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The importance of identity in society
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How does culture influence the development of identity and self-concept
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In their article “Culture and the Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation”, Markus and Kitayama (1991) question the universality of notion of self as a “complete, whole, autonomous” (p.246) entity that is separate from others and the social contexts surrounding it' and propose that like many other concepts in psychology, it has a more complex and variable reality. They contend that anecdotes such as, in America, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” and in Japan, “the nail that sticks up gets pounded down” are indicative of striking cross-cultural differences in construction of the self, others, and the interdependence of the two. In particular, they draw a distinction between two views of self — an independent view of self and an interdependent view of self — and argue that each of these divergent construals of self have a set of clearly defined consequences for cognition, motivation, and emotion.
According to their theory, the independent construal of self is best exemplified by the North American and West European cultures, where the person is looked upon as a “b...
In unit one of Interactions, the authors Ann Moseley and Jeanette Harris showed a number of readings about the idea of the self. The self-concept is an important matter because people change with age constantly and their thoughts change as well. There are many factors that can affect any individual’s thought of self-concept such as growing up, life experiences, friends and family, and meeting new people. Moreover, a number of readings in unit one by different authors showing their experiences and struggles with self-concept such as ethnicities, economy status, and self-esteem issue. I have had similar experiences with several authors, which are, “Zero” by Paul Logan, “Living in two worlds” by Marcus Mabry, and “The Jacket” by Gary Soto.
Porus, V. N. "Identity of the Ego: Conflicting Interpretations." Cultural-Historical Psychology 3 (2011): 27-35. Print.
A culture’s tendency to be individualistic or collectivistic can be found at the root of
“Individualistic cultures, in the western-hemisphere, [such as the United States,] emphasize… personal identity and self-determination. Conformity is far less pervasive in individualistic societies because democratic choices and laissez-faire viewpoints are somewhat considered.”
If I can successfully shape my life around ideas of self-reliance I can be exactly who I want to be. I look around me and don’t want to conform to society’s standards, I recognize that there is an easy way out, but try my best to remain true to myself by following my heart with pure conviction. Because of my desire to remain true to myself, I closely identify with Emerson in “Self-Reliance”: “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, - that is genius.”
In the unit “The Spirit of Individualism” there are two parts, “Celebrations of the self” and “The Dark side of Individualism” with pieces that present very different perspectives on human nature. “The Dark side of Individualism” portrays human nature as greedy, confused, easily caught up in fame, and addicted to wealth and possessions. In “Celebrations of the Self”, human nature is viewed in a more positive light. The characteristics shown are self reliance, independence, wisdom and selflessness. “The Dark side of Individualism” pieces are written in a more macabre tone, whereas “Celebrations of the Self” pieces have a more positive and uplifting tone to them. The generalizations of human nature are different because of the pieces in “The Dark side of Individualism” and “Celebrations of the Self” have entirely different views on life and human nature.
This essay concerns emotions and controversial arguments based on whether emotions are universal or a learned phenomenon. Most of the research in to cross cultural Psychology surround their attention on the biological aspect of emotions as being the primary source of the occurrence of emotions and has been the subject of numerous studies. However, culture is also known to affect and provoke emotional experiences. This essay will discuss the position of emotions from a Universalist view and from a cultural view. The following approach will focus on the universality of emotions.
Experiencing a society of multi-cultures is beneficial through a variety of concepts to epitomize each individual identity. A person may vary in the degree to which he or she identifies with, morals, or...
According to Webster’s Dictionary, culture is defined as tradition or a way of life. It is also a defining principle in how we live our life and the type of people we become. The Salish Indians of the Montana and Celie, the main character of the book The Color Purple, are two examples of cultures that made them who they are. Celie is a poor, black, woman growing up in Memphis, Tennessee in the mid-twentieth century. The men have constantly put her down, through beatings and rape, for being a woman with no talent at all. Her husband’s lover comes to town and gives Celie a chance to see a culture where a woman can stand up for herself and teaches her that love is possible. The Salish on the other hand have a culture that has gone on through the ages and still is a part of each person today despite the obstacles they have had to face. Culture does shape us because from birth it is what tells us our ideals, laws, and morals that we live by each day.
With radical changes in business climate, globalisation and workforce diversity, the world has become more closely inter-weaved to another. At the same time, there is an awareness of the culture to comprehend our own cultural self, which is essential for the development of cultural intelligence. It is then only the beginning of establishing the insight towards to a variety cultures in contemporary society. This essay will examine my own cultural self by presenting the relationship between knowledge, experience and behaviour. To follow, we will define the term cultural self-awareness and cultural intelligence and then we will critically discuss how cultural self-awareness is associated with cultural intelligence and how knowledge, experience
Besides shaping the self-concept, it is important to form a positive cultural identity because PCI regulates our beliefs about how self-development should proceed (Greenfield, 1994; as cited in Franzoi, 2009). By having PCI, one is able to determine how one should act in a society that either emphasizes individualism or collectivism. For instance, Malaysian culture is one of the high context societies where family and inter...
The Role of Culture in Shaping us as Individuals Culture has a big impact on how we all fit in as individuals in today’s society, and since this assignment is about that I decided to include some of my own experiences to illustrate my point of view and compare it with those of my classmates and some of the readings. My family and I moved to United States in 1998 from Albania. My parents believed that I and my sister would get a better education here and also it would be useful and interesting to learn another language and its culture.
Mahito experienced a certain amount of culture shock. Mahito’s acculturation has been with the challenge of unfamiliar social norms, different educational experience, and his failure to establish social relations. Americans tend to value their individuality whereas the Japanese culture does not conceptualize autonomy or individualization, resulting in a different effect on the human development. Japan is part of an interdependent society and is seen in groups (McCormick, Giordano, & Garcia-Preto, 2010). The skills the Japanese culture develop because of the non-egocentric concept helps them to understand the expectation of their social environment.
There is many different factors that determine personality and development, from environmental, genetics, and of course, the culture someone grows up. This can vary across the globe in different geological locations. It is impossible to say how much influence culture has on specific psychological development or personality. Some emotion such as happiness can be subjective and it is hard to measure the rate of happiness when contrasted with a different part of the world. Many scholars point out that wealthier and developed nations report higher feelings of well-being. (Eunkook M. Suh) Despite this association with income and well-being, there are other factors at play. In developed Western societies, they have more social services that could influence personal happiness within cultures.
Personality is shaped by biological and cultural influences. Culture shapes patterns of socialisation, which shapes variance in personality (Triandis & Suh, 2002). The study of personality across cultures is useful as it informs us of variation between cultures, and similarities within cultures, thereby offering evidence of aggregate cultural characteristics (John & Srivastava, 1999). Culture may be considered as society's collective memory (Triandis, 2001), and important aspects of culture are termed cultural syndromes(Triandis, 2001; Caldwell-Harris & Ayçiçegi, 2006), and Individualism and collectivism are examples. Collectivist culture refers interdependency within in-groups and prioritising the needs of the group above the individual. Conversely, individualist cultures, which favour autonomy and independence, giving priority to their personal goals (Triandis, 2001). Personality refers to an individual's stable characteristic patterns of thought and behaviour and includes characteristics of collectivism and individualism (Yamaguchi, Kuhlman & Sugimori, 1995). A person with individualist characteristics is termed idiocentric, and someone with personal collectivist characteristics is termed allocentric (Caldwell-Harris & Ayçiçegi, 2006). This review aims to assess the available research regarding