What does it mean to “learn” a culture? In this episode, Joseph Shaules and Ishita Ray talk about how insights from cultural psychology can help us answer this question. We learn about embodied culture, predictive processing, and how our intuitive mind learns new patterns of perception. We find out the four key insights that we need for deep cultural learning. This is Part 2 of the Beyond WEIRD episode.
Whether in the schoolyard or on the battlefield, dividing the world into “us” vs. “them” comes naturally to humans. In this episode, Joseph Shaules and Ishita Ray explore “otherness” through stories and brain-mind science. Ishita shares her father’s experience as an “other”—and the wisdom he passed on to her. We learn about the inspiring vision of Rabindranath Tagore, and find that research into empathy provides hints at how we can look beyond . . . and look into . . . the differences that divide us. This episode was first published in October, 2023.
Intercultural education is sometimes criticized as being too WEIRD–Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic. But what does that mean? In this two-part episode, Joseph Shaules, Ishita Ray and Emre Seven trace the origins of the term WEIRD to the work of Joseph Henrich. He argues that people from WEIRD countries are psychological outliers. We hear Liu Liu reflect on the challenges of adjusting to WEIRD psychology, and discuss how intercultural education has been influenced by its WEIRD roots.
Joseph Shaules and Ishita Ray argue that the deeper goal of intercultural education is to see that our minds are shaped by culture. They explore natural biases, such as ethnocentrism and stereotypes, and the psychological impact of foreign experiences, including Oz moments and cultural shock. Emre Seven tells of his discovery that not everyone sees the world as he does.
Is gender cultural? Oddly, gender is rarely mentioned in intercultural education, even though expectations about being a man or woman vary widely around the world. Join Joseph Shaules, Yvonne van der Pol and Ishita Ray as they explore cultural assumptions about gender. Emre Seven and Zeina Matar share their experiences navigating different gender worlds, and we also learn about research into gender attitudes.
