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Cited by 224Academic and Historical Perspectives in PsychologyCultural Differences and ValuesCultural, Psychoanalytic, and Sociopolitical Reflections

Critical cultural awareness: Contributions to a globalizing psychology.

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Christopher, John Chambers, Wendt, Dennis C., Marecek, Jeanne, Goodman, David M.·2014·American Psychologist
DOI 10.1037/a0036851PMC PMC4557738
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Abstract

The number of psychologists whose work crosses cultural boundaries is increasing. Without a critical awareness of their own cultural grounding, they risk imposing the assumptions, concepts, practices, and values of U.S.-centered psychology on societies where they do not fit, as a brief example from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami shows. Hermeneutic thinkers offer theoretical resources for gaining cultural awareness. Culture, in the hermeneutic view, is the constellation of meanings that constitutes a way of life. Such cultural meanings-especially in the form of folk psychologies and moral visions-inevitably shape every psychology, including U.S. psychology. The insights of hermeneutics, as well as its conceptual resources and research approaches, open the way for psychological knowledge and practice that are more culturally situated.

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Authors
Christopher, J. C., Wendt, D. C., Marecek, J., & Goodman, D. M.
Affiliations
  • Dartmouth College (US)
  • University of Michigan (US)
  • Swarthmore College (US)
  • Cambridge Health Alliance (US)
ORCID
Venue
American Psychologist
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2014
Volume
69
Issue
7
Pages
645-655
ISSN
  • 0003-066X (ISSN-L)
  • 1935-990X
DOI
10.1037/a0036851
PMC
PMC4557738
OpenAlex
W1973030629
Cited by
224
References
31
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 76 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 2
FWCI
60.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • American Psychologist (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Works - Scholarship, Research, & Creative Expression (Swarthmore College) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Drug Abuse (T32DA007267)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › General Psychology › Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Cultural, Psychoanalytic, and Sociopolitical Reflections
Keywords
critical cultural awareness, hermeneutics, cultural psychology, folk psychology, moral vision, cultural meaning, cross-cultural psychology, Indian Ocean tsunami
MeSH terms
Ethnopsychology, Humans, Internationality, Cultural Competency, Hermeneutics

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