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People Across Cultures: An Introduction to Cross-Cultural Psychology
University of Lodz, PL LODZ 01
Faculty of Educational Sciences, Institute of Psychology
M-17
4
15
1 Semester (winter semester)
Lecture
Monika Wróbel PhD
Students of Psychology (5th year) and Erasmus students
Written examination in English – a multiple choice test
None
Beginning of summer semester
Monika Wróbel PhD (mwrobel@uni.lodz.pl)
OBJECTIVES:
The lecture is designed to provide students with an understanding of
the variety of human behaviour as it emerges in the cultural context and
of the development of certain individual characteristics in relation to
cultural factors. The main goals of the lecture are: (1) to give students
overview of basic concepts and major research findings in crosscultural psychology, (2) to introduce cross-cultural differences and
cultural determinants of basic psychological processes, (3) to give
students opportunities for developing their cultural competence
CONTENTS:
1. Cross-cultural vs. mainstream psychology (culture metaphors;
ethnocentrism and limited universality of psychological findings;
history, goals and applications of cross-cultural psychology)
2. Dimensions of culture (high and low context cultures; G.
Description:
Hofstede’s dimensions of culture; H. Markus and S. Kitayama’s
self-concepts; cultural determinants of human behaviour)
3. Intercultural encounters (plural vs. unicultural society,
acculturation, culture shock; re-acculturation)
4. Intercultural communication (cross-cultural communication
barriers, non-verbal communication, stereotypes and prejudices)
5. Emotions and subjective well-being across cultures (cross-cultural
studies of facial expression, cultural display rules, smile across
cultures, cultural correlates of subjective well-being)
6. Culture and cognition (Richard E. Nisbett’s research, cultural
differences in depth perception, culture and intelligence)
7. Culture and interpersonal relationships (love in individualist and
collectivist cultures, ethnically mixed marriages, types of family
structures, cross-cultural perspectives on gender and sexuality)
Primary readings
Berry J. W., Poortiga Y. H., Segall M. H., Dasen P. R. (2003). CrossLiterature:
Cultural Psychology. Research and Applications. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Bochner, S. (2003). Culture shock due to contact with unfamiliar cultures.
In W. J. Lonner, D. L. Dinnel, S. A. Hayes, & D. N. Sattler (eds.).
Online Readings in Psychology and Culture. Bellingham: Western
Washington University. (http://www.wwu.edu/~culture)
Matsumoto, D. (2001). Culture and Emotion. In D. Matsumoto (ed.). The
Handbook of Culture and Psychology (pp.171-194). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Ekman, P. (2003). Emotions Revealed. Understanding faces and feelings
(pp. 2-16). London: Weidenfeld & Nickolson.
Diener, E., Diener M. (1995). Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfaction
and self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social psychology, 68
653-663.
Best, D.L., Williams, J.E. (2001). Gender and culture. In D. Matsumoto
(ed.). The Handbook of Culture and Psychology (pp.195-219).
Oxford: Oxford University Press.