 Evaluate the definitions, what are the similarities and differences? What’s missing from the definitions?  A reflection on your definition of culture before and after writing your analysis. Did your definition of culture change? Why or why not?

PSYC 386: Cultural Psychology Written Assignment #1 – Guidelines for Essays

 

This writing assignment, which is worth 15% of your final grade, is due in .PDF form on CourseSpaces by Wednesday, July 29th by 10:00 PM. Late submissions will be penalized by a deduction of 10% per 12 hours late. Assignments will not be accepted after 4 days past the deadline. The purpose of this assignment is to investigate, through compare and contrast, the differing definitions of “culture” and to reflect upon your personal definition of culture. This assignment requires you to pick at least one article and compare/contrast the definition of culture to the definition provided in your textbook. A list of potential articles is provided at the end of this document; though feel free to use a different article. Note that your choice of article MUST be published in a scholarly journal. Your essay should:

 Provide definitions of culture from the textbook and article(s)

 Evaluate the definitions, what are the similarities and differences? What’s missing from the definitions?

 A reflection on your definition of culture before and after writing your analysis. Did your definition of culture change? Why or why not?

 

GUIDELINES FOR ESSAYS Your essay should be between 800-1000 words in length (not counting references). You must include information from the textbook and a minimum of one scholarly source (i.e., from scholarly journals). Assignments will only be accepted in .PDF format through the Assignments function on CourseSpaces.

Essays will be graded out of 15 points based on the following: Introduction (worth 10% of paper grade – 1.5 points) The purpose of this section is to present the topic and objective(s) of your paper. Clearly state the goal(s) of your paper. State the topic you will focus on and its relevance.

Body of text (worth 50% of paper grade – 7.5 points) In the body of the text, you deal with the main issues (e.g., compare and contrast the differing definitions of culture). Make sure that your summary/arguments are clear and well organized.

Discussion and conclusion (worth 20% of paper grade – 3 points) The purpose of this section is to summarize/synthesize the points you have made in this paper. Restate the goal(s) of your paper. Raise open questions, and discuss your initial impressions of culture and how it has or has not changed.

Technical aspects (worth 10% of paper grade – 1.5 points) This includes your general writing style such as grammar, sentence structure, and spelling mistakes. Try to avoid direct citations, paraphrase instead. Papers that have more than 2 direct quotations will be docked -0.5 points per instance (to a maximum of -1.5).

References (worth 10% of paper grade – 1.5 points) All books, chapters, and articles cited in your paper must appear in the references list. The reference list should be labelled “References” and not “Bibliography” or “Works Cited”. A reference list is different from a bibliography in that the latter includes everything you have read,

whether you cite it or not, whereas the reference list only includes articles you have discussed in your

paper. The individual citations should not be numbered, and should appear in alphabetical order

 

 

according to the first author’s last name. The reference list must follow APA 7th edition standards

(https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/apa_c

hanges_7th_edition.html). All of the articles listed below are in correct APA 7th edition format 

 

POTENTIAL REFERENCES

These references are merely suggestions; you may look up one or more of these articles to use in your paper, or you can use different articles. The categories are general guidelines, choose one or more articles that are of interest to you and evaluate the definition of “culture”. Hint: To easily access these articles, log onto UVic Libraries and select the “Database” tab (https://www.uvic.ca/library/find/databases/index.php). From there, click on Google Scholar and type your preferred article title/authors in the search bar. General Cultural Psychology Bahtia, S. (2007). Rethinking culture and identity in psychology: Towards a transnational cultural

psychology. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 27(2), 301-321. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0091298

Gjerde, P. R. (2004). Culture, power, and experience: Toward a person-centered cultural psychology. Human Development, 47, 138-157. https://doi.org/10.1159/000077987

Jahoda, G. (2012). Critical reflections on some recent definitions of “culture”. Culture & Psychology, 18(3), 289-303. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X12446229

Lehman, D. R., Chiu, C., & Schaller, M. (2004). Psychology and culture. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 689-714. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141927

Mesoudi, A. (2009). How cultural evolutionary theory can inform social psychology and vice versa. Psychological Review, 116(4), 929-952. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017062

Cognitive Psychology Cole, M. (1995). Culture and cognitive development: From cross-cultural research to creating systems of

cultural mediation. Culture & Psychology, 1, 25-54. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X9511003 Gauvain, M. & Perez, S. (2015). Cognitive development and culture. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.) Handbook of

Child Psychology and Developmental Science (7th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118963418.childpsy220

Heyes, C. M. (1993). Imitation, culture, and cognition. Animal Behaviour, 46, 999-1010. https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.1993.1281

Developmental Psychology Causadias, J. M. (2013). A roadmap for the integration of culture into developmental psychology.

Development and Psychopathology, 25, 1375-1398. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579413000679

Jensen, L. A. (2011). Bridging universal and cultural perspectives: A vision for developmental psychology in a global world. Child Development Perspectives, 6(1), 98-104. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750- 8606.2011.00213.x

 

 

 

Indigenous Psychology Hwang, K-K. (2011). Reification of culture in indigenous psychologies: Merit or mistake? Social

Epistemology, 25(2), 125-131. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2011.552125 Kim, U. (2000). Indigenous, cultural, and cross-cultural psychology: A theoretical, conceptual, and

epistemological analysis. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 3, 265-287. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-839X.00068

Kim, U., Park, Y-S., & Park, D. (2000). The challenge of cross-cultural psychology: The role of the indigenous psychologies. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 31(1), 63-75. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022100031001006

Singelis, T. (2000). Some thoughts on the future of cross-cultural social psychology. Journal of Cross- Cultural Psychology, 31(1), 76-91. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022100031001007

Social Psychology Georgas, J., & Berry, J. W. (1995). An ecocultural taxonomy for cross-cultural psychology. Cross-Cultural

Research, 29(2), 121-157. https://doi.org/10.1177/106939719502900202 Mesoudi, A. (2009). How cultural evolutionary theory can inform social psychology and vice versa.

Psychological Review, 116(4), 929-952. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017062 Rohner, R. P. (1984). Toward a conception of culture for cross-cultural psychology. Journal of Cross-

Cultural Psychology, 15(2), 111-138. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022002184015002002 Singelis, T. (2000). Some thoughts on the future of cross-cultural social psychology. Journal of Cross-

Cultural Psychology, 31(1), 76-91. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022100031001007