Culture and self

Psychological explanation of culture lays emphasis on learning, problem solving and other
behavioural approaches associated with the culture
Jahoda (1984): Culture is a descriptive term that captures not only rules and meanings but
also behaviours.
culture is also constituted by the contents of the mind and psyche of the individuals living in
the culture. Such subjective and non-material components of culture include attitudes, values,
beliefs, ideas, norms, behaviours, etc.
These components are shared across the culture and are expressed in voluntary behaviours,
automatic responses and habits of the members, and overall, rituals followed in the culture
Individual differences: Different individuals in a particular culture vary in the degree they
carry and follow the cultural values, attitudes, beliefs, norms, behaviours, etc. Therefore, in
any culture there are individual differences in observance of cultural values, attitudes, beliefs,
norms and behaviours or conformity to culture.
The processes by which we learn, acquire and adopt various aspects of a culture are called as
enculturation and acculturation.
Enculturation refers to the process by which various aspects of our own culture are
transmitted from one generation to the next by different agencies of the culture.
enculturation occurs in the culture where we are born and the process of familiarisation to
the culture begins right after the birth
Acculturation is the process by which a person adapts to, and in many cases adopts, a culture
different from the one in which that person was originally enculturated
enculturation is smooth and largely an involuntary, automatic and inevitable process. But
the process of acculturation often encounters conflicts between the existing cultural learning
and the new cultural practices and manners the person is exposed to.
Agents of enculturation are:
1. Parents and siblings (the parental styles, the economic standing of parents, fostering
of cultural values, fostering of behaviours that promote self-sufficiency, expectations
of the parents on the child,
2. Peer relations (the level of peer interactions, the ages of the peers, gender of the peers)
3. Education (teachers, teaching styles, course content, infrastructure)
4. Religion

identity: Identity refers to the way individuals understand themselves as part of a social
group. It is a universal construct and depends on how we view ourselves and how we are
recognized by others.
Identity may be acquired indirectly from parents, peers, and other community members or
more directly through enculturation. Example a person may hold multiple identities such as
teacher, father, or friend. Each position has its own meanings and expectations that are
internalized as identity. Identity is dynamic and fluid. It can change depending on the context
and the culture.
Example on how different cultures view on the concept of self:
Several aspects of the self seem to be linked to the characteristic features of the culture in
which an individual lives
The Indian culture view on self-versus the western culture view on self and how it helps
individuals of that certain region in their enculturation
Analysis of self can be seen carried out differently in Indian cultural context as well as the
western cultural context.
The distinction between the Indian and the western views on self so the way the boundary is
drawn between the self and the other.

 In the western view the boundary
appears to be relatively fixed.
 The western view seems to hold
clear dichotomies between self and
other and nature subjective and
objective.
 In the western culture the self and
the group exist as two different
entities with clearly defined
boundaries. Individual members of
the group maintain their
individuality.
 Western cultures are characterized as
individualistic
 In the Indian view of self, the
boundary appears to be of shifting
nature
 The Indian view of self does not
make clear dichotomies between self
and the other, man and nature,
subjective and objective.
 In the Indian culture the self is
generally not separated from one’s
own group rather both remain in the
state of harmonious coexistence
 Many Asian cultures are
characterised as collectivistic

Individual group

The western perspective

 Individual

group

The Indian perspective

With people from individualistic cultures often describing themselves using internal
characteristics that emphasize their uniqueness, compared with those from collectivistic
backgrounds who tend to stress shared social group memberships and roles. In turn, this
distinction can lead to important differences in social behaviour.
The self:
Social identity reflects our understanding that we are part of social groups. Our sense of self
is linked to how we see the world around us and how we see our relationships.
self-concept the cognitive representations of who one is, that is, the ideas or images that one
has about oneself, especially in relation to others, and how and why one behaves. The sum of
one’s idea about one’s self, including physical, mental, historical, and relational aspects, as
well as capacities to learn and perform. Self-concept is usually considered central to personal
identity and change over time. It is usually considered partially conscious and partially
unconscious or inferred in a given situation.
How we understand our sense of self is intimately tied to how we understand the world
around us and our relationships with others in that world
A sense of self is critically important to organizing, and in many cases determining, our
thoughts, feelings, and actions, and how we view the world, ourselves, and others in that
world. This includes our relationships with other people, places, things, and events. Our sense
of self is at the core of our being, unconsciously and automatically influencing our thoughts,
actions, and feelings. Each individual carries and uses these perceived internal attributes to
guide his or her thoughts and actions in different social situations.
The concept of self is an important product of human cultures. Cultural practices, on one
hand, refer to the discrete, observable, objective, and behavioural aspects of human activities
in which people engage related to culture. For example, parent–child sleeping arrangements
are an example of a cultural practice, as would be the specific ways in which people of a
culture manage their emotional expressions in a social context. Cultural practices refer to the
doing of culture.
Cultural worldviews, on the other hand, are belief systems about one’s self and culture. They
are cognitive generalizations about how oneself and one’s culture is or should be, regardless
of whether those generalized images are true or not (i.e., regardless of whether or not they are
rooted in actual cultural practices or behaviours)
The concept of self is part of one’s cultural worldviews because how one sees oneself in
relation to the rest of the world is an integral part of one’s culture. Like cultural worldviews,
the concept of self is also a cognitive generalization about one’s nature or composition
(whether that belief is grounded in reality or behaviours or not).
The self-concept is a knowledge representation that contains knowledge about us, including
our beliefs about our personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals, and
roles, as well as the knowledge that we exist as individuals.
The concept of self is functional and useful. Having a sense of self aids in addressing needs
for affiliation and uniqueness, and explains the importance of understanding values as
guiding principles within a specific culture
Concepts of self are social constructions “that consist of viewing oneself as living up to
specific contingencies of value . . . that are derived from the culture at large but are integrated
into a unique individualized worldview by each person” (Pyszczynski, Greenberg, Solomon,
Arndt, & Schimel, 2004).
The dynamic and multifaceted nature of the concept of self
the self-concept does not just reflect on-going thoughts and behaviours at the moment.
Instead, it organizes those thoughts and behaviours in the past and mediates and regulates
those thoughts and behaviours in the future (Markus & Wurf, 1987); thus, self-concepts are
dynamic, not static.
Related to the dynamic nature of the concept of self is the fact that scientists have recognized
early on that people don’t have a unitary or single self-concept, but that self-concepts are
multifaceted and context-specific. That is, there are multiple aspects to people’s self-
concepts.
Higgins (1987) distinguished between “ideal” selves (selves we want to be) and “ought”
selves (selves we should be). Thus, self-concepts assume that people have and embrace
multiple and different aspects of oneself that are context-dependent
These multiple domains of the self can be expressed in multiple, different ways in different
contexts. For example:
person A may have –
Different contexts of the self
 At home with family (A maybe sincere, loving, nurturing)
 At a restaurant with friends (A maybe shy, awkward, quiet)
 In public with strangers (A maybe cautious, silent, shy)
Different domains of the self
 Physical
 Moral
 Personal
 Family
 Social
 Work
 Academic

Measurement of the self-concept:

The self-concept can be measured by one way using the self-report tests. One of these is a
deceptively simple fill in the blanks measure that has been widely used by many scientists to
get a picture of the self-concept All of the 20 items in the measure are exactly the same, but
the person is asked to fill in a different response for each statement. This self-report measure,
known as the Twenty Statements Test (TST) by Rees & Nicholson, 1994, can reveal a lot
about a person because it is designed to measure the most accessible and thus the most
important parts of a person’s self-concept

twenty statements test

Twenty Statements Test Twenty Statements Test
I am (fill in the blank) _______________________________
I am (fill in the blank) _______________________________
I am (fill in the blank) _______________________________
I am (fill in the blank) _______________________________
I am (fill in the blank) _______________________________

Characteristics of the Self-Concept:

Although each person has a unique self-concept, we can identify some characteristics that are
common across the responses given by different people on the measure.
• Physical characteristics
• Personality
• Social identity

1. Physical characteristics:
important component of the self-concept, and they are mentioned by many people
when they describe themselves.
Our physical characteristics are important to our self-concept because we realize that
other people use them to judge us. People often list the physical characteristics that
make them different from others in either positive or negative ways (“I am blond,” “I
 am short”), in part because they understand that these characteristics are salient and
thus likely to be used by others when judging them
2. Personality characteristics
The specific and stable personality characteristics that describe an individual (“I am
friendly”, “I am shy”, “I am aggressive”). These individual differences are important
determinants of behaviours and this aspect of the self-conceit varies among people
3. Social identity:
External social components, for example, memberships in the social groups that we
belong to and care about. Common responses for this component may include “I am
an artist,” “I am a mother, sister, daughter.” social identity —the sense of our self that
involves our memberships in social groups.