Domicele Jonauskaite & Maël Theubet
At least in cognitive psychology, there is an implicit assumption that human cognitive functioning should be shared. Just like humans share a big part of their physiology, so do the mental capacities should also be alike - universal. However, such assumptions are challenged by views from other domains (e.g., anthropology, sociology), highlighting the importance of social and cultural contexts. In this course, we will take an empirical perspective and look for evidence in favour of universal vs. culturally relative psychological functions. We suggest treating relevant cognitive domains such as intelligence, learning and memory, language, emotion, perception, personality, and others. We will present a theoretical foundation on how cross-cultural empirical studies in psychology should be evaluated, then looking at the actual studies that support either perspective in order to compare these viewpoints, discuss, integrate, and synthesize conflicting findings.
- Professor: Domicele Jonauskaite
- Teacher: Maël Theubet
