Cross Cultural Psychology

Any student of psychology is aware of its development by White males in Europe roughly 120 years ago. As the field expanded out from its roots and was utilized in a wider variety of geographic locales with more diverse populations, it became clear to a segment of those involved that it was not accurately explaining what was occurring. This limited success of psychology in its earliest form to accurately address ?issues? within certain populations resulted in the development of cross-cultural psychology. Cross-cultural psychology as a field represents a blending of psychology with sociology and anthropology.

The purpose of this course is to present students with a broad theoretical and applied overview of cross-cultural psychology. To this end, the course presents an orientation to the definitions, concepts, theories, and methodologies of cross-cultural psychology. Included is an examination of cultural and ecological factors and their influences on perceptual and cognitive processes, personality, language, and other psychological variables.