“Culture influences our behavior –whether we aware

of it or not ”

Right now, you behave like the student in the picture

Is this behavior something to do with culture?

In 1952, Kroeber and Kluckhohn cataloged over
100 definitions of culture.
 What is culture?

Culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or categories, such

Topical:
as social organization, religion, or economy
Culture is social heritage, or tradition, that is passed on to future
Historical:
generations
Behavioral: Culture is shared, learned human behavior, a way of life
Normative: Culture is ideals, values, or rules for living
Culture is the way humans solve problems of adapting to the
Functional:
environment or living together
Culture is a complex of ideas, or learned habits, that inhibit
Mental:
impulses and distinguish people from animals
Culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols, or
Structural:
behaviors
Culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are shared
Symbolic:
by a society
The common point of all definitions of culture:

CULTURE INVOLVES EVERYTHING.

Culture is a general label that covers many different
elements ranging from society to society.

In order to better understand human behavior,

psychologists consider the various elements in culture
as independent variable that influences behavior.
In order to define culture, we must know
what culture is for.

Functions of the culture:

•Providing the necessary tools to meet

basic human needs

•To provide a roadmap on how to think,

how to feel and how to behave
A classic definition of culture:
Culture derives from the behavior
of people who lived before us.
It involves both…

•material elements (things, buildings, clothes), and

•spiritual elements (values, expectations, lifestyles,
implicit assumptions).

love independene
loyality
secularity
religiosity
honour environmentalism
humor
tolerance solidarity
conservatism
Culture is an adaptive mechanism.
Culture is learned.
Culture is shared.
People usually are not aware of their culture.
Culture is dynamic.
Culture is multifaceted.
We do not know oll of our own culture
Culture give us a range of permissible behavior patterns
Cultures no longer exist in isolation .
 Culture is an adaptive mechanism.

We need our cultural skills to stay alive, to adapt with

climate and geography.
Example: efficient hunting skills, fire use, and
ultimately, clothing, warm housing, agriculture
Culture involves knowledge and skills that are transmitted
from one generation to another in order to help us to deal
with the problems around us.

It is what people learn from each other throughout the history

of mankind.
Culture is learned

Every human generation potentially can discover new things and

invent better technologies. The new cultural skills and
knowledge are added onto what was learned in previous
generations. As a result, culture is cumulative.
Example:
Most high school students today are now familiar with
mathematical insights and solutions that ancient Greeks
such as Archimedes struggled their lives to discover.
 What way the culture is learned?

Every child passes through a

process called enculturation in the
culture in which they grow:

They learn by observing the

behavior of the people around
them and they realize the symbols
that are unique to their culture and Symbol: anything that
solve their meanings. represents something else. It
has a shared meaning.
Culture is transmitted to future
generations through symbols.
 Culture is shared.

• Culture is not the property of singular

individuals, but social groups.
• Through enculturation common experiences
of people come together, and culture is
transferred to the next.
People usually are not aware of their culture

We find ourselves in a culture

as soon as we are born. We do
not easily notice its influences
on us (sometimes we don’t
even notice its existence). We
assume that it offers us the
best solutions (or the single
solution) in life.
Culture is multifaceted.

People are members to more than one group; thus, they are exposed
to and the representatives of more than one culture.

Cultures are heteregenous becuse people simultenously take part in

more than one culture.

Two Turkish people may have very different characteristics because

except that they are both Turkish, they may belong to no common
cultural groups they are belong to.
 What kinds of cultures are you a part of?

• National culture

• Regional culture/ethnic culture/linguistic culture/religious culture

• Gendered culture (women’s culture, men’s culture)

• Generational culture: The greatest generation (1915-1929), the silent

generaiton (1930-1945), the baby boomers (1946-1961), the generation X
(1962-1981), millenials (1982-1995)

• Cultures regarding social roles (parental culture teachers’ culture, students’

culture)

• Cultures emerged as a result of having a particular level of SES, educational

background, occupation
• Institutional culture
 We do not know all of our own culture

No one knows everything about his or her own culture.

In all societies, there are bodies of specialized cultural

knowledge that are gender specific – they are known to
men but not to women or vice versa.

In many societies there are also bodies of knowledge that

are limited largely to particular social classes, occupations,
religious groups, or other special purpose associations.
Culture give us a range of permissible behavior patterns

• Cultures commonly allow a range of ways in which men can

be men and women can be women.
• Culture also tells us how different activities should be
conducted, such as how one should act as a husband, wife,
parent, child etc.
These rules of permissible behavior are usually flexible to degree
– there are some alternatives rather than hard rules.
 Culture is inclusive and holistic.

The various parts of a culture being

interconnected. All aspects of a culture are related
to one another and to truly understand a culture,
one must learn about all of its parts.
Culture is something different than human
nature. It is something different than personality.
 Culture is dynamic:
Its norms can be changed.
Cultural knowledge does not perpetually accumulate. At
the same time that new cultural traits are added, some
old ones are lost because they are no longer useful.
 Cultures no longer exist in isolation

It is highly unlikely that are any societies still existing in total

isolation from the outside world.
Even small, out of the way tribal societies are now being
integrated to some extent into the global economy.
 Culture may be helpful to provide harmony between
humans and nature or it may harm the harmony

Humans produce many cultural

elements to increase their
likelihood of survival. Many
cultural tools and traditions
help us to be successful at
struggle with nature.
However, modern technology
developed by humans may also
cause to destroy the harmony
of our relationship with nature.
The technologial tools that ease
our life in the short-run may be
life-threatening in the long-run.
Culture affects how we behave and how we interpret the
behavior of others.
Culture influences what kind of dress is on you, your sitting position
on your desk, and the facial expression you have right now.

Culture influences what you think about the other people’s

dresses; how you interpret their sitting positions and facial
expressions.
Culture influences our biological reactions
Is studying culture-behavior relationship the same thing
with studying cultural differences in behavior?
Eleştirel düşünme egzersizi -1
AMAÇ: Zihnini, kavramlar arasındaki hem benzerlikleri hem de farklılıkları
keşfetmek üzere çalıştırmak

Aşağıdaki kelime çiftlerinden beşini seçin ve her bir çift için şu

sorulara cevap verin:
1-Ne açıdan benzerler? 2. Ne açıdan farklılar?
•Melek ve şeytan •Kadın ve erkek
•Cennet ve cehennem •Heteroseksüel ve homoseksüel
•Bilim ve sanat •Türk yemeği ve İtalyan yemeği
•Sanat ve din •Mutluluk ve hüzün
•Bilim ve din •Vatanseverlik ve milliyetçilik
•Siyaset ve din •Kapitalizm ve sosyalizm
•Hıristiyanlık ve Müslümanlık •Bebeklik ve yaşlılık
•Düşünce ve inanç •Doğum ve ölüm
•Arkadaş ve sevgili •Gelenek ve kanun
•Satranç ve tavla •Edebiyat ve müzik
•Sevgi ve saygı •Psikoloji ve tıp
•Ödül ve ceza •Psikoloji ve felsefe
What benefits do cultural comparative psychological studies
bring to mainstream psychology?

Cultural comparative studies help

researchers to be aware of their
own biases during the research
process.
Let’s give a break to talking about culture.
Let’s talk about research validity.
 Validity is the extent to which a concept, conclusion or
Research measurement is well-founded and likely corresponds
validity accurately to the real world based on probability.

Good research is valid research. When research is valid, the

conclusions drawn by the researcher are legitimate.

ATTENTION!

research validity ≠ validity of measurement tools

 RESEARCH VALIDITY

INTERNAL VALIDITY EXTERNAL VALIDITY

refers to the extent to which refers to the extent to which the results of a
we can trust the conclusions research design can be generalized beyond the
that have been drawn about specific way the original experiment was
the causal relationship conducted.
between the independent
and dependent variables Generalization refers to the extent to which
relationships among conceptual variables can be
demonstrated in a wide variety of people and a
wide variety of manipulated or measured variables

Internal validity is high if the External validity is high if a study findings can be
only explanation for the generalized to people in different ages, from
variation in the DV of a study different cultures, with different occupations.
is the variation in IV.
 RESEARCH VALIDITY

INTERNAL VALIDITY EXTERNAL VALIDITY

refers to the extent to which the results of a research design can be

generalized beyond the specific way the original experiment was
conducted.

Generalization refers to the extent to which relationships among

conceptual variables can be demonstrated in a wide variety of people
and a wide variety of manipulated or measured variables

External validity is high if a study findings can be generalized to people

in different ages, from different cultures, with different occupations.
 RESEARCH VALIDITY

INTERNAL VALIDITY EXTERNAL VALIDITY

refers to the extent to which we can trust the conclusions that have been
drawn about the causal relationship between the independent and
dependent variables

Internal validity is high if the only explanation for the variation in the DV of a
study is the variation in IV.
 IV

Research
Is there a causal relationship between increasing physical activity
Question
and lowering cholesterol levels?

DV If «yes», the internal

Is there any other factors that validity is low.
impact cholesterol levels ?

•Dieting
Alternative explanations: •Drug use
 IV

Research Is there any relationship between getting XXX therapy and

Question lowering depression?

DV Is there any other factors that If «yes», the internal

impact depression levels ? validity is low.

•Happy life events

Alternative explanations: •Drugs
• Passing time
Now let’s turn back to the issue of what benefits
cultural comparative psychological studies bring
to mainstream psychology
What benefits do cultural comparative psychological studies
bring to mainstream psychology?

Cultural comparative studies

Cultural comparative studies help
help to show external
researchers to be aware of their
validity of psychological
own biases during the research
knowledge
process.

Cultural comparative studies help

to show internal validity of
psychological knowledge
What benefits do cultural comparative psychological studies
bring to mainstream psychology?

Cultural comparative studies

Cultural comparative studies help
help to show external
researchers to be aware of their
validity of psychological
own biases during the research
knowledge
process.
Cultural comparative studies help
to show internal validity of
psychological knowledge
In Europe, most people in 18-year old get satisfactory scores form a
cognitive test measuring abstract thinking performance. Is this because
that Europeans are cognitively mature enough for abstract thinking when
they are 18 year-old?
Hypothesis Maturation High performance in
(getting 18-year old) abstract thinking
test
In Europe, people get mandatory school education for 11 year until they
are 18 year-old. Their high performance on the abstract thinking test
may because that their school education?

Alternative School High performance in

view education abstract thinking
test
To be able to sure that high performance in abstract thinking test is
caused by maturation, researchers should control for the education.
However, there is no variation in educational status of 18-year old
people: They all had 11-year education. How an researchers control
the effect of education?
 How to make an experimental study to examine the effect of age
on abstract thinking while controlling for the effect of education

1. Select a group of European children as a sample. Randomly assign them into

education and control (no education) groups.

1. Make sure that the ones in education group get standard school education.
Make sure that the ones in the control condition don’t involve in any form of
schooling.

2. While they are 18 year-old, test the abstract thinking ability of children in both
conditions, and compare their performances.

1. If no difference is found, you can draw the conclusion that cognitive maturation
that comes with age is the cause of abstract thinking performance.

If a difference in the favor of schooled children was found, then, you can draw the
conclusion that school education is the cause of abstract thinking performance.

IS IT OKAY TO DO SUCH A STUDY?

 How to make a quasi-experimental study to examine the effect of
age on abstract thinking while controlling for the effect of
education

1. Find an African country in which not all 18 year-old people have passed
through schooling.

2. Compare the abstract thinking performances of 18-year old people who

had schooling or no schooling.

3. If no difference is found, you can draw the conclusion that cognitive

maturation that comes with age is the cause of abstract thinking
performance.

If a difference in the favor of schooled children was found, then, you can
draw the conclusion that school education is the cause of abstract
thinking performance.

WHY DO WE CALL THIS STUDY AS «QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL», AND THE

FORMER ONE AS «TRUE EXPERIMENTAL»?
 Malinowski’s study
Kültürlerarası çalışma yoluyla bir çalışmanın içsel
geçerliliğinin test edildiği bir araştırma örneği
Bronislaw Malinowski
Polish anthropologist
He did a study on the people of Trobriand Islands in which he questioned
the universality of Freud’s conept of Oedipus complex

Why do male adolecents feel anger/hostility towards their fathers?

Freudian view: Because of love they feel towards their mothers
Alternatve view: Because that their father is an authorirt figure
In Freud’s cultural environment (onset of 20th century, middle class, Vienna)
fathers were the authority figure for their children. Thus, in that culture the two
variables are confounded: The father is both the lover of mother and the authority
figure of the child. It is not possible to figure out for what reason adolescent sons
feel hostility towards their fathers.

WHAT DID MALINOWSKI DO?

He found a culture in which father is not the authority figure for the child: Trobriand
Islands. In Trobriand Islands, it was uncles’ duty to discipline a child.

If adolescent boys feel

anger/hostility towards fathers in Freud’s view is supported.
Trobriand Islands, then

If adolescent boys feel Alternative view is supported.

anger/hostility towrds their
uncles in Trobriand Islands then
What benefits do cultural comparative psychological studies
bring to mainstream psychology?

Cultural comparative studies

Cultural comparative studies help
help to show external
researchers to be aware of their
validity of psychological
own biases during the research
knowledge
process.

Cultural comparative studies help

to show internal validity of
psychological knowledge
What benefits do cultural comparative psychological studies
bring to mainstream psychology?

Cultural comparative studies

Cultural comparative studies help
help to show external
researchers to be aware of their
validity of psychological
own biases during the research
knowledge
process.

Cultural comparative studies help

to show internal validity of
psychological knowledge
Psychological is a scientific discipline developed by the analyses
of data collected from educated people living in industrialized,
affluent western countries. However, not all people in the world
are educated members of western, industrialized, affluent
countries.
The world population has now reached 7.5 billion people.

If the world were 1000 people…

... 50 would be female ...50 would be male
…25 would be children
…75 would be adults,
…9 of whom would be 65 and older
…12 would speak Chinese
..6 would speak Spanish
…5 would speak English
…4 would speak Hindi
…3 would speak Arabic
…3 would speak Bengali
…3 would speak Portuguese
…2 would speak Russian
…2 would speak Japanese
…60 would speak other languages
 If the world were 1000 people…

86 would be able to read and write; 14

would not

…7 would have a college degree

…40 would have an Internet connection.
…78 people would have a place to
shelter them from the wind and the
rain, but 22 would not

…1 would be dying of starvation

…11 would be undernourished
…22 would be overweight

…91 would have access to safe

drinking water
…9 people would have no clean,
safe water to drink
Cultural psychology: Cross-cultural psychology
What benefits do cultural comparative psychological studies
bring to mainstream psychology?

Cultural comparative studies

Cultural comparative studies help
help to show external
researchers to be aware of their
validity of psychological
own biases during the research
knowledge
process.

Cultural comparative studies help

to show internal validity of
psychological knowledge
What benefits do cultural comparative psychological studies
bring to mainstream psychology?

Cultural comparative studies help

researchers to be aware of their
own biases during the research
process.

What are western researchers’ culturally based beliefs about people?

Many Western (especially the U.S.) researchers who do not follow cross-cultural
literature believe that the following is true for almost everyone:

Assumption #1:
Each individual has unique characteristics that distinguish him/her from others,
and each individual wants to stress the characteristics that make him/her
different from the other individuals.

ARE THERE ANY CULTURES THAT THIS ASSUMPTION IS INVALID?

Many Western (especially the U.S.) researchers who do not follow cross-cultural
literature believe that the following is true for almost everyone:

Assumption #2:
People always prefer to be given a choice for their deisions; they feel good if the
result of anything is determined by their own preferences.

ARE THERE ANY CULTURES THAT THIS ASSUMPTION IS INVALID?

Many Western (especially the U.S.) researchers who do not follow cross-cultural
literature believe that the following is true for almost everyone:

Assumption #3:
People tend to achieve their own personal goals. They sometimes think that
people whom they are related, or the groups that they are a part put
obstacles to achieving these goals

ARE THERE ANY CULTURES THAT THIS ASSUMPTION IS

INVALID?
Many Western (especially the U.S.) researchers who do not follow cross-cultural
literature believe that the following is true for almost everyone:

Assumption #4:
People desire equality in their interpersonal relations. If there is a
hierarchy, they would prefer to be above the hierarchy.

ARE THERE ANY CULTURES THAT THIS ASSUMPTION IS

INVALID?
Many Western (especially the U.S.) researchers who do not follow cross-cultural
literature believe that the following is true for almost everyone:

Assumption #5:
People want to feel good about themselves; they feel good when they are
assured that they have personal achievements and positive qualities.

ARE THERE ANY CULTURES THAT THIS ASSUMPTION IS

INVALID?
Many Western (especially the U.S.) researchers who do not follow cross-cultural
literature believe that the following is true for almost everyone:

Assumption #6:
People believe that the same rules must apply to everyone; They believe
that individuals should not be granted concessions because of their
personal qualities or their connection with important persons: Justice must
be blind.
ARE THERE ANY CULTURES THAT THIS ASSUMPTION IS
INVALID?
You should pay attention to the following points if you are
interested in cross-cultural research:
You should pay attention to the following points if you are
interested in cross-cultural research:

culture ≠ society

There are various cultures within a society

“I colleted data from Turkish culture”

can you say it if you colleted data only from Turkish university
students who are from middle class family with Muslim-Sunni
religious orientation. Is this sample representative of Turkish
culture?
You should pay attention to the following points if you are
interested in cross-cultural research:

• Each cultural group is heteregenous.

There are always people having characteristics diverging from the
majority of group in some aspects.

Don’t say “All Americans like pizza”

Say “Most Americans like pizza”

Don’t say “All Turkish people are hospitable."

Say “Most Turks are hospitable”

Don’t say “All women want to have babies”

Say “Many women want to have babies.”
You should pay attention to the following points if you are
interested in cross-cultural research:

Ayşe is a Turkish female psychologist.

•She sometimes behaves like a Turkish,

•She sometimes behaves like a woman,
•She sometimes behaves like a psychologist,
•She sometimes behaves like a Turkish woman,
•She sometimes behaves like a Turkish psychologist,
•She sometimes behaves like a female psychologist.
You should pay attention to the following points if you are
interested in cross-cultural research:
Kültürler değişir.
Today, most societies are in rapid change. Wars, tourism, trade, and
developments of new technologies for communication and transportation
bring opportunities for more contact among cultures Therefore …

•What is written about a culture 10 years ago may be far from explaining
the present state of culture.

•Some segments in a society which go thorough rapid change (for example,

young people in cities) while others are less affected by this change (for
example, people living in rural areas with limited access to education-
communication-access). When evaluating the data collected from a culture,
it is important to pay attention to which segment(s) of the society the data
is collected from.
Main perspetives about the validity of psychological knowledge
Several answers to the question of «To what extent are psychological
functions and processes common to all human beings, to what extent
are they specific to a particular cultural group?»

Extreme Moderate Extreme Moderate

Universalism universalism relativism relativism
Extreme Universalism

All psychological phenomena appear in a similar way in every

culture: depression is depression everywhere; children are
children everywhere; honor is honor everywhere… etc. Culture
has no role to play on the meaning, expression and development
of psychological concepts.

It is possible to use psychological measurement tools developed

in one particular culture in every other cultures.
Extreme relativism

All human behavior is a product of culture. Every culture is

unique and therefore the behaviors of members of a culture
cannot be compared to the behavior of members of
another culture. Comparing cultures is being ethnocentric,
therefore, it should be avoided.

For each culture, there is a need to develop culture-specific

tools for psychological measurement and evaluation.
Moderate universalism
Moderate relativism
Extreme universalism Mainstream psychology

Cross-cultural psychology
Moderate unviersalism

Moderate relativism Cultural psychology

Extreme relativism Indigenious pychology

When they take the extreme universalist view, people use
the values of their own culture to understand people's
behavior and beliefs from other cultures.

When they take the extreme relativist view, people avoid

doing judgements on the basis of any ultural values.

When they take the moderate universal perspective, people

recognize that the values of some cultural groups may
resemble to theirs, while some others may be different. They
try to determine what makes cultures similar, and what
makes them different.