What challenges does cultural diversity present for social psychology Essay

What challenges does cultural diversity present for social psychology - Essay Example nguage also plays a part in this discussion because it is an intricate part of what makes up a culture and the language can help or hinder an individual or group as they attempt to acclimate themselves in different circumstances. Some of the work that has been done in this area is through the use of cultural models and cultural theories. One of the theories is the social schema theory. According to Wikipedia, the social schema theory helps the individual when they are in familiar situations. This brings all of the information to the individual that is relative to their current experience. "Schemas unique to individuals are created from personal experiences, whereas those shared by individuals are created from various types of common experiences" (Garro, 2000 cited in "Cultural Schema Theory" ). Garro also says that this theory helps to understand why some people have more knowledge than others. The more conversations individuals have with each other, the more information they obtain about the culture (Garro cited in Rodriguez, 2005, p. 7). Britt and Heise (1997) write about this theory in relationship to pride in culture. They support that pride and shame are related because they both can be results of how the individual perceives them. Through this they develop their understanding of their culture and their emotions help them to understand how to act inside the culture. The last part of this theory says that there are three states that people have when getting information: The situation works with an example. When people go into any type of situation whether it is cultural or business, they understand going in that they have a role to play and others have a similar role. If someone within the group acts out, they will be interrupting the reference state and that behavior will be deflected to bring the situation back to the reference state. Deflection of the situation is always relative to how much disruption is occurring. These are just a few of the theories