Culture and Social Psychology: Converging Perspectives

Views of culture in psychology and sociology have converged markedly in the past two decades. Both have rejected what Adams and Markus (2004) refer to as the "entity" conception of culture--the view that culture is coherent, stable, and located in the heads of collectivities' members--in favor of more supple and dynamic constructs. Culture, in this new view, entails dynamic interactions between mind and environment, each of which serves as a selection regime for the other (mental structures selecting aspects of the environment as salient, and environments selectively reinforcing mental representations). In this article, the authors talk about the converging perspectives of culture and social psychology. They discuss the culture and social psychology in both psychology and sociology. They also discuss the notable convergence between psychological and sociological social psychologists in definitions and approaches to culture.