This chapter identifies the mainstream approach in (cross-cultural) psychology as "variables psychology" and contrasts it with two versions of functionalist thinking. Functionalist approaches are concerned with the purpose of cultural differences and with the psychological mechanisms that produce them. Whereas questions of purpose are frequently debated in cross-cultural psychology, the problem...

Two perspectives of scientific inquiry-both making use of the notion of culture-are analyzed from the perspective of how general knowledge is being constructed by each. It is demonstrated how cross-cultural psychology has made use of traditional psychology's inductive emphasis on comparisons of samples (and generalization to populations). Cross-cultural psychology has been a part of general and...

Cultural and community psychology share a common emphasis on context, yet their leading journals rarely cite each other's articles. Greater integration of the concepts of culture and community within and across their disciplines would enrich and facilitate the viability of cultural community psychology. The contextual theory of activity settings is proposed as one means to integrate the concept...

Although once considered to be at the margins of psychological science, the study of culture has blossomed into one of the most important areas of research today. Studies involving cultural variables appear more frequently than ever before in mainstream journals in developmental, clinical, personality, and social psychology, aswell as in specialty journals such as the Journal of Cross-Cultural ...

The study of culture and related concepts, such as ethnicity and race, in American psychology are examined in this article. First, the conceptual confusion and ways in which culture, ethnicity, and race are used as explanatory factors for intergroup differences in psychological phenomena are discussed. Second, ways in which to study culture in mainstream psychology and to enhance hypothesis tes...

* Corresponding author a Cultural and Social Neuroscience Research Group, Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Kings College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, London, UK b Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, UK c Stonehill College, Easton, MA, USA d Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK e Division ...

Psychological processes influence culture. Culture influences psychological processes. Individual thoughts and actions influence cultural norms and practices as they evolve over time, and these cultural norms and practices influence the thoughts and actions of individuals. Large bodies of literature support these conclusions within the context of research on evolutionary processes, epistemic ne...