Cultural
Psychology
Psych 458 / 558
Fall, 2007
Instructor: Vinai Norasakkunkit, Ph.D.
Time: MW 8:30am
Location: AH 29
Office hours: AH36, MW: 10:00am - 10:45am, 1:00pm – 1:45pm, and 4:00pm – 5:00pm. If these times do not work, we can set up an appointment.
Phone: X6317
E-mail: vinai.norasakkunkit@mnsu.edu
Syllabus and PDF files located on D2L
Course overview:
Cultural Psychology is an interdisciplinary field that
unites psychologists, anthropologists, linguists and philosophers to study how
cultural meanings, practices and institutions influence and reflect individual
human psychologies. Cultural influences
on cognition, perception, emotion, motivation, moral reasoning, and the
constitution of well-being and emotional distress will be discussed with a view
towards understanding divergent mentalities.
The course will draw primarily from studies comparing Eastern and
Western cultures, as well as some group comparisons within the
The cultures whose psychologies have been most intensively studied are those
of
Structure of the course
Students will be responsible for attending the lectures and keeping up with the readings. The lectures and the readings will not always overlap completely in content though they will correspond in theme. Although there are no hard-cover academic textbooks written for cultural psychology as of yet, there are numerous independent studies and papers to choose from in the psychological literature. However, if all the relevant studies and papers were assigned as readings for this course, the amount of reading would be unreasonable. Consequently, the selected readings for this course are intended to provide students with a conceptual framework of cultural psychology, while the empirical studies to support that conceptual framework will be provided in lectures. In this manner, a more thorough account of the goals and accomplishments of cultural psychology can be provided to you. To help further develop the conceptual framework for cultural psychology, there will also be occasional in-class exercises.
Short-essay exams: Both the mid-term and final will be closed book/closed notes short-essay exams. Students are responsible for the content of the lectures and readings for these exams. Both exams will entail short essay questions. Since there will not be sufficient time to discus each reading in class, there will be biweekly journal assignments and blogging based on the readings, and the exam questions that pertain to the readings will come right from these journal assignments. Similarly, the exam questions that pertain to the lectures will come directly from the lectures. Given that the exam questions come right out of your notes and journals, studying for the exam should be relatively straightforward, as long as students are up to date on their reading, journal assignments, and class participation. Additionally, a week prior to the exam dates, students will be given eight (8) short-essay questions to prepare for, of which five or six (5-6) will show up in the exam. This will give students the opportunity to prepare and practice writing their exams ahead of time in order to meet the time constraint during the exam period.
Option to write exam in outline format
Students will have an option to write exams in outline format, if this is easier for some students. However, keep in mind that the expectations for the thoroughness of content in the essay format and outline format are the same. The only difference between the two formats should be that the outline format is less concerned with transitions, conjunctions, and grammar. Those students for whom the flow of writing makes it more conducive to recall the content relevant to the exam questions may find it easier to simply write the exams in essay format.
Journal assignments: Biweekly journal assignments should help students process the readings as well as study for the portion of the exam that pertains to the readings. Each journal assignment will be given out a week prior to its due date, and each assignment will include a component for your reactions to the readings. Students will be responsible for turning in each journal assignment on or before its due date. Each journal assignment should be 1-2 pages typed and double-spaced. There will be six (6) journal assignments due in the course of the semester and students will have the option to hand in any four (4). A journal will not be accepted after its due date. These journal assignments will be graded as Pass/Fail and will constitute 15% of your final grade. Four passing grades will be required for full credit on the journal assignments, while three passing grades will be equal to half credit. No credits will be assigned to anything fewer then three passing journal grades. Please also keep in mind that doing the journal assignments will directly contribute to your own study guide for the exams.
Journal assignments: You will be expected to write blogs on the internet based during your two weeks of reading the book by Nisbett on the Geography of Thought. You need to publish at least one blog for every topic / question that I post. I may also involve the author of the book (Richard Nisbett) to read your blogs and participate in the online discussion with all of you. The two weeks of blogging about Nisbett’s book will entail 10% of your total grade. Details of this assignment will be given in class.
Research Paper: A research paper will be due a week before the last week of classes (Nov 28). Students will be required to do a research paper on a culture-bound syndrome (e.g., a culture-specific emotion, a culture-specific mental illness, etc.) of their choice and relate their topic to the themes discussed in class. Some general guidelines and a list of suggested topics will be distributed in class. The paper should be typed, double-spaced, and about 5-pages long. Students are encouraged to start thinking of a paper topic as soon as possible. An outline of the proposed topic will be due on the second week after the mid-term exam. By then, students should be at a stage where they have a good idea of what they will be writing about and start making progress in researching their topic and writing their papers.
Paper presentations: The last week-and-a-half of class will be reserved for paper presentations. Students will be required to do a 5-10 minute presentation on their paper topic. A sign-up sheet for the time slots will be distributed in the middle of the semester.
Requirement
Graduate Students
Graduate students will be required to do a 10-20 page paper instead of 5-7 pages and a 20 minutes oral presentation instead of a 5-10 minute oral presentation. Additionally, graduate students will be required to write their exams in essay format only.
Attendance
Since the content of the lectures are often not covered in the readings, it would be important to attend class, for not doing so can adversely affect exam performance. If you are not able to attend class for some reason, make sure to have someone turn in any assignments for you that are due and make arrangements with a fellow classmate to find out what was covered in the class that you missed. Also, please avoid being late to class, as late arrivals tend to be disruptive.
Late work
Students will be responsible for turning in all assignments on time (including the final paper) in class. If you are unable to attend class on a day that an assignment is due, please make arrangements to either have the assignment turned in early or have someone turn it in for you. Assignments will not be accepted after their due dates. There will be no exceptions to this policy. All due dates are indicated on this syllabus, unless otherwise changed by the instructor.
Make-up exams
Make-up exams will only be considered in the event that a student misses an exam due to a medical, and sometimes, personal emergency. Students are expected to speak with me at one of my office hours before an exam day to discuss circumstances. I reserve the right to ask for documentation of the emergency should the need arise.
Extra credit
Students will be expected to concentrate on the course assignments at hand. However, extra credit assignments that will be considered are volunteering as a participant in psychological research at MSU and/or doing a one-page writing assignment. Students will have the option to improve their grade on either the midterm or final exam, whichever is lower, by 4% for each hour of research they participate in (or for each writing assignment) with a limit of three extra credit assignments (research hours and/or paper) in total. Students will be responsible for bringing the research credit slips in to me for each research study they participate in. Keep in mind that opportunities to participate in research studies are contingent on how many psychological research projects looking to recruit participants are taking place in any given semester. Therefore, opportunities to participate in research may vary from semester to semester. In any event, students should not count on research participation to work as a substitute to assignments for the course but rather as an opportunity to slightly improve the grade they receive on an exam.
Disabilities
Every attempt will be made
to accommodate qualified students with disabilities. If you are a student with a documented
disability, please see me as early in the semester as possible to discuss the
necessary accommodations, and make sure you have contacted the Disabilities
Services Office at (507)389-2825 (V) or 1-800-627-3529 (MRS/TTY).
INCOMPLETES
Incompletes are meant to be used in cases of extreme medical or personal emergency. These are the only situations in which an incomplete will even be considered. If a situation of this type should arise, I would need to be contacted as soon as possible so that a contract could be negotiated to outline what work would need to be finished and in what time frame. I reserve the right to ask for documentation of the emergency should the need arise. University policy states that any consideration of incompletes is contingent on the student having already done passing work for the semester.
ACADEMIC
DISHONESTY
It is assumed that in this class each student and I will act in a professional and honest manner. Therefore, any student who engages in an act of Academic Dishonesty, such as cheating on an exam, plagiarism, etc., will receive a failing grade for that task and in most cases a failing grade for the course. Please review the sections on Academic Standards, Cheating, and Plagiarism in your student handbook. If you still have questions about Academic Honesty or expectations in this course see me as early as possible in the semester.
Required readings:
1) Shweder, R. A. (Ed.), Thinking
Through Cultures: Expeditions in Cultural Psychology.
2) Bellah, R. N., Madsen, R.,
Sullivan, W. M., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. M.(1985). Habits of the Heart:
Individualism and Commitment in American Life. (pp. 3-84, 142-163).
3) Nisbett, R.
E. (2003). The Geography Of Thought:
Why Asians And Westerners Think Differently…And Why. New York: The Free Press. (Very useful in understanding the topics that
will be covered from Week 7 to Week 9.
Available at the campus bookstore.)
4) *
Calander
Week 1 in class: What is Cultural Psychology? [Week of Aug 27]
…we should not expect reality to be independent of our participation in
it…Every person is stimulus bound, and every stimulus is person bound. That is
what it means for culture and psyche to make each other up. That is why a
cultural psychology signals an end for the purely psychological in psychology.
—Richard A. Shweder
Journal #1: Briefly, present the conceptual and methodological distinctions between general psychology, cross-cultural psychology, and cultural psychology. What was your reaction to understanding these differences? (Due on Wed, Sept. 5).
Readings for week 1:
Shweder, R. A. (1991). Cultural Psychology: What is it? In Schweder (Book), pp.73-110.
Week 2 in class: History of Cultural Psychology [Week of Sept 3]
In an important sense, cultural psychology was there "in the
beginning." —Michael Cole
Note:
Reading for week 2:
Bellah et al. (Book), pp. xli-51.
Week 3 in class. Methodological issues-part 1 and part 2 [Week of Sept 10]
…a culturally informed experimental social psychology has to focus on
meaning as much as on methods — because the validity of any method depends on
how closely its meaning corresponds to the everyday practices it is intended to
reflect. —Alan P. Fiske et. al
Journal #2: Based on your reading in the Bellah book,
summarize how Brian Palmer, Margaret Oldham, Joe Gorman, and Wayne Bauer draw
from various strands of the American cultural tradition (i.e., symbols, ideals,
and ways of life of a people that express the meaning of the destiny its
members share). What are these strands, and how are they similar and different
from each other? What was your reaction to reading the first two chapters of
this book? (Due on Wed, Sept. 19)
Reading for week 3:
Heine, S. J. (2007). Chapter 3: Research Methods in Steven Heine’s Cultural Psychology. Norton Publishing.*
Week 4 in class. Individualism and Collectivism [Week of Sept 17]
In America, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease." In Japan,
"the nail that stands out gets pounded down." —Hazel Markus and Shinobu Kitayama
Note:
Reading for week 4:
Bellah et al. (Book), pp. 55-112.
Week 5 in class. Exploring the American Cultural Model [Week of Sept 24]
US-Canada cultural differences (audio file)
American cultural traditions define personality, achievement, and the
purpose of human life in ways that leave the individual suspended in glorious,
but terrifying, isolation. These are limitations of our culture, of the
categories and ways of thinking we have inherited, not limitations of
individuals… -Robert N. Bellah et. al
Journal #3: From your readings in the Bellah book, describe the four different strands of American individualism (Ch. 6). How are they different from and similar to each other? What is the task of modern individualism in terms of how the self should be understood and experienced? What is sought in work (Ch. 3), love & marriage (Ch. 4), and the culture of therapy (Ch. 5) that contribute to this self definition? What was your reaction to reading these four chapters? (Due Wed, Oct. 3)
Note:
Reading for week 5:
Bellah et al. (Book), pp. 113-163.
Week 6 in class. Culture and the Self-Concept [Week of Oct 1]
Cultural psychology maintains that culture and the self are inextricably
intertwined and mutually constitute each other. -Shinobu Kitayama, et. al
Note:
Readings for week 6:
Required reading
Markus, H. R. & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224‑253.*
Optional
Shweder, R. A. & Bourne, E. J. (1991). Does the concept of the person vary cross-culturally? In Schweder (Book), pp. 113-155.
Shweder, R. A. & Miller, J.G. (1991). The social construction of the person: How is it possible? In Schweder (Book), pp. 156-185.
Week 7 in class. Culture and Motivation [Week of Oct 8]
If we do not commit to a model of self-esteem which assumes that good
equals positive or that the self is comprised of attributes or abilities or
pretensions, but adhere instead to the notion that self-esteem indexes only a
general feeling or regard for the self, it may be possible to define
self-esteem so that it is relevant to various models of the self. —Steven J. Heine, et. al
Journal #4: Based on your readings in the Shweder book (Ch. 3-4), what is the "alternative concept of the person?" What are some examples of this? How does a relativist perspective make sense of this concept of the person? (Ch. 3). Why are duty-based moral codes more compatible with this concept of a person than the rights-based moral codes? (Ch. 4). How is this alternative concept of the person similar to the Japanese self-concept (i.e., interdependent self-construal) described in the Heine, et al manuscript on the need for positive self-regard? According to Heine, et al, why is the motivation to enhance one's self-esteem less relevant for those with an interdependent self-construal (i.e., Japanese) than it is for those with an independent self-construal (i.e., European-Americans)? (Due Wed, Oct. 17)
Note:
Reading for week 7:
Heine, S. J., Lehman, D. R. , Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1999). Is there a universal need for positive self-regard? Psychological Review, 106, 766-794.*
Kitayama, S.,
Conner Snibbe, A., Markus, Hazel, & Suzuki, S. (2004).
Is there any “free” choice? Self
and Dissonance in Two Cultures. Psychological
Science, 15(8), 527-533. *
Skim read: Kitayama, S. & Markus, H. R., Matsumoto,
H., & Norasakkunkit, V. (1997). Individual and collective processes in the
construction of self: self-enhancement in the
Week 8 in class. Culture and Cognition [Week of Oct 15]
What is not yet fully appreciated is that the relationship between what one thinks about and how one thinks may be mediated by the world premise to which one is committed and by the metaphors by which one lives. —Richard A. Shweder
Note:
Nisbett, R. E.
(2003). The Geography Of Thought: Why Asians And Westerners Think
Differently…And Why.
Week 9 in class. Culture and Attention [Week of Oct 22]
Nisbett, R. E.
(2003). The Geography Of Thought: Why Asians And Westerners Think
Differently…And Why.
Note:
Week 10 in class. Culture and Morality [Week of Oct 29]
The objective moral world is many, not one; or, as Nelson Goodman has put
it: "One might say that there is only one world but this holds for each of
the many worlds." -Richard A. Shweder
Journal #5: In reading chapter 5 of the Shweder book, what did you learn from the section on "Socialization and the Construction of Meaning in Discourse?" How did reading this section help you understand Shweder's critique of applying Kohlberg's developmental stages to the interview with Babaji in a later section of the chapter? What did you learn from reading the section on the interview with Babaji (include your own personal reactions)? (Due Wed, Nov. 7)
Note:
Reading for week 10:
Shweder, R. A. & Much, N.C. (1991). Determinations of Meaning: Discourse and Moral Socialization. In Schweder (Book), pp. 186-229.
Week 11 in class. Culture and Emotion [Week of Nov 5]
Many of the emotions observed in everyday life seem to depend on the dominant cultural frame in which specific social situations are constructed and, therefore, cannot be separated from culture-specific patterns of thinking, acting, and interacting. —Shinobu Kitayama and Hazel R. Markus
Note:
Kitayama, S. (2004). Culture and emotion.
In N. J. Smelser and P. B. Baltes (Eds.), International encyclopedia of the
social and behavioral sciences. Elsevier Science.
Week 12 in class. Culture and mental health [Week of Nov 12]
Suffering takes on form when it becomes organized and meaningful and is
experienced and expressed as suffering of a certain kind, for example, as
depression or as neurasthenia. —Richard A.
Shweder
Journal #6: Based on the culture and emotion readings (or lecture), what were some examples you thought were useful in understanding the role of cultural meaning systems in emotional processing? What did you learn from these examples? How do Markus & Kitayama (1994) address the role of cultural meaning systems in emotional processing in the context of child socialization? What were your reactions to the paper by Uchida, Norasakkunkit, & Kitayama (2004), summarizing cultural variations in (1) cultural meanings of happiness, (2) motivations underlying happiness, and (3) predictors of happiness? Due Wed, Nov 14
Note:
Readings for week 12:
Norasakkunkit, V., & Kalick, S. M. (2002). Culture, ethnicity, and emotional
distress measures: The role of self-construal and self-enhancement. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33 (1), 56-70.*
Uchida, Y., Norasakkunkit, V., & Kitayama,
S. (2004). Cultural constructions of happiness: Theory and
empirical evidence. Journal of Happiness Studies.*
(Optional Reading) Shweder, R. A. (1991). Suffering in style: On Arthur Kleinman. In Schweder (Book), pp. 313-331.
Week 13 in class. Regional Cultural Variability within the United States [Week of Nov 19]
…to describe other peoples’ beliefs as religious or supernatural and our
own as scientific is merely to disguise a prejudice in favor of our own
conception of natural law over theirs. —Richard
A. Shweder
Note:
Reading for week 13:
Cohen, D., Nisbett, R. E., Bowdle, B. F. & Schwarz, N. (1996). Insult, aggression, and the Southern culture of honor: An "Experimental ethnography." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 945-958.
Note:
Weeks 14-15 in class: Class presentations on paper topics [Week of Nov 26 and Week of Dec 3]
Note: