Cross-cultural psychology examines what is basic about human nature and what emerges as different depending on people’s culture. It critically evaluates the generality of knowledge from mainstream psychology and covers a wide range of topics.

This course provides a thorough introduction to cross-cultural psychology by focusing on three central overlapping aspects within the discipline. First, the basic epistemological and methodological questions are explored. For instance, whether people from different cultures can be meaningfully compared, how such comparisons should be carried out, and how culture can be operationalized. Second, several explanations for understanding (the impact of) cultural differences are considered, and the cross-cultural validity of mainstream psychology theories are evaluated. In doing so, a variety of topics are addressed, including child-rearing, self-perception, personality, and moral reasoning. Finally, contacts between members of different cultures are studied.

 

Format
There are two meetings each week. Lectures are meant to complement the texts, allowing new ideas and research to be presented, and important points to be developed more thoroughly. However, the basic idea is to see the course as a ‘workshop’ in which students participate and discuss, rather than a ‘lecture hall’ in which students sit and consume.