Collectivistic and Individualistic Cultures essays

Collectivistic and Individualistic Cultures essays The main goal of the science of psychology is to discover and generate knowledge about people and their behavior. Studying the cultural aspect of the science adds yet another piece to the puzzle of psychology. By definition, cultural psychology includes cultural similarities and differences in behavior with its main theories. The research pertaining to the study of crossing cultures in a psychological aspect is done by examining the behaviors, beliefs and reactions of people from different cultural backgrounds. To simplify the study of cultural psychology, cultures have been initially divided into two types. The types included are collectivistic cultures and individualistic cultures and the two are seemingly at opposite ends of the spectrum of psychology. However, there are also etics, that is aspects that are universal across cultures, present in the comparison of the two types of cultures. Aspects that differ from one culture to another are known as emics, and a major goal of scientists engaged in the study of cultures is to determine which aspects of human behavior should be classified as etics and which as emics. Here, Id like to explore an overview of some of both. People who belong to individualistic cultures, such as the Unites States, see themselves as individuals, separate from the societal group. Highly individualistic cultures encourage people to take care of themselves and make life decisions based on their individual needs. Individualists tend to give priority to ones own goals and define their identities in terms of personal attributes. Because of this, they generally possess what is known as an independent construal of self, which simply defines what I have already stated; the individuals focus on internal and personal attributions. This explains the fact that individualists are more likely to prejudge people based on the obvious personal a...