Cultural Psychological Approach Research Articles

Dialogicity and narrativity in pedagogical interaction in the classroom. A proposal for analysing teacher discourse in the teaching process / Dialogicidad y narratividad en la interacción pedagógica del aula. Una propuesta para el análisis del discurso docente en el proceso de enseñanza

Given that pedagogical activity is eminently discursive, this article seeks to provide conceptual elements that help to describe teachers’ pedagogical discourse when teaching curricular contents. Working from the constructivist tradition and the cultural psychology approach, which uphold the social and cultural origin of human cognition, a discursive model is proposed that involves two dimensions: the dialogic-monologic and the narrative-paradigmatic. From the dialogic pole, teaching maintains the naturalness of a spontaneous conversation, intentionally including pedagogical elements that inquire into the students’ comprehension of the information and promoting argumentation, participation and the extension of group discussion. From the narrative pole, teaching seeks to contextualize the thematic contents to help students to gain perspective and understand the course and intentionality of actions. Considering both perspectives of analysis, we propose a conceptual schema for studying the phenomenon of teaching in which we theoretically characterize the different types of pedagogical discourses that emerge when articulating these two dimensions. Finally, we point to future lines of research that could emerge from this proposal.

Inventors emerging in-school and out-of-school: six iterations of educational design to promote equitable student engagement

Invention education is an emerging field that shows promise for fostering equitable student engagement, especially related to disciplines of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM), in both classroom and informal learning. A central concept for practitioners, researchers, and evaluators, student engagement connects with academic, socioemotional, career, and civic success. Nonetheless, more work is needed to ensure more equitable approaches to educational design for student engagement, especially with youth of one or more minoritized identity markers (e.g., Black, Brown, or Indigenous youth; female or non-binary youth; youth from lower socioeconomic statuses; etc.). This Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy article describes six iterations of educational designs for invention education with grades 6–8 classes and camps. Three of the iterations revised the same curriculum for grade 7 classes (N ~ 160 students/year), and the other three iterations involved similar yet distinct curricula for grades 6–8 camps (N ~ 25 students/year). Taking a cultural psychology approach to design-based research, we conducted a phenomenological mixed-methods study for convergence. That is, we iteratively refined educational designs within given microcultures, and we sought to better understand participants’ lived experiences. We share evidence of high affective, behavioral, and cognitive engagement, within and between both individual and social levels, alongside development of self-efficacy with respect to ability beliefs and anxiety management. With a few exceptions, our findings suggest equitable participation of youth. These findings we connect with educational design considerations, including individual vs. social supports, explicit attention to youths’ hobbies and peer-inventors, and formative assessment that broadens response scales and gradations of challenge. Our work supports a more nuanced and socially-situated six-dimensional framework for student engagement, expanding upon commonly-used three-and four-dimensional models. We conclude with local and transferrable implications, towards the main goal of fostering equitable student engagement in science and engineering through invention education.

Self- and Other-Orientation in High Rank: A Cultural Psychological Approach to Social Hierarchy

Social hierarchy is one fundamental aspect of social living, structuring interactions in families, teams, and entire societies. In this review, we put forward a cultural psychological approach to social hierarchy, positing that rank differences are embedded within larger cultural meaning systems, which shape how high rank is attained or conferred and how social hierarchy affords behavior and psychology. We then examine manifestations of hierarchy in two cultural meaning systems: Western and East Asian cultural contexts. Accumulating evidence on collective, interpersonal, and individual processes suggests cultural similarities in self-orientation but cultural differences in other-orientation of high-ranking individuals. Such literature reveal how thought and behavior within social hierarchies and cultural beliefs, values, and norms mutually constitute each other. We close with a discussion of how the present review is a stepping stone for future research and of remaining questions to further advance social hierarchy research across wider and more diverse cultural contexts. Public Social hierarchy is one fundamental aspect of human life, structuring interactions in families, teams, and entire societies. In this review, we put forward a new theory about how social hierarchy is shaped by the wider societal contexts (i.e., cultures). Comparing East Asian and Western cultural contexts, we show how culture comprises societal beliefs about who can raise to high rank (e.g., become a leader), shapes interactions between high- and low-ranking individuals (e.g., in a team), and influences human thought and behavior in social hierarchies. Overall, we find cultural similarities, in that high-ranking individuals are agentic and self-oriented in both cultural contexts. But we also find important cross-cultural differences. In East Asian cultural contexts, high-ranking individuals are also other oriented; they are also concerned about the people around them and their relationships. We close with a call to action, suggesting studying social hierarchies in more diverse cultural contexts.

‘Magic’ or ‘maybe … other years’: designing for young adolescents’ engagement and self-efficacy in an invention camp

ABSTRACT Student engagement is a central concept for educational practitioners, researchers, and evaluators, especially working with learners historically minoritised in science developing their self-efficacy. Design-oriented projects in invention education show potential for promoting equitable engagement, partly by building upon learners’ sociocultural backgrounds and experiences. However, the relationship between more social and more individual conceptions of student engagement is not yet well understood. We took a cultural psychology approach to design-based research for planning, implementing, and analysing a five-day camp in the Northeast US, wherein grades 6–8 students invented an electronic door and a free-choice invention. Our mixed-methods case study for convergence revealed some statistically significant changes in engagement and self-efficacy for inventing, which qualitative analyses suggest were related to campers' cognitive self-efficacy for ability with technology, campers' perceived agency for inter- and trans-disciplinary approaches to inventing, and the camp's social infrastructure for student participation. Further, we found evidence differentiating individual and social levels of affective/emotional, behavioural, and cognitive engagement, supporting a six-part model over previous three- and four-part models. We conclude with conjectures about the camp's enactment, learning processes, and outcomes, providing an educational model that could be useful in designing similar environments for user- or activity-centred design projects.

Semiosis, thought and codes: A theoretical framework for social knowledge

AbstractI present a theoretical social psychological framework for social knowledge based mainly on the triadic concept of sign relations and the process of semiosis. The framework is based on concepts from authors aligned with interpretative semiotic approaches, such as Peirce, Deely and Eco. After defining signs and sign relations, I propose to conceive social knowledge as sign relations happening in communication processes, and employ the notion of code to account for socially shared group conventions. I suggest that the analysis of code properties such as content, social acknowledgment and history can identify differences in social knowledge forms and the concrete contexts that sustain them. The framework is discussed in comparison with other social and cultural psychological approaches based on semiosis. Finally, methodological implications are commented.

Cultural psychology of education: approaches and strategies

Education is a human activity that is continuously developing. This is the core of the Cultural Psychology of Education framework. There are no ready-made, perpetual solutions that work everywhere and for every person. Two central themes dominate this chapter: (1) Education is cultural in nature, and (2) Educational Psychology is culturally guided. The Cultural Psychology approach to education reflects the interdisciplinary nature of Educational Psychology and informs its application in a variety of cultural contexts. Cultural Psychology of Education is international and global, promoting cultural sensitivity within the educational environment and the idea that in any society, the application of knowledge in the area of education is locally based. Nevertheless, the field strives to contribute to the discussion about education on a global scale. Cultural Psychology of Education has a necessary moral commitment to the dignity, integrity and diversity of human life. The promotion and protection of the well-being of individuals and diverse human communities is a core aspect inherent in both the theoretical applications and the professional practices.

How Balinese Hindus interpret the story adapted from the story of the Syrophoenician woman found in the Christian Bible in Mark 7:24–30

This article proposes an alternate way of reading the story of the Syrophoenician woman found in the Christian Bible in Mark 7:24–30. The goal of this contextual reading is to see how cultural and ethnic identity affects the perception of the story and the level of reverence to Jesus in the story. In this study, a non-Christian population was selected to avoid pre-conceived notions of the well-known story. The sample in this study comprised a Balinese student population (90.3% Hindu and 40.3% men). The results show that ethnic identity relates positively to positive perception of the Syrophoenician woman. When forced to choose between siding with the woman or with Jesus (labelled as ‘religious leader’), the perception of the good character of the woman relates to her being chosen as the hero of the story; however, her submissive attitude relates negatively to her being chosen as the hero of the story.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article takes a cultural psychology and narrative approach to evaluate the behaviour and perceptions of Balinese Hindus in seeing the roles of women and religious teachers. The general perception and behaviour in religion seems to be influenced by the sociocultural context. Interdisciplinary implications of theological and psychological study are confirmed in the article.

Making Sense of Culture for the Psychological Sciences

In this article, we examine the place of culture in the human sciences with specific reference to psychology and the cultural histories of India. Despite the depth of scholarly writing on the intimate and inextricable ties between culture and psychological processes, core advancements and definitive positions in psychology have remained elusive. The privileging of a single culturally specific world-view alongside the exclusion of others has seriously hindered the authentic internationalization of psychology. We propose that linkages between culture and psychology need to be visualized as a dialogue between different cultural traditions. In the dialectics between bheda–abheda (difference and non-difference), structural-developmental, dispositional-relational, and social-collective processes will be invoked to develop our arguments for a human-science approach to the study of persons in culture. We argue that it is through the inclusion, rather than suppression, of diverse ideologies that generalizability can be best achieved. This is a call for an audit and reconstruction of psychology and its practices as an international discipline with a roadmap for theory construction and research informed by a cultural psychological approach toward human phenomena.

Testing the Effectiveness of the Health Belief Model in Predicting Preventive Behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Romania and Italy.

We use a cultural psychology approach to examine the relevance of the Health Belief Model (HBM) for predicting a variety of behaviors that had been recommended by health officials during the initial stages of the COVID-19 lockdown for containing the spread of the virus and not overburdening the health system in Europe. Our study is grounded in the assumption that health behavior is activated based on locally relevant perceptions of threats, susceptibility and benefits in engaging in protective behavior, which requires careful attention to how these perceptions might be structured and activated. We assess the validity of the HBM in two European countries that have been relatively understudied, using simultaneous measurements during acute periods of infection in Romania and Italy. An online questionnaire provided a total of (N = 1863) valid answers from both countries. First, to understand individual difference patterns within and across populations, we fit a General Linear Model in which endorsement was predicted by behavior, country, their interaction, and a random effect for participants. Second, we assess the effect of demographics and health beliefs on prevention behaviors by fitting a multi-group path model across countries, in which each behavior was predicted by the observed health belief variables and demographics. Health beliefs showed stronger relationships with the recommended behaviors than demographics. Confirming previously reported relationships, self-efficacy, perceived severity, and perceived benefits were consistently related to the greater adoption of individual behaviors, whereas greater perceived barriers were related to lower adoption of health behaviors. However, we also point to important location specific effects that suggest that local norms shape protective behavior in highly contextualized ways.

“Even the NGOs Never Talk About Ufiti [Witchcraft]”: a Decolonial and Feminist Cultural Psychological Analysis of Individualized Development Clashing with Communal Ways of Being

Conducting a multi-sited psychology study on how Malawian participants perceive Western-oriented non-governmental organizations’ (NGOs) gendered development approaches, it became apparent that perceptions of ufiti (the Malawian term for what loosely translates as witchcraft in English)—and its gendered inclination—was highly relevant. As in many parts of the world, people in Malawi may relate themselves and their social world in connection to spiritual and supernatural dimensions, manifested in practices and discourses often closely linked to communal norms and values. Many international NGOs in Malawi run individualized development initiatives, often particularly focusing on women and girls’ personal empowerment. When local communal ways of experiencing and knowing are not taken account for in the NGOs’ interventions, this indiviualized approach can spur interpersonal resentment, and in worst-case ufiti assaults. This article explores the link between individualized development incentives and perceptions of ufiti. Using decolonial and feminist cultural psychology as a lens, we ask how the individualized focus of the NGOs plays out in Malawi, and what negative and unintended consequences individualized interventions can lead to. Our results indicate the need for contextually grounded and informed development approaches, to avoid that effort to empower individual women and girls lead to their disempowerment, social disruption, and ufiti accusations and assaults. The article speaks to the need for decolonial and feminist cultural psychological approaches that consider subjective intentional worlds.

A tale of three seasons: a cultural sport psychology and gender performativity approach to practitioner identity and development in professional football

ABSTRACT The present study explored how the organisational and cultural experiences of a trainee Sport Psychology Consultant (SPC) working in professional football shaped her identity and professional development. Drawing on Cultural Sport Psychology (CSP) and gender performativity as guiding frameworks, we explored the first author’s identity development as a sport psychology practitioner-researcher within one professional football club over a 3-year duration. Traditional ethnographic data collection methods were employed, including, field notes and a reflective journal. Through creative non-fiction vignettes, we show that the traditional masculine discourse in professional football shaped the first author’s sense of self and subsequent behaviours. From the results of this study, we suggest that SPCs identity development is not smooth or linear, rather it can be described as a ‘rocky road to individuation’ defined by a series of culturally specific ‘critical moments’. We strongly believe that contextual intelligence and cultural proficiency are essential for a trainee SPCs survival during early and later career stages of working within elite and professional sport environments.

Supporting Identity Development in Talented Youth Athletes: Insights from Existential and Cultural Psychological Approaches

The purpose of this article is to present existential and cultural psychology approaches to understanding athlete identity, and offer strategies for the development of well-rounded, reflexive and self-aware youth sports performers. Recently, the sport psychology discourse on athletic identity has diversified with a range of alternative approaches and methodologies now being employed by academics and applied practitioners. These alternative approaches advocate that identity interests can be simultaneously personal, social and cultural. Consequently, we recommend that Sport Psychology Consultant’s (SPC’s) should operate at both an organizational and individual level with the aim of facilitating elite youth athletes to (a) identify meaningful personal goals and values, (b) take responsibility and ownership for their development, (c) reflect on their limitations and possibilities, and (d) embrace not diminish alternative narratives.

A Call to Action: The Need for a Cultural Psychological Approach to Discrimination on the Basis of Skin Color in Asia

A strong preference for fair skin appears to be the norm across the Asian continent and may pervade many aspects of social life. Yet scholarly work on this ubiquitous phenomenon is rare within psychological science. This article is a call for a psychological investigation into colorism in Asia. I argue that colorism has firm systemic roots as a result of the sociohistorical trajectories of different Asian societies that have attached cultural meanings to skin color. Consequently, similarities and differences in such trajectories may account for variability in the expression of colorism within contemporary Asian societies. Directions for a cultural psychological approach to colorism are suggested.

The canalization of morality in institutional settings: Processes of values development within military socialization

In this article, we aim at analyzing, from a cultural psychological approach of semiotic dynamics, institutional practices guided to promote the development of moral values in the military. Along t...

Exploring Local Knowledge on Climate Variability in Bangladesh: a Cultural Psychological Inquiry

This article looks at the impact of climate variability on communities in northeast Bangladesh through narrative-based interviews with community actors. We investigate the construction of climate knowledge looking particularly at processes of knowing by applying a cultural psychological approach. The findings reveal that personal experiences with weather were the most common source of knowledge on climate variability. Existing knowledge systems, such as the seasonal calendar aided participants in reasoning and sense making about changes, and elders, media outlets, and science formed the most trusted sources of climate information. Lessons drawn from the study emphasize a need to include cultural and contextual factors when investigating how people construct and build climate knowledge in the future.

Non-Belief: An Islamic Perspective

Psychology of religion research is typically conducted with Protestant populations living in the West. Only recently has non-belief in God become a central topic in the field. And while it remains an open question whether or not the research assumptions and theoretical frameworks designed for Western populations of Protestants can be applied to non-believers, exploring non-belief in the Islamic context may pose additional problems. For example, do Western concepts and terms such as “church attendance” or “atheist” have equivalent meaning in the Muslim world? Are there any structural differences within Islam and Christianity that may contribute to the uneven number of self-reported non-believers within these cultures? In this article, we argue that a cultural psychological approach can provide a useful perspective for researching non-belief in the Muslim cultural context.

What, why and how? Meta-Reflections on Cultural Psychological Approaches to the Scientific Study of Phenomena Called Religious

This deliberately essayistic paper deals with strengths of and limits to cultural psychology, especially in its application to research on religion. It is presented as only one possible approach, composite in itself and drawing on a variety of theories, insights, methods and techniques, but working on one of the fundamental aspects of human psychological functioning, and therefore as indispensable to efforts to explore and understand anything called religious as any other psychological approach may be. Furthermore, the paper makes an explicit plea for an interdisciplinary approach to psychology. Whether researchers will employ cultural psychology or another approaches from contemporary psychological sciences will depend on their personal preferences, their professional training, the type of context they are functioning and hopefully also on the kind of phenomenon pointed out to them as religious by a certain (sub)culture.

Collective memory as tool for intergroup conflict: The case of 9/11 commemoration

We apply a cultural psychology approach to collective memory of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In particular, we considered whether practices associated with commemoration of the 9/11 terrorist attacks would promote vigilance (prospective affordance hypothesis) and misattribution of responsibility for the original 9/11 attacks (reconstructive memory hypothesis) in an ostensibly unrelated context of intergroup conflict during September 2015. In Study 1, vigilance toward Iran and misattribution of responsibility for the 9/11 attacks to Iranian sources was greater among participants whom we asked about engagement with 9/11 commemoration than among participants whom we asked about engagement with Labor Day observations. Results of Study 2 suggested that patterns of greater vigilance and misattribution as a function of instructions to recall engagement with 9/11 commemoration were more specifically true only of participants who reported actual engagement with hegemonic commemoration practices. From a cultural psychological perspective, 9/11 commemoration is a case of collective memory not merely because it implicates collective-level (versus personal) identities, but instead because it emphasizes mediation of motivation and action via engagement with commemoration practices and other cultural tools.

Equality Revisited: A Cultural Meta-Analysis of Intergroup Contact and Prejudice

Across cultures, intergroup contact—interpersonal interaction with out-group members—is associated with less prejudice. Contact research was criticized, however, for bypassing intergroup inequality in the wider society. We propose a cultural psychology approach grounding people’s contact experiences in culturally afforded ways of relating to out-groups. Extending Allport’s equal-status hypothesis to the culture level, we hypothesized that the contact–prejudice association would be stronger in egalitarian cultures and weaker in more hierarchical cultures. To test this hypothesis, we revisited Pettigrew and Tropp’s influential meta-analysis and augmented it with culture-level measures of equality and hierarchy values. Our meta-analysis of intergroup contact and prejudice in 660 samples across 36 cultures suggested that egalitarianism was related to stronger contact–prejudice associations. Cultural hierarchy values and social dominance orientation corresponded with weaker contact–prejudice associations. Cultures of equality made a difference over and above equal status in the contact situation.

American = Independent?

U.S. American cultures and psyches reflect and promote independence. Devos and Banaji (2005) asked, does American equal White? This article asks, does American equal independent? The answer is that when compared to people in East Asian or South Asian contexts, people in American contexts tend to show an independent psychological signature—a sense of self as individual, separate, influencing others and the world, free from influence, and equal to, if not better than, others (Markus & Conner, 2013). Independence is a reasonable description of the selves of people in the White, middle-class American mainstream. Yet it is a less good characterization of the selves of the majority of Americans who are working-class and/or people of color. A cultural psychological approach reveals that much of North American psychology is still grounded in an independent model of the self and, as such, neglects social contexts and the psychologies of a majority of Americans. Given the prominence of independence in American ideas and institutions, the interdependent tendencies that arise from intersections of national culture with social class, race, and ethnicity go unrecognized and are often misunderstood and stigmatized. This unseen clash of independence and interdependence is a significant factor in many challenges, including those of education, employment, health, immigration, criminal justice, and political polarization.