it.

a set of relatively enduring behavioral and cognitive characteristics, traits, or predispositions that people take with them to different situations, contexts, and interactions with others, and that contribute to differences among individuals.

the process of forming impressions of others.

the smallest and most basic units of sound in a language.

the number of people living within a given unit of space. In a place like a city in which a large number of people live in a relatively small space, the population density is higher than in a rural area where fewer people live in each similar amount of space.

a method used to determine if one stimulus affects another.

studies that involve experimentally manipulating the mindsets of participants and measuring the resulting changes in behavior.

the degree to which the procedures used to collect data in different cultures are equivalent to each other.

the degree to which different measures used in a cross-cultural comparison study are statistically equivalent in the cultures being compared—that is, whether the measures are equally valid and reliable in all cultures studied.

the concept that humans continually improve on improvements, that they do not go backward or revert to a previous state. Progress occurs because improvements move themselves upward, much like a ratchet.

the idea that people make implicit social comparisons with others when making ratings on scales. That is, people’s ratings will be influenced by the implicit comparisons they make between themselves and others, and these influences may make comparing responses across cultures difficult.

the degree to which a finding, measurement, or statistic is consistent.

organized systems of beliefs that tie together many attitudes, values, beliefs, worldviews, and norms. They provide guidelines for living.

a systematic tendency to respond in certain ways to items or scales.

values considered to be nonnegotiable. They differ from normal values because they incorporate moral beliefs that drive action in ways dissociated from prospects for success. Across the world, people believe that devotion to core values (such as the welfare of their family and country or their commitment to religion, honor, and justice) is, or ought to be, absolute and inviolable. Such values outweigh other values, particularly economic ones.

the degree to which different samples in different cultures are equivalent to each other.

the cognitive representations of who one is, that is, the ideas or images that one has about oneself, especially in relation to others, and how and why one behaves. The sum of one’s idea about one’s self, including physical, mental, historical, and relational aspects, as well as capacities to learn and perform. Self-concept is usually considered central to personal identity and change over time. It is usually considered partially conscious and partially unconscious or inferred in a given situation.

emotions that focus on the self, such as shame, guilt, pride, or embarrassment. They are important in studies of culture because humans universally have a unique knowledge of self that is different from that of other animals, thus giving rise to self-conscious emotions.

the cognitive and affective valuations we make about ourselves.

the biological and physiological differences between men and women, the most obvious being the anatomical differences in their reproductive systems.

the behaviors and patterns of activities men and women may engage in that are directly related to their differences and the process of reproduction.

knowledge about motivations concerning behaviors that are common among people in a group.

general beliefs and premises about oneself, the social and physical environment, and the spirtual world. They are assertions about the relationship between two or more entities or concepts; people endorse and use them to guide their behavior in daily living, such as "belief in a religion helps one understand the meaning of life."

the process by which we learn and internalize the rules and patterns of behavior that are affected by culture. This process, which occurs over a long time, involves learning and mastering societal and cultural norms, attitudes, values, and belief systems.

Socially desirable responding

tendencies to give answers on questionnaires that make oneself look good.

the degree to which a measure used in a cross-cultural study produces the same factor analysis results in the different countries being compared.

Structure-oriented studies

studies that examine whether constructs are conceptualized the same way across cultures, the relationship of a construct to other constructs, or the measurement of a construct.

the system of rules governing word forms and how words should be strung together to form meaningful utterances.

Tightness versus looseness

a dimension of culture variability that refers to the variability within a culture of its members to norms. Tight cultures have less varibility and are more homogeneous with respect to norms; loose cultures have more variablility and are more heterogeneous.

a characteristic or quality distinguishing a person. It refers to a consistent pattern of behavior that a person would usually display in relevant circumstances.

a psychological process that is found to be true or applicable for all people of all cultures.

Universal psychological toolkit

a set of basic skills and abilities that people can use to meet their needs. These include complex cognitive skills, language, emotions, and personality traits.

studies that unpackage the contents of the global, unspecific concept of culture into specific, measurable psychological constructs and examine their contribution to cultural differences.

the degree to which a finding, measurement, or statistic is accurate, or represents what it is supposed to.

trans-situational goals that serves as a guiding principle in the life of a person or group (e.g., kindness, creativity). Values motivate and justify behavior and serve as standards for judging people, actions, and events.

What is the process of learning about culture?

What are the three most important influences in the process of enculturation?

What is the term for the extent to which the members of a society accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally?

What are the three characteristics of human cultures that differentiate them from animal cultures?