Over the last two decades, the study of culture in psychology has come of age. This course covers the burgeoning field of cultural psychology. The course is divided into four parts. First, we will discuss several theoretical orientations and perspectives, including historical backgrounds of the field and cross-cultural methodologies. Second, we discuss cultural variations in mentality, focusing on several substantive domains such as self, cognition, emotion, and motivation. Third, we examine biological foundations of culture and, fourth, we discuss varieties of culture including religion and social class. The class will be an invaluable overview of cultural psychology. Moreover, we will extensively cover recent developments in both neuroscience, genetics, and epigenetics. Thus, the class will also be a highly useful introduction to biological and neural plasticity.

Course Requirements:

We read a mixture of both classic papers and contemporary papers. Both comprehensive reviews and high-impact empirical pieces will be included. Some of the review papers we read will come from a new edition of the Handbook of Cultural Psychology (forthcoming in 2018). Class grades will be based on (i) class participation, (ii) class presentations, and (iii) a term paper in the form of a grant proposal. All readings are made available in PDFs. No cost will be required.

Class Format:

Class format includes lecture, student presentation, and discussion.