Cultural Psychology: What Is It?

Do you want to know what cultural psychology is? André Malraux used to say that “culture is what continues to be life in death”. So perhaps this branch of psychology gives us a broader view, which includes a society’s past, present and future.

Because a large part of our behavior, beyond the way of being of each individual, is very linked to the culture in which we live and to our experiences. This does not mean that experiences and genetics have nothing to do with it, but they are not the only ones that regulate and modify our way of being and acting.

What is cultural psychology?

For those who want to know what cultural psychology is, let’s briefly define it. Most experts agree on referring to it as a current that has emerged as an alternative to the methods and theories of more speculative psychology. It is therefore considered the heir of Wundt’s psychology.

Cultural psychology focuses attention on the influence a culture has on the people who come into contact with it. An influence that is not only relevant on a behavioral level, but which also seems to condition our way of thinking and feeling. On the other hand, the influence on this behavior occurs in particular through one tool: habits / customs.

In other words, cultural psychology seeks to explain the reasons why a group of individuals placed in a specific context acts in one way rather than another. This perspective allows us to observe many details or to give an explanation to those we observe in others. For example, why does the Western point of view, now highly globalized, lead us to observe with horror the events of the past or of other societies with diametrically opposed customs? Why don’t people who are immersed in these cultures see them with horror or why did our ancestors not see them with horror?

Another question arises from this proposal: what will the generations after us feel horror for when history tells them everything that is now normal for us?

Cultural barriers

When we look at the global picture, we find a huge amount of cultural barriers. For example, the language or a particular habit, a mentality, a way of thinking …

If you look closely, in every country there are common habits among the population, but also others that are not because they are localized or belong to a specific city, region, area, etc. All of this includes variations in the human mind, as each receives a unique cultural heritage based on many factors.

To give some simple examples, we can see that the Muslim community does not eat pork, that cows are sacred animals in India, that regions like the Basque Country have their language in a bilingual context. All this creates a unique and distinct cultural heritage from other peoples.

What is cultural psychology for

It is evident that, depending on the territory and the inheritance received, the culture varies, influencing the behavior and thinking of those who come into contact with it. Now, what does cultural psychology point to? To go beyond the simple fact, immerse yourself in the origins and consequences that produce, define and maintain the traditional in that particular context.

To make it clearer, let’s take an example. Returning to what has just been mentioned, we know that cows are sacred in India. But why does this happen? How did it come to this point?

Of course, cultural psychology investigates not only the heart of history to find out why a city has a particular culture. Also study how this culture affects its inhabitants. Why do some customs prevail and others not? How do they influence behavior patterns? What future implications might these traditions have?

A branch closely related to anthropology and sociology

Clearly this branch of psychology has a close relationship with the social sciences, particularly with anthropology and sociology. While sociology studies societies in a general sense, this psychological branch focuses on the proportion of quantitative data to investigate historical dynamics. So it is easier to know than how a specific culture was formed and how it affects individuals.

Anthropology, which studies the cultural content of a society and the collective changes that occur, is equally important, as both seek to understand symbols, concepts, representations, etc.

If you were wondering what cultural psychology was, now you have a rough picture of it. Thanks to it, it  is possible to understand ethnic behaviors or the study of intercultural conflicts, to give some interesting examples.