PSYC 340: Cultural Psychology

Winter 2017

Gary S. Gregg

people.kzoo.edu/ggregg

The seminar will examine theories of how culture shapes thought, feeling, and the development of personality. Throughout the term, we will focus on three sets of questions which drive investigations in cross-cultural psychology and psychological anthropology:

1. What is the relative importance of various societal systems -- family/kinship structures, childrearing practices, religious beliefs, economic relationships, and political institutions -- on psychological processes? How do these societal systems exercise their influence?

2. Are there universal psychological structures and processes -- i.e., which all humans share regardless of their culture? What methods can be used to test the universality of psychological theories? How can researchers identify psychological characteristics that may be unique to specific cultures?

3. What is the range of cultural variation in child and adult development? Do Western child-rearing and educational practices maximize “healthy” development or promote narcissism and disorders of attachment?

4. Do societies have the same mental illnesses and symptoms? Do cultures create distinctive forms of psychopathology? Can universal “disease” processes be discerned beneath culturally-specific symptoms?

We will examine these questions by studying classic works in topic areas: (1) culture and personality -- configurationist and psychoanalytic views, (2) childrearing -- single culture studies and global comparisons; (3) psychopathology -- spirit possession/trance and depression.

Note: The seminar assumes some familiarity with psychoanalytic theory and with models of child and adult development based on American and European research. A main objective will be to use observations from non-Western cultures to evaluate Western psychological theories, and to suggest features of our own culture that psychologists may fail to investigate.

If you are not familiar with psychoanalytic and developmental models, please see me for readings you can do as background.

The Seminar

The course will run as a graduate seminar: at the beginning of class I will select one or two students to begin our discussion of each reading by providing a brief summary, critical comments, and questions. Please bring to class some notes or talking points you can use to help lead or participate in the discussions.

As discussant, your main task is to elicit and provoke discussion. Your comments should (1) be brief; (2) show that you’ve worked at understanding the material; and (3) be interesting.

Try to use your difficulties with the readings to raise issues for discussion: these often identify concepts we need to clarify and point to problems in the author’s fieldwork or writing. If you feel you “don’t get it” others probably don’t either – but please be specific about what you think you get and what you don’t understand.

Readings

Some of the ethnographies will be challenging to read, especially because they present a lot of factual information at the same time they use theoretical terms that will be new to you. You’ll need to read some of the texts slowly and carefully, and to read some passages and chapters a second time. I’d urge you to stop at the end of each chapter or section of a chapter, write a brief -- 2 to 4 sentence -- summary. If you have difficulty writing the summary, take the time to go back over the chapter until you can. Please take the time you need.

Assignments

Three roughly 7 - 10 page papers and active participation in seminar discussions each count 25%. The papers:

1. A “configurationist” analysis of a sub-culture or a individual’s personality style.

2. A psychoanalytic analysis of “The 5,000 Fingers” or of another cultural myth.

3. A critical evaluation of spirit possession as “hysteria” or “M.P.D.”

or

A critical evaluation of evidence for and against the universality of “depression.”

Cultural Psychology Syllabus

	Introduction
	Topic	Reading
Week 1 Thur	Introduction &Configurationist Paradigm	Benedict: Patterns of Culture Ch. I The Science of Custom Ch II The Diversity of Cultures Ch III The Integration of Culture
	Configurationist Paradigm
Week 2 Tues		Benedict: Patterns of Culture Ch IV The Pueblos of New Mexico Ch V Dobu Ch VI The Northwest Coast of America
Week 2 Thur		Benedict: Patterns of Culture Ch VII The Nature of Society Ch VIII The Individual & the Pattern of Culture
Week 3 Tues	Conflicts of Interpretation	Thompson: “Logico-Aesthetic Integration of Hopi Culture” Eggan: “General Problem of Hopi Adjustment” Bennet: “Interpretation of Pueblo Culture”
Week 3 Thur	Culture and the Individual	Aberle: “Psychosocial Analysis of a Hopi Life History”
Week 4 Tues	Intro to Psychoanalytic Paradigm	paper due: configurationist analysis
	Psychoanalytic Paradigm
	Topic	Reading
Week 4 Thur	India: film & discussion	Kakar: The Inner World Ch. I Introduction Ch II The Hindu World Image
Week 5 Tues		Kakar: The Inner World Ch. III Mothers and Infants Ch IV Families and Children
Week 5 Thur		Kakar: The Inner World Ch. V The Inner World in Culture and History Ch VI Conclusions: Childhood & Social Change
Week 6 Tues	Culture and masculinity	Herdt: “Sambia nosebleeding rites and male proximity to women”
Week 6 Thur	Empirical methods of cross-cultural comparison	LeVine: Childcare and Culture Ch 1 The comparative study of child care Ch 2 Infant care in sub-Saharan Africa
Week 7 Tues	Culture & child care	LeVine: Childcare and Culture Ch 8 Communication and social learning Ch 10 Early child development in an African context
Week 7 Wed		2^nd paper due
	Psychopathology
	Topic	Reading
Week 7 Thur	Spirit Possession & Trance	Goodman: How About Demons? Ch 1-6      Ahmadu: Rites and Wrongs
Week 8 Tues		Boddy: Wombs and Alien Spirits Ch 1 Departures Ch 2 Enclosures Ch 4 Zar
Week 8 Thur		Boddy: Wombs and Alien Spirits Ch 5 Possession, Marriage and Fertility Ch 7 Hosts and Spirits Ch 8 The Parallel Universe
Week 9 Tues		Krohn: Hysteria, The Elusive Neurosis Ch 4 Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspectives
Week 9 Thur	Depression	Kleinman, ed: Culture and Depression Ch 10 Marsella et al, “Cross-Cultural Studies of Depressive Disorders: An Overview” Ch 9 Beiser, “A Study of Depression...” Ch 11 Manson et al, “Depressive Experience...”
Week 10 Tues		Kleinman, ed: Culture and Depression Ch. 13 Kleinman & Kleinman, “Somatization” Ch 4 Obeysekere, “Depression, Buddhism, & the Work of Culture in Sri Lanka”
Week 10 Thur	Discussion & wrap-up	Gregg: "Culture and Personality Development" [e-mail] Matsumoto, "Culture and Personality Development" [e-mail]