1. Cultural differences
Matt Jarvis
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2. 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
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3. 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.
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4. 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.
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5. 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
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6. 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
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