Human Behavior in Global Perspective: An Introduction to Cross-Cultural Psychology . - Second Edition - Review - book review

Adolescence, Fall, 2000

SEGALL, Marshall H., DASEN, Pierre R., BERRY, John W., & POORTINGA, Ype H. Human Behavior in Global Perspective: An Introduction to Cross-Cultural Psychology (Second Edition). Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. 399pp. (p).

The authors, gathering from their own diverse and global experiences, provide information to demonstrate that human behavior is linked with the sociocultural context in which it occurs. In this new edition, they retain the landmark studies that show how cross-cultural psychology developed and came to influence psychology in general, and they add important new research conducted across national groups and research on ethnocultural groups residing within multicultural societies. This edition applies cross-cultural research findings to real-world social issues, introduces the sociohistorical and sociocultural perspectives to the study of cognition, expands upon discussion of social identity theory, and includes an exposition of recent biological and anthropological research on the concept of race. Chapters include: the sociocultural nature of human beings; cross-cultural research--scope and methods; human development and informal education; perceptual and cognitive processes; alternative views on human competenc e--general intelligence and genetic epistemology; everyday cognition; motives, beliefs, and values; males and females and the relations between them; culture and aggression; intercultural relations in a shrinking world; acculturation; and conclusions.