Cultural psychology of the Middle East : three essays
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This dissertation addresses one of the central concerns of the social sciences, the relationship between social formations and psychological processes. It does so by: a) describing differences in the psychological functioning of individuals located in Middle Eastern and North American socio-cultural contexts; and b) linking this variation to specific features of the Middle Eastern and North American socio-cultural systems. I offer three essays on the socio-cultural psychology of the Middle East, each exploring a different set of cognitive, emotional and motivational processes. The first essay describes culture-specific forms of reasoning about complex political and military events. A series of studies demonstrate that individuals in Middle Eastern settings tend to locate the cause of an event in particular individuals or groups rather than in impersonal or social factors. The second essay examines the motivations to conform and to self-enhance. Four studies demonstrate that individuals in the Middle East exhibit a constellation of psychological tendencies not observed in the prototypical collectivist and individualist cultures of East Asia and North America, namely self-enhancement and a preference for conformity. The third essay explores cultural variation in the tendency to feel emotions in response to events which affect others but not oneself. Three studies support the hypothesis that individuals in Middle Eastern settings tend to experience such emotions more frequently and intensely than do North Americans and in response to different types of events. Each essay describes the macro- and meso-level features of the Middle Eastern socio-cultural system likely to foster these culture-specific modes of psychological functioning and considers implications of the findings presented here for our understanding of the Middle Eastern social and political landscape.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Copyright date | 2011 |
| Publication date | 2010, c2011; 2010 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Greenberg, James Elliott |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Sociology |
| Primary advisor | Cook, Karen |
| Thesis advisor | Cook, Karen |
| Thesis advisor | McDermott, Monica, 1971- |
| Thesis advisor | Ridgeway, Cecilia L |
| Advisor | McDermott, Monica, 1971- |
| Advisor | Ridgeway, Cecilia L |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | James Elliott Greenberg. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Sociology. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2011. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2011 by James Elliott Greenberg
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY).
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