The Comeback: A Look At How Cultural Psychology Plans To Make A Big Return
Reported by Steven Bostancic –
Reports have recently surfaced showing that cultural psychology, a form of the science which focuses on the impact cultural and social practices have on the human conscious, is set to make a return to the psychology world later this year. While the reasons for this sudden spark in interest remains unclear to some, given that it last saw popularity in the late 1970s, psychologists such as Richard Schweder hope that it will make up for the shortcommings of cross-cultural psychology.
“The main finding of a universalistic approach to cross-cultural psychology has been the repeated failure to replicate Western laboratory findings in non-Western settings.” Schweder exdplains in the Psychological Review, “Therefore, a major goal of cultural psychology is to have divergent cultures inform basic psychological theories in order to refine and/or expand these theories so that they become more relevant to the predictions, descriptions, and explanations of all human behaviors, not just Western ones.”
The main difference here between the two branches of study is the use of culture to form a better understanding of their respective fields. Cross-cultural psychology will use it to test the process involved in psychological studies. Cultural psychology, however, only uses local culture to conclude how it shapes the process.
But like all forms of psychology, it has come under fire from critics that claim it sterotypes certain cultures. However, evidence from various studies support that cultural psychology in fact reduces some of those common sterotypes and suggest that these crirics are mislead by unproven findings.
What all of this will lead to is still undetermined. One can hope that answers will come about with in time. For now, it’s up to the psychologists around the globe to reexamine the wonders of cultural psychology and gain a new understanding of culture and it’s effects on the human mind.
One thing is sure though: cultural psychology is here to stay.
