Explaining cultural change through individual psychological processes

Abstract

This thesis looks at cultural change that arises from globalisation processes such as migration, and technological advances (mainly in the form of the internet) in two societies, Mauritius, and the UK. We approach this using an interdisciplinary lens: we adopt the culture sensitive methodological approaches of indigenous psychology, combined with theoretical ideas from the fields of cultural evolution, and social, and cross-cultural psychology. Across our three studies, we look at cultural change in the form of changing identities and identity processes (Study 1), cultural learning and acculturation processes which underlie broader cultural change (Study 2), and how various dimensions of changing norms influence behaviour (Study 3). These three studies highlight the importance of 1) cultural sensitivity in how we approach different cultures, and 2) updating scientific theories as the world around us changes.