Chapter Summary
Cross-cultural psychology is a new field of study rooted in scientific general psychology and heavily
influenced by anthropology, physiology, sociology, history, and political science. As both a critical and
comparative study of cultural effects on human psychology, cross-cultural psychology examines the
links between cultural norms and behavior, and the ways in which particular human activities are
influenced by social and cultural forces. An established set of definitions for culture, society, race, and
ethnicity paves the foundation for several different approaches used by cross-cultural psychologists.
The evolutionary approach explores ways in which biological factors affect human behavior. The
sociological approach focuses on broad social structures that influence society as a whole. In the
ecocultural approach, individuals cannot be separated from their environmental contexts. Researchers
who adopt a culture mixtures approach focus on new cultural mixtures, contact zones, interconnected
systems, and multiple cultural identities. Finally, an integrative approach to cross-cultural psychology
emphasizes human activity, which is largely directed by the presence of and access to resources.