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[culture-and-its-influence]

Friends and Enemies

Friendships are one of the most special things in life. Friends will always be there for you, they make you happy and laugh, and they will be there in your good and bad times to support you. It has been found that one’s happiness can be predicted by the quality of their friendships. While I consider myself to have many amazing friends whom I love I’ve never considered myself to have enemies. An enemy is someone who wants to see you fail, wishes for your downfall, and is willing to sabotage you. While I would like to say I can’t think of a single person close to me who falls into this category but I have encountered some of these for brief periods of time with my friends. The closest I have come to having an in-group ‘enemy’, which I find a harsh word for my friend who at times didn’t have my best interest at heart, was when I was in elementary school. I remember this girl who was my friend then and still is to this day often participated in behaviors that were intended to exclude me and make me sad. She would often call me out in front of our friend group, uninvited me from sleepovers, and talk about me poorly to others. This wasn’t an attitude she had solely towards me she often did this for each of our friends, and the friend being shunned often differed per week. Something I have noticed is that when she is being a good friend she is a great one she will be so loyal to you, but when an enemy she can be nasty. With age, she has lost this enemy attitude to some degree but I do notice it to this day but in more subtle ways. This could be a comment or an action that just won’t make me feel good and felt like an intentional jab to negatively affect me. Thinking about the effect of culture on friends and enemies it seems reasonable to think that individualist cultures have few enemies due to viewing themselves as being distinct from others. And we might think that interdependent cultures would be especially trusting but this is actually the opposite. This is because individuals in a high-mobility context tend to just avoid enemies, they have no problem cutting ties with these people. Whereas those in low-mobility contexts try to understand their enemy as they can’t cut ties with them.

[culture-and-its-influence]

Motivation to Protect Self-View

Motivation, the driver of human behavior, the driver to pursue the things we want in life. Worldwide, people have these drivers, however, cultural difference results in different cultural meanings of motivation. Despite a previous view of motivation being universal further psychology has revealed that some fundamental motivations differ from culture to culture. What we value in life is shaped by our culture and these values are what influenced for example my decision to go to school after high school rather than working right away and earning money. There are cultural differences in how people are motivated. Interdependent cultures are motivated best through being told they have a far way to go to obtain their goals. Contrastingly, independent cultures are motivated best by being reminded of everything they have accomplished thus far and that they are good enough. I have noticed that I engage in self-enhancement, a motivation to view myself positively, and this is common for many North Americans. I have also reflected on past experiences where I haven’t done super well on a test and I’ve used the downward social comparison due to being motivated to keep my positive self-view. For example, I tried to tell myself it was a hard test and that many did worse or the same as me in order to make myself feel good again. I have also previously used the compensatory self-enhancement in which I told myself okay that grade wasn’t great but I got a really good grade in my statistics class. Peoples's cultural experiences shape their motivations and protecting our self-view is an important aspect.

[culture-and-its-influence]

The Daughter of an Authoritative Parent

The earliest interactions a child has with their parent is a key cultural practice guiding their development. Style of parenting is one of the main sources of cultural influence on a child. Authoritarian parenting is the strictest approach as these parents tend to ask a lot of their children and give them strict rules to follow. There isn’t a lot of conversation between an authoritarian parent and their child concerning feelings and in a loving tone. Authoritative parents on the other hand have high expectations for their children but they also are warm and loving towards their children. They strive to know how their child is feeling and help their children with their feelings. This kind of parent encourages maturity and independence and a level of control. Permissive parenting is a style with heavy involvement, a lot of warmth, and responsiveness but not many limits on their children’s behaviors. Neglectful parenting includes parents that are cold, unresponsive, and indifferent to their children. Authoritative parenting has consistently shown in Western populations to lead to parental warmth, acceptance, better school achievement, independence, and self-reliance. All these desirable results I personally feel I can identify with as a result of my mom’s authoritative parenting style. Growing up my mom has always encouraged me to be mature and independent. As early as I can remember things like booking my own doctor’s appointments I’ve always had to do – despite how much I hated having to do this. She has always talked to me as a mature individual and treated me as completely capable of accomplishing what I set my mind to. She has always made efforts to understand my feelings and to help me regulate them. Even when I was in junior high and made it extremely difficult for her to tell how I’m feeling from the tween attitude and silence she still made effort to know how I felt. I was encouraged from a young age to be independent and I would say that I have been very independent throughout my life. On my own will, I started working in the Yukon at age 13 and have worked since. Since then I have used my own income to purchase everything for myself from clothes, experiences, trips, and leisure activities. Yes, my mom always will buy anything I do with her or at home but anything for myself has been done independently. I really appreciate that I was raised by a warm authoritative mother who influenced my levels of maturity and independence, talked to me about how I’m feeling, and thought of me highly.

[culture-and-its-influence]

Yukon Gold Rush: A Small Yukon Indigenous Community and the Process of Acculturation

Multiculturalism and globalization go hand in hand and impacts both individuals entering a new culture and the host culture. There are many challenges to this process of acculturation but there are strategies that enable a smooth transition. It is important to note that during the process of acculturation not all individuals will transition at the same rate or in a smooth matter compared to others of their culture.

Culture has an enormous influence on psychology and this effects how people adjust to moving to a new culture. Adjusting to new cultures can result in a lot of psychological distress and pain. Cultural distance is one of the factors that influence how individuals adjust to their new culture. Being thrown into a new culture requires an individual to learn the lifestyle of the new culture. This makes me consider the reaction of the Tr’ondek Hwech’in, my indigenous culture’s, reaction to adjusting to the culture of new comers in the Yukon.

The Tr’ondek Hwech’in only knew their own culture until the late 1800s when many people were arriving in the Yukon for the gold rush. My town Dawson City went from a small indigenous population to suddenly 30,000 to 40,000 people in just a few years. Dawson City was now the capital of the Yukon and the largest city north of Seattle and West of Winnipeg. This new culture required the Tr’ondek Hwech’in people to learn English and adjust to a culture completely opposite of their own. The Hän speaking indigenous were used to a hunting and gathering lifestyle and were now introduced to English, the church, money, alcohol, guns, and many new foods.

Cultural distance accounts for the difference between this new predominantly European culture and the traditional culture of the Tr’ondek Hwech’in. As a result of the Tr’ondek Hwech’in people having to travel a further cultural distance their acculturation process was harder. This is something I have seen first-hand growing up in Dawson City my whole life. Not all individuals acculturated as smoothly as others and of course, there are many factors contributing to this aside from the ability to learn the ways of a new culture. But I will discuss the acculturation process. From learning my history, the acculturation in Dawson City began with a honeymoon stage of new individuals, the introduction of alcohol and gambling for fun, followed by the cultural shock which actually resulted in the Tr’ondek Hwech’in chief briefly moving the Hän people downriver to an isolated area, and finally the gradual period of adjustment. I have personally noticed how growing up in a multicultural town results in a global cultural identity for third culture children.  

[culture-and-its-influence]

In-group and Outgroup Relationships at a Canadian University

Self-concepts are not only influenced by the culture in which someone is in, they are responsible for different views towards in-group and outgroup members. Those with an independent self-concept tend to have few close relationships with their in-group members and the line between in-group and outgroup members isn’t as harsh. Those with an interdependent self-concept have more self-defining relationships with their in-group members and there is a much larger divide between the in-group and outgroup.

            As we know, interdependent cultures rely heavily on their close relationships with their in-group. Due to this feeling of having obligations to your community and culture, or your in-group, you need to be able to distinguish who these people are. But for those in independent cultures, there isn’t as much of an emphasis on this, and relationships can come and go without a strong effect on one’s self-concept.

One way I believe I have been influenced by a minor in-group affect was in my residence at university. At my university, like many universities, rivalries can be observed between residences. These rivalries often result in an us versus them mentality and students living in a residence are often expected by their peers to have an obligation to the residence community. There is almost a trust formed and your in-group has expectations of you.

In my small residence community, I felt strong ties to my housemates, and I very much confined to the group. There were very strong ties in our residence between everyone and this resulted in very weak ties with anyone from our rival residence. Ties were so weak that if someone even mentioned being from the rival residence they were immediately considered an outgroup member. This strong commitment many of us in residence felt to our house and in-group members resulted in no cooperation or friendships with outgroup members. Despite the majority of us being independent Westerners when in this situation of living in a small residence community how we perceived ourselves was altered. Many characteristics of an interdependent culture could be examined in our self-concept in regard to in-group and outgroup attitudes towards relationships.

[culture-and-its-influence]

How Beauty Standards are Influenced by Culture

The standards of physical attractiveness and what is considered beautiful vary from culture to culture around the world. As someone from North America, I am exposed to and know the common beauty standards of my culture. Interestingly, beauty standards change culture depending. For example, women in Thailand wear ring necklaces for the appearance of a longer neck. In my westernized culture women wear mascara and lip stick to accentuate these features. Even though cultures accentuate different features they consider to be the most beautiful, there are many beauty standards that are common to all cultures. For example, a youthful blemish-free complexion is considered beautiful worldwide. I personally notice how this desire for smooth skin influences myself. With social media, I am surrounded by brands promoting ‘perfect’ skin, and celebrities posting with ‘perfect skin’. Many of these brands and celebrities Photoshop their images to make the skin appear flawless demonstrating their desire for this beauty standard.

Interestingly, this desire to have perfect skin is rooted in evolutionary reasons. Reproduction depends on finding a healthy mate with whom one could successfully reproduce with producing healthy offspring. If a potential mate has many blemishes and sores on their face just how healthy do they appear? This could be a large reason why today many want perfect skin, based on a past preference for healthy mates.

Another feature that is found to be beautiful universally is bilateral symmetry. Historically having symmetry in one’s body, particularly the face, shows that a person has developed in a healthy way without any mutations or birth defects. Facial symmetry is still praised today and is prominent on social media apps. I am influenced by these beauty standards as I have tried TikTok filters made to make your face symmetric. I even try to make my eyebrows as even as possible to increase symmetry. I have gone as far as watching makeup tutorials on how to contour your face to increase symmetry. It is very known in my culture that symmetry is valued, it just takes one swipe on Instagram or TikTok to see those with symmetric faces being compared and praised. It’s not uncommon to see two photos of a person side by side comparing symmetry with a line drawn down the middle of their face.

These cultural beauty standards have been highlighted in the media and praised by celebrities and even my peers. As a result, I have been influenced to conform to these beauty standards and strive for them myself. Not only are beauty standards extremely influential on everyone, male and female, they continuously evolve as trends come in and out. Despite beauty standards varying from culture to culture, there are universally desired characteristics that typically indicate good health.

[culture-and-its-influence]

How cultures have shaped my self-concept

Cultures vary across the world and the culture in which one is surrounded influences their self-concepts. The self-concepts of members in a culture, shape cultural practices. And these cultural practices are responsible for shaping self-concepts. Self-identities are determined as a result of membership to collectivist cultures which tend to be interdependent or with individualistic cultures which tend to be independent. Those in individualistic cultures have a focus on independence and being self-sufficient while those in collectivist cultures tend to prioritize interdependence in terms of their relationships with others.

My personal psychology has been influenced from living in a predominantly individualistic, independent culture. I discovered this upon completing the 20-statement test designed to highlight the influence of culture on who I am. The majority of my responses coincided with an independent view of self as I identified with personal attributes such as “I am loving” and “I am sensitive.” My self-concept, has been influenced from living in a predominantly individualistic culture in which for example, I grew up sleeping separate from my parents and was always encouraged to be independent and self-sufficient.

Although while doing my 20-statement test my responses were consistent with an independent culture as I filled these out sitting in my university library. If you were to ask me to fill that out while at a cultural gathering surrounded by my indigenous community members I predict my answers would be much more interdependent and include answers such as “I am a cousin,” and “I am a proud member of the Tr’ondek Hwech’in.” While I can’t be sure on how my situation affects my self-concept as I haven’t actually filled out this test in different settings but this is a strong prediction I have that it supported by the self-consistency phenomena. Self-consistency discusses how those with independent self-concepts tend to be consistent across all situations while those with interdependent self-concepts tend to be less consistent. Interdependent cultures tend to have varying self-concepts depending on who is even sitting in the same room as them.

While I have been raised in an independent culture I also think I am influenced by the interdependent culture of my indigenous community members. I grew up in an isolated town in the Yukon and within the community many attributes of an interdependent culture are present. I have been raised in independent ways for example, working for my own money to spend on myself, being self-sufficient in university, growing up sleeping in my own bed, encouraged by my family to pursue what I want. I have also had interdependent cultural influences growing up from my indigenous rural community such as identifying with a group, and a desire to make my culture proud. While I have always identified as having an independent view of self-deriving my identity from inner attributes, upon further consideration I believe I also possess an interdependent view of self.

            In many situations, I do experience my self-identity as being distinct from my relationships. But when in environments that remind me of my culture and am surrounded by my community members I tend to identify with more interdependent attributes. Having an independent view of self is discussed as being stable across all situations, I argue that I do still identify with these independent attributes across all situations, but in strong indigenous cultural environments surrounded by my community members I believe I would have more interdependent attributes in the mix than if I were sitting at my university across the country.   

[culture-and-its-influence]

'Hook up Culture' and Pluralistic Ignorance

Culture is continuously evolving and its effects on humans, a cultural species, influences the way people think and behave depending on their cultural experiences. I personally notice how much culture changes when I consider my mother’s beliefs and behaviors when she was my age compared to girls my age now. Not only is culture continuously evolving but it also tends to persist over time. There are various mechanisms responsible for the persistence of culture over time, one of them being pluralistic ignorance. Pluralistic ignorance is when one makes false assumptions regarding what others attitudes and beliefs are that determine their behaviors. It’s the false assumptions of what one thinks other people feel versus what they actually feel. Pluralistic ignorance has an enormous influence on my university peers including myself.  

In our current culture, ‘hook up culture’ is widely participated in by university students across North America. The ‘hook up culture’ I am referring to is a casual, no strings attached, relationships involving sexual behavior. What I have noticed is that many of my peers including myself falsely interpret just how comfortable others around them are with ‘hooking up’.

I decided to ask a few of my female friends individually their thoughts on hooking up and how they think other girls feel about it. Consistent with the idea of pluralistic ignorance, most of my girlfriends described other girls as being more comfortable and even liking casual hook ups more than they do. A few of my friends said this belief of others liking hooks up more has lead them to engage in more hook ups just because everyone else is doing it. One of my friends told me that although she doesn’t engage in hook ups she often feels the need to defend herself as to why. This was interesting because it shows how culture and pluralistic ignorance have enormous effects on myself and my female friends around me.

Many people on my university campus have these beliefs about what our peers think and this in turn affects our behaviors. Despite many people not being extremely comfortable with hooking up, many people in university do it, this is largely influenced by the effect of pluralistic ignorance. If more people were to be open about their true feelings and were informed about the effect of pluralistic ignorance, I believe students on campus could be more comfortable in their relationships.