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Study guide: Culture

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  • Student resources/
  • Sociocultural approach/
  • Revision (review): Sociocultural/
  • Study guide: Culture

In order to prepare for exams, it is important to prepare a "tailor-made" study guide.  A study guide should reflect your own learning and not just what someone tells you is the "best" research to use on an exam.

For the topics "cultural origins of behaviour" and "cultural influences on behaviour", you will find an attached study guide.  I recommend that you attempt to fill it in before looking at the responses below.  There is both a paper and digital copy available.

Culture and behaviour study guide

Digital "Culture and behaviour" study guide

A reminder

Below I have filled in the study guide with a wide range of possible answers.  You should choose 2 - 3 studies to use for your ERQs.  If you are only going to prepare this unit for SAQs, you would only need one study. You should not try to master all of the material that I have filled in below. 

Question 1: Discuss one example of a potential influence of culture on one behaviour or cognition.

Key vocabulary/description of theory: Individualism vs. collectivism (I-C); cultural norms, any term relevant to behaviour - e.g. flashbulb memory.

Research: Conformity Berry (1967), Decision making: Chen et al (2005) Memory:  Kearins (1981), Kulkofsky et al (2011);  mental health: Ogihara & Uchida (2014), Becker (2002), Bolton (2002), Li-Repac (1980), Parker et al (2001)  

Critical thinking: Many studies are rather artificial, it is difficul to know whether priming is actually successful, it is not possible to isolate culture as a variable, culture is dynamic - it changes over time - so research that is older may no longer be valid today - that is, it may suffer from a lack of temporal validity.

Different command terms: Outline, describe, and explain for SAQs. ERQs: Evaluate research on...

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Question 2: Discuss the role of cultural dimensions in behaviour.

Key vocabulary/description of theory: cultural dimension, individualism vs. collectivism

Research: Hofstede (1984); Conformity Berry (1967), Decision making: Chen et al (2005) Memory: Kulkofsky et al (2011);  mental health: Ogihara & Uchida (2014), Parker et al (2001)  

Critical thinking: The difficulty in measuring a dimension and its effect, the question of stereotyping and confirmation bias (research bias), what is the difference between a dimension and one's social identity? Research is often artificial - lacks research under natural conditions.

Different command terms: Outline, describe, and explain for SAQs. ERQs: You could potentially be asked to evaluate research on the role of cultural dimensions in behaviour."

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Question 3: Discuss one or more studies of the enculturation of one behaviour.

Key vocabulary/description of theory: Gender roles, enculturation, social cognitive theory, schema

Research: Gender roles: Martin & Halverson (1983); Martin (1995); Fagot (1978); Kimball (1986), Sroufe et al (1993), Wood (2002) Fishing habits: Odden & Rochat (2004)

Critical thinking: Difficulty of measuring enculturation - lack of ecological or internal validity; many of the studies are rather old and may lack temporal validity; there is no measure of biological factors in many of these studies - if it is difficult to know which behaviours are learned and which may be pre-programmed genetically.

Different command terms: Outline, describe, and explain for SAQs. ERQ: Evaluate research...

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Question 4: Discuss acculturation.

Key vocabulary/description of theory: Acculturation, acculturative stress, marginalization, separation, integration, assimilation.

Research: Miranda and Matheny (2000), Lueck & Wilson (2010); Wang et al (2010); Kraeh et al (2016)

Critical thinking: The use of questionnaires and surveys may result in demand characteristics; studies are often cross-sectional, meaning that they do not observe change over time. Difficult to operationalize and measure the level of the four outcomes in Berry and Sam's model.

Different command terms: Outline, describe, and explain for SAQs. ERQ: Evaluate research...

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Question 5: Discuss ethical considerations in the study of the influence of culture on behaviour and/or cognition.

Key vocabulary/description of theory: You should be able to define and explain the different ethical considerations

Research: Any of the research on dimensions, enculturation, acculturation, or globalization.

Critical thinking: Why was deception used in the study that you are describing?  Why is informed consent important?  How can consent influence the results of a study? Why is the anonymity of the sample important? To what extent does the a study lead to stress or harm?  How could this be justified?

Different command terms: Outline, describe, and explain for SAQs. No other command term could be used for an ERQ besides "discuss."

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Question 6: Discuss the use of one or more research methods in the study of the influence of culture on behaviour and/or cognition.

Key vocabulary/description of theory: Remember that the research methods are: case studies, experiments, observations, interviews, correlational studies and questionnaires/surveys.

Research: Any research may be used from dimensions, enculturation, acculturation, or globalization.  Fagot (observations); Martin & Halverson (experiment); Kimball (1986) (natural experiment); Hofstede (1984), Miranda and Matheny (questionnaires), Lueck & Wilson (semi-structured interviews)

Critical thinking: You should be able to discuss the strengths and limitations of each of the methods.  This should include the question of cause and effect, ecological validity, replicability, internal validity, uses of controls, and potential ethical considerations.

Different command terms: Outline, describe, and explain for SAQs. ERQs: Contrast, evaluate

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