Elsevier

Current Opinion in Psychology

Volume 8, April 2016, Pages 44-48
Current Opinion in Psychology

Globalization and psychology

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.09.010Get rights and content

Highlights

  • •

    Lay people associate most globalization-related items with competence and lack of warmth.

  • •

    Seeing symbols of two cultures simultaneously evokes categorical perceptions of culture.

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    Cultural identification and cultural threat increase resistance to inflow of foreign culture.

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    Foreign culture exposure improves creativity when culture is viewed as intellectual resource.

In globalized societies, people often encounter symbols of diverse cultures in the same space at the same time. Simultaneous exposure to diverse cultures draws people's attention to cultural differences and promotes catergorical perceptions of culture. Local cultural identification and presence of cultural threat increase the likelihood of resisting inflow of foreign cultures (exclusionary reactions). When cultures are seen as intellectual resources, foreign cultural exposure affords intercultural learning and enhances individual creativity (integrative reactions). Psychological studies of globalization attest to the utility of treating cultures as evolving, interacting systems, rather than static, independent entities.

Section snippets

Lay perceptions of globalization

Globalization is a multi-faceted construct that involves a multitude of issues [4]. How do lay people categorize these issues and evaluate their impact? Cross-cultural studies have identified 26 items that are perceived by people in the US, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China to be strongly associated with globalization. These items include Facebook, WTO, the UN, McDonald's, the Olympics, global warming, etc. People in these four regions classify these items into five clusters: (1) global

Perceptual consequences

Globalization has brought symbols of diverse cultures together, resulting in experiential compression of space and time. People in globalized environment often encounter symbols of different societies, as well as those of traditional and modern cultures in the same place and at the same time. These encounters afford ample opportunities for the simultaneous activation of two or more cultural representations [17].

When individuals rendering judgments or choices encounter symbols of a culture in

Responses to inflow of foreign culture

Exposure to foreign cultures in global contexts may produce a broad range of psychological impacts, from inciting exclusionary, nationalist sentiments to inspiring novel, creative ideas. There are two broad categories of psychological responses to inflow of foreign culture in global contexts. Exclusionary reactions refer to emotion-driven reactions to fears of cultural contamination and erosion. In contrast, integrative reactions are goal-oriented reactions geared toward problem solving.

Some

Theoretical implications and new directions

Psychological studies of globalization aim to discover the dynamics of how cultures co-evolve as they interact with each other. These studies have rich theoretical and practical implications. First, these studies illustrate the utility of treating cultures as interacting, changing systems rather than independent, static entities [6••, 44]. Second, while teaching cultures as discrete entities to psychology students promotes cultural stereotyping [26•], treating cultures as interacting systems

References and recommended reading

Papers of particular interest, published within the period of review, have been highlighted as:

  • • of special interest

  • •• of outstanding interest

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