Culture and Psychology

 

02/19/2022

Week 7 Response: “Culture and Psychology”

Psychology is so much more than synapses and nerve endings. Psychological health can be affected by many, many factors like genetics, environment, injury, abnormalities, and culture. Because different cultures have different paradigms, the extent to which one fits into or follows these paradigms can impact their psychological well-being. As we have learned, cultural rules define what it means to be “normal” or “not normal”. Whether these rules are rational or irrational, it doesn’t matter, they can be a driving force behind how members of that culture feel about themselves. Brother Ivers mentioned the problem of anorexia. In some cultures, thinness is highly valued. This cultural rule could cause someone who isn’t thin to have low self-esteem and may lead to anorexia. This same person, raised in a different culture, might not develop any psychological issues at all. Brother Ivers explains this as the conflict between the culturally created ought-self and the real-self.

The problem of living up to a cultural ought-self can be especially prevalent for kids in a school setting. Kids, especially teenagers, have their own culture and rules about how to fit in. For ESL students, they could have the double difficulty of fitting into the larger societal culture as well as the teenager culture at school. An ESL teacher should be especially sensitive to these issues. My goal as a teacher would be to help my students appreciate the value of their real-selves. I would want them to understand that they can cultivate their individual talents and interests whether or not they live up to cultural norms.

Comments

  1. Lilian PerezFebruary 21, 2022 at 8:41 PM

    Hi Amber.
    For children and teenagers these cultural ought-self affect a lot and if they don't have someone to help them, their self-esteem can be affected, because as you said, they try to fit in something. Great post.

    ReplyDelete

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