“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” ~ Dr. Wayne Dyer
This semester I enrolled in a Culture and Psychology class. My professor made a point to demonstrate how we are inescapably obstructed with biases from the intricacy and variety of cultures that form our upbringing and worldview.
Culture, in this case, is not restricted to ethnicity or where you grew up, but is defined as "a unique meaning and information system, shared by a group and transmitted across generations, that allows the group to meet basic needs of survival, pursue happiness and well-being, and derive meaning from life."
By this definition, we are a part of several cultures simultaneously: someone can be a part Hawaiian residency culture, Japanese and African ethnic culture, private school culture, social media culture and first generation college student culture. All these associations we have throughout our lives shape the way we think, behave and interact with others whether we realize it or not.
Psychology – in general – seeks to describe, explain, predict and control information and phenomena however, most (if not all) of the knowledge psychologists have accumulated is the result of weirdos. Weirdos made the tests, weirdos ran the tests and weirdos took the tests.
You see, WEIRDo is an acronym, it stands for people from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic cultures. Most psychological studies have been made by upper-middle class white men, and most test subjects have been white, male, American college students. Hopefully, you can see how this is a major issue.
Since this information has been made with such a non-representative sample, in studying culture and psychology, we seek to test whether such theories and phenomena apply to non-WEIRDos.
In think that, in order to understand ourselves, we can learn from other people of the same culture. I grew up on YouTube and some of the most popular YouTubers are Asian, namely Ryan Higa (aka NigaHiga). In multiple videos, these YouTubers would play with Asian stereotypes with videos like, "My Dad is Asian," "Are Asian Stereotypes True?" and "Job Expectations."
Even though content creators took many liberties in assuming that their individual and collective experiences (essentially a stereotype) would be relatable across a wide audience, the videos were generally received positively. I, as an Asian American, could easily identify with items that these YouTubers addressed and began to see the nuances of the culture that I was a part of.
My professor told the class that sometimes to understand the uniqueness of one's culture, one must be exposed to different cultures. I am a fifth generation Asian American from an upper-middle-class Christian family; I was born and raised in Hawaii and went to public school my entire life. I currently attend a very small, conservative, private, Christian university in a very liberal state.
It is here that I see the contrast between the culture(s) I grew up in and the cultures of the world I now reside in. This was most apparent during (surprise!) the 2016 presidential election. I'm sure you're sick of seeing and hearing about this by now since it plagues every television channel, radio station and timeline, but this is when I received the biggest "cultural shock."
Whereas in Hawaii people are humble, submissive and loving to a fault, I was in a place where people unapologetically express themselves with brutal honesty and, instead of taking consideration of others, "corrected" them to prove superiority.
It is foolish and naïve to assume you will never come across someone different from you. With growing minority populations, better and faster transportation and improved technology, our cultural contact is inevitably increased and will continue to increase.
We cannot control who we come into contact with, what cultures they grew up in and are involved in and their biases, but we can control our responses. Although we shouldn't live in fear of offending others, we should be aware and considerate of different viewpoints, opinions and lifestyles. We need to take off our WEIRDo lenses.
In Jesus' famous Sermon on the Mount, He says, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you" (Matthew 7:12).
Additionally, during the Last Supper when Jesus is washing His disciples' feet, He says, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).
Jesus loves all people and He calls us to be like Him. By loving those that He has created and loves, we in turn love and worship Him:
“‘Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
"Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
"The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
"They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
"He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25:34-46)
No one is made on accident, and nothing that happens is a coincidence. God has orchestrated their life specifically with beauty and prosperity in mind. In Ephesians, Paul writes that we are all God's masterpieces. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
If each person is a masterpiece of God and has God-given plans for his or her life, shouldn't that change the way we treat each other? How could you possibly hate your brother or insult your sister? Does it not equate to insulting the artist who created them? God created diversity, not just WEIRDos.
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful." (Colossians 3:12-15)
