Cultural Being
Cultural Homophily and Collaboration in Superstar Teams
Gábor Békés & Gianmarco Ottaviano
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
One may reasonably think that cultural homophily, defined as the tendency to associate with others of similar culture, affects collaboration in multinational teams in general but not in superstar teams of professionals at the top of their industry. The analysis of an exhaustive data set on the passes made by professional European football players in the top five men’s leagues reveals that on the contrary, cultural homophily is persistent, pervasive, and consequential, even in superstar multinational teams of very-high-skill individuals with clear common objectives and aligned incentives who are involved in interactive tasks that are well defined and not particularly culture intensive.
Roma Eterna? Roman rule explains regional well-being divides in Germany
Martin Obschonka et al.
Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 2025
Abstract:
In light of persistent regional inequalities in adaptive outcomes such as health, well-being, and related personality traits, psychological research is increasingly adopting a historical perspective to understand the deeper roots of these patterns. In this study, we examine the role of ancient cultures, specifically the impact of Roman civilization around two thousand years ago, on the macro-psychological character of German regions. We compare present-day regions that were advanced by Roman culture with those that remained outside of Roman influence. Even when accounting for more recent historical factors, we find that regions developed by Roman civilization show more adaptive personality patterns (Big Five) and better health and psychological well-being today. Results from a spatial regression discontinuity design indicate a significant effect of the Roman border on present-day regional variation in these outcomes. Additional analyses suggest that Roman investments in economic institutions (e.g., trade infrastructure such as Roman roads, markets, and mines) were crucial in creating this long-term effect. Together, these results demonstrate how ancient cultures can imprint a macro-psychological legacy that contributes to present-day regional inequalities.
Ancient Epics in the Television Age: Mass Media, Identity, and the Rise of Hindu Nationalism in India
Resuf Ahmed et al.
NBER Working Paper, January 2025
Abstract:
This study examines the long-term social and political impacts of mass media exposure to religious content in India. We study the impact of "Ramayan," the massively popular adaptation of the Hindu epic televised in 1987-88. To identify causal effects, we conduct difference-in-difference analyses and exploit variation in TV signal strength driven by location of TV transmitters and topographical features inhibiting electromagnetic TV signal propagation. We find that areas with higher exposure to Ramayan (higher TV signal strength when the show aired) experienced significant cultural and political changes. First, we document a strengthening of religious identity among Hindus: parents in these areas became more likely to give their newborn sons traditionally Hindu names, and households showed increased adherence to orthodox Hindu dietary practices. In the short term, this cultural shift led to an increase in Hindu-Muslim communal violence through 1992. Over the longer term, through 2000, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became more likely to win state assembly elections. Analyses of changes in local TV signal strength in India over decades indicate that these effects are not due to general access to TV but are due to exposure to the Ramayan TV show in 1987-1988. Our findings reveal that media portrayal of religious narratives can have lasting effects on cultural identity, intergroup violence, and electoral outcomes.
Cultural Variation in the Smiles We Trust: The Effects of Reputation and Ideal Affect on Resource Sharing
Julie Cachia et al.
Emotion, forthcoming
Abstract:
When playing single-shot behavioral economic games like the Trust and Dictator Games, European Americans and East Asians invested in and gave more to targets whose smiles matched their culture’s ideal affect (the affective states they value; Blevins et al., 2024; Park et al., 2017), suggesting that smiles signal something about targets’ traits. But what happens when participants are given direct information about targets’ traits; do targets’ smiles still matter for resource sharing? To answer this question, we conducted four studies from 2019 to 2022 in which 429 European Americans and 413 Taiwanese played single-shot Trust Games with open, toothy “excited” smiling targets, closed “calm” smiling targets, and nonsmiling “neutral” targets that varied in their reputations for being trustworthy, competent, and emotionally stable. When targets’ reputations were ambiguous (e.g., “50% of previous players said they were trustworthy”), European American and Taiwanese participants invested more in targets whose smiles matched their culture’s ideal affect. However, when targets’ reputations were clearly good (e.g., “80% of previous players said they were trustworthy”) or bad (e.g., “20% of previous players said they were trustworthy”), European Americans invested equally in all targets, suggesting that reputational information about targets’ traits mattered more than targets’ smiles. The pattern for Taiwanese, however, differed: Taiwanese invested equally in calm and neutral targets when targets’ reputations were clear, but regardless of their reputations, Taiwanese invested in excited targets the least. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding cultural differences in the meaning of an excited smile in the context of resource sharing.
Low Relational Mobility Fosters Interpersonal Indecision Through Increased Sensitivity to Social Rejection
Kuan-Ju Huang et al.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Relational mobility is a socio-ecological factor that shapes our interpersonal behaviors. Across four studies involving three countries (N = 2,874), we tested the hypothesis that low relational mobility increases sensitivity to social rejection, which in turn fosters decision avoidance and difficulty in interpersonal situations (i.e., interpersonal indecision). Study 1 showed that countries with low relational mobility reported more subjective difficulties in interpersonal decision-making. Studies 2a and 2b demonstrated that cross-country differences in interpersonal indecision can be mediated by relational mobility and concerns about rejection. Study 3 further revealed that this mechanism is driven by heightened concerns and evaluations of negative relationship outcomes. Study 4 replicated the proposed mechanism using a scale that assesses the general tendency to experience interpersonal indecision. Our findings highlight the importance of socio-ecological context in shaping experiences when navigating interpersonal relationships.
Repelling Rape: Foreign Direct Investment Empowers Women
Tianshu Li, Sonal Pandya & Sheetal Sekhri
Journal of Politics, forthcoming
Abstract:
For marginalized social groups, global economic integration can offer new economic opportunities but may also trigger backlash by dominant groups. Foreign direct investment (FDI), we argue, fosters women’s empowerment that is resilient to male backlash because it increases women’s income and introduces gender equality norms. India’s sudden 2005 FDI liberalization allows us to identify FDI’s causal effect on women’s empowerment and rape, a violent manifestation of male backlash. In FDI-exposed districts, rape declined, women’s relative wage growth doubled, and women voiced stronger support for women’s empowerment. Women in these districts exercised house-hold bargaining leverage and political participation in ways that increase safety. FDI from low gender equality countries, which raises income but lacks equality norms, increases rape. We rule out several alternative mechanisms. Our findings establish a new channel through which economic integration advances social equality.
Self-Enhancement in Latin America: Is It Linked to Interdependence?
Cristina Salvador et al.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although individuals of Latin American heritage (Latin Americans in short) are considered interdependent, they also value traits like uniqueness and positivity, like individuals of European American cultural heritage, who are considered independent. It remains unclear whether this inclination toward positivity extends to a bias in self-perception known as self-enhancement. Moreover, if Latin Americans are indeed self-enhancing, it is uncertain how these tendencies align with their interdependent cultural orientation. In this article, we report three studies (N = 1,246) with three operationalizations of self-enhancement. We found that Mexicans, Colombians, and Ecuadorians show self-enhancement that is mostly similar in magnitude to European Americans. Notably, Study 3 found that self-enhancement is related to interdependence in Latin America: Unlike European Americans, Latin Americans in Ecuador exhibited stronger self-enhancement when interdependence is primed rather than independence. Our findings suggest that among Latin American individuals, self-enhancement not only exists but also reinforces interdependence.
Trade and ethnolinguistic differences: A replication and extension
Javier Gonzalez & Ömer Özak
Economic Inquiry, forthcoming
Abstract:
We revisit the role of trade on long-run inter-ethnic linguistic differences. Dickens (2022) hypothesized that neighboring languages are more similar when agriculture provides potential gains from inter-ethnic trade. Since his empirical approach confounds inter- and intra-ethnic trade, we replicate his main analysis using improved measures of potential inter-ethnic gains from trade. Our results confirm the role of trade in inter-ethnic linguistic differences while showing the difficulty of disentangling the role of inter- versus intra-ethnic trade. We also provide an open-source computational framework to replicate both sets of results, which others can use to produce original replicable economic research.