Culture and the Individual Culture, Anthropology and Psychology

Disciplines Anthropology Culture and Personality Psychological Anthropology Psychology Cross-Cultural Psychology Education Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary Cultural Psychology

Key Terminology Culture Personality Society Biology Ecology Diversity Universal traits Culture Specific Traits

Culture Abstract Learned Shared Rules/Standards/Templates Generating Behavior Understanding experience

Culture Culture is the abstract, learned, shared rules/standards/templates used to generate behavior and to interpret experience.

Personality Characteristics of individuals Genetics Socialization Enculturation Life experience Ongoing interaction

Personality Personality is the characteristics of an individual arising from the ongoing interaction of genetics, socialization, enculturation and life experience.

Society A group of people using a shared culture

Biology Anatomy Physiology Genetics

Epigenetics Environmental on/off switches Regulatory Genes vs Structural Genes Environmental learning Imprinting

Ecology Environment Subsistence strategy Subsistence technology

Diversity Terminology Race Ethnicity Cross Cultural Cross Ethnic (Multicultural) Cross National First, Second, Third World Developed, Developing Traditional, Modern Peripheral, Core

Race An arbitrary social category used for purposes of discrimination. Ethnicity A group with which one chooses to identify on the basis of shared ancestry or heritage.

Universal Traits Traits that all humans have Culture Specific Traits Traits that only occur in a particular culture or particular type of culture

Key Terminology Absolutism Relativism Ethnocentrism Cultural Relativism Reductionist Determinist

Absolutism Belief that things are what they are without regard for their context/environment. Relativism Belief that things differ depending on the context/environment in which they are found/grow/develop.

Ethnocentrism Judging another culture using your own culture’s rules and standards. Cultural Relativism Judging another culture using its own rules and standard’s.

Reductionist Trying to explain complex phenomena using single, simple explanations. Eg. Determinism

Determinism Environmental Determinism Economic Determinism Ecological Determinism Sociopolitical Determinism Biological Determinism

Levels of Analysis Population Level Community Family Individual level Socialization Enculturation Acculturation

Socialization The process of learning when content is consciously taught by others within the society. Enculturation The process of absorbing the culture(s) in which an individual is raised.

Acculturation The process of acquiring a culture other than the one in which an individual was raised.

Processes in the Individual Ontogeny Perception Emotion Cognition Learning

Ontogeny The process of growth and development in an individual organism Perception The process of detecting and interpreting stimuli from the outside world

Emotion The conscious experience of a feeling or state which leads to both internal and external reactions Cognition Thought processes

Learning The process of acquiring and storing information