CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY

Culture is anything around us. It is the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the language we speak, the way we worship, where we live, the way we play, or the art we create. In general, beyond rituals, dances and dialects, culture is how we think, what we feel, how we relate to others even how we interpret behaviors can reveal how culture shape us. For example, what happen we see in aquarium? How we interpret our behavior can also reflect the culture. For example, what happen we see in an aquarium? Despite of whatever you think or image, your awareness about the movements of the fish is already shaped by culture. What is in your mind when you see a fish which move alone out of any group in the fish-society? There are two kinds of thought coming in your mind in this case base on the different culture. The first is independent psychological mode which is popular in American and European‘s society. Independent psychological mode means that individuals think about themselves as responsible for behavior. They will control their life by influencing other people. They just consider what important for them, which effect influence their decisions. They try to show what things they are different from each other. They want to emphasize individual achievements, personal responsibility and want to be a leader of a group or even a society, and even they also want to control environment. In other words, they want to make different, not anyone can like them. Another thought bases on interdependent psychology mode which is popular in Asia. They live according to the desiring of others and they very care about the influences of their activities to someone. They respect their guest as a host. They can prepare something for a particular person in the social communication. They keep achievement of the group or society in the highest level of their target. They try to improve in the work to avoid letting other down instead of getting ahead of others. So, because of these different points of view in culture, Americans who belong to first group will focus the individual fish in the above example. They prove that the fish get away from the group, tired of group, hate the group or want to be the leader of the group. On the contrast, Chinese or Japanese who are typical sample for second group claim that the fish-group kick out the individual fish because the fish could not follow the rules of fish-society. It must be leaved out from the developing of the life. That is for the benefits of the great number of individuals rather than one. In summary, this example is only one of evidences which prove that cultural differences already influence our awareness and interaction with the diversity of versions when we face to a problem. We can see performances of culture anywhere. It always exists and control our life in silent.