Cross-Cultural Psychology Application

Imagine that you are a consultant for an organization, and they want you to work on developing their core values. The organization would like their core values to reflect key attributes of their culture.

 

Select an organization, such as a company, community group, or nonprofit organization.

 

Create a 10- to 12-Microsoft^® PowerPoint^® slide presentation describing cultural, research-based models and how they help clarify the organization’s core values.

 

Include at least three credible, peer-reviewed references.

 

Format the citations in your presentation consistent with APA guidelines

The Focus of Cross-Cultural Psychology

Cross-cultural psychology is a branch of psychology that looks at how cultural factors influence human behavior. While many aspects of human thought and behavior are universal, cultural differences can lead to often surprising differences in how people think, feel, and act.

Some cultures, for example, might stress individualism and the importance of personal autonomy. Other cultures, however, may place a higher value on collectivism and cooperation among members of the group. Such differences can play a powerful role in many aspects of life.

Cross-cultural psychology is also emerging as an increasingly important topic as researchers strive to understand both the differences and similarities among people of various cultures throughout the world. The International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) was established in 1972, and this branch of psychology has continued to grow and develop since that time.1 Today, increasing numbers of psychologists investigate how behavior differs among various cultures throughout the world.

Cross-Cultural Psychology Application

Why Cross-Cultural Psychology Is Important

Since psychology emerged largely in Europe and North America, researchers began to question whether many of the observations and ideas that were once believed to be universal might apply to cultures outside of these areas. Could our findings and assumptions about human psychology be biased based on the sample from which our observations are drawn?

Cross-cultural psychologists work to rectify many of the biases that may exist in the research2 and determine if the things that apply in European and North American cultures also apply in other parts of the world.

For example, consider how something such as social cognition might vary from an individualist culture such as the United States versus a collectivist culture such as China. Do people in China rely on the same social cues as people in the U.S. do? What cultural differences might influence how people perceive each other? These are just some of the questions that a cross-cultural psychologist might explore.
What Exactly Is Culture?

Culture refers to many characteristics of a group of people, including attitudes, behaviors, customs, and values that are transmitted from one generation to the next. Cultures throughout the world share many similarities but are marked by considerable differences. For example, while people of all cultures experience happiness, how this feeling is expressed varies from one culture to the next.

The goal of cross-cultural psychologists is to look at both universal behaviors and unique behaviors to identify the ways in which culture impacts our behavior, family life, education, social experiences, and other areas.3

Many cross-cultural psychologists choose to focus on one of two approaches:

The etic approach focuses on studying how different cultures are similar.
The emic approach focuses on studying the differences between cultures.

Some cross-cultural psychologists take a combined emic-etic approach.4

Meanwhile some cross-cultural psychologists also study something known as ethnocentrism.

Ethnocentrism refers to a tendency to use your own culture as the standard by which to judge and evaluate other cultures.5 In other words, taking an ethnocentric point of view means using your understanding of your own culture to gauge what is “normal.” This can lead to biases and a tendency to view cultural differences as abnormal or in a negative light. It can also make it difficult to see how your own cultural background influences your behaviors.

Cross-cultural psychologists often look at how ethnocentrism influences our behaviors and thoughts, including how we interact with individuals from other cultures.5

Psychologists are also concerned with how ethnocentrism can influence the research process. For example, a study might be criticized for having an ethnocentric bias.
Major Topics in Cross-Cultural Psychology

Emotions
Language acquisition
Child development
Personality
Social behavior
Family and social relationships

How Cross-Cultural Psychology Differs From Other Branches of Psychology

Many other branches of psychology focus on how parents, friends, and other people impact human behavior, but most do not take into account the powerful impact that culture may have on individual human actions.
Cross-cultural psychology, on the other hand, is focused on studying human behavior in a way that takes the effects of culture into account.
According to Walter J. Lonner, writing for Eye on Psi Chi, cross-cultural psychology can be thought of as a type of research methodology, rather than an entirely separate field within psychology….

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ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.