PSYC14H3 Study Guide - Winter 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Evolution, Collectivism, Socioeconomic Status
PSYC14H3
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
What is culture?
Is culture unique to humans?
● Big brain hypothesis
○ Prefrontal cortex
The burke and wills expedition
● White settlers went to australia and explored it, hot only transport were camels
○ Their camels died
● They had to learn to survive on the land but they failed and died
● But there was a group of indigenous people who lived in the same place for hundreds of
years and were thriving, “smart” white people couldn’t do the same
● Indigenous people survived due to their culture, they found good food sources and this
knowledge gets passed down from generation to generation and the white ppl weren’t
the beneficiaries of this knowledge and thus failed
○ Seed paste vitamin B deficiency virus death
● Raw intelligence of humans isn’t that special but our social learning is the secret of our
success
Given the importance of culture in humans, how can we define it?
1. Humans interact with environments
○ Ecocultural components
i. Culture is both constrained and shaped by a group’s habitat
○ Culture is adaptive to the environment
i. Parka example, after many years the clothes become more specific
ii. Spices example, hotter climates = more spices, spices kill pathogens and
that’s why there are more spicy foods in hotter places (i.e. India)
○ People develop language, writing, tools, skills, abstract ideas, moral and
aesthetic standards, social patterns, norms, etc. in adapting to their ecosystem
2. Culture consists of shared elements
○ Shared practices and shared meanings
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
i. In specifying the limits of culture, people have looked to these shared
elements as one set of defining parameters
ii. Do people share…
1. A language?
2. A time period?
3. A geographic region?
3. Transmission to others
○ Types of transmission: vertical (generally parents to offspring), horizontal (peer to
peer), oblique (institution like school to person)
○ Enculturation: process of transmitting cultural elements to others in one’s own
community; serves as a source of continuity
○ Acculturation: another form of transmission that takes place from outside a
person’s own cultural group, serves as a source of discontinuity
Definition of culture: Revisited
1. Culture emerges in adaptive interactions between humans and environments
2. Culture consists of shared elements
3. Culture is transmitted across time and people
So what is cultural psychology?
Two different perspectives:
“Why was it, Hazel wondered, that after weeks of lecturing in Japan to students with a good
command of English, no one said anything—nothing—no questions, no comments.
Even after assuring students she was interested in their ideas, and especially in ideas that were
different from hers, why was there still no response? What was wrong with these students?
Where were the arguments, the debates, and the signs of critical thinking?
And, moreover, if you asked somebody a completely straightforward question such as “Where is
the best noodle shop?” why was the answer invariably an audible intake of air followed by the
response, “It depends.” Didn’t Japanese students have their own preferences, ideas, opinions,
and attitudes?
What is inside a head if it isn’t these kinds of things? How could you know someone if she did
not tell you what she was thinking?”
“Shinobu was curious about why students shouldn’t just listen to a lecture and asked why
American students felt the need to be constantly active, to talk all the time, often interrupting
each other and talking over each other and the professor?
And why did the comments and questions of his fellow students reveal such strong emotions
and have such a competitive edge? What was the point of this arguing?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
White settlers went to australia and explored it, hot only transport were camels. They had to learn to survive on the land but they failed and died. But there was a group of indigenous people who lived in the same place for hundreds of years and were thriving, smart white people couldn"t do the same. Indigenous people survived due to their culture, they found good food sources and this knowledge gets passed down from generation to generation and the white ppl weren"t the beneficiaries of this knowledge and thus failed. Seed paste vitamin b deficiency virus death. Raw intelligence of humans isn"t that special but our social learning is the secret of our success. Given the importance of culture in humans, how can we define it: humans interact with environments. Culture is both constrained and shaped by a group"s habitat. Culture is adaptive to the environment i. ii. Parka example, after many years the clothes become more specific.
