PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 30: Terror Management Theory, Cultural Psychology, Race (Biology)
![](https://new-preview-html.oneclass.com/eJn8zGYplZMrjX3pOd1MmxoyWAR13L2a/bg1.png)
What is culture?
How does culture emerge?
Why does culture emerge?
How is culture measured?
WHAT IS CULTURE?
Shared values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours of a particular group
•
Race (biology)
○
Nationality (birth place or adopted birth place)
○
Ethnicity (mix of race, nationality/region, religion, culture)
○
Related terms
•
Creation of which we view reality ('cultural trance')
•
Learned consciously and unconsciously
•
Rituals, history, cuisine, religion, clothing, government structures
○
Developed and reinforced through
•
Relatively stable but changes over time
•
Distinguished one group from another
•
"culture is a way of life, and being immersed in it may be like a fish being immersed in water - it's hard to imagine life
outside of your own environment" - cultural blindness
•
HOW DOES CULTURE EMERGE?
There are three theories as to how culture emerged (by Lehman et al):
•
Being alone is dangerous in the primitive, evolutionary world
○
Being together means support and protection
○
The culture then is created through the groups
○
Valued behaviour = golden rule = do unto others… (morality, equity, fairness)
□
Non valued behaviours = stealing, murder in the group
□
Some values are more likely to emerge than others
▪
X is true because Y
□
But often, this creates circular reasoning
▪
Predictions of the theory
○
Evolutionary theory
•
People desire to create truth and certainty/confidence
○
e.g. conformity studies
□
e.g. English people more likely to remember a 'canoe' from a Native American story, as a 'row-boat'
◊
People's biased memory for stories that contain unfamiliar cultural elements
Memory studies
□
Common beliefs, expectations, rules
▪
Create a shared reality
○
Psychological need for certainty
•
We are all fearful of death
○
Desire for immortality - culture gives us 'immortality'
○
'literal' - religion
▪
Symbolic - art, music, film
▪
Language and memory - last name and family traditions
▪
Shared reality (structure, meaning)
○
Standards to evaluate adherence to cultural norms
▪
Have to be worthy to be remembered
▪
Self-esteem - your life has counted for something (remembered after death)
▪
There are some consequences and trades
○
Experiments:
Terror management theory
•
11A - Cultural Psychology (Cranney)
Monday, May 14, 2018
10:00 AM
PSYCH 1001 Page 1