Most people can tell you why Bruce Wayne became Batman. After witnessing his parents’ murder, he created a vigilante alter ego — someone who could hold the bad guys accountable.  

Then there’s Norman Bates. His unhealthy relationship with his abusive mother sent him spiraling down a delusional path of violence. And Charles Foster Kane, who so desperately missed the freedom he felt in childhood that he spent the rest of his life trying to buy it back.  

Origin stories like these make for compelling films, but in real life, we know that people are more complex than they are in “Psycho” or “Citizen Kane.”  

Still, it’s natural to seek explanations for human behavior. Psychologists and social scientists have developed many theories to serve as frameworks for such analysis. Some, like attachment theory and conflict theory, have entered the pop culture lexicon — you might see oversimplified versions of them floating around in memes. 

Dr. Muhammad Hassan Raza, associate professor in Missouri State University’s School of Teaching, Learning and Developmental Sciences, believes while all these theories are useful, it’s important to remember that they’re not silver bullets, and they’re not one size fits all.  

“Even people who appear similar are unique based on factors like their socialization, income status, sibling relationships or neighborhood characteristics,” he said. It’s helpful to think of theories as lenses, capable of providing insight into human development.

Among these lenses, Raza identified a key area where he felt there was more to explore: the role of culture.

“Our culture is what helps us make sense of the world. It’s how we determine what we like and what we value and how we interpret other people’s interactions and behaviors.”  

A multilevel approach

For much of history, Raza said, culture’s influence may have been difficult to perceive. When people tended to live in communities with one dominant culture, its impact on their interactions was almost invisible. As the world grows increasingly mobile, communities are more likely to be multicultural. And while this brings great benefits, it also brings opportunities for misunderstanding and conflict when cultural differences collide.  

In “Multilevel Engagement Theory,” (MET) published in the International Journal of Qualitative Research in 2023, Raza introduced “a comprehensive theoretical framework and unique perspective to study families around the world.” MET places culture and demographic characteristics at the center of individual and family experiences, helping shed light on why some individuals, families, groups and organizations enjoy stronger relationships and more positive outcomes than others. According to Raza’s framework, culture exerts influence as one of three engagement levels that might shape someone’s perspective.  

The most immediate engagement level, called the proximal level, encompasses the relationships we often think about when we wonder what makes someone tick — family life, work or school experiences, and community interactions. The influential level includes media, such as print, electronic and social media, along with public policies, agencies and institutions that have the power to mold the contours of a person’s experience. The third level of engagement, the holistic level, is designed to illuminate the impact of cultural conditioning and areas of diversity, such as class, gender, ethnicity, disability and religion. It also accounts for the effects of time — the developmental context, such as age-specific changes over time, the historical context of a person’s experience, and the sociocultural context, or era, in which that person lives. As Raza explains it, “Families are not isolated, but their experiences are multifaceted, complex and multilevel.” 

Resources and vulnerabilities

According to Raza’s theory, each level of engagement contributes to an individual’s resources and vulnerabilities, which, in turn, affect their relationships and outcomes. In other words, people who experience similar vulnerability at the holistic level — caused by extreme hardship, prejudice or geopolitical trauma — might have different outcomes based on their experiences at the proximal and influential levels. It’s an idea with significant real-life implications, especially as communities around the world welcome new populations.  

Raza hopes his theory might be used to spark deeper understanding between people from different cultures — and to bolster support for initiatives that help vulnerable families establish strong ties in their communities.  

Raza’s book “The Multilevel Community Engagement Model: School, Community, Workplace Engagement and Service-Learning,” published in 2024, introduces a practical framework with an ethos that’s much like MET. Raza hopes this model can be used to develop, implement and evaluate programs for varied populations. He believes it can be applied to programs that address a range of issues, including family and child development, workplace communication, mental health and intimate partner interactions.  

The model explicitly highlights culture and diversity’s impacts on program process and outcomes. It might be particularly useful for groups with individuals from distinct cultures and areas of diversity who are working with shared curriculum or goals. For example, as Raza described in his book, a counselor might want to create a parenting program for families with a variety of beliefs, as opposed to one that’s grounded in a prevalent religious, cultural or social perspective. Using this model, the counselor can design structured programming that allows for differences in participants’ culture and diversity areas — without getting lost in translation.  

“It’s truly a global framework,” Raza said. “It can be generalized to all societies regardless of their race.”

Further reading

Explore MSU’s School of Teaching, Learning and Developmental Sciences

• Story by Lucie Amberg
• Photo by Kevin White