The major objectives of cross-cultural psychology.

An important objective in the study of ethnic, cultural and national groups is to determine the validity of salient results and theories. To what extent are commonly accepted Western psychological theories actually transferable to other societies and cultures? Dawson (1971) suggested that the importance of cross-cultural research lies in the ability to evaluate the broader universal validity of psychological theories. More recently Segall, Dasen, Berry and Poortinga (1999) suggested that we should not consider any psychological principles as transferable in the absence of valid cross-cultural assessments.

Berry and Dasen (1974) outlined the major objectives for cross-cultural psychology. The first was called the “transport and test” goal where researchers ascertain whether established theories and research findings are valid in other cultural settings. The ultimate goal is to establish universal theories valid for all human beings. However, to reach such universal goals we have to start with what we know in our own culture and then test the validity of these research conclusions in the cross-cultural context. In that process it is also necessary to evaluate what is unique, and in particular the psychological variability and cultural specificity not apparent from our own cultural experience. If we can’t replicate common psychological research findings from our own society what are the reasons? For example in human development adolescents typically go through a turbulent period known as “storm und drang”. An important question could be posed whether adolescents in all societies go through a similar developmental process and whether there are unique cultural variations? The final goal of cross-cultural psychology is to integrate what is universal and that which is culturally specific into a more broadly based universal psychology transferable to all cultures. However, whether it is possible to develop universal laws of human behavior is a conclusion that not all investigators accept (Boesch, 1996).

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 1376