Cultural Psychological Perspective Research Articles

Thinking outside of the (Western) Box: Cultural Psychology Perspectives on Creativity in Education

ABSTRACTThis paper expands upon the invitation to rethink how psychology has constructed knowledge, theories, and research while analyzing the epistemological foundations of educational practices in schools, especially those aimed at promoting creativity. Our goal is to critically explore the shortcomings of the traditional, Westernized individualistic, and mostly positivistic approach usually found in school contexts. To foster creativity, a more dialogical, socio‐cultural, and collaborative framework is suggested, involving multiple perspectives and possibility thinking to address current educational challenges. Through an examination of education and creativity, we analyze educational practices in Westernized societies and explore the possibilities that arise from non‐Western perspectives and dialogical approaches. The discussion is guided by the following questions: what kind of educational practices have been bolstered in Westernized societies? How do these relate to educating (with and for) creativity? A case study is included to provide concrete illustrations that substantiate our arguments. Incorporating decolonial frameworks into cultural and socio‐cultural perspectives, as well as in creativity research, would enrich the understanding of these fields. Decolonial approaches can offer valuable insights by addressing power relations inherent in knowledge construction and practice. Embracing these approaches enables these fields to contribute to a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of human phenomena.

The Spirit of Archery——The Value of Traditional Archery from the Perspective of Cultural Psychology and Modern Sports

This study, from the perspective of cultural psychology, explores the intrinsic value of traditional archery (especially the archery culture in East Asia) and its impact and contribution to the spirit of modern sports. Through an in-depth study of historical literature combined with modern psychological theories, this paper analyzes elements such as psychological adjustment, moral cultivation, concentration of spirit, and self-transcendence within the archery culture. It also discusses how these elements integrate with and enhance the spirit of modern sports, providing new perspectives and profound insights for modern sports psychology, athletic training, and socio-cultural research.

The role of emotional similarity and emotional accuracy in belonging and stress among first-generation and continuing-generation students.

Extensive research has documented the psychological, social, and academic predicament of first-generation college students. However, basic psychological mechanisms underlying the challenges experienced by these students have been understudied. Taking a cultural psychology perspective, the present research considers the role of emotional (mis)match as a key mechanism for explaining first-generation students' lowered well-being. A sample of 344 American undergraduate students completed a survey designed to measure two aspects of emotional processing: (1) Emotional Accuracy - how accurately students perceive emotional reactions of majority-culture students (continuing-generation junior and senior students who have been socialized into college culture), and (2) Emotional Similarity -how similar students' emotions are to the emotions experienced by majority-culture students. Emotional Accuracy predicted positive outcomes, in general, but was lower among first-generation students. Unexpectedly, Emotional Similarity predicted negative student outcomes. As one of the first studies addressing basic psychological mechanisms in college adjustment, these findings underscore the importance of understanding the roles that specific emotional processes play in social adjustment.

Perceiving Migrants as a Threat: The Role of the Estimated Number of Migrants and Symbolic Universes

As immigration is one of the dominant issues in contemporary public discourse, it is important to explain the mechanism of prejudice against immigrants from a cultural psychology perspective. Several studies in the literature have confirmed a significant relationship between perceptions of the estimated size of the immigrant population and negative attitudes towards them. This study aims to investigate whether this relationship is moderated by symbolic universes, i.e., affect-laden generalized worldviews. The study involves a representative sample of 3020 Italians who participated in a computer-assisted web survey and completed a questionnaire containing items measuring their estimates of the size of the migrant population in Italy, political orientation, cultural worldviews (symbolic universes), and the perceived threat posed by migrants. The results confirm that the relationship between the estimated size of the migrant population and the perceived threat is moderated by symbolic universes, being stronger for participants who hold both pessimistic and idealizing symbolic universes. The results are interpreted within the framework of semiotic cultural psychology theory.

Homemaking away from home: a semiotic cultural psychology perspective.

How do migrants create a sense of home in the context of migration? What does it mean for a person to physically move away from one home and psychologically move toward another one somewhere else? How do migrants create a sense of continuity between the home that is no longer there and the home that is not yet here? This theoretical article is an invitation to address these questions from a semiotic cultural psychology perspective. The article emphasizes the importance of both geographical and semiotic movements in understanding the migration process. It shifts the focus away from tangible aspects of migration and toward the imagined and desired aspects of the process of homemaking. The concept of home is explored as a semiotic construction that guides human meaning-making processes, emphasizing its affective value and highlighting the dynamic dialectics of home and non-home. This alternative conceptualization offers new ways of understanding homemaking and being at home, beyond the commonly celebrated ideals of being settled or always being on the move. Finally, the article discusses the dynamic and developmental nature of migration, which can both threaten and open up opportunities for transformation and development, and suggests some general methodological principles that could guide research concerning the interplay between homemaking, migration, and culture.

Reconsidering the "Uznadze Effect" and psychology of set (Gantskoba) from a systemic cultural psychological perspective.

This article aims to (re)introduce and further develop Dimitri Uznadze's theory of psychological "set" from the perspective of contemporary cultural psychology. His ideas are prominent in Georgia and other post-Soviet countries; however, they might be totally new for psychologists from other parts of the world. Uznadze, unlike Vygotksy, still awaits to be rediscovered. I discuss the main theoretical premises and features of the formation of a psychological "set," according to Uznadze, which were based on his interpretations of his rich experimental data. Uznadze conceived the psychological "set" as a holistic phenomenon determining human conduct and strongly opposed reductionist, vitalist, and behavioristic approaches. Subsequently, a more person-centered and systemic view of set formation and its relation to human conduct is briefly considered. Further directions for Uznadze's experimental data's theoretical consideration are also identified. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Understanding the power of mindfulness from a cultural-psychological perspective

In the present paper I investigate the phenomenon of mindfulness from a cultural-psychological perspective. During the past years mindfulness has been primarily treated as an independent (intervention) variable trying to evidence its effectiveness in relation to psychotherapy as well as to specific work outcomes such as a decrease in stress symptoms at work. Yet, what has been rather missing within the literature is the analysis of mindfulness from a theoretical and historical perspective. Arguing with E.E. Boesch, I show based on an autoethnography that the need for mindfulness emerges when there are conflicts with one’s fantasms (private needs, goals, wants, wishes) or with a specific myth in one’s community (you should work hard in order to become a good citizen). I conclude with the findings that mindfulness has the power to alter one’s fantasms hierachy as well as the stance towards a specific myth in one’s community. This is further evidenced by analyzing the glass bead game of H. Hesse and which role mindfulness plays in there – a transformative role for individuals and groups.

Self-regulated Learning from a Cultural Psychology Perspective: Shifting from Strategy to Process with the Trajectory Equifinality Approach

AbstractSelf-regulated learning (SRL) is the act of self-regulation during learning. Achieving mastery in SRL can benefit students by helping them complete their work, obtain higher grades in school, and learn life skills to gain meaningful experiences to establish their identities. Most researchers have considered SRL a process of steps and conformed it to a type of experiment using quantitative methods in the interests of reproductivity. However, they failed to acknowledge crucial factors of the process (i.e., coaction with the environment and time) and lacked methodologies that analyze and depict the developmental process. This study aimed to argue that SRL is an act of self-influence in the sociocultural context and that the process differs for each individual. This study overviewed SRL and contrastingly reviewed Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory with signs, Bruner’s meaning-making, and Valsiner’s internalization/externalization model. It provided insights into the SRL process from a qualitative perspective and conceptualized SRL from a semiotic developmental perspective, with an adaptation of sociocultural dynamics. Finally, it demonstrated how the Trajectory Equifinality Approach (TEA), an alternative methodology, can visualize the developmental process of SRL.

Two large-scale global studies on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy over time: Culture, uncertainty avoidance, and vaccine side-effect concerns.

This article presents one of the largest and broadest investigations into COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, a burning issue that poses a global threat. First, I provide a timely review of the predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy identified by prior studies. More importantly, I advance a dynamic, cultural psychological perspective to examine how the cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance partly explains national differences in initial vaccine hesitancy. To track global vaccine hesitancy over time, I leveraged a daily survey of 979,971 individuals in 67 countries/territories (October 2020 to March 2021) and another daily survey of over 11 million individuals in 244 countries/territories (December 2020 to March 2021). To increase sample representativeness, both surveys used algorithms to correct for nonresponse bias and coverage bias. Consistent with my theoretical perspective, people in higher (vs. lower) uncertainty avoidance cultures had higher vaccine hesitancy initially (late 2020) as a function of greater vaccine side-effect concerns, but these differences decreased over time as COVID-19 vaccine uptake became prevalent. These findings were robust after controlling for other cultural dimensions, demographics, COVID-19 severity, government response stringency, socioeconomic indicators, common vaccine coverage, and religiosity. Understanding cultural differences in vaccine hesitancy is important, as delaying vaccination for even a short period can increase morbidity and mortality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Comparative analysis of the influence of Chinese urban and rural family cultures on household financial asset allocation.

Despite the national strategic priority to achieve common prosperity, there still exist prominent discrepancies in financial asset allocation between Chinese urban and rural families, which requires a deeper, more comprehensive investigation. To fill this gap, the present research adopted a cultural perspective to investigate relevant issues by addressing the cognitive differences of residents between urban and rural families. Under the analytical framework of Hofstede's cultural values, this paper discusses the cognitive differences between urban and rural families in terms of financial asset allocation in the cultural dimensions of collectivism, individualism and uncertainty avoidance; hypotheses are accordingly developed. In terms of research methods, the data of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) were used in the probit model to investigate the influence of urban and rural family cultural differences on household financial asset allocation. The results of this paper are as follows: (1) family cultural values have a positive impact on family financial asset allocation; (2) knowledge acquisition plays an intermediary role in family cultural values and family financial asset allocation; (3) and for rural families with high collectivism and uncertainty avoidance, the mediating effect is more prominent. This paper provides a new perspective for exploring the possibility of household asset allocation from the perspective of cultural psychology. The contribution of this paper have theoretical and practical reference significance to narrow the wealth gap between urban and rural areas and achieve common prosperity.

Learning motivations and effort beliefs in Confucian cultural context: A dual-mode theoretical framework of achievement goal.

For decades, results of international academic assessments have shown that students in the Confucian cultural circle performed outstandingly well. However, many studies also showed that East Asian students often experienced high pressure and had low interest in academic learning. The "high achievement but low interest" phenomenon has aroused great interest in psychologists and educators. From the emic perspective of cultural psychology, this theoretical article aims to propose (1) a dual-mode framework of achievement goals to conceptualize the motivation for academic learning and (2) two kinds of effort beliefs (obligation-oriented and improvement-oriented belief about effort) students may develop when pursuing academic achievement in societies influenced by Confucian heritage culture. Moreover, a series of empirical studies based on the framework are presented in this article to show that (1) Chinese students' academic striving is motivated not only by their interest but also by role obligation or virtue of effort, (2) students' effort beliefs could predict their learning emotion and behavioral tendency, and (3) students' effort beliefs could be influenced by their parents' and teachers' effort beliefs. The theoretical and practical implications of the framework are discussed.

‘Exploring strategies of semiotic mediation – Making sense of COVID-19’

Human meaning-making becomes particularly dramatic at times of social or biological calamities. COVID-19 appeared in the winter of 2020 and had an immense catalytic influence on peoples' lives worldwide. New coronavirus was a new object for many people and they needed the challenge to make sense of it. The meaning of new coronavirus influenceed an individual’s self-positioning in relation to the new threat in the context of related developments. This manuscript reveals the diversity in mediating new coronavirus among discussants representing the same ethnocultural community. Taking the perspective of cultural psychology of semiotic dynamics, we assume that people would make sense of the new coronavirus sourcing semiotic resources from the socio-cultural context; however, simultaneously it is argued that there are no hegemonic ways of reacting to COVID-19. Individuals are considered not passive recipients of external guidance but rather proactive agents whose interpretants serve as regulators of internal and hetero dialogues. Through our exploration, we identified the variety of semiotic techniques which are used by individuals whilst making sense of new signs and developments through various ways of their schematisation and pleromatization. The online-ethnographic research approach was taken to explore various forms of COVID-19 mediation.

Mitos penderita epilepsi: Sebuah kajian psikologi dengan budaya Jawa

Epilepsy which is known as "epileptic" disease has become controversial in Indonesia. Epilepsy in Indonesia is considered as a cursed person, a cursed child, the sins of the ancestors, and also possessed by spirits. Epilepsy is also still considered as an infectious disease and also mental illness. This makes a negative stigma against people with epilepsy and also affects the families of epilepsy sufferers. The purpose of this article is to provide a study of the myths of epilepsy sufferers from the perspective of cultural psychology. This study is expected to explain the myths of epilepsy sufferers so that there is no negative stigma against epilepsy sufferers. The myth of epilepsy is in the community because of sudden seizures, sufferers struggling, foaming at the mouth for a few minutes and then returning to normal, this is perceived as being possessed by a spirit that is in accordance with the culture of "kejawen" which is then used by some people to become a supernatural science " witchcraft "so that eventually people with epilepsy are considered as possessed by spirits. With the negative stigma towards epilepsy, Indonesia, which has a high collective culture, causes families of epileptic sufferers to try to hide illnesses from sufferers to protect, maintain the harmony of all family members. Referring to the literature, psychological approaches can be applied in the development and understanding of the myths of epileptic sufferers.

Cross-Cultural Communication on Social Media: Review From the Perspective of Cultural Psychology and Neuroscience.

IntroductionIn recent years, with the popularity of many social media platforms worldwide, the role of “virtual social network platforms” in the field of cross-cultural communication has become increasingly important. Scholars in psychology and neuroscience, and cross-disciplines, are attracted to research on the motivation, mechanisms, and effects of communication on social media across cultures.Methods and AnalysisThis paper collects the co-citation of keywords in “cultural psychology,” “cross-culture communication,” “neuroscience,” and “social media” from the database of web of science and analyzes the hotspots of the literature in word cloud.ResultsBased on our inclusion criteria, 85 relevant studies were extracted from a database of 842 papers. There were 44 articles on cultural communication on social media, of which 26 were from the perspective of psychology and five from the perspective of neuroscience. There are 27 articles that focus on the integration of psychology and neuroscience, but only a few are related to cross-cultural communication on social media.ConclusionScholars have mainly studied the reasons and implications of cultural communication on social media from the perspectives of cultural psychology and neuroscience separately. Keywords “culture” and “social media” generate more links in the hot map, and a large number of keywords of cultural psychology and neuroscience also gather in the hot map, which reflects the trend of integration in academic research. While cultural characteristics have changed with the development of new media and virtual communities, more research is needed to integrate the disciplines of culture, psychology, and neuroscience.

Exploring the Impact of Leadership Characteristics on Subordinates’ Counterproductive Work Behavior: From the Organizational Cultural Psychology Perspective

Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) is extremely detrimental to an organization and its stakeholders as they impact economic efficiency and damage the atmosphere within the organization. The culture and personality of leaders can affect their behavior, psychology and ability. Leaders are in a position of authority, have resources and decision-making power, and their words and actions are noticed and imitated by employees. From a leadership perspective, an effective way to avoid CWB is to seek ways to reduce in its occurrence and escalation. First, we conducted a grounded theory study on the leadership characteristics which are the antecedent variable of CWB, and the leadership characteristics were divided into three categories: psychological, behavioral, and ability. These characteristics impact subordinates’ CWB. Second, based on the conservation of resource theory, we conducted an ecological validation of the mechanism through which leadership characteristics affect subordinates’ CWB, explored the role of work resources and personal resources in it. The results indicate that all three types of leadership characteristics have a negative effect on subordinates’ CWB, among them, the mediating effect of work resources was established, and the mediating effect of personal resources was established in some cases. Therefore, different characteristics of leaders will affect the cognitive differences of subordinates to resources, and then trigger behavioral responses of subordinates. By an advantage analysis of the three leadership characteristics on subordinates’ CWB, it is found that the three leadership characteristics are of similar importance on interpersonal CWB. However, in the effect of organizational CWB, the characteristics of leadership have obvious advantages.

Cultural psychology of inequality: Current and future directions

The current special issue reports seven empirical articles on diverse areas of inequality, ranging from the perception of economic inequality (who are concerned, what cues people use to perceive inequality in everyday life), the educational origin of income inequality, to the role of inequality in luxury consumption, prosocial behaviour, life satisfaction, and beliefs in upward and downward economic mobility. We first comment on these articles, then briefly review the current state of the psychology of inequality and point to future directions. Finally, we point out that a cultural psychological perspective is missing from the extant literature on the psychology of inequality. Namely, it is important to document how current systems of inequality are maintained and transmitted across generations in specific sociocultural contexts.

Transição para a maternidade na trajetória acadêmica: estratégias de reparação dinâmica do self e de resistência no campo social de jovens universitárias

Abstract This study aims to analyze the strategies of dynamic self-repair and resistance in the social field built by young university students who unexpectedly became pregnant during their academic formation. From the perspective of Semiotic Cultural Psychology, a case study built in a narrative interview situation will be presented. The case analysis reveals that the unplanned pregnancy was experienced by the young woman as a disruptive event, which, together with a restricted social and institutional support, resulted in significant challenges to reconcile different demands, putting her mental health at risk. In this scenario of complex developmental demands, intense efforts should be made with the purpose of dynamic self-repair and resistance to remain in the university.

The importance of cultural psychological perspectives in pain research: Towards the palliation of Cartesian anxiety

Despite widespread awareness of the psychological dimensions of pain, researchers often and easily slip into essentializing understandings that treat pain as a purely physiological experience that can be isolated within experimental research. This drive towards scientific objectivity, while at times of tremendous utility, can also limit our understanding of pain to reductionistic conceptualizations that in effect deny the subjective and even the psychological dimensions of pain. In other words, researchers often attempt to understand pain by means of empirical, scientific explanations, while being simultaneously aware that such an approach cannot grasp the phenomenon in its entirety. This yearning for deeper, ontological understanding in a world that admits of only empirical, scientific explanations has been called Cartesian anxiety. In the current study, it is argued that cultural psychology can help to alleviate this Cartesian anxiety by helping us to appreciate the psychological aspects of pain as dynamic processes of meaning making.

Time-Space of Youth from the Periphery: an Analysis from Cultural Psychology Perspective

Time-Space of Youth from the Periphery: an Analysis from Cultural Psychology Perspective

Care Practices Between Generations: Ambivalence and Meaning-making Process.

Relationships of exchange and mutual help between family generations are the main factor of survival at older ages, especially in developing countries. However, the demand for care for older parents is primarily attributed to daughters. In addition to the emergence of intergenerational solidarity to carry out this care task, the fulfillment of this personal-collective expectation of care is permeated by many tensions, conflicts, and ambivalences. Thus, we propose to discuss the ambivalence in care practices and the constructions of meaning related to this field, focusing on daughters who assumed the role of caregivers for their older parents. To understand how women deal with this complex situation of multiple demands, two narrative interviews will be analyzed in the light of the theoretical perspective of Semiotic Cultural Psychology. To guide and structure the data analysis, the Trajectory Equifinality Model (TEM) was used, taking the decision to care for older parents as the point of equifinality of the trajectories. The synthesized personal orientation by the daughters towards caring for their parents was characterized by a pendulum movement of dialogical oscillation between traditional and postmodern values, leading to qualitative intergenerational transformations.