Lost in Translation
Joni Sasaki & Heejung Kim
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Religion helps people maintain a sense of control, particularly secondary control - acceptance of and adjustment to difficult situations - and contributes to strengthening social relationships in a religious community. However, little is known about how culture may influence these effects. The current research examined the interaction of culture and religion on secondary control and social affiliation, comparing people from individualistic cultures (e.g., European Americans), who tend to be more motivated toward personal agency, and people from collectivistic cultures (e.g., East Asians), who tend to be more motivated to maintain social relationships. In Study 1, an analysis of online church mission statements showed that U.S. websites contained more themes of secondary control than did Korean websites, whereas Korean websites contained more themes of social affiliation than did U.S. websites. Study 2 showed that experimental priming of religion led to acts of secondary control for European Americans but not Asian Americans. Using daily diary methodology, Study 3 showed that religious coping predicted more secondary control for European Americans but not Koreans, and religious coping predicted more social affiliation for Koreans and European Americans. These findings suggest the importance of understanding sociocultural moderators for the effects of religion.
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Chinese mate preferences: Cultural evolution and continuity across a quarter of a century
Lei Chang, Yan Wang, Todd Shackelford & David Buss
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Expressed mate preferences provide unique windows into the cultural evolution of values and evolved mating psychology. The current study used two research instruments-one ranking procedure and one rating procedure-to examine mate preferences in mainland China. We compared modern Chinese (n = 1060) with Chinese studied a quarter of a century earlier (N = 500). Results revealed several cultural changes in values - a dramatic decrease in the importance of virginity, and an increase in the importance of good financial prospects - changes that occurred for both men and women. In contrast to those cultural changes, gender differences in mate preferences for cues to fertility (youth, physical attractiveness) and resources (good financial prospects, social status) remained invariant. Discussion highlights limitations of the study, and stresses the importance of both cultural evolution and evolved mate preferences.
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The Cultural Dynamics of Rewarding Honesty and Punishing Deception
Cynthia Wang & Angela Leung
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, November 2010, Pages 1529-1542
Abstract:
Recent research suggests that individuals reward honesty more than they punish deception. Five experiments showed that different patterns of rewards and punishments emerge for North American and East Asian cultures. Experiment 1 demonstrated that Americans rewarded more than they punished, whereas East Asians rewarded and punished in equivalent amounts. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that these divergent patterns by culture could be explained by greater social mobility experienced by Americans. Experiments 4 and 5 examined how certain consequences of social mobility, approach-avoidance behavioral motivations and trust and felt obligation, can lead to disparate reward and punishment decisions within the two cultures. Moreover, Experiment 4 revealed that Americans exhibited stronger evaluative reactions toward deception but stronger behavioral intentions toward honesty; East Asians did not exhibit this evaluative-behavioral asymmetry. The cross-cultural implications for understanding rewards and punishments in an increasingly globalized world are discussed.
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Do English and Mandarin speakers think about time differently?
Lera Boroditsky, Orly Fuhrman & Kelly McCormick
Cognition, January 2011, Pages 123-129
Abstract:
Time is a fundamental domain of experience. In this paper we ask whether aspects of language and culture affect how people think about this domain. Specifically, we consider whether English and Mandarin speakers think about time differently. We review all of the available evidence both for and against this hypothesis, and report new data that further support and refine it. The results demonstrate that English and Mandarin speakers do think about time differently. As predicted by patterns in language, Mandarin speakers are more likely than English speakers to think about time vertically (with earlier time-points above and later time-points below).
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Culture and the Health Benefits of Expressive Writing
Eric Knowles, Jessica Wearing & Belinda Campos
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Expressive writing, in which individuals put their thoughts and feelings about traumatic events into words, can benefit physical health by fostering insight into the personal meaning of stressful experiences. The authors predicted that expressive writing would neither increase insight nor reduce symptoms of illness among Asian Americans, whose culture deemphasizes the act of verbalization in meaning making. In the present study, European and Asian American participants were randomly assigned to write about either their worst traumas or trivial topics on each of 4 consecutive days. Illness symptoms were assessed immediately before and 1 month after the writing sessions. European Americans who wrote about trauma increased their use of insight words over the four sessions and reported fewer illness symptoms a month later. However, neither effect obtained for Asian Americans. The cultural difference in health outcomes was mediated by European Americans' greater tendency to glean insight from the task.
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Are Social Prediction Errors Universal? Predicting Compliance with a Direct Request across Cultures
Vanessa Bohns et al.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous research conducted in the United States has demonstrated that help-seekers fail to appreciate the embarrassment and awkwardness (i.e., social costs) targets would experience by saying "no" to a request for help. Underestimation of such social costs leads help-seekers to underestimate the likelihood that others will comply with their requests. We hypothesized that this error would be attenuated in a collectivistic culture. We conducted a naturalistic help-seeking study in the U.S. and China and found that Chinese help-seekers were more accurate than American help-seekers at predicting compliance. A supplementary scenario study in which we measured individual differences in collectivistic and individualistic orientations within a single culture provided converging evidence for the association between collectivism and expectations of compliance. In both cases, the association between collectivism (culturally defined or measured) and predicted compliance was mediated by participants' ratings of the social costs of saying "no."
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I Am Against Us? Unpacking Cultural Differences in Ingroup Favoritism via Dialecticism
Christine Ma-Kellams, Julie Spencer-Rodgers & Kaiping Peng
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, January 2011, Pages 15-27
Abstract:
The authors proposed a novel explanation for cultural differences in ingroup favoritism (dialecticism) and tested this hypothesis across cultures/ethnicities, domains, and levels of analysis (explicit vs. implicit, cognitive vs. affective). Dialecticism refers to the cognitive tendency to tolerate contradiction and is more frequently found among East Asian than North American cultures. In Study 1, Chinese were significantly less positive, compared to European Americans, in their explicit judgments of family members. Study 2 investigated ingroup attitudes among Chinese, Latinos, and European Americans. Only Chinese participants showed significant in-group derogation, relative to the other groups, and dialecticism (Dialectical Self Scale) was associated with participants' in group attitudes. Study 3 manipulated dialectical versus linear lay beliefs; participants primed with dialecticism showed more negative, explicit ingroup attitudes. Although ingroup disfavoring tendencies were more prevalent among Chinese across studies, they may be a reflection of one's culturally based lay beliefs rather than deep-rooted negative feelings toward one's ingroup.
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Formal institutions, culture, and venture capital activity: A cross-country analysis
Yong Li & Shaker Zahra
Journal of Business Venturing, forthcoming
Abstract:
Why does the level of venture capital activity vary across countries? This study suggests that the variation can be attributed to the different levels of formal institutional development. Further, this study proposes that venture capitalists respond differently to the incentives provided by formal institutions depending on different cultural settings. Analysis of VC activity for 68 countries during the 1996-2006 period shows that formal institutions have a positive effect on the level of venture capital activity, but this effect is weaker in more uncertainty-avoiding societies and in more collectivist societies. This study has useful theory and policy implications for venture capital and entrepreneurship development.
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Krishna Savani et al.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, January 2011, Pages 84-102
Abstract:
We argue that differences between the landscapes of influence situations in Indian and American societies induce Indians to accommodate to others more often than Americans. To investigate cultural differences in situation-scapes, we sampled interpersonal influence situations occurring in India and the United States from both the influencee's (Study 1) and the influencer's (Study 2) perspectives. We found that Indian influence situations were dramatically more likely than U.S. situations to feature other-serving motives and to result in positive consequences for the relationship. Yet Study 3 found that targets of influence felt no less free to decide whether to accommodate in India than the United States, but felt more concerned about the influencer. To investigate the effects of situation-scapes on people's expectations and decisions, we exposed Indian and American participants to descriptions of situations from both societies (with their origins obscured). Study 4 found that both groups of participants expected more positive consequences from accommodation in Indian situations than in American situations. Finally, Study 5 found that both groups decided to accommodate more often in Indian situations than in American situations. At the same time, Indian participants were more likely than Americans to accommodate across all situations, but both groups converged over 100 trials as they were exposed to more and more situations drawn from each other's cultures. We interpret these effects in terms of the default decisions or biases conditioned by people's recently encountered situations.
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Cultural Differences in Dynamic Decision-Making Strategies in a Non-Linear, Time-Delayed Task
Dominik Güss & Dietrich Dörner
Cognitive Systems Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
People in every culture must deal with time and the uncertainties of the future. This study investigates how people in five countries make decisions in the dynamic simulation COLDSTORE with its non-linear time development (Reichert & Dörner, 1988). We expected that, 1) as in the original study (Reichert, 1986), only 20% of all participants would deal adequately with the simulation; 2) an adapting, cautious decision-making strategy would be most successful, and an extreme oscillating decision-making strategy least successful; and 3) based on cultural differences in pace of life and time orientation, German and U.S. participants would show adaptor-type decision making more often and Indian, Filipino, and Brazilian participants would show oscillator-type decision making more often. Controlling for age, gender, computer experience, and intelligence, results confirmed all hypotheses. Performance and strategies were further analyzed regarding participants' reflections about their own procedure and simulation characteristics. The cross-cultural differences in dynamic decision-making strategies found in this study highlight the cultural embeddedness of people's cognitive processes.
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Psychological Contracts across Cultures
David Thomas et al.
Organization Studies, November 2010, Pages 1437-1458
Abstract:
This paper explores the relationship between national culture and individuals' psychological contracts. Predicted relationships were drawn from prior theory that identified cognitive and motivational mechanisms through which culture manifests its influence. The dominant forms of psychological contracts were evaluated against predictions based on the national-level cultural values of vertical and horizontal individualism and collectivism in four countries. Results of interviews with 57 participants indicated that French interviewees (vertical individualist) described their psychological contracts as primarily exploitive, Canadians (horizontal individualist) as primarily instrumental, Chinese (vertical collectivist) as primarily custodial and Norwegians (horizontal collectivist) as primarily communitarian. Exploration of the conditions under which patterns deviated from those predicted by the theory indicates potential areas for future theoretical development.
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For Whom Is Parting With Possessions More Painful? Cultural Differences in the Endowment Effect
William Maddux et al.
Psychological Science, December 2010, Pages 1910-1917
Abstract:
The endowment effect - the tendency for owners (potential sellers) to value objects more than potential buyers do - is among the most widely studied judgment and decision-making phenomena. However, the current research is the first to explore whether the effect varies across cultures. Given previously demonstrated cultural differences in self-construals and self-enhancement, we predicted a smaller endowment effect for East Asians compared with Westerners. Two studies involving buyers and sellers of a coffee mug (Study 1a) and a box of chocolates (Study 1b) supported this prediction. Study 2 conceptually replicated this cultural difference by experimentally manipulating independent and interdependent self-construals. Finally, Study 3 provided evidence for an underlying self-enhancement mechanism: Cultural differences emerged when self-object associations were made salient, but disappeared when self-object associations were minimized. Thus, the endowment effect may be influenced by the degree to which independence and self-enhancement (vs. interdependence and self-criticism) are culturally valued or normative.
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Susanne Scheibe et al.
Developmental Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Sehnsucht, the longing or yearning for ideal yet seemingly unreachable states of life, is a salient topic in German culture and has proven useful for understanding self-regulation across adulthood in a German sample (e.g., Scheibe, Freund, & Baltes, 2007). The current study tested whether findings for German samples could be generalized to the more individualistic and agentic U.S. American culture. Four samples of U.S. American and German participants (total N = 1,276) age 18 to 81 years reported and rated their 2 most important life longings and completed measures of subjective well-being and health. Measurement equivalence was established at the level of factor loadings for central life longing characteristics. German and U.S. American participants did not differ in self-reported ease of identifying personal life longings or their intensity. In comparison to Germans, however, U.S. Americans associated life longings less with utopian, unattainable states and reported less salience of the concept in everyday life. Associations with measures of adaptation suggest that life longings can be both functional and dysfunctional for development in both cultures.
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Karen Choi & Michael Ross
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Cultural differences in process-focused versus person-focused themes were examined using both cultural artifacts (Study1) and self-reports (Study 2). In Study 1, the contents of Chinese and American graduation and encouragement cards were analyzed for their relative emphasis on person- versus process-focused themes. Person-focused themes center on recipients' stable traits and abilities, and their emotional well-being. In contrast, process-focused themes dwell on the recipients' hard work and effort, and emphasize the importance of continued self-improvement and growth. Messages on Chinese cards were significantly more process than person focused. The reverse was true of American cards. Chinese cards also contained more process-focused (e.g., winding roads) than person-focused images (e.g., student standing on a pedestal). American cards contained more person-focused than process-focused images, although this difference was significant only among encouragement cards. In Study 2, we presented Chinese and American participants with graduation card messages differing in focus. Chinese parents indicated that they would be more likely to select and Chinese students indicated that they would be more likely to receive process- than person-themed graduation card messages. American parents and students showed no effects of message focus. The findings illustrate how cultural beliefs are reflected in cultural artifacts and personal preferences.
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General belief in a just world and resilience: Evidence from a collectivistic culture
Michael Shengtao Wu et al.
European Journal of Personality, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous research showed that in the individualistic culture, adults endorse the personal more than the general belief in a just world (PBJW vs. GBJW). Comparatively little is known about the prevalence character and adaptive functions of GBJW, especially in the collectivistic culture. We conducted three surveys among the Chinese adults and adolescents. We found that (1) Chinese adults and adolescents endorsed more GBJW than PBJW; (2) Adult survivors with high exposure to post-earthquake trauma and adolescents in the poverty-stricken area maintained high GBJW, with relatively lower PBJW. (3) GBJW predicted the psychological resilience in all the three samples independent of PBJW. The results imply that in contrast to populations from the individualistic culture, people from the collectivistic culture endorse a robust GBJW, which allows them to resiliently confront harsh realities.
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Evidence and a computational explanation of cultural differences in facial expression recognition
Matthew Dailey et al.
Emotion, December 2010, Pages 874-893
Abstract:
Facial expressions are crucial to human social communication, but the extent to which they are innate and universal versus learned and culture dependent is a subject of debate. Two studies explored the effect of culture and learning on facial expression understanding. In Experiment 1, Japanese and U.S. participants interpreted facial expressions of emotion. Each group was better than the other at classifying facial expressions posed by members of the same culture. In Experiment 2, this reciprocal in-group advantage was reproduced by a neurocomputational model trained in either a Japanese cultural context or an American cultural context. The model demonstrates how each of us, interacting with others in a particular cultural context, learns to recognize a culture-specific facial expression dialect.
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The Dynamics of Face Loss Following Interpersonal Harm for Chinese and Americans
Yuan Liao & Michael Harris Bond
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, January 2011, Pages 25-38
Abstract:
Face concerns arise in any encounter where one's credibility as a social actor is questioned by the flow of interpersonal exchanges. Being the target of another's harmful acts raises the question of one's deservingness for that harm, thereby bringing one's face into question. The present study tests whether Hong Kong Chinese are more sensitive to the consequent loss of their own face than are Americans, when targeted during interpersonal encounters. It addresses this question by assessing whether two factors predicting face loss are universal or culturally specific in their impacts. The factors are loss of relative power following the harm doing and degree of norm violation characterizing the harm doing. The results showed that loss of relative power in the relationship by the target vis-à-vis the perpetrator predicted face loss for Americans, but not for Hong Kong Chinese. Although greater norm violation led to more face loss in both groups, the linkage between the two constructs was stronger for Hong Kong Chinese than for Americans. The culturally derived personality variables of horizontal-vertical individualism-collectivism were, however, unable to unpackage either cultural difference in linkage strength. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed, and suggestions are offered for increasing the scope of this basic model in explaining face loss following interpersonal harm.