Cross-cultural Psychology: What Is It And Why Is It So Important?

Cross-cultural psychology studies the differences and similarities of psychological functioning between groups of different ethnocultures. It is a psychosocial area that focuses on analyzing how belonging to one or another culture influences us.

This discipline also studies the relationships between psychological, sociocultural, biological and ecological factors intra and interculturally. Thus, the main objectives of cross-cultural psychology are the following:

• Check psychological models and theories in different cultures.
• Discover cultural and psychological variations that may or may not be present in our own cultural experience.
• Integrate common discoveries to build a more universal psychology.

In addition, to understand cross-cultural psychology, two fundamental aspects must be taken into account. On the one hand, that basic psychological processes (attention, memory, motivation, learning, etc.) are common to all humanity. And on the other, that culture is the source of the behavioral variety that shapes personal characteristics.

Differences between cross-cultural and cultural psychology

Cultural psychology studies how social traditions and practices transform and regulate psychological functioning. In contrast, cross-cultural psychology considers that, due to cultural experiences, there are predictable and significant differences between different ethnocultural groups.

So to speak, the first carries out an endogroup study while the second carries it out on an intergroup basis .

Why is this discipline important?

According to recent figures, there are 258 million migrants in the world, of which 150.3 migrate for work reasons and 68.5 forcibly, due to conflicts or human rights violations. Spain constitutes the third largest recipient of immigrants in the European Union.

Psychology was born and developed by adopting the perspective of Western culture as a reference. This led, in cases of studies of cultures with patterns different from those of the West, to erroneous interpretations or perspectives in the investigations.

One of the factors that makes cross-cultural psychology a relevant component of human knowledge is, in view of this, the possibility of relativizing and normalizing psychosocial patterns different from ours, when these differences are due to the mere fact of being different ethnocultures.

Implications of cross-cultural psychology findings

Today, we have a relatively extensive knowledge of what a person’s culture affects at the individual level, and about the adaptation processes of an individual as a natural mechanism.

Therefore, faced with the migrant world in which we live, and from a humanistic and integrative perspective, we must take into account certain cross-cultural aspects in clinical practice. For instance:

About the patient

Among the characteristics of the patient, for a psychological evaluation or intervention, it is necessary to consider:

Ethnicity

The ethnicity refers to a group of common nationality, religion or history. The differences between different ethnic groups help us to understand how people live certain experiences differently. For example: people of gypsy ethnicity do not experience death in the same way as a person of Germanic ethnicity.

Language

The language affects from the possibility of interpersonal understanding, through the interpretation of different meanings, even adapting assessment tests. Therefore, to work with people with a different language, it is important to master that other language, or go to an interpreter.

Acculturation

The Acculturation is the process by which the person adapts, integrates or comply with a new culture. In this process, it is essential to take into account why the subject abandoned their culture, their feelings towards the new culture, and also if the change is voluntary or forced.

Cultural experience

Taking into account what ethnicity is in each culture provides us with valuable information about how the person may be experiencing that culture. For example, a Hispanic in Miami will not have the same experience as a Hispanic in England.

Test domain

This point is especially important in the case of neuropsychological evaluation. Not in all cultures have people been trained to be efficient on the same kinds of cognitive tasks. In this way, we cannot treat the same, for example, the speed in executing a task regardless of the culture.

Racial socialization or stereotypical treatment

Some ethnicities or races suffer from stereotypes about their abilities, beliefs and feelings. These ideas must be considered in any evaluation or intervention, as they can determine in part the behavior, attitude and performance of patients.

About the evaluation instruments

Construct validity

Many instruments have been made under the assumption of being free from cultural influence. However, the reality is that not only are skills influenced by culture but, through education, the culture itself “teaches” which skills are relevant and when and how they should be acquired.

Furthermore, psychological constructs do not manifest themselves in the same way in different cultures – for example, as occurs with the feeling of guilt in people from a Christian culture versus a Buddhist culture.

Standardized scores

In relation to the previous section, it is of utmost importance to prepare and use validated and graded tests in the cultural population that is being served; the average results obtained on a sample from one culture are not applicable to samples from different cultures.

About the professional

Equally or more important are the aspects that a professional must take into account about oneself. Among them, we highlight the following:

• Be aware of your own beliefs and assumptions about stereotypes, values ​​and human behavior, and how these can negatively affect psychological praxis.
• Make an effort to understand the point of view of culturally different patients.

In addition, it is important that the professional knows how to commit and strive to carry out a sensitive clinical practice, and with the appropriate communication tools and skills, to work with culturally diverse populations.