Conclusion

In this free course, you’ve explored how psychology works across diverse cultures and societies. It highlighted how psychological processes, such as thinking, remembering and perceiving, can differ by cultural and societal factors. You learned that our emotional, behavioural and practical responses to things are influenced by cultural and societal factors.

The course outlined how culture, including language differences, can influence how people see the world; how early life experiences affect infant development, and some issues in researching those effects; and how different cultural perspectives can give insights into wellbeing. Additionally, it explained some of the historical limitations of psychological research, particularly its focus on WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic) populations, and emphasised the importance of incorporating diverse cultural perspectives to broaden and enrich our understanding of human behaviour.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course D110 Exploring psychological worlds: thinking, feeling doing. If you enjoy this course, you might want to have a look at the psychology, and psychology-related, qualifications that the OU offers.