Climate Change

Global climate change, according to climate scientists, is occurring rapidly and is driven by human behavior (Swim, Clayton, & Howard, Reference Swim, Clayton and Howard2011). Psychological scientists are studying the complex relations between human activity, population, socioeconomic status, carbon dioxide emissions, and other dimensions of the climate change problem, and they are engaged in assessment of public knowledge about climate change (Reynolds, Bostrom, Read, & Morgan, Reference Reynolds, Bostrom, Read and Morgan2010). These psychologists recognize that climate change requires not just technological or economic understanding, but they also acknowledge that it is a behavioral and cultural issue (Hoffman, Reference 553Hoffman2010).

Recently, scientists have addressed the need for a global social psychology to aid in dealing with global challenges. This would mean, among other things, the capacity for people to develop supranational identities – that is, the ability to identify with humanity in the broad sense, as opposed to a narrower national identity (Reese, Rosenmann, & McGarty, Reference Reese, Rosenmann and McGarty2015). There is a need for an understanding of the cultural and perceptual basis of international agreements intended to advance the common good (Lipschutz, Reference Lipschutz1991) and recognition that solutions to climate change must also encompass social issues, including poverty (Van de Vliert, Reference Van de Vliert2008).

The key point here is that mitigating climate change will require psychological solutions – behavior change. The research and the skills underlying that behavior change will come from a variety of perspectives within the broad scope of psychological science, among them cognitive science (Panno, Carrus, Maricchiolo, & Manetti, Reference Panno, Carrus, Maricchiolo and Mannetti2015); the study of emotional response (Chen, Reference Chen2016); motivation, values, and communication (Howell, Reference Howell2014); and behavior analysis (Todorov, Reference Todorov2010). Recognizing that narrative stories may sometimes be more effective than mere statistics, psychologists may help to improve those stories (Green, Strange, & Brock, Reference Green, Strange and Brock2013). Or perhaps psychological scientists will further enlighten the path to greater willingness to provide humanitarian aid across cultures (Andrighetto, Baldissarri, Lattanzio, Loughnan, & Volpato, Reference Andrighetto, Baldissarri, Lattanzio, Loughnan and Volpato2014). The teaching approaches described in many of the chapters of this book represent potential contributions to development of the future psychologists whose skills will be essential to effective global responses to the challenge of climate change and its human consequences.

Global Conflict

As I write this chapter, conflicts exist in many places around the world. Some, as in the Middle East, are outwardly violent; others are potentially violent, allayed by tenuous diplomatic efforts; and still others are played out in political strife and bitter partisan debate. Chapter 20 in this volume presents the case for the teaching of the psychology of peace, and the psychological literature has addressed the issue of intractable conflict (Bar-Tal, Halperin, & Pliskin, Reference Bar-Tal, Halperin, Pliskin and Galluccio2015). Much conflict occurs not between states, but between religious or cultural groups within states (Bercovitch & Foulkes, Reference Bercovitch and Foulkes2012).

Marsella (Reference Marsella2005) argued that differing views of reality between cultures can lead to conflict, and, if those views are embedded in fundamentalist religious, economic, and political views, the conflict can lead to violence, torture, war, and genocide. Individuals’ constructions of reality, Marsella wrote, arise from their cultures, and conflict resolution may be achieved through cultural learning and understanding. Similarly, conflict resolution styles may differ according to culture, as Chua and Gudykunst (Reference Chua and Gudykunst1987) found when comparing individuals from low-context and high-context cultures. Of particular cultural interest is the violence engendered by those individuals whom numerous countries have labeled terrorists. Sometimes, the attackers deliberately die in these incidents, and attempts to explain their behavior have at times proven contradictory, prompting Locicero and Sinclair (Reference Locicero and Sinclair2008) to propose a model drawing upon developmental and ecological psychology There has also been cultural backlash against groups considered “barbarian” (particularly Muslims) and calls for defense of “civilization,” sometimes resulting in a spiral of reciprocal hatred and violence (Vertigans, Reference Vertigans2010). There have been allegations of involvement in such reciprocal retaliation by psychologists (Elkins, Reference Elkins2016; Pope, Reference Pope2016) and efforts to use such actions as opportunities for the teaching of ethics in psychology (e.g., Handelsman, Reference Handelsman2016).

Influenced by the classic research of Sherif et al. (Reference Sherif, Harvey, White, Hood and Sherif1988/1961), Mayor (Reference Mayor1995) argued that psychologists can play an important role in creation of a culture of peace. Mayor’s idea was not new. More than six decades ago, a group of eminent psychologists produced a statement articulating the basis for peaceful relations among cultures. Known as The Psychologists’ Manifesto: Human Nature and the Peace: A Statement by Psychologists (Allport et al., Reference Allport, Murphy, Crutchfield, English, Heidbreder, Hilgard and Tolman1945), the document set forth several principles they believed to govern peace. Among them were these (Smith, Reference Smith1999):

Coming as it did on the heels of World War II, this statement was a powerful stand by a group of psychologists interested in culture and in peace. Unfortunately, however, their statement is as relevant and as essential today as it was in 1945. The resolution of conflict remains a major global need, and psychologists of the future will face the ongoing challenge of finding effective means to improve cultural understanding and facilitate peaceful behavior. As teachers of psychology, we must lead the way in developing and teaching the cultural awareness and psychological skills that students will need to grapple with conflict and to work toward a more peaceful world.

A Technological World

In my youth, I was a reader of the fictional comic strip detective Dick Tracy. Among his advanced techniques, Tracy used a “two-way wrist radio” to communicate with headquarters and to assist in his pursuit of criminals. In the mid-twentieth century, the two-way wrist radio was science fiction, a futuristic idea powered by an equally far-fetched atomic source. Today, people around the world carry small electronic devices far more powerful and complex than Tracy’s creator could ever have imagined – and those devices have changed the world in ways that also would have seemed unimaginable in that earlier time.

The electronic age has been both boon and bane for cultures around the world. Twenty-four-hour television, for example, has made information of all sorts easily available to many people, but at the same time has sometimes been associated with reductions in happiness or life satisfaction (Argyle, Reference Argyle, Kahneman, Diener and Schwarz1999; Schmiedeberg & Schröder, Reference Schmiedeberg and Schröder2017) and lower socioeconomic status in women (Teychenne, Ball, & Salmon, Reference Teychenne, Ball and Salmon2012). Furthermore, sedentary electronic activities may be disruptive in the lives of children (Granich, Rosenberg, Knuiman, & Timperio, Reference Granich, Rosenberg, Knuiman and Timperio2011).

In a cross-cultural study of student use of technology beyond the classroom, Lai, Wang, Li, and Hu (Reference Lai, Wang, Li and Hu2016) found that students’ cultural values were correlated with self-directed technology use, and in a study of Lebanese students, researchers found measures of Hofstede’s (Reference Hofstede1980) cultural dimensions to be related to perceptions of usefulness of technology and intentions to use electronic technology (Tarhini, Hone, Liu, & Tarhini, Reference 555Tarhini, Hone, Liu and Tarhini2017). However, although culture may clearly influence attitudes toward technology, it is perhaps the reverse – the influence of technology on culture – that is even more important. Technological innovations have multiplied exponentially in the relatively recent historical past (Heine, Reference Heine2012), and information technology has become an essential tool as developing countries combat poverty and work to provide education and healthcare (Blaya, Fraser, & Holt, Reference Blaya, Fraser and Holt2010; Kamssu, Siekpe, & Ellzy, Reference Kamssu, Siekpe and Ellzy2004).

Many people in developing countries have benefited from availability of mobile telephones in personal communication (Horst, Reference Horst2006), and trading practices (Overå, 2005), although hopes that internet-capable phones will relieve social exclusion among isolated people may depend upon affordability of appropriate devices (Chigona, Beukes, Vally, & Tanner, Reference Chigona, Beukes, Vally and Tanner2009). In Africa, widespread cell phone use, due to its contribution to ingroup coordination and cooperation, may have increased the potential for political violence (Pierskalla & Hollenbach, Reference Pierskalla and Hollenbach2013), while in Malawi, community health workers have used phones to demonstrate the potential for improved effectiveness of healthcare communication with commensurate savings in hospital staff time and expense (Mahmud, Rodriguez, & Nesbit, Reference Mahmud, Rodriguez and Nesbit2010). Despite the fact that poverty levels in sub-Saharan Africa are high by world standards (Sembene, Reference Sembene2015), the proliferation of mobile phones has revolutionized many aspects of life in the region where two-thirds or more of people have phones (Pew Research Center, 2015).

The potential of electronic devices and electronic communication, especially mobile telephones, is great, yet researchers in numerous cultures have investigated a variety of social and psychological downsides to these technologies. These have included addiction to electronic devices (Güzeller & Coşguner, Reference Güzeller and Coşguner2012), bullying (Jones, Manstead, & Livingstone, Reference Jones, Manstead and Livingstone2011), alcohol abuse (Burton, Dadich, & Soboleva, Reference Burton, Dadich and Soboleva2013), distracted driving (Vera-López et al., Reference Vera-López, Pérez-Núñez, Hijar, Hidalgo-Solórzano, Lunnen, Chandran and Hyder2013), and depression (Lemola, Perkinson-Gloor, Brand, Dewald-Kaufmann, & Grob, Reference Lemola, Perkinson-Gloor, Brand, Dewald-Kaufmann and Grob2015). For better or worse, and in cultures around the world, electronic technology has brought significant changes to the lives of people from all walks of life. The opportunities and the challenges afforded by these changes are mainly behavioral in character, and the nature of the technology transcends the boundaries of countries and continents. In the rapidly changing world of technology, psychology students of today will be the problem solvers of tomorrow, and the solutions they seek will require a wide range of cross-cultural skills.

The Role of Teachers

The global challenges I have briefly highlighted here may be among the most salient, but they are certainly not the only ones that students will face in a future that promises to be both complex and global. As we have always done, we must look to teachers to ready students for a future the teachers may never see, but that nevertheless demands preparation. The authors of the earlier chapters in this book have provided a wealth of information and ideas to aid in the task of preparing students, and in the process, they have shown how teachers can integrate cultural concepts with the traditional content of the many subfields of psychology. The prospect of teaching cross-cultural (and cultural, indigenous, or international) psychology is not new. Brislin (Reference 552Brislin, Berry and Lonner1975) discussed teaching about culture and psychology, Cushner (Reference Cushner1987) characterized cross-cultural as the “missing link” in the teaching of psychology, and Cole (Reference Cole1984) lamented that the field had treated cross-cultural psychology as a “miscreant child.”

Cole’s (Reference Cole1984) commentary, based on his own experience, rings true today. He suggested (a) that the history of psychology, as he had encountered it (and as many might encounter it today), presented a variety of luminaries – such as Galton, Köhler, Koffka, Binet, Pavlov, Locke – from assorted cultural backgrounds, but without clarity about their relevance to education in psychology. (b) American psychology and American theories were dominant, to the extent that textbooks and undergraduate psychology curricula, even in countries with their own lengthy psychological histories, resembled those in the United States; happily, things have changed, and we have begun to recognize the limitations of US psychology and the contributions of others. (c) Methodologists have often mistrusted research carried out in cultural settings that violate standard experimental rules with the result that undergraduates have too infrequently learned about the psychological characteristics of people of other cultures. Although he offered these observations more than three decades ago and tremendous progress has since occurred in the study and teaching of culture (Lonner & Murdock, Reference Lonner and Murdock2012), Cole’s observations would still hit too close to home for comfort in too many of today’s psychology classrooms.

In discussing integration of culture into the curriculum, Goldstein (Reference Goldstein1995) offered some useful guidelines, recommending:

Meeting these guidelines requires not only communication of knowledge but also of values. Matsumoto (Reference Matsumoto2002) argued that effective teaching about culture involves accepting that it cannot be value free and that we must get beyond one-way didactic teaching approaches, instead exposing students to experiential cultural activities and exercises (e.g., simulations, role-playing). In this way, Matsumoto suggested, we may help students attain goals that will help them to adjust to and live in a changing, diverse world.

The authors of the chapters of this volume aspire to teach a psychology of all people, and to do it in all courses – culture across the curriculum. As Lonner and Murdock (Reference Lonner and Murdock2012, p. 14) noted, “World-wide we owe beginning students the challenge and pleasure of learning how the powerful forces of culture shape all of our lives.” That challenge will be met only if students encounter great teachers. Benjamin (Reference Benjamin1987), writing about one of the great early teachers of psychology, Harry Kirke Wolfe, chose an apt title: “A Teacher Is Forever.” Thousands of people, Benjamin noted, bear Wolfe’s stamp without knowing his name. In the same way, we can hope to leave students a legacy that includes the skills to understand and to shape the rich tapestry and harmony of a diverse, multicultural world. Let the band play on.