scholarly journals Cross-cultural psychiatric research: an anthropologist's view

1990 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inga-Britt Krause

A need for improved communication between the social sciences and psychiatry is being expressed from many quarters. Interest in social and cultural issues is not, of course, new to psychiatry, but collaboration between the two approaches has not always been easy. Recently one social science in particular has become popular with psychiatry. This is social anthropology, and many psychiatrists consider that the inclusion of anthropological data and methods, particularly in cross-cultural research, can be useful and informative to psychiatry. What then is the relationship between anthropology and psychiatry and what are the problems which professionals face in attempting interdisciplinary research?

1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Thomas Lawson ◽  
Robert N. McCauley

AbstractNo one owns the concept 'culture'. Anthropology's long-standing proprietary claim on the concept rests on three sorts of contentions - none of which are convincing. Anthropology's overwhelmingly interpretive approaches to cultural materials have led to a preoccupation with the details of cultural materials at the expense of formulating explanatory theories. This has, among other things, rendered fieldwork experience sufficient for professional credentials. However, if the details are all that matter, then comparative and cross-cultural research, as well as most of the social sciences, make no sense. Contrary to this view, it is proposed here that theories reveal which details matter. Cognitive accounts of the sort we advanced in Rethinking Religion (1990) offer a firm theoretical basis for cross-cultural study of religious materials. Other types of research concerning non-human primates, early childhood development, and various social and cognitive impairments also offer insight into culture (without relying on fieldwork studies).


2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
IRIS CHI

ABSTRACTCross-cultural research in the behavioural and social sciences uses data from several societies or distinct cultural groups to describe the diversity of human behaviour and test hypotheses about behaviour and culture. This paper reviews the historical development and current state of cross-cultural research in the social sciences and gerontology. Cross-cultural research in gerontology is important because the social processes of ageing vary. It aims to distinguish universal from culturally-specific processes and determine how cultural factors influence individual and population ageing. It has to overcome many challenges: how to design an equivalent and unbiased study, how to access different cultures, how to contextualise these cultures, and how to ensure that questions are meaningful for different cultures. Appropriate strategies include using an international multicultural research team, becoming familiar with the local culture, maintaining good relationships with community leaders, studying only those aspects of behaviour that are functionally equivalent while avoiding the idiosyncratic, using appropriate measures, and encouraging equal partnership and open communication among colleagues. Cross-cultural research has been growing and has become a basis for globally-relevant social gerontology. To highlight the complexity of cross-cultural research and lessons learnt from such research experience, this paper describes an example study of long-term care that involved researchers from more than 30 countries and from many disciplines.


1999 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 119
Author(s):  
José Manuel Martín Morillas

In this paper it is argued that, despite the welcome psycho-social emphasis in educational linguistic theories witnessed in recent decades, and with it, a rapprochement of the social sciences to the psychological sciences, the relationship between these fields has not gone far enough. The actual challenge is a move towards the unification of the social, psychological and language sciences (anthropology and sociology; cognitive science; and linguistics). A step in this interdisciplinary direction is offered by the discipline called 'cognitive anthropolinguistics', and its central concept of 'cultural cognition'. The paper discusses the implication of this concept for the field of educational linguistics, followed by a brief illustration of a cognitive-cultural application of that concept, namely the concept of 'ethnic stereotype', as part of a socio-cultural guide for a cross-cultural pedagogical grammar.


2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1935) ◽  
pp. 20201245
Author(s):  
Tanya Broesch ◽  
Alyssa N. Crittenden ◽  
Bret A. Beheim ◽  
Aaron D. Blackwell ◽  
John A. Bunce ◽  
...  

The intensifying pace of research based on cross-cultural studies in the social sciences necessitates a discussion of the unique challenges of multi-sited research. Given an increasing demand for social scientists to expand their data collection beyond WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic) populations, there is an urgent need for transdisciplinary conversations on the logistical, scientific and ethical considerations inherent to this type of scholarship. As a group of social scientists engaged in cross-cultural research in psychology and anthropology, we hope to guide prospective cross-cultural researchers through some of the complex scientific and ethical challenges involved in such work: (a) study site selection, (b) community involvement and (c) culturally appropriate research methods. We aim to shed light on some of the difficult ethical quandaries of this type of research. Our recommendation emphasizes a community-centred approach, in which the desires of the community regarding research approach and methodology, community involvement, results communication and distribution, and data sharing are held in the highest regard by the researchers. We argue that such considerations are central to scientific rigour and the foundation of the study of human behaviour.


Author(s):  
Derya Kulavuz-Onal

Focus Group Methodology: Principles and Practice is a powerful text in not only equipping novice researchers with all the stages of designing a focus group, but also facilitating their understanding of the philosophies and in-depth principles of focus group methodology. Although the text seems to have specifically aimed at researchers in health and social sciences, beginning qualitative researchers in other fields, such as educational sciences, can also gain valuable insights. The text also provides detailed accounts of previous research where focus groups have been used as well as an intensive discussion of more specific topics such as focus groups with vulnerable groups, focus groups in cross-cultural research, and virtual focus groups.


Perception ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan B Deregowski

A group of Scottish schoolchildren were tested on a task intended to measure the effect of implicit-shape constancy, and the scores were compared with those obtained from African samples. It was found that both groups were influenced by the implicit-shape constancy although the influence was less in the African sample. The relationship of these findings to other published reports of cross-cultural research into pictorial perception and susceptibility to illusions is discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Fortunato

My aim in this article is to elucidate the relevance of the evolutionary paradigm to the study of kinship and marriage systems. I begin with a discussion of conceptual and methodological issues that arise in approaching human social systems from an evolutionary perspective. I then narrow the focus on key tools used in contemporary cross-cultural research within evolutionary anthropology. Next, as a case study, I provide an overview of work aimed at reconstructing the (pre)history of the nuclear family in Indo-European-speaking societies, focusing on the interplay between monogamous marriage and neolocal residence. I conclude with musings on the prospect of a biologically based social anthropology.


1984 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 864-866
Author(s):  
Ezra K. Arap-Maritim

This study was undertaken to assess the nature of the relationship of parental strictness to competitive and cooperative attitudes of primary school children as measured by Minnesota School Affect Assessment. On the competitive items 109 boys did not score significantly higher than 119 girls but the girls scored higher than the boys on the cooperative items. Girls perceived their parents as being more strict than boys. For boys a significant correlation was found between parental strictness items and competitiveness, whereas for girls both competitiveness and cooperativeness showed significant correlation with parental strictness. The children apparently expressed attitudes about their parents that were strongly correlated to their sex differences in attitudes. More cross-cultural research on specific child-rearing variables is recommended using valid and reliable measures such as the Minnesota School Affect Assessment.


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