Cultural differences Matt Jarvis Hodder & Stoughton © 2016

Defining culture No universally agreed definition of culture but broadly: A set of values, beliefs and behaviours that characterise a group of people Culture is often associated with ethnic or national groups, but any group will develop their own culture over time Hodder & Stoughton © 2016

Culture and illusions Which of the two vertical lines is longer? Actually they are the same length. However, the line on the left appears longer. It appears that people who have grown up in an urban environment are more susceptible to this illusion. This is an example of a cultural difference in perception. Hodder & Stoughton © 2016

Culture and picture perception Although people from all cultures can perceive the world, we have to learn to understand complex pictures and so there are big differences in picture perception. Hodder & Stoughton © 2016

IQ testing It is important to understand that different tasks on IQ tests are not equally difficult to people who have grown up in different cultures. Different cultures use different counting systems Different cultures categorise objects differently Hodder & Stoughton © 2016

Conclusions Although some human characteristics are universal there are also many cultural differences These differences are not confined to social behaviours but also affect cognitive processes Understanding these differences have applications, from fairer IQ testing to helping with awkward social situations Hodder & Stoughton © 2016