Deck 14: Cross-Cultural Psychology

Question 1

Robert completed his PhD thesis on the different attitudes of Indian migrants and Sri Lankan refugees towards immigration officials. This was carried out using a standard interview conducted in the preferred language of each participant. His examiners were critical of his work, because they were not sure that his samples of the two groups were equivalent. Which of these is most likely to have been the reason for that criticism?

A)Indian and Sri Lankan people are not necessarily from different cultures.
B)One group were refugees, the other voluntary migrants, and their experiences of immigration might be different.
C)The research context was informal.
D)Participants may not have been experienced in interview situations.

Answer 1

Indian and Sri Lankan people are not necessarily from different cultures.

Question 2

The theoretical orientation which assumes that basic psychological processes are common to all human beings is called ________.

A)relativism
B)universalism
C)structuralism
D)absolutism

Answer 2

universalism

Question 3

________ is the term used to describe the process of cultural transmission which does not take place through specific teaching.

Answer 3

Enculturation

Question 4

Why are some European governments funding research into understanding and measuring the intelligence of the children of Romany and other itinerant people?

A)Itinerant people often do not encourage their children to attend school.
B)Governments want itinerant people to settle down in one location.
C)Romany families frequently cross several state boundaries in the course of a year.
D)Existing intelligence tests are not "culturally fair" to itinerant children.

Question 5

________ assumes that all human behaviour is culturally patterned.

A)Relativism
B)Universalism
C)Absolutism
D)Culturalism

Question 6

Dr Sam Birk is planning to discover if Italian and Greek women who migrated to Australia in the 1960s have the same concept of healthy eating. Since many of these women have limited English language, he intends to interview them in the language of their country of origin. Which of these is a major barrier to him successfully achieving his aim?

A)Finding experienced interviewers who are native speakers of each of the two languages is difficult.
B)Words used by one language group for certain health concepts may not have equivalents in the other language.
C)The age-range of the samples ranges widely from 65 to 85.
D)Some of the women learned to cook in Italy or Greece, while others did so after arriving in Australia.

Question 7

In the study of personality, Cheung and her colleagues have identified "the Chinese tradition factor". It is

A)social potency (leadership, adventurousness, extraversion).
B)individualism (logical orientation, defensiveness, self-orientation).
C)dependability (responsibility, optimism, trustworthiness).
D)interpersonal relatedness (harmony, thrift, relational orientation).

Question 8

One of these statements below is a general, underlying assumption about the emergence of culture. Which one is it? (The other three are different theories about why it has emerged.)

A)Culture is a by-product of human interaction.
B)Culture provides a shared experience for individuals.
C)There is an evolutionary, functional advantage in the emergence of culture.
D)We are reassured about a broader meaning and purpose in life through a cultural perspective.

Question 9

The study of the relationship of individuals to the wider society is the main task of ________.

A)cultural psychology
B)community psychology
C)cross-cultural psychology
D)social psychology

Question 10

The orientation that assumes basic psychological processes to be common across human species is ________.

A)relativism
B)universalism
C)absolutism
D)culturalism

Question 11

Stephen Harris advocates a "new biculturalism" for Australia. Which of the following is not included in his definition of that idea?

A)All Australians would learn about another culture.
B)Aboriginal Australians would learn "Western" skills instead of their own traditional ways.
C)All Australians would accept aspects of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous culture.
D)Australians would be able to choose behaviours related to another culture.

Question 12

Kroeber and Kluckhohn describe six categories of culture. The category based on shared rules that govern the activities of a group is called the ________ category.

Question 13

According to Berry and colleagues, three different orientations in cross-cultural psychology are

A)cross-cultural, cultural, transcultural.
B)emic, etic, ethnic.
C)power distance, language, environment.
D)relativism, absolutism, universalism.

Question 14

The Big Five personality factors appear to be widely recognisable in more than 50 countries. However, there are considerable variations, especially in some developing countries. Which of the following was not mentioned in Chapter 3 as a factor in causing these variations?

A)People in those countries are less familiar with Western-style measurement techniques.
B)They may be unused to answering questions in a formal way.
C)They may be unfamiliar with the format of psychological tests.
D)Tests are generally in English.

Question 15

Dr Woreddy believes that culture does not influence thoughts or behaviours, and as such does not see a need to employ culturally fair tests. Dr Woreddy's approach is most consistent with which orientation?

A)relativism
B)universalism
C)absolutism
D)culturalism

Question 16

Wierzbicka shows how the concept of "anger" varies between English and Ifaluk culture. This leads her to advocate that we should look at how people of different cultures talk about their feelings. This would be instead of trying to impose our own emotional language on others. Such an act could be labelled as ________.

A)a boundary issue
B)methodological bias
C)invalid sampling
D)contextual confusion

Question 17

The culture of any group of people is best understood by looking at

A)their language and the values and concepts they share.
B)the way they manage their environment, their education and health systems.
C)their skin colour, facial features and blood group.
D)their history and geographical origins.

Question 18

Lehman and colleagues suggest three ways in which culture might have originated. One is a mechanism of coping with existential anxiety; another is through creating more certainty in common human experience; and a third is as a by-product of frequent human interaction. If we are to evaluate these three, which key scientific principle do we need to invoke?

A)Testability
B)Occam's Razor
C)Replicability
D)Ruling out rival hypotheses

Question 19

When psychologists assess human characteristics using standard instruments, and make interpretations without taking cultural differences into account, they are adopting the theoretical orientation of ________.

Question 20

________ means studying a culture's behaviour from the point of view of an insider.

Question 21

Many writers about Aboriginal Australians do not compare them with Torres Straits people, because there have been no ________ studies of the differences between Aboriginal and Torres Straits peoples.

Question 22

Wierzbicka states that there is considerable diversity in the way in which different cultures and societies think about feelings, but she is certain that there are common, even universal emotions. When she says that the problem is "how to sort out the culture-specific from the universal", which principle of scientific thinking would you invoke in order to evaluate current or future research on universals?

A)Replicability
B)Correlation versus causality
C)Occam's Razor
D)Ruling out rival hypotheses

Question 23

In high power distance cultures, parents put high value on their children's ________.

Question 24

Identify and describe the safeguards employed within cross-cultural research, explaining the importance of each and what can happen if they are not adhered to.

Question 25

The way we think about ourselves and our place in the world is influenced by the ________ in which we live.

Question 26

Cultural distance is a measure of the dissimilarity of habits, customs, language and values between people of different cultures. During which of the following periods of Australian history has cultural distance between groups been greatest?

A)During the White Australian Policy after Federation
B)During large-scale refugee settlement from Southern Europe after World War II
C)In the late-nineteenth century when Chinese and Afghan workers were recruited by Australian settlers
D)Since the 1980s with greater Australian recognition of human rights initiatives by the United Nations

Question 27

Outline the main features of the ABC model of culture shock. How does this model incorporate the features of earlier models of acculturation?

Question 28

Oberg's concept of culture shock is based on a number of symptoms. Which of these is not one of these symptoms?

A)A sense of loss and feelings of deprivation in relation to friends, status, profession and possessions
B)Sleep disturbances, nightmares, waking "flashbacks" of events
C)Confusion in role-expectations, values, feelings and identity
D)Feelings of impotence due to not being able to cope with a new environment

Question 29

Large numbers of Malaysians come to Australia each year to pursue English language courses, technical and vocational training or higher education. Compared to Australians, Malaysians are extremely high in uncertainty avoidance. Which of the following characteristics will they be more likely to display to their teachers and counsellors than would Australian-born students?

A)An independent approach to study
B)Poor motivation to achieve
C)More worry about their future
D)High importance of their personal life

Question 30

In contrast to the theory of acculturation posed by Berry and colleagues, what do Oetting and Beauvais focus solely on in shaping the acculturation experience?

A)Responses of the dominant group towards the sojourner
B)Level of identification with the old culture
C)Responses of the migrants without reference to the new society's reactions
D)Level of identification with the new culture

Question 31

Mohandras, a very senior social worker in India, has been relocated, as part of a job-exchange, for 12 months to an inner-Sydney child protection unit. His work in India was centred on group decisions and he felt little stress. By contrast, in Sydney he feels a great deal of stress in the work situation and is under pressure to make decisions by himself. This very different experience may best be explained by a cultural difference in the dimension of ________.

A)power distance
B)masculinity
C)short-term orientation
D)individualism

Question 32

In Hofstede's value dimensions, the degree of integration of individuals within groups is known as ________.

A)power distance
B)uncertainty avoidance
C)individualism-collectivism
D)masculinity-femininity

Question 33

Stephen Bochner argues that exposure to a second culture is essentially a learning experience: acquiring the skills of the new culture, rather than dwelling on the loss of familiar patterns from a previous culture. Which of the following statements is true of culture learning?

A)Early on, people who shift culture feel fascinated with the new, but then become anxious and feel inadequate.
B)People who move as residents to a new culture experience fewer socio-cultural differences than do sojourners.
C)Culture learning only occurs through formal training courses.
D)The need to learn new cultural skills causes distress.

Question 34

Shakibaee talks of "hyphen identity" when describing cultural adjustment. Three of the following expressions capture the essence of what he means. One does not. Which one?

A)"Two skills in one skull."
B)"One heart, two loves."
C)"Change is inevitable."
D)"Being at one and the same time neither and both."

Question 35

Hassan has fled from warfare in his home country of Somalia. He warmly embraces the values he finds in Australia, especially freedom of expression, and gender and sexual equality. However, he still adheres to many of the precepts of the Islamic faith he practised in Somalia and in Ethiopia where he lived with his mother's people. Which form of acculturation is he currently experiencing?

A)Marginalisation
B)Assimilation
C)Integration
D)Separation

Question 36

Culture helps us to ________ ourselves and interact with others.

Question 37

A person who comes to value their new culture but no longer values their former culture is said to have experienced ________.

Question 38

The University of the Pilbara has begun admitting international students, mainly from Arab counties, because of the mining industry links between Western Australia and the Middle East. They have designed an orientation programme to help these sojourning students understand cultural influences on teaching and learning that might differ from their previous educational experiences. Which of the Hofstede dimensions is likely to produce the greatest difference?

A)Masculinity
B)Individualism
C)Power distance
D)Uncertainty avoidance

Question 39

A person who comes to Australia through one of the international human rights programmes is someone who has become stateless and may be in danger of persecution or death because of political events in another country. Such a person is referred to as ________.

A)a refugee
B)a sojourner
C)an asylum seeker
D)a migrant

Question 40

The degree of cultural adaptation that a person experiences when moving from one culture to another may depend on their reason for moving. Refugees may have adaptation issues because of negative experiences in their lives that might not be experienced by voluntary migrants. Which of the following is a common experience of both migrants and refugees?

A)They had no choice in leaving their country.
B)They had no say in which country they would travel to.
C)They are likely to have been traumatised by war or civil dispute.
D)They are likely to have had to learn a new language and set of customs.

Question 41

Progress towards provision of culturally appropriate mental health interventions requires specific ________ and development of mental health professionals

Question 42

How does Australian Indigenous psychology differ from "Western" psychology?

Question 43

Social identification theory suggests that conflict, prejudice and discrimination are inevitable outcomes of intercultural contact. Which of the following research findings supports this conclusion?

A)More positive in-group attitudes are associated with negative attitudes to out-groups.
B)Where a group has a feeling of social security, it is likely to have more positive attitudes towards others.
C)A high degree of physical mobility (for example, changing cities or countries)leads to more positive attitudes to others.
D)Being exposed to a wide variety of environments leads to fewer negative social attitudes.

Question 44

Maria Lee came to Australia from Vietnam more than 20 years ago. She cares for her elderly father, her husband and two teenage children. Which of the following actions is she likely to take in relation to her family's health and well-being?

A)She would ask for her father to be admitted to an aged-care facility when he showed recurrent memory loss.
B)She would contact the school counsellor about one of her children's disruptive behaviour in the home.
C)She would ask her father and husband to consult the extended family about helping her with her depression.
D)She would encourage her husband to visit a GP clinic about his anxiety about work.

Question 45

"Research by Indigenous Australians, whose informants are Indigenous Australians and whose goals are to serve and inform the Indigenous struggle for ________" (Rigney, defining Indigenist Psychology).

Question 46

Which of the following is not one of the four principles embodied in Australia's official multicultural policy?

A)Respect for each person: everyone has a right to express their own culture and beliefs.
B)Fairness for each person: equality of treatment and opportunity.
C)Economic justice: equal pay for equal work.
D)Benefits for all: diversity works for all Australians.

Question 47

Nolan and McConnochie have suggested effective strategies for dealing with contradictions between Western and Indigenous ways of working in applied psychology. These are aimed at letting go of "Western ways that do not work". Which of the following would not work?

A)Doing a lot of informal talking and listening with the community.
B)Exploring psychological theory with the community.
C)Working slowly and paying attention to nonverbal signals from the community.
D)Finding out what the community sees as important and practical.

Question 48

Which of the following was not a characteristic of psychological research on Australian Aboriginal people 30-40 years ago?

A)It examined differences between Aboriginal and white people.
B)It centred very much on cognitive and linguistic issues.
C)It was a collaborative effort between researchers and Aboriginal communities.
D)It was applied to issues of education and schooling.

Question 49

Anne Pedersen's work on prejudice in Australia centres on the existence of false beliefs about Indigenous people, Muslims and asylum seekers-three groups who have high socio-political visibility. She has found that education, age and political persuasion predict whether people accept some of these false beliefs. Before you could draw any conclusions about the determinants of prejudice, which of the following principles would you need to apply?

A)Testability
B)Replicability
C)Correlation versus causation
D)Occam's Razor

Question 50

Anne Pedersen and her colleagues have studied how prejudice among Australians is often based on ________ beliefs.

Question 51

The worldview of Indigenous Australians, which provides a framework for understanding and interpreting the world is often called by a European term, The Dreaming. Which of the following is not central to it?

A)Complex kinship systems which underlie all relationships
B)Loose rules governing relationships between people
C)Reciprocity: giving and receiving in equal amounts
D)Mutual obligations

Question 52

Generally, research into in-group and out-group perception and relationships produces very mixed results. Some of the studies show consistent patterns, but Ward, Bochner and Furnham, criticise the results because they are drawn from a small range of multicultural societies and are based on generally ethnocentric perceptions of acculturation. Upon which principle of scientific thinking is this criticism based?

A)Correlation versus causation
B)Occam's Razor
C)Testability
D)Replicability

Question 53

Contemporary psychological research on prejudice in Australia has developed an applied focus, particularly looking at ways of reducing prejudice. One of these is educating and training people about the nature of prejudice and its effect on individual and community health. This process is called ________.

A)institutional racism
B)racial socialisation
C)identifying false beliefs
D)prejudice reduction

Question 54

Indigenous psychology is an understanding of behaviour that stems from within a culture and is not imported from outside. Which is the "odd one out" in this list of features of Indigenous psychology?

A)It examines psychological phenomena in ecological, historical and cultural context.
B)It is based on sound scientific principles.
C)It advocates the use of multiple methods of investigation.
D)It acknowledges that people have a complex, sophisticated and practical understanding of themselves.

Question 55

Chinese Australians have been found to express depression more through bodily symptoms than in terms of mood. This is in contrast to the way mainland Chinese do today. Why might this be so?

A)Chinese migrants to Australia tend to copy Australian behaviour.
B)Migrants from China one or more generations ago took with them customs and concepts that have since changed in China but live on in the expatriate population in Australia.
C)Chinese medicine in Australia is less-developed than in China.
D)Chinese Australians do not understand Australian mental health issues.

Question 56

Judith Kearins discovered that children in desert communities in Western Australia had better ________ skills than white children, probably because they used such skills to cope in an environment which had no verbal or numerical cues.

Question 57

Which of the following is not a barrier to the provision of culturally-appropriate psychological services in Australia?

A)Insufficient number of appropriately trained staff
B)The existence of stigma about mental illness in many communities
C)The lack of "mentalistic" terms in some community languages
D)The inability of many migrants and refugees to pay for psychological services

Question 58

There appear to be links between prejudice and health. Which of the following statements about prejudice in Australia is false?

A)People who have fair-to-poor health are up to five times more likely to report racially-biased treatment.
B)Aboriginal people who report negative treatment have lower mental health scores.
C)There is a need for exploring the benefits of educating and training people about racism and health.
D)There is no evidence of institutional racism in the delivery of mental health services in Australia.

Question 59

A medical specialist from Perth, Western Australia, has been appointed to improve the effectiveness of diabetes education among Aboriginal communities around Lake Argyll in the Kimberley. The first thing that person does is to find out from local leaders acceptable ways of communicating with the community and how to gain cooperation with the work. Which part of Vicary and Bishop's 10-step model does this best represent?

A)Self-reflection
B)Formative preparation
C)Networking and supervision
D)Referral