论美国文化的特征及其对美国民众心理的塑造

On the Characteristics of American Culture and Its Shaping of American Psyche

摘要: 本文分析美国文化的结构与特征，讨论美国民众心理的特征与表现，并据此揭示文化对于心理进行塑造的功能和机制，最后指出本研究的意义。我们把文化看成一个自在自为的活着的信息系统，它主要以“形而上”的方式外在于全部成员的生老病死过程，由生存、自然、社会三种理念构成“文化三角形”。我们把个人心理看成是与生理相伴而发育、成熟、衰老、死亡的信息系统，由动机、知识与智慧构成“心理三角形”。文化与心理具有相同的结构和类似的功能；文化是全部个体心理的逻辑的“综合”，心理是整体文化的带有个性的“表征”；文化是“群体的大心理”，心理是“个体的小文化”；文化是“酱缸”，心理是“泡菜”；特定的生物遗传，以及自然环境、家庭氛围、社区条件、社会舆论等文化元素，共同塑造了千差万别的个体心理。作者把美国文化的特点以及它对于美国民众心理塑造作为上述理论的“个案分析”，并且指出这种讨论对于理解美式文明的优势与缺陷、理解美国民众与中国民众的心理差距，都有参考作用。

Abstract: The author analyzes the structure and characteristics of American culture, discusses the characteristics and manifestations of the American psyche, reveals the function and mechanism of the psychological shaping by the culture, and demonstrates the meaning of our research. We take culture as a free and live information system, which mainly in the “metaphysical” way exists outside the process of development, mature, decay and doom of all members, and in which there is a “cultural triangle” that consists of three elements, i.e., the ideas of existence, nature and society. We regard the individual psyche as an information system whose development, maturation, aging and death are accompanied by physiology, and in which there is a “psychological triangle” that composes of drive, knowledge and intelligence. The culture and the psyche have the same structure and the similar function. We suggest that the culture is the logic comprehensiveness of the whole individual psyches and the psyche is an individual “token” of the whole culture; culture is a “big psyche” of a group and psyche is a “small culture” of an individual; culture is a “pickle jar”, and psyche is a “pickled vegetable”; and specific biological genetics, and some cultural elements, as well as the natural environment, family atmosphere, community conditions, public opinion, commonly shape a wide range of individual psyches. The author stipulates the characteristics of American culture and its shaping of American psyche as the “case analysis” of above theory, and points out the reference functions of this discussion for understanding the advantages and disadvantages of American civilization, and the psychological gap between American people and Chinese people.