10/28/21 Week 7: Response to "Culture and Psychology"

 Culture and Psychology

By Angélica Conde

There's a culturally-created ought self in every culture, in every subculture. And then, of course, there is the real self. And the real self may or may not correspond to this culturally-demanded ought self.  And the higher the correspondence, the higher the correspondence between the real self and the ought self, most likely, the higher self-esteem one will enjoy. But the lesser the correspondence between the culturally-created ought self and your real self, then it is harder to have that self-esteem.

As Richard Shweder, one of the major proponents of the field, writes, "Cultural psychology is the study of the way cultural traditions and social practices regulate, express, and transform the human psyche".

Sometimes I am shocked how culture can influence both human behavior and psychology. 

Studying a little on the subject, childhood memories came to my mind bringing back pleasant memories and at the same time thoughts of "how I could believe in that".

Surely many of these ideas you have heard them or perhaps consider them something in which you still believe. When I was a child my grandmother used to say that if I did not eat all my food my guardian angel would stay there on my plate and therefore I would be unprotected. We believed in things like the monster that takes disobedient children with it, and some other things that governed the behavior of children, at least those of us who tried to be "good" on the margins of "good".

There are many things that influence a person's behavior, and many of those factors lie with culture.

For example, my little cousin feel sometimes sick, particularly when she's doing her school homework. I don't really know if she actually feels bad, but when my aunt gives her "her medicine" she suddenly feels better, and actually she's receiving vitamins.

As I had mentioned previously in an article, machismo is a very demanding factor, particularly in my culture and in Latin America.

Over the years we see that it is no longer an aspect that governs an entire culture or country but that it is carried over from generations and family traditions and beliefs. 

The fathers don't allow their daughters to study, only their sons have that privilege because they are men. The women had to keep in mind that their only abilities as women are being mothers, housekeepers, and good cooks. 

And please don't misunderstand me, I am not saying that it is not correct to be mothers, housekeepers, or cooks; but what I want to emphasize is that they are not the only qualities of a woman or a man, the problem lies in setting the limits when we talk about gender, the things that women or men are allowed to do or not. 

 But when culture makes an impression on our thinking it is difficult to believe it.

I love this quote because I like to see my students without paradigms or limits. Some of them can have abilities to claim like a monkey does, or swim like a fish does,  or run like a coyote does.

They are so different but so capable.

Teachers in an ESL or EFL classroom will encounter a variety of highly skilled students with their own paradigms and fears. Some will be more adept at listening skills, or speaking skills, but they will learn from the other skills too, someone needs to tell them that they can do it. 

Teachers should help lower the affective filter that many of them have raised because they have heard so many "you can't" that they have already begun to believe it. So let's create a safe and friendly environment to facilitate learning. 

References:

Culture and Psychology - Dr. John J. Ivers

Wikipedia - Cultural Psychology