Cultural psychology is the study of the way traditions and practices come to shape the way people behave and think. The Schweder article’s purpose is to break down this principle and discuss the many complex aspects involved. The most interesting aspect of this paper is the description of how cultural psychology is the study of intentional worlds. Our world does not act as a concrete and stable aspect of the human psyche, instead it comes to shape us in numerous ways. It is virtually impossible to separate humans from their environment if one is attempting to gain an understanding of how we reflect or act. This is especially interesting when you consider just how connected the world is now due to the use of social media. Not only are humans
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This could suggest that cultures may or may not continue to think the same way when other issues are brought up which can change what one has come to accept as the general consensus of the group. This may also open up options to study this theory cross-culturally, which is an important aspect of cultural psychology as well. This article seems to have a more negative outlook on other aspects of psychology that are not culturally bound though. The author tends to be biased in his opinions on things such as laboratory testing in general psychology and how they will not be the answer to our questions. Even when describing other disciplines he uses more informal language in describing research methods by anthropologists, for example using the terms “muck about.” This makes for a difficult and unbiased analysis of his work and how he describes cultural psychology. I believe that if there were systematic descriptions, which were not coloured by opinion, of methodology or principles it would make for better reading and even …show more content…
Many people who are being studied fit into the Western, Education, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic model. When in fact, these people only represent approximately 12% of the population, as stated in the Henrich article. The implications for studies which focus on one type of participants can lead research to only be relevant in one part of the world. In doing this, we limit ourselves and create a bias towards what is expected of people from other cultures. These biases can especially translate into forms of discrimination. For example, if children are taught a specific way of solving problems at school, usually analytical problem solving in Western cultures, children from other cultures in those classes, especially with the influx of new immigrants arriving will be at a disadvantage. They will not be able to process this information in the same way, leaving them at risk for unintentional discrimination, they will not have the same opportunities to grasp concepts and learn from their teachers. This can pose problems especially if their different ways of viewing things are never explored and working into teaching methods, they will continue to fall behind and not succeed. By creating an understanding of differences across cultures, it can create numerous opportunities to expand research horizons and even demonstrate practical implications in many different
This could suggest that cultures may or may not continue to think the same way when other issues are brought up which can change what one has come to accept as the general consensus of the group. This may also open up options to study this theory cross-culturally, which is an important aspect of cultural psychology as well. This article seems to have a more negative outlook on other aspects of psychology that are not culturally bound though. The author tends to be biased in his opinions on things such as laboratory testing in general psychology and how they will not be the answer to our questions. Even when describing other disciplines he uses more informal language in describing research methods by anthropologists, for example using the terms “muck about.” This makes for a difficult and unbiased analysis of his work and how he describes cultural psychology. I believe that if there were systematic descriptions, which were not coloured by opinion, of methodology or principles it would make for better reading and even …show more content…
Many people who are being studied fit into the Western, Education, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic model. When in fact, these people only represent approximately 12% of the population, as stated in the Henrich article. The implications for studies which focus on one type of participants can lead research to only be relevant in one part of the world. In doing this, we limit ourselves and create a bias towards what is expected of people from other cultures. These biases can especially translate into forms of discrimination. For example, if children are taught a specific way of solving problems at school, usually analytical problem solving in Western cultures, children from other cultures in those classes, especially with the influx of new immigrants arriving will be at a disadvantage. They will not be able to process this information in the same way, leaving them at risk for unintentional discrimination, they will not have the same opportunities to grasp concepts and learn from their teachers. This can pose problems especially if their different ways of viewing things are never explored and working into teaching methods, they will continue to fall behind and not succeed. By creating an understanding of differences across cultures, it can create numerous opportunities to expand research horizons and even demonstrate practical implications in many different