...Term Paper (HUL 267) PSYCHOLOGY AND CULTURE Psychological grounds of culture: Virtually culture is a coalescence of stable discrete behavioural norms and cognitions shared by individuals within some definable proportion and that are distinct from other populations. These norms are stable and last long because these are continuously transmitted to new cultural members of the group through different means. Apparently different psychological needs and their consequences led to the creation of cultural norms. There are different perspectives; one aspect is that culture emerged to serve as a psychological buffer against existential anxiety. Another approach suggests that culture arises in part from an epistemic need for verifiable knowledge, and for certainty and confidence in our perceptions of the world around us. The creation of a shared reality, a common set of beliefs, expectations and rules for interpreting the world, helps fulfill this need to validate one’s own construction of reality. A very different perspective on the origins of culture implies that cultures and the specific norms that define these cultures emerge as unintended byproducts of interpersonal interaction. The contents of these communications and interactions are constrained by psychological considerations and thus exert consequences on culture. As social influence attends any act of communication and because individuals communicate more regularly with others who are closer to them in geographic or social...
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...by Robin Hathorn Cultural imperialism is the practice of promoting, distinguishing, separating, and artificially injecting the culture or language of one nation in another. It is usually the case that the former is a large, economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter is a smaller, less affluent nation. Cultural imperialism can take the form of an active, formal policy or a general attitude. Cultural imperialism is a form of cultural influence distinguished from other forms by the use of force, such as military or economic force. Cultural influence is a process that goes on at all times between all cultures that have contact with each other. Cultural imperialism is also very different from other imperialistic ways, in the sense that no military or economic intervention is needed to be able to influence countries. When discussing cultural imperialism involving the United States, one often refers to the U.S. as the "American Empire". The American Empire is a term sometimes used to describe the historical domination and the current political, economic, and cultural influence of the United States on a global scale. Cultural imperialism involves much more than simple consumer goods; however, it involves the teaching and implementation American principles, such as freedom and democracy on to other nations. However, it is in popular culture that the mutual relationship between America and the rest of the world is demonstrated best. Cultural imperialism is also...
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...British influence on the Australian culture British settlers arrived in Australia in 1788 and the extent of the British influence is still evident today. The British Union Jack features predominantly on our national flag and the Queen is Australia's Head of State. British models also form the basis of Australia's legal and political systems, as well providing our national language. Up until World War II, Britain remained the dominating cultural influence in Australia. Britons also dominated the make-up of Australian society - most of Australia's citizens were either born in Britain, or had British descendants. In the years following the war, British subjects were encouraged to migrate to Australia under an 'assisted package' scheme, which helped with the cost of migrating to Australia and provided housing and employment options upon arrival. Between 1945 and 1972, over one million British migrants settled in Australia. Before 1945, many people, including Australians themselves, considered Australia to be nothing more than a British colony; a nation whose national identity was relatively indistinct from the British. During this period of Australia's history, our modes of entertainment, food, fashion, sporting culture and our social values and attitudes were largely dictated by British culture. American influence on the Australian culture One of the most significant changes to have taken place in Australian society since the end of WWII, however, has been its drift...
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...new legal and ethical challenges due to differences in cultural view. HR professionals must increase their knowledge and skills in the international environment to keep their organizations competitive in this challenging global marketplace. It means that HR related problems different countries solve in different ways. Hofstede suggests that culture influences business related practices. Many HR representatives working in an international business a global business world face the same difficulties, but also face other new challenges that relate to cultural convergence in business practices. There are many characteristics to identify a countries culture. When dealing with HR issues, culture plays a major role in how an organization handles personnel issues. We can best understand this if culture is defined. Culture is the common ideas, beliefs and values shared by the members of a group of individuals (Hofstede 1984). Each group is defined by specific family traditions, common languages, ethnic diets, notions, and dress. It is best stated by “culture is everything that people have, think and do as a member of their society. “ (Adekola, Abel Sergi, Bruno S., 2007) Culture is a shared pattern of socially norm behaviors within a particular group of people. If a comparison is made of two cultures, it would be found that there are numerous cultural differences. And definitely, a comparison of American and other cultures reveals a large numerous variations. A variation...
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...British influence on the Australian culture British settlers arrived in Australia in 1788 and the extent of the British influence is still evident today. The British Union Jack features predominantly on our national flag and the Queen is Australia's Head of State. British models also form the basis of Australia's legal and political systems, as well providing our national language. Up until World War II, Britain remained the dominating cultural influence in Australia. Britons also dominated the make-up of Australian society - most of Australia's citizens were either born in Britain, or had British descendants. In the years following the war, British subjects were encouraged to migrate to Australia under an 'assisted package' scheme, which helped with the cost of migrating to Australia and provided housing and employment options upon arrival. Between 1945 and 1972, over one million British migrants settled in Australia. Before 1945, many people, including Australians themselves, considered Australia to be nothing more than a British colony; a nation whose national identity was relatively indistinct from the British. During this period of Australia's history, our modes of entertainment, food, fashion, sporting culture and our social values and attitudes were largely dictated by British culture. American influence on the Australian culture One of the most significant changes to have taken place in Australian society since the end of WWII, however, has been its drift towards...
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...Cross Cultural Research Paper Research is essential to all disciplines in Psychology, including Cross Cultural Psychology, for theory development, theory testing and to test theories against other theories. Also, research is a way to test ideas and hypothesis about different cultures related to specific concepts and trends gender, immigration attitudes, and comparative research compares different cultures to determine how they differ and/or are similar on such concepts as gender issues, child rearing, cognition, attitudes, etc. as they relate to culture. That is cross-cultural relative study and additional kinds of study can be concerned in the methods in which culture and correlated ideas for instance ethnicity influences the behavior and thinking of human being also how human being behavior and believe explain and reveal phases of an individual culture. Research builds the knowledge base for cross cultural psychology and investigates and tests the major trends in the field. Research investigates different cultures on a number of domains in Cross-Cultural Psychology. Certain trends or domains are prevalent in the field of cross cultural psychology including evolution and biology, awareness and reasoning, morals and outlooks, social psychology, behavior in culture, therapy and mental health, gender issues, parenting and human development, cultural change and ethnic psychology, also work and structural psychology. Additional trends consist of collectivism and individualism,...
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...not just about nationalities, it is also about cultures. Cultures influence negotiation styles, values and communications. Image a situation where a Japanese supermarket manager negotiating with an American salmon supplier with their own negotiation styles: the Japanese negotiator want to extent the length of negotiation in order to seek the best result of the deal, but the American negotiator treats time as money and he/she wants to quickly reach the agreement (Evans & Richardson, 2010). This essay will firstly discuss the definitions of culture and negotiation, and then it will discuss cultural influence on negotiation and its behaviour; finally it will suggest possible strategies in addressing difficulties caused by cultural differences. This essay will argue that cultural impacts increase the difficulties of cross-culture negotiation, but negotiators can successfully manage the difficulties by increasing their knowledge of different cultures and continuously practise relevant strategies. Culture Culture is a term that can be explained in many different ways. According to Alon and Brett (2007), culture is a process of socialisation that people learn a shared pattern of behaviour and affective understandings. These patterns distinguish one group of people from another. Carrell, Shank and Barbero (2009) also state that culture is not physical elements but the perceptions that members consider them. People from the same culture usually perceive the tangible and intangible...
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...Homeland/Organizational Culture Analysis BUS 610: Organizational Behavior Ashford University Introduction A country’s culture is transmitted in a variety of ways beginning with recruitment and migration but the American culture is evolved from a group of disparate people comprised of various religious, ethnic, and political influences. The United States of America is home to hundreds of cultures that are divided into a vast majority of cultural regions. The United States is predominantly a Western Culture because it consists of an Anglo majority which prevails politically and economically. The United States culture is divided up into six main geographic regions which consist of New England, Mid-Atlantic, the South, Midwest, Southwest and the West. The six regions are influenced by White American, African American, Native American, Hispanic/Latin American, Asian, and other Multiracial Americans. Cultural Regions in the United States As Americans gain more exposure to the United States, they will be able to observe how the different cultures affect their lifestyle, religion, experience, education and attitude. Here are some key characteristics of the six cultural regions: 1. New England which is referred to as the Northeast is made up of the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. These states are well-known for its strong culture values in religion and political reform as well as its educational contributions to the country...
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...Traditional and Nontraditional Culture Paper Culture is a daily influence and important to values, beliefs, and behaviors. There are two types of cultural influences. Those cultural influences are labeled as a traditional culture or nontraditional. A traditional culture is influenced by traditions, rules, symbols, and principles. Such influences in a traditional culture are rooted in past influences. Nontraditional cultures are often referred to as modern and are often influential through principles, ideas, and practices (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). To understand the difference between a traditional and nontraditional this paper examines a culture in each classification. The Amish culture consists of values, beliefs, and behaviors that are traditional whereas the American culture is influenced by values, beliefs, and behaviors that are nontraditional. Cultural influences are important to perception and actions taken on a daily basis. Differences Between Values of the Amish and American Culture The main difference between the Amish culture and American culture is individualism. America is steeped in an individualist society. Americans take pride in our churches, our children, and our jobs. Whenever there is an achievement, we are taught to seek pride in that achievement. The Amish work together as a community, and are mainly agricultural. Even in dress the Amish are communal. The status is shown through dress, such as marital status and church commitment (O’Neil, 1997). While American’s...
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...transformation in cultural standards, fashion, and society attitudes. This decade of change was particularly apparent in the radical shifts in this era’s music. The music of the sixties had very distinct sounds, portrayal of events and attitudes. Social movements and political events influenced the culture through music. There were also several genres and artists that contributed to the influence of culture. During the 1960s, the music played a major role in shaping the culture. The music echoed the events and movements that were happening in society. Prior to 1963, the music reflected the sounds, styles and attitudes of the previous decade. Music of the 1960s magnified the rebellion and standing up to the emerging cultural changes. The music about protest relayed messages that everyone could and would to sing along to. Through the multiple events during the sixties the music and the American culture mood began to change. Current events in America also played a role in how music influenced American culture. The British Invasion, the Civil Rights Movement, and the escalation of the Vietnam War were major events that impacted the music. The British Invasion occurred when an explosion of British artists took the United States music scene by storm in the mid 1960s. Kenneth Olwig wrote an article titled, “The ‘British invasion’,” and summarizes, “The British Invaders that were listened to, were inspired by and faithfully played a great diversity of American Music, but a subtle...
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...Abstract Building on Hofstede’s individualism-collectivism cultural dimension, Pruitt’s negotiation styles model, and Rahim’s conflict management model, this research examines how national culture influence the way people choose negotiation and conflict resolution handling styles through an empirical study of 87 individuals in the U.S. The respondents were divided in two groups: American, and Ethiopians. The results show that the individualism-collectivism cultural dimension did differentiate the members of the American culture from the members of the Ethiopian culture. Among the negotiation and conflict management styles object of this study, the dominating style was found to be preferred by those with high concern for self, whereas the cooperating and the integrating styles were found to be preferred by those with high concern for others. Introduction In order to remain competitive in their respective markets companies around the world are expanding their horizons beyond their original country, and they are increasingly seeking international partnerships and business ventures in different cultural environments. The ability to negotiate across national borders and within the organization has become increasingly important in the past decade, but despite the continuous growth of business globalization negotiation and conflict resolution styles are often misunderstood. According to much of the literature available scholars have conducted substantial research on the subjects...
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...Understanding Culture in International Business | Business Management in an International Context | | The increasing number of interactions between independent countries, companies and people has highlighted the importance of an understanding of global cultures, both national and organisational. Culture plays a large role in the way individuals behave and interact with one another and therefore plays an important role in business interactions across cultures. Many definitions of culture are offered, but one more relevant to culture in international business is : “Culture is the way in which a group of people solves problems and reconciles dilemmas.” (E.Schein 1985) The first way in which countries can be broadly categorized is into either a high context or a low context culture. High context cultures place more emphasis on the importance of group identity. They have a high sensory involvement and participate more readily in bodily contact. Low context cultures prioritise individualistic properties. They use body language less frequently and are monochronic thus placing a high importance on timing and scheduling. Most Northern European countries and other western societies are low context cultures. It has been suggested by the acclaimed social scientist, Norbert Elias (1978) that the development of society and the basis of its’ cultural contexts are closely associated with the prominent historical groups of the region leading to an establishment of national cultural values...
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...Culture betokens the whole involute of traditional demeanor which has been developed by the human race and is successively learned by each generation. A culture is less precise. It can betoken the forms of traditional deportment which are characteristics of a given society, or of a group of societies, or of a certain race, or of a certain area, or of a certain period of time. (Margaret Mead, 1951: p.17) Definition of the Cold War The Cold War is the denomination given to the relationship that developed primarily between the USA and the USSR after World War Two. The Cold War was a period of economic, political and military tension between the Coalesced States and Soviet Amalgamation from 1945 to 1991. Following the terminus of the Second World...
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...Guide College of Humanities SOC/105 Version 5 Introduction to Popular American Culture | |Copyright © 2011, 2010, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This is an introductory course on modern American culture. The course focuses on the interactions between social forces such as advertising, media, and lifestyle and cultural trends in modern American society. Students are asked to cast a critical eye on current trends and changes in our culture. Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: • University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. • Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Course Materials Petracca, M., & Sorapure, M. (2007). Common culture: Reading and writing about American popular culture (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. All electronic materials are available on the student website. |Week One: Overview of Culture ...
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...Introduction to American culture 5 1.14 American music 5 1.15 American religion 5 1.2 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 6 1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 7 2.0 LEVELS OF CULTURE 7 2.01 GLOBAL CULTURE 7 2.02 REGIONAL CULTURE 7 2.03 NATIONAL CULTURE 7 2.04 ETHNIC CULTURE 7 2.05 SOCIAL CLASS CULTURE 8 2.06 ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 8 2.07 FAMILY CULTURE 8 2.08 GENDER CULTURE 8 2.09 AGE CULTURE 8 2.1 DETERMINANTS OF CULTURE 8 2.11 GEERT HOFSTEDE’S MODEL 9 2.12 INDIVIDUALISIM V COLLECTIVISM 9 2.13 POWER DISTANCE 9 2.14 LARGE POWER DISTANCE 9 2.15 SMALL POWER DISTANCE 9 2.16 MASCULINITY V FEMINITY 9 2.17 UNCERTAINITY AVOIDANCE 10 3.0 CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE 10 3.01 Culture is dynamic 10 3.02 Culture is pervasive 10 3.03 Culture is learnt 10 3.04 Culture is integrated 10 3.05 Culture is ethnocentric 10 3.06 Culture provides social cohesion 11 4.0 VIEWS ON CULTURAL TRENDS 11 4.01 The Convergent View 11 4.02 The Divergent View 11 5.0 ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION 12 5.01 ANALYSIS 12 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.01 WHAT IS CULTURE? Culture rules virtually every aspect of your life and like most people; you are completely unaware of this. Culture is vital because it enables its members to function with one another without the need to negotiate meaning at every moment. Culture is learned and forgotten, so despite its importance we are generally unconscious of its influence or the manner in which we perceive the world and interact within it. Culture is significant...
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