Bucksport Area Cultural Arts Society

Archive for the ‘Psychology’ category

The Psychology of Culture

December 3rd, 2011

On the evolutionary, contemporary and universal dimensions of culture and identifying the main research areas in cultural psychology

The term culture would mean the entire gamut of activities, beliefs, lifestyle, habits, rituals, arts, ethics and behavioral patterns of a society. Yet despite the wide definition of culture, the elements of culture being too varied and divergent, it is not easy to provide a relationship between culture and psychology. There are two common ways by which the relationship between psychology and culture is studied, through intra-cultural psychology or behavioral patterns within a particular society and intercultural psychology or behavior and psychological characteristics between societies.

Intra-cultural psychology seeks to understand the cultural basis of behavior by studying the peculiarities of a society, its rules and norms and shows how traditions shape or influence the collective psyche of the people within the society. However in psychology this is simply considered as ‘cultural psychology’ a straightforward term denoting the study of cultural traditions and their effects on the psychology of people. This sort of categorization may be misleading as it tends to see cultures as fundamentally different units and highlights differences rather than similarities. Cross-cultural psychology focuses on finding universal patterns of behavior or beliefs that are common among people of all cultures and this is what has been described here as ‘inter-cultural’ psychology. The terms ‘intra-cultural’ and ‘inter-cultural’ psychology would be more conducive to finding a psychology that shows convergent patterns of cultural behavior among people across societies.

The psychology of culture requires further development in the areas of defining culture and in finding cultural roots that would highlight collective psyche or universal patterns of behavior. Humans are finally united by common emotions and psyche and this broader cultural psychology has been promoted by Carl Gustav Jung who focused his studies on the importance of deriving or understanding the collective unconscious with those elements or archetypes that are carried from one generation to another. » Read more: The Psychology of Culture

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Posted in Psychology

Tags: intercultural psychology main research areas

The Arts Have the Power to Transform Whole Communities

November 28th, 2011

This is evident in how well designed programs in the arts have boosted academic achievement and nurtured the development of well-rounded students and the community within. Playwright, Wendy Wasserstein stated “The arts reflect profoundly the most democratic credo, the belief in an individual vision or voice… The arts’ belief in potential gives each of us — both audience and creator — pride in our society’s ability to nurture individuals.”

The commonality that statement brings is the value and belief that the Arts are important to us, to our lives and to our community. The Arts inspire creativity in each of us individually; however, they breathe life into our communities. What we know to be true, throughout history, is that the Arts — all of them, evolve and reinforce beliefs and values in all societies. The Arts draw out from each of us the creativity from within to explore the possibilities as a whole. The Arts challenge, inspire, and change people because audiences are encouraged to answer questions about life, the world and the legacies they are creating.

The role of the heart of an Arts Center should be to create transformational art education opportunities for students of all ages in the community. An Arts Centers purpose is to capture the essence of the community, through multi-media experiences that communicate, educate and transcend ethnic cultures. The Arts Center should openly teach us that we are inherent sources of innovation and that we can dramatically contribute to a community just by discovering what we create best-and then doing it! It does not have to be great theatre, dance, or a masterful painting-a child exposed to the Arts learns skills in creativity and self-expression that might just lead him/her to develop a new vaccine or a ground-breaking world policy that leads to a more peaceful planet. The Arts are not superfluous to society; they are an underestimated force that is moving it forward, therefore the Arts Center needs to become the core of that force within the community. When one visits an Arts Center either for an art exhibit or for a performance they should feel awake, alive, and lucky to be there.

One should also look at how our community values its partnerships in the Arts. The value of the Arts to the community is a very personal statement. It means something different to each of us. For me it means working together to leverage limited resources, broaden inclusion, increase accessibility, and provide opportunities for everyone at a collaboration level in making a difference for all involved. The value comes by showing empowerment and enriching the lives of those that are served and by strengthening the community in which we live. Another value in partnerships is that they foster and create sustainable relationships within the broader community. A Community partnership approach sparks networks that allow participants to better realize common goals. These connections form pathways for knowing and sharing social, cultural, and material capital through community building that supports personal, social and institutional change.