Learning From The Past and Planning For The Future
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT June 7, 2002 "Lots of folks confuse bad management with destiny." - Kin Hubbard
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Challenge the System: Open the Door to Victims with Disabilities
June 23 - 24, 2002
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Effectiveness of Rehabilitation for Cognitive Deficits
September 17 - 19, 2002
Location: Cardiff, WALES
Contact:
Conference Convenor -
Professor Peter Halligan
Email: HalliganPW@cardiff.ac.uk17TH Conference of the International Association for People-Environment Studies (IAPS)
July 23 - 27, 2002
Location: A Coruna, SPAIN
Contact:
Ricardo Garcia Mira (fargmira@udc.es)
Laboratory of Social Psychology
University of Corunna, Spain
Phone: +34 981 167000 ext 1792: Fax: +34 981 167153
Email: iaps2002@udc.esMIDDLE EAST CRISIS TAKES TOLL ON CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH
Many children develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress or anxiety as a consequence of the ongoing conflict in Israel, whether or not they have been directly exposed to violence, international researchers report. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/434091?srcmp=psy-052402
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY COLLABORATE ON EMERGENCY DRILL
A training exercise involving Penn State police, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), HazMat and more than a dozen local government and community agencies was held Wednesday (May 22), at the University Park Airport. By federal law, the airport is required to conduct emergency drills every three years. The exercise simulated a commercial airline airplane crash involving 25 people. A Penn State bus--the size of the commuter planes that serve the airport--represented the airplane and University students and members of local EMS companies portrayed the airplane passengers. For photos of the action by Amy Neil, visit http://www.psu.edu/ur/extra/drill/
US TASK FORCE CALLS FOR DEPRESSION SCREENING OF ADULTS IN PRIMARY CARE SETTING
In a change from its 1996 position, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) now recommends that adult patients be screened for depression 'in clinical practices that have systems in place to assure accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and follow-up.' After reviewing results of randomized trials that looked at tools for assessing depression and available interventions, the task force concluded that there is now sufficient evidence to change their previously noncommittal... http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/433893?srcmp=psy-052402
WRAPAROUND: AN EVOLVING MODEL OF CARE FOR CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH
Wraparound is a philosophy of care, a process, a modality and an intervention. Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter 18(5) 2002
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/433092?srcmp=psy-052402Colorado Wildfire Scorches 83 Homes
In Colorado, the most destructive blaze of this year’s wildfire season has scorched at least 83 homes and threatens some 200 others.
Arizona Community Comes Together Through Blood Donations
Seven-year-old Brandon "Budda" Thomas today can play with his cousins and dance with his tribe - not a small feat for a young boy who battled leukemia.
How Sudden Stress Raises Heart Risk
Sudden mental stress brought on by anger or bereavement can increase the risk of heart attack and even death. Researchers may now know why. http://my.webmd.com/content/article/1674.52626
SIGNIFICANCE OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
Interest in the manners and morals of peoples different from (or similar to) one's own probably began with the very first contacts across tribal or national boundaries. It's not likely that these contacts led to any true understanding because in so many languages the expression "the people" referred only to one's own group. It isn't surprising that other groups were usually considered to be strange, exotic, inferior, and somewhat less than human. Even at a more sophisticated level, Herodotus, who lived in the fifth century B.C., wrote of the "barbarians" who spoke no Greek. To their disadvantage, he contrasted them with those fortunate enough to live in the (democratic) Greek city states. Though he traveled widely in the regions of the Eastern Mediterranean, and wrote interesting and wise accounts of the habits and beliefs he encountered, this "father of history" did not hide his satisfaction at the evident superiority of his own people. This belief that difference could be equated with inferiority has had a wide, if not a universal distribution. The Chinese Emperor Ch'ien Lung wrote to King George III of England in 1793: "We possess all things, I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country's manufactures."
There is no specific date that can be identified with the onset of interest in cross-cultural comparisons. Herodotus had many followers. Among them Thucidides may be mentioned for his description of the Germanic peoples, and his attempt to discover general laws of social behavior. Aristotle's wide-ranging political observations included judgments on the courage and intelligence of the populations known in his day. This led to the conclusion that the superior, equable climate accounted for the manifestly greater contributions of those who inhabited the regions bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. The distinguished Arab scholar Ibn Khaldun made a similar survey, which also led to the conclusion that his own people were superior to all others.
Many additional names could be mentioned. In an historical introduction to his book on La psychologie des peuples, Miroglio (1971) refers to Montesquieu in France, Herder in Germany, Vico in Italy, and Frazer in England among the many reputed scholars who felt the appeal of knowledge about the rest of the world, and who underlined the importance of enlarged geographical horizons.
When such observations and anecdotal judgments began to be replaced by contributions of social scientists (e.g., anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, and linguists), it remained difficult to avoid hierarchical conclusions. This remained especially true when the "others" with whom one's own group was compared were those to whom the term "primitive" was applied. There have been some notable exceptions to this trend. The best known is most certainly Rousseau's concept of the noble savage which has usually been contrasted with Hobbes' picture of the violent nature of human life prior to the introduction of social controls.
Perhaps one of the most pervasive influences in connection with the early interest in cross-cultural comparisons was the belief in social evolution which, in some cases, predated Darwin. This belief took many different forms. They focused on evolution in religion (Tylor, 1874), in the family (Lubbock, 1870), in art (Haddon, 1914), in industry (Morgan, 1877), in modes of thought (Comte, 1830), in mentality (Levy-Bruhl, 1922), and in economics and social structure (Marx, 1867). Common to most of these formulations, different though they were in many respects, was the implication that "the others" were at an earlier stage of development. They were where we had been at one time. We are now ahead of them in all important respects. This didn't necessarily mean that they would remain permanently backward. Social evolution would presumably, given enough time, move them in the same direction as it moved us. It should be added that in recent years the evolutionary approach has been revived, however in a much more sophisticated form, and without much of the earlier ethnocentric bias (Steward, 1953; Campbell, 1975).
Language has also played a central role. Wilhelm Wundt, famous for his pioneering work in experimental psychology (most of the early giants of American psychology were trained in his laboratory) published his Volkerpsychologie in a series of volumes over a span of fourteen years (1900-1914). He attempted to apply psychological insights to the interpretation of the encyclopedic mass of data furnished by historians and anthropologists. Wundt was one of the first scholars to stress the relationship between language (both grammar and vocabulary) and the psychology of a people. This issue later attracted a considerable amount of serious attention. Wundt was described by G.W. Allport (1954) as emphasizing the extent to which thinking is conditioned by language, by custom, and by myth. He "would have felt at home in modern-day discussions of 'social perception'" (p. 36). Osgood (1969) discussed Wundt's theory of emotions and considers that it fits well into his (Osgood's) own application of the semantic differential to emotional categories.
The idea of a more lasting inferiority came only when differences in behavior were assumed to have a genetic or "racial" basis. In such a case, these "others" would never be able to reach the levels of complexity and achievement characteristic of our own civilization. This position was supported by religious considerations, by appeals to history, by the belief in natural selection, by the alleged consequences of the physical environment, by the results of psychological tests, or, failing these arguments, by an intuitive conviction that "they" were inferior. Though such a position is still accepted by many, even by some who are identified with the social and biological sciences, the history of cross-cultural research can generally be characterized as a movement away from hierarchy to an appreciation of differences which are considered as variations in life styles rather than as steps on a scale of excellence or progress.
Anthropologists have studied cultures from the beginning of their discipline. The more specifically psychological aspects of their research took time to develop. Sociologists have traditionally been more concerned with complex, modern societies than with the more exotic pre-literate ones. However, many of the early sociological writings have direct relevance in this connection. Psychologists and their colleagues in the related disciplines of psychiatry and psychoanalysis turned their interests and research in a cross-cultural direction later.
In the meantime, the comparative approach to human societies had developed considerably. It continued to attract the attention of anthropologists, and to a remarkable extent, many sociologists. However, it remained a marginal concern for most psychologists. The relative delay of psychology was probably due to the tradition that its major function was to formulate laws that would hold for all individuals. This viewpoint discouraged development of an interest in individual and group differences. It favored an attachment to a biological approach which stressed the importance of instincts and of animal origins of behavior. The critical attack against this position was led by behaviorists within the discipline of psychology. It was aided and abetted by sociological analysis and ethnological data, particulary the latter. Psychologists began to realize that at least some of their conclusions regarding human behavior might not apply equally well everywhere. They learned that knowledge of other cultures was indispensible if generalizations were to be valid and meaningful. Along with this appreciation of the importance of the issues raised by anthropologists were questions regarding research methodology and the evidence on which rested many of the conclusions.
Particulary disturbing to psychologists was the fact that when anthropologists reported on psychological aspects of culture (subjective culture), they relied primarily on their participant observation and material provided by informants. This approach formed the basis for general statements about the personality found within a culture group. This method was not only unconvincing, but it also left open the question: Would the description apply equally well to all subgroups within the population studied, and to all individuals even within the same sub-groups? Subsequently, these and related criticisms were expressed by psychologists, and accepted by at least some anthropologists. One consequence was that a number of anthropologists armed themselves with psychological instruments (tests and projective techniques) and after a period of training (varying in length and adequacy), applied them to a sample of the group they were studying.
This situation has changed. Psychological studies in the field and on cultural groups all over the world have become common. In fact, they are regarded as indispensible in the approach to many problems. Psychology has become gradually integrated into the multidisciplinary approach to the understanding of the relation between culture and the activities of the individual. Tylor's Primitive Culture (1871) was richly documented with ethnographic reports that he used, perhaps somewhat selectively, to justify his theory that animism constituted the earliest form of religion. The issue of animism was later revived by Piaget (1923) in his work with children and served as the basis for a great deal of significant cross-cultural research. Sumner's Folkways (1907) struck the first major blow for what was called "cultural relativity" or "cultural relativism". His phrase that "the mores can make anything right" is the epitome of his position. In a later publication with Keller (1927) there is a veritable goldmine of information about cultural variations in behavior and values.
During this early period, British sociologist Hobhouse (1906) wrote a cross-cultural account of moral behavior from an evolutionary standpoint. Along with other colleagues, he wrote a description of the material culture and social institutions of "the simpler peoples" (1915). One of the more interesting of his findings was that of the existence of a number of these "simpler" groups that had no experience of war. This appeared to be a significant demonstration that warfare is not inevitable among human groups and that an explanation in terms of an aggressive instinct was not substantiated. W.I. Thomas' account of "primitive behavior" (1937) was another sociologist's contribution to the knowledge of cultural variations. An extensive series of monographs appeared during this period. Kantor (1925), in an anthropological journal, wrote that psychologists were oblivious of the fact that much of the data they required could be found in the writings of the ethnologists.
One reason for this relative "oblivion" was the widespread tendency to read only what had been written by others in one's own discipline. It was rare for psychologists to look to other scientific fields for answers to questions. This was particularly true when questions were social in nature. Experimental psychologists did, in many cases, keep abreast of what was happening in physics or physiology. In one sense, the behavior found in other cultures would even be considered irrelevant if the goal was to discover the principles of a general humsn psychology. For example, E.L. Thorndike (1913), who made many distinguished contributions to many areas of psychology, wrote:
"The original nature of man is roughly what is common to all men minus all adaptations to tools, houses, clothes, furniture, words, beliefs, religions, laws, science, the arts.... From human nature as we find it, take away, first, all that is in the European but not in the Chinaman, all that is in the Fiji Islander but not in the Esquinaux, all that is local and temporary" (p. 198).It is surely legitimate to ask how we can "take away" what is Chinese or the Fiji Islander until we know more precisely what they are like.The breakthrough came primarily from anthropologists who raised questions about the positions psychologists took and the generalizations about human behavior that so many psychologists took for granted. The major impetus toward this challenge to psychology came from the work of Franz Boas and his students (1911; Sapir, 1921; Sullivan, 1948; Newman, 1933; Benedict, 1934; Radin, 1927; Kluckhohn, 1945; Mead, 1928; Herskovits, 1948,1951).
Boas (1911) asked for an understanding of other cultures as different rather than inferior, as qualitatively varied rather than as early gropings in a process of evolution leading up to our own "higher" civilization. He saw no reason to regard these differences as genetic or "racial" in origin. He also insisted on the intimate relationship between the culture as a whole and the way in which individual members of the group felt, reasoned, and perceived the physical and social world that surrounded them.
Sapir (1921) was interested in the whole range of cultural-psychological issues. Some of the positions he took seemed a bit hasty and overimpressionistic (e.g. the application of Jung's typology to cultures, with the Eskimo described as extrovert and East Indians as introvert). Sapir (1929) initiated a series of psychological studies on phonetic symbolism, testing the extent to which certain words convey part of their meaning through their sound.
Benedict viewed cultures as integrated wholes, with all parts interrelated. She applied this in considerable detail to American Indians, with the "Apollonian" Pueblos showing measure and restraint, and the "Dionysian" Plains Indians representing nature unbridled, ecstasy and orgiastic indulgence. The configuration or "Gestalt" was all-important. Her thesis has been criticized on grounds that not all cultures are equally integrated. Her concern between anthropology and abnormal behavior drew much interest. She demonstrated the parallelism at the behavioral level between what was considered normal in one culture and abnormal in another.
Herskovits (1948, 1951) was one of the most articulate exponents of cultural relativism and of the pervasiveness of the interpenetration between personality and culture. He observed that even those who criticize their culture, and attempt to withdraw from it, express their opposition in terms drawn from the culture they are opposing. "The one who rebels against the religious and moral system of his time will couch his appeals in the linguistic patterns of his people, use established affect symbols, and employ accepted esthetic standards in heightening the responses of his followers." (1951, p. 153).
Conclusions
Cultures shape aspects of psychological functioning. For example, in cultures where the unpredictability of events is extremely high (due to frequent wars, revolutions, floods, tornadoes, or other events), planning is less likely to develop as a characteristic response (Triandis et al., 1972b). People in these cultures are less likely to employ planners, to value planning, to support each other when they are planning, to enjoy planning, or to actually engage in much planning. The explanation is very simple. It follows from the principles of reinforcement. People extinguish behaviors that are not rewarded. This has particular interest for those who work with cross-cultural crises and disaster situations in cultures different from their own.
The historical perspective of the study of cultures is important so that misperceptions can be avoided and so that we can learn from previous research. This review has, necessarily, been very brief. Additional study of other variables is also critical. These include cross- cultural research on gestures (Efron, 1941); on future time perspective or delayed gratification (Mischel, 1958); on motor habits (Mauss, 1950); on early infant development (Geber, 1955, 1958); on old age (Simmons, 1945); on physiological phenomena, such as blood pressure and basal metabolism related to cultural factors (Klineberg, 1935); on reactions to alcohol (Bunzel, 1940; Horton, 1953); on sex differences (Anastasi, 1958); on the subcultures associated with ethnic groups and socioeconomic class, and many others.
REFERENCES Allport, G.W. (1954). The historical background of modern social psychology. In G. Lindzey (Ed.), Handbook of social psychology, Vol. 1 Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Anastasi, A. (1958). Differential psychology. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan.
Benedict, R.F. (1934). Patterns of culture. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
Boas, F. (1911). The mind of primitive man. New York: Macmillan.
Bunzel, R. (1940). The role of alcoholism in two Central American cultures. Psychiatry, 3, pp. 361-87.
Campbell, D.T. (1975). On the conflicts between biological and social evolution and between psychology and moral tradition. American Psychologist, 30, 1103-26.
Comte, A. (1830-1842). Cours de philosophie positive. 6 vols. Paris: Bachelier.
Efron, D. (1941). Gesture and environment. New York: King's Crown Press.
Geber, M. (1955). Develloppement psycho-moteur de l'enfant africain. Courrier, 6, 17.
Geber, M. (1958). The psychomotor development of African children in the first year and the influence of maternal behavior. Journal of Social Psychology, 47, 185-95.
Haddon, A.C. (1914). Evolution in art. New York: Scribners.
Herskovitz, M.J. (1948). Man and his works. New York: Knopf.
Herskovitz, M.J. (1951). On cultural and psychological reality. In J.M. Rohrer and M. Sherif (Eds.), Social psychology at the crossroads. New York: Harper & Row.
Hobhouse, L.T. (1906). Morals in evolution. London: Macmillan.
Hobhouse, L.T., Wheeler, G.C. & Ginsberg, M. (1915). The material culture and social institutions of the simpler peoples. London: Chapman and Hall.
Horton, D. (1953). The functions of alcohol in primitive societies. In C. Kluckhohn, H.A. Murray, and D.M. Schneider (Eds.), Personality in nature, society and culture, rev. ed. New York: Knopf.
Kantor, J.B. (1925). Anthropology, race, psychology and culture. American Anthropologist, 27, 267-83.
Klineberg, O. (1935). Race differences. New York: Harper & Row.
Kluckhohn, C. (1945). The personal document in anthropological science. In Gottschalk (Ed.), The use of personal documents in history, anthropology and sociology. New York: Social Science Research Council, Bulletin No. 53.
Levy-Bruhl, L. (1922). La mentalite primitive. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Lubbock, J. (1870). (In some catalogues he appears under Avebury; he was the first baron of Avebury.) The origin of civilization and the primitive condition of man. London: Longmans, Green.
Marx, K. (1867). Das kapital. 3 Vols. Hamburg: Meissner.
Mauss, M. (1950). In Levi-Strauss, C. (Ed.), Sociologie et anthropologie. Paris: Payot.
Mead, M. (1928). Coming of age in Samoa. New York: Morrow.
Miriglio, A. (1971). La psychologie des peuples. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Mischel, W. (1958). Preference for delayed reinforcement: An experimental study of a cultural observation. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 56, 57-61.
Morgan, L.H. (1877). Ancient society. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Newman, S.S. (1933). Further experiments in phonetic symbolism. American Journal of Psychology, 45, 53-75.
Osgood, C.E. (1969). On the whys and wherefores of E, P, and A. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 12, 194-99.
Piaget, J. (1923). Le langage et la pensee chez l'enfant. Neuchatel: Delachaux et Nestle.
Radin, P. (1927). Primitive man as philosopher. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Sapir, E. Language. New York: Harcourt, Brace.
Sapir, E. (1929). A study in phonetic symbolism. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 12, 225-39.
Simmons, L.W. (1945). Role of the aged in primitive society. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Steward, J. (1953). Evolution and process. In A.L. Kroeber (Ed.), Anthropology Today. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sullivan, H.S. (1948). Toward a psychiatry of peoples. Psychiatry, 11, 105-16.
Sumner, W.G. (1907). Folkways. Boston: Ginn.
Sumner, W.G. & Keller, A. G. (1927). The science of society. 4 vols.
Thomas, W.I. (1937). Primitive behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Thorndyke, E.L. (1913). Educational psychology, Vol. 2. 3 vols. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University.
Triandis, H.C., Vassiliou, V., Vassiliou, G., Tanaka, Y., & Shanmugam, A.V. (1972b) The analysis of subjective culture. New York: Wiley.
Tylor, E.B. (1874). Primitive culture. London: Murray.
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