Lesson 8: Social Psychology and Culture
What is Social Psychology?
Social Psychology is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. Basically, it is the study of how other shape the way we think, feel, and behave. Some topics under the rubric of social psychology include prejudice and stereotypes, persuasion, prosocial behaviors like altruism, and culture. Follow this link Links to an external site. for a collection of materials under the many topics within social psychology.
The study of art has an important place within social psychology. Primarily, of course, art is considered an artifact of culture; the art object reflects the time, place, zeitgeist and challenges of its sociological birthplace. But art also has a unique ability to influence how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. A core question for psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists in this area is this: does art reflect or create culture?
What is Culture?
It is clear to most people that art is a significant part of culture. Culture refers to the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.
Some aspects of culture:
Norms: Rules for accepted and expected behavior. Norms prescribe “proper” behavior. For example, where I live, we usually eat using silverware instead or chopsticks or fingers. Also, we say "hello" usually in the United States instead of "This is Shannon" or "What?" or "This is Buddy the Elf What's your Favorite Color!"
Taboos: Restrictions or prohibitions on behavior imposed by a culture; for example the incest taboo (it is prohibited to have sexual relations with immediate family members) or the taboo in many cultures against inter-racial marriages.
Of course, norms and taboos change over time. Inter-racial marriages are thankfully not as taboo in my country as they were a century ago. The question is was that shift influenced by cultural artifacts - T.V. programs Links to an external site., for example. Or, did they merely reflect the cultural shift.
Take a few minutes to take some notes: What is the difference between norms and taboos?
Art and Culture
Consider Chris Ofili Links to an external site.’ Links to an external site.s Links to an external site. Holy Virgin Mary (below) described as “a carefully rendered black Madonna decorated with a resin-covered lump of elephant dung. The figure is also surrounded by small collaged images of female genitalia from pornographic magazines.”
Clearly, this wasn't your typical cultural religious icon. Ofili violated several taboos - displaying feces, using feces to represent a holy woman associated with purity and associating religious iconography with genitalia. Also, just showing genitalia. Specifically, genitalia from pornographic magazines. That is some pretty epic levels of taboo violation! Thus, it is not surprising that the piece was a center of controversy when it was displayed in Brooklyn in 1999.
Certainly, Ofali pushed the bounds of cultural expectations, particularly in the United States. But how were those expectations shaped? Further, in a post-Ofili-Maythorpe-Serrano world - how have our current expectations been altered and informed by works like the Holy Virgin Mary? Ofili is not the first artist to break taboos - or even the first to break those expectations within the same subject matter. The Virgin and Child by Botticelli was once the center of scandal, or at least discomfort and indignation, as Duggin (2016) stated “(during the Renaissance) when the Virgin Mary began to look too much like the prettiest girl in town, the boundaries of religious art were strained, if not erased” (Duggin, linked below, para. 3).
Image Source: Link Links to an external site.
Cultural context shapes what is generally considered normal, beautiful, controversial, and repulsive. Art sometimes has the power to shape cultural context, but the relationship is complex. Consider that Ofili had a showing in New York in 2014, and opened to excellent reviews Links to an external site.. Of course, there are many reasons for the change in reception, but it is intriguing to think, as the New Museum curator Massimiliano Gioni states in the linked BBC article "... in art any transgression eventually gets absorbed and digested, and that’s not necessarily a form of surrender – it’s just what artists do: broaden the definition of what’s possible and what is accepted. Throughout the history of 20th Century art that was shocking at one point becomes normal after a while" (Sooke, 2014, para. 12).
We discussed cognitive dissonance in the last chapter. In this chapter, we shift the discussion to cultural dissonance, or the sense of discomfort people experience when there are inconsistencies in cultural expectations, often when one belongs in some way to one or more cultures or when overall cultural perceptions are shifting. For example, when formerly accepted taboos and norms are violated and therefore not as certain and secure as they may have been perceived. Art, with its ability to evoke emotion, can be a catalyst for this cultural dissonance. What do we do when we are presented with a Virgin Mary in dung? Like with cognitive dissonance, there are three possible responses (Solso, 1994, pp. 122-125).
1. Reject: "This is horrible/grotesque/disgusting - it should be banned or destroyed" - i.e. dismiss the art object.
2. Reflect: "The artist must be conveying something more than what is conveyed by the surface features" - i.e. think about an association with religious purity and elephant dung could mean.
3. Revise: "This would be better if it fits my cultural expectations, " or "I wish Ofaili would create a Virgin Mary using paint instead of dung." - i.e. change the parts you don't like.
Take a few minutes to take some notes: What is cultural dissonance and how are reactions to it similar to cognitive dissonance?