Culture is a dynamic group of individuals that share a similar context, are exposed to many similar cultural messages, and contain a broad range of different individuals who are affected by those cultural messages in divergent ways.

1. The Critical Realist Philosophy of Science of
Cultural Psychology

3. • Culture is a dynamic group of individuals that share a similar context, are
exposed to many similar cultural messages, and contain a broad range of
different individuals who are affected by those cultural messages in divergent
ways.
• Cultural differences are the various beliefs, behaviors, languages, practices
and expressions considered unique to members of a specific ethnicity, race or
national origin.

5. Ontological realism is a term best applied to theories that are realist regarding what there is, where
‘what there is’ (or the relevant ontology) is usually specified previous to or in conjunction with the
realism regarding it. Realism, very simply is the notion that something is real.
Epistemological realism is a philosophical position, a subcategory of objectivism, holding that
what you know about an object exists independently of your mind. It opposes epistemological
idealism.
Semantic realism is, roughly, the view that properties of sentences like having meaning, or being true,
are primarily objectively explained, typically in terms of causal relations and interactions, or
correspondences, with an external world distinct from both thought and language.
The realist approach is philosophically rooted in realism, which combines three social science
principles: causal explanations are achievable; social reality is mainly an interpretative reality of social
actors; and social actors evaluate their social reality

6. Specific principles of a critical realist scientific cultural
Psychology
1. The cultural origins, characteristics, and function of a people's psychology
comprise a real object (subject matter) of definite properties that exists at
least partly independently of the researcher. This is known as ontological
realism.
2. The researcher's objective is to faithfully apprehend this cultural psychological
reality.
3. Scientific descriptions and explanations must strive to apprehend reality as
truthfully and completely as possible. This is known as semantic realism.

7. 4. A true description of cultural psychological reality requires active discovery by the
researcher. The researcher's activity/agency must be directed at discovering the objective
cultural psychological reality of his subjects that is independent of him. There is a gap
between the observer and the observed, and that the observer must marshal active and
creative effort to overcome the gap and comprehend the observed phenomenon. This is
known as methodological realism.
5. The single, definite nature of reality acts as a universalizing objective for all scientists.
They are all geared toward explaining and describing the same target in the most accurate
and complete terms.
6. The ontological relativism (culturally variability) of cultural psychological phenomena is
compatible with ontological, epistemological, semantic, and methodological realism.

9. • Indigenous psychology is an alternative paradigm to study human behavior.
The alternative paradigm suggests that the exploration of human thoughts and
actions should be strongly focused on ‘indigenization.’
• The changing social processes in a community context are identified as ‘local
knowledge’. It is believed to facilitate social change and is an essential
gatekeeper for empowering local communities.
• Indigenous psychology is influenced by ecopsychology. Ecopsychology aims
to find out how people can connect with the natural world in ways that are
healthy and sustainable both for people and for the planet

10. Three distinct phenomena of indigenous psychology
1. The culturally organized emotions, perceptions, self, cognitive processes,
developmental processes, sexuality, and mental illness of a particular group
of people.
2. A people's self-understanding of their emotions, self, mental illness,
personality
3. A meta theory that endorses studying indigenous self-understanding as
useful/accurate descriptions and explanations of their culturally organized
psychology.

11. Debates in scientific cultural psychology
1. Ontological relativism is compatible with ontological, epistemological,
semantic, and methodological realism.
2. Ontological relativism is consistent with epistemological, semantic, and
methodological universalism.
3. Culturally embedded scientists can produce and utilize universal science.

12. The Politics of Indigenous Psychology
This glorifying of epistemological, semantic, and methodological relativism has
political goals as well as scientific ones. These relativisms are deemed to be pivotal to
national identity.
Indigenous psychology is essentially a nationalistic political critique of Western
psychological theories and methodologies. It valorizes marginalized people's identity
and agency by accepting their own psychological understanding. This political goal
underlies many details of indigenous psychology.
A scientific analysis of psychology additionally reveals that subjectivity is not
necessarily creative because it is stunted by oppression, exploitations, alienation, and
commodification.

13. The political agenda of indigenous psychology leads to depoliticizing and de-
culturing culture and cultural psychological phenomena.
But this is only an appearance. Psychology and culture only appear to be free
from politics; indigenous, marginalized people only appear to control their
social and psychological activities.

14. https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ces/research/current/socialtheory/maps/criticalrealism/
Marsella, A.J. (2009). Some reflections on potential abuses of psychology’s knowledge and
practices. Psychological Studies 1, 13-15: (Journal of the National Academy of
Psychology – India).
Ratner, C. (2008). Cultural psychology, cross-cultural psychology, and indigenous psychology.
Cultural Psychology, Cross-Cultural Psychology, and Indigenous Psychology, January
2008, 1–112.
References

15. Thank
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