Cultural psychology

The cultural psychology is a field of psychology that deals with the culture-specific causes of human thought, feeling and action. It takes the position that both the culture and their development has significant influence on the psyche of man. So she says that culture and psyche are inextricably linked and the culture must be recognized as a relevant for humans orientation system. They must be distinguished from the intercultural or comparative psychology, although this may be referred to itself as part of the cultural psychology.

Origins

The cultural psychology was a new spiritual science of the German philosopher, educator and psychologist Wilhelm Dilthey - founded (1833 1911). You should interpret human culture history by psychology. However, the descriptive psychology Dilthey culture exerted no further influence them, as this is counted cultural anthropology based on its contents.

In its current form, the cultural psychology arose again only in the 1960s and 1970s, but was largely known only in the 1980s and 1990s. One of the most important topics of recent times were the cultural differences between East Asia and North America with respect to attention, perception and cognition, and social psychological phenomena such as the self.

Some of the classic texts support the cultural psychology including Shweder and Levine (1984 ), Triandis (1989 ), Bruner (1990), Shweder (1991 ), Markus and Kitayama (1991 ), Cole ( 1996), Nisbett & Cohen ( 1996), Shore ( 1996) and Nisbett ( 2003).

Method

Cultural psychologists usually use either ethnographic or experimental methods, or a combination of both, to collect data from different cultures. It relies on the methodological evidence to so act in deeper levels of mental processes can. These results take into account creeping cultural and historical developments and their impact on the psyche.

It is important, as social practices of a particular group, the development of cognitive processes of the same form on different paths. The cultural psychologist not only focuses on the different influences of disparate cultures. It is also possible, such as the United States to carry out comparative, so comparative studies in a multi-ethnic society.

In this field, it is common not to establish comparative analyzes solely on religion, language or customs, but involve all areas of human practice. So it is also applied to everyday practices and problems, their influence lies in the culture itself. However, the man consumed not only the culture, but he designed himself with.

The cultural psychology requires confidence on experimental and ethnographic evidence of deeper levels of mental processes which are relatively safer and can take account of creeping cultural and historical influences. Richard Shweder, one of the strongest proponents of this area, writes: "Cultural psychology is the study of the manner how cultural traditions and social practices regulate the human psyche, express and convert less in the psychic unity of humankind than in ethnic differences in mind themselves and Emotion "

The cultural psychology studies in their specialist area and informed various areas of psychology, such as social psychology, developmental psychology and cognitive psychology.

Problem

The psychological theories are limited in accordance with their ideas in their applicability because is such a theory in a particular culture founded, it seems to lose its validity within the scope of another culture. Moreover seem safe predictions of how the psyche of people actually does not develop possible because each man is shaped by their own personal environment and the associated experience.

So go Pendant cultural psychology assumes that psychological knowledge is not universally applicable. Therefore, the relativistic perspective of cultural psychology has tended to conflict with the claimed to be universal to most departments of psychology, according to which every person is subject to a universal psychological pattern.

Some opponents argue that cultural psychological studies based on cultural stereotyping and incorrect methodology. Proponents argue that such criticism is often over-emphasized cross-cultural comparisons that are relatively unstable and ultimately misleading because they are based on self -founded views and influences.