Psychological & Brain Sciences 891NA - S-Human Nature & CulturalPsych

The goal of cultural psychology is to describe, explain, and predict how psychological processes are inherently organized by cultural context. This seminar delves deeper into why humans are a cultural species, how cultural learning shapes the human mind, and why there is substantial diversity in our psychology around the globe. Methodologically, we explore advanced theories of cultural change, how we can measure culture, and how we can use computational methods to examine psychology across time and space. Building upon foundational knowledge, students will critically examine current debates and emerging topics in advanced cultural psychology, focusing on cultural variations in cognition, emotion, self-concept, morality, identity, and social behavior. Through in-depth readings, class discussions, and urban fieldwork, graduate students will develop advanced skills in formulating cultural-psychological hypotheses, conducting original research, and analyzing cultural-psychological research using publicly available data and computational methods.

Open to graduate students in PBS. There are no official prerequisites; however, all students are expected to be familiar with undergraduate-level (a) social psychology; (b) statistics; and (c) research methods. Graduate students outside the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (PBS) may take this class but should obtain the instructor's approval via email.