26 Aug 2022

164

Multicultural Psychology: Definition, History, and Importance

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Culture can be divided into implicit and explicit characteristics just as LeVine affirms (LeVine, 2018). The explicit characteristics of a culture can be defined as the specific observable behaviors which are undertaken by the members of a given culture. Primarily, the explicit characteristics can be described as the physical aspects which can be linked to a given group of people such as the ritual undertaken, the heroes associated with the group of people as well as the symbols which depict the beliefs of the culture. For instance, some of the major explicit characteristics which can define a society include the type of clothes they wear, the food they eat, the music type they enjoy and the items or things which are considered aesthetic. For instance, the Maasai are an indigenous east African tribe which is fashioned for its dancing style which involves jumping very high. Another explicit characteristic of the culture is that they dress in leso which is a traditional garment. Therefore, this shows the visible aspect of culture which people can see and use it to connect with the given group of people. 

Implicit characteristics refer to the underlying values which can be connected to a given group of people. LeVine notes that the implicit characteristics refer to the unwritten norms which can be associated to a given group of people (LeVine, 2017). Essentially, the individuals need to adhere to the norms and any deviation can lead to a person being banished from the society. Primarily, implicit culture happens to control the behavior of people and determine which are appropriate and the ones which are inappropriate. Fundamentally, it is correct to point out that they aid in maintaining the morality and the beliefs which should be enshrined in the community. There are some conventional aspects of culture which should be maintained at any given moment. For instance, in a corporate setting the culture dictates that one is not supposed to openly contradict the boss because it happens to showcase an element of disrespect. Therefore, implicit culture refers to the aspect of ensuring that the unwritten beliefs of the society are maintained irrespective of the condition ( Schein et al., 2017) . Another example of implicit culture is that children should always respect the notions and the ideologies shared by the elders. The notion behind the concept is that the elderly have experienced a lot in life and thus they are in a position to provide sound and resolute advice. 

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Intelligence and Intelligent Behavior 

There are many notions pertaining to the definition and relationship which exist between intelligence and intelligent behavior. According to Caruana and Cuccio (2017) there is a slight difference between the two concepts but there is a sharp difference which separates the two. Intelligence can be defined as the ability of an individual to acquire knowledge as well as apply the knowledge and skills. Essentially, intelligence can also be viewed as the ability of a person to learn and understand strange, new or difficult situations. In this case, intelligence can be viewed as a unique scenario where a person can be a problem solver. On the other hand, intelligent behavior is the ability to learn and also understand various situations. Fundamentally, intelligent behavior happens to harbor the ability of a person to fuse a combination of the memory, proper reasoning, judgment and imagination so that they can come with a solution to a given problem. It is worth noting that there are many factors which determine intelligent behavior in a person. Some of the major elements include the heredity, the environment, age, race and also the cultural orientation of a person. The relationship which exists between intelligence and intelligent behavior is the ability to learn and understand a situation and come up with a creative way of addressing the issue. 

There are various examples of intelligent behavior which can be linked to a given culture. Russell and Norvig (2016) ascertain the fact that different cultures happen to share different notions pertaining to the aspect of intelligence and intelligent behavior. For instance, the western and the eastern communities happen to have different concepts of intelligence and intelligent behavior. For instance, the societies in the East believe communal growth is important and essential compared to individual growth. In this case, the notion is that the intelligence of the eastern communities is dependent on undertaking activities as a group because it is deemed productive. Therefore, among the eastern nations this may be observed as intelligent but the same cannot be replicated in the western nations. Another example of an intelligent behavior can be observed in communities where there are different types of intelligence. For instance, one community can deem reading and writing as an intelligent behavior whereas in another community hunting and gathering can be perceived as an intelligent behavior. Therefore, intelligence and intelligent behavior may vary from one culture to another. 

Dichotomous and Continuous Variables 

A dichotomous variable can be described as a variable which happens to contain two values which are distinct. Molenaar (2015) affirms that a dichotomous variable happens to have values which cannot be broken into other smaller sub units. The values can be determined either by observing or measuring the variable. One of the factors which makes dichotomous variable unique is the fact that they are the simplest smallest variables. The statement implies that when a researcher has adequate knowledge of the variables then he or she is in a better position to work with the values. An example of a dichotomous variable is gender which implies that one can either be female or male with no exceptions in the middle. In addition, there are no other sub-units which can be created whether there is a child or a disabled individual. Another example of a dichotomous variable is age limits when applied in statistical analysis. The age limit can be branded as a dichotomous variable because no single individual can possess two ages at the same time. For example, when one wants to know the ages of individuals, he just indicates people below the age of 30. There can be no other sub units created. 

Continuous variables refer to variables which happen to contain infinite numbers of possible values. The statement implies that the variables cannot be subdivided into two distinct phases but instead they have a lot of possible outcomes. The variables tend to provide a wide range of statistical outcomes that can be used to describe specific occurrences. The occurrences can be explained by making use of specific conditions (Shimizu, Lee & Uleman, 2017). An original example of a continuous variable is the height of students in a classroom. When collecting statistical information, the researcher happens to come across a lot of values and thus this shows that there are infinite numbers of values which can be derived from the continuous variable. Therefore, the researcher will be forced to find a unique grading system that will enable smooth statistical assessment. Another example of continuous variable is the number of students in a school which cannot be subdivided into two distinct values. There are many possible outcomes which can be derived from statistical framework and thus one has to improvise a unique criterion which can be used to analyze the situation. 

References  

Caruana, F., & Cuccio, V. (2017). Overcoming the acting/reasoning dualism in intelligent behavior.  Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 16 (4), 709-713. 

LeVine, R. A. (2018).  Culture, behavior, and personality: An introduction to the comparative study of psychosocial adaptation . Routledge. 

Mayya, S. S., Monteiro, A. D., & Ganapathy, S. (2017). Types of biological variables.  Journal of thoracic disease 9 (6), 1730. 

Molenaar, D. (2015). Heteroscedastic latent trait models for dichotomous data.  Psychometrika 80 (3), 625-644. 

Russell, S. J., & Norvig, P. (2016).  Artificial intelligence: a modern approach . Malaysia; Pearson Education Limited. 

Schein, E. H., Costas, J., Kunda, G., Schultz, M., Connolly, T. H., Wright, S., ... & Wah, D. W. H. (2015). Opinions: All about culture.  Journal of Business Anthropology 4 (1), 106-150. 

Shimizu, Y., Lee, H., & Uleman, J. S. (2017). Culture as automatic processes for making meaning: Spontaneous trait inferences.  Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 69 , 79-85. 

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StudyBounty. (2023, September 14). Multicultural Psychology: Definition, History, and Importance.
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