Chapter 2

Question 1

Cross-Cultural Comparative Study

Answer 1

A study that compares two or more cultures on some psychological variable of interest, often with the hypothesis that one culture will have significantly higher scores on the variable than the others.

Question 2

Exploratory Studies

Answer 2

Studies designed to examine the existence of cross-cultural similarities or differences. These are generally simple, quasi-experimental designs comparing two or more cultures on a psychological variable.

– Strength - Broad scope for identifying similarities and differences
– Weakness - Limited capability to solve the causes of differences
– We can see, we can find, but can we explain?

Question 3

Hypothesis-Testing Studies

Answer 3

Studies designed to test why cultural differences exist. They go beyond quasi-experimental designs either by including context variables or by using experiments.

– Context factors: Any variable that can explain observed cross-cultural differences. These may involve characteristics of the participants or their cultures.

Question 4

Presence or Absence of Contextual Factors

Answer 4

• Hypothesis-Testing Study Cautions:
–> Based on a theoretical foundation, it can assist us in trying to explain the “why”
– >You must be careful… Does the theory or hypothesis have equal meaning between the cultures that you are interested in comparing?
–> Also, the theory may limit how much we can explain regarding cross-cultural differences
• Hypothesis testing studies include context variables to assist with this.

Question 5

Structure-oriented studies

Answer 5

Comparison of constructs, structures, or relationships with other constructs. Examine whether constructs are conceptualized the same across cultures, the association of a constructs to other constructs, or the measurement of a construct.

How are certain constructs in mental health assessed in different culture?
• Do constructs have similar associations
—> Is happiness associated with higher life satisfaction
——> Italian-Americans vs Asian-Americans

Question 6

Level Oritented Studies.

Answer 6

Studies examine cultural differences in mean levels of variables between cultures.

• What do the mean scores tell us when we compare and contrast different cultures on certain constructs
• Conduct a t-test to determine if depression levels are the same between Argentina and Costa Rica.

Question 7

Individual-level studies

Answer 7

Typical type of study in psychology, in which participants provide data and those individual participants’ data are units of analysis.

Question 8

Ecological (cultural) studies

Answer 8

Countries or cultures, not individuals, are the units of analysis.

– Allow researchers to examine relationships between psychological and ecological-level variables

– Well-known ecological-level study - Hofstede’s seminal work

Question 9

Multilevel studies

Answer 9

Involve data collection at multiple levels of analysis, such as the individual level, context, community, and national culture.

– Also known as Multilevel Modeling (MLM)

Question 10

Example of Data from an Ecological-Level Study

Answer 10

Table 2.3 was measuring three countries’ self esteem, academic performance, climates and population density.

Question 11

Dissenters

Answer 11

They believe that race, ethnicity, or culture are not very important to consider

Consider themselves “color-blind”

Have a difficult time understanding the importance of culture

Question 12

Passive Supporters

Answer 12

They understand the importance of culture but will not act on it through their behavior
• They feel that their actions will not have an impact

Cultural diversity is part of many other important concerns in the field. Again, they still support the idea of exploring culture

Question 13

Active Supporters

Answer 13

Cultural diversity is a top priority. Will actually do something regarding cultural research
• Support and act!

Your professor is this
type of person. :D

Question 14

The Evolution of Cross-Cultural Research

Answer 14

Finding cultural differences
Examining cultural variability to explain differences and categorizing it
• Individualism vs Collectivism
Conceptual application of those dimensions
• Surveys
• Factor analysis
Empirically applying the dimensions and test them experimentally
• Experiments
• Much trickier to complete

Question 15

Getting the Right Research Question

Answer 15

Research design starts with a comprehensive knowledge of the literature
– Understanding the need for a study to be conducted leads to questions about how to conduct it
• Ask why and not just guess!
• Read the future direction and limitation section in research articles.

Question 16

Challenges faced by researchers

Answer 16

– Isolating the source of cultural differences and identifying active cultural (vs. noncultural) ingredients that produce those differences
• Definition of culture plays a role
– Validity of theoretical models
• Researchers must adopt design strategies that match their beliefs and models
– Individual vs. Group Differences
• How can we tell?

Question 17

Designing our research project

Answer 17

– What are the appropriate variables
• Context variables
• Quantitative vs Qualitative

– What is the appropriate representative sample
• Avoid WEIRDOS
• Where was your sample obtained?
• College students is very limiting
• Location is important

Question 18

Are we focused on a structure or level oriented study?

Answer 18

• Are we comparing constructs, structures of the construct, or relationships between construct?

• Are we comparing mean values between constructs?

Question 19

Statistics: Plan of Analysis

Answer 19

Just because we create a fancy statistical model doesn’t mean it is a great research project.

Question 20

Lesson Learned: Familismo study that was messed up (this is an example of what questions should have been asked)

Answer 20

Is it a concept directly related to Mexican-Americans and no other Latinx cultural group?

Filial piety (respeto): This familial cultural construct similar between Asian and Mexican adolescents?

We must be careful how we interpret the findings.
Generalizations are, essentially, scholarly guesses based on data – BUT IT DOES NOT PROVE ANYTHING

Question 21

Linkage Studies

Answer 21

Studies that measure an aspect of culture theoretically hypothesized to produce cultural differences
—>Empirically link that measured aspect of culture with the dependent variable of interest

Types:
—>Unpackaging studies
—>Experiments

Question 22

Unpackaging Studies

Answer 22

Studies that unpackage the contents of the global, unspecific contents of culture into specific, measurable psychological constructs and examine their contributions to cultural differences.

Measurement of a variable that assesses a culture factor thought to produce differences on the target variable attempting to find the causes of differences between cultures.

Question 23

Context variables

Answer 23

Variables that operationalize aspects of culture that researchers believe produce differences in psychological variable. These variables are actually measured in Unpackaging studies.

Question 24

Individual-level measures of culture

Answer 24

Assess variable on the individual level that is thought to be a product of culture. In other words, measures that assess psychological dimensions related to meaningful dimensions of cultural variability and that are completed by individuals.

Often used as context variables to ensure that samples in different cultures actually harbor the cultural characteristics thought to differentiate them.
—> individualism vs. collectivism

Question 25

Idiocentrism

Answer 25

Individualism on the individual level. Refers to how individuals may act in accordance with individualistic cultural frameworks.

Question 26

Allocentrism

Answer 26

Collectivism on the individual level. Refers to how individuals may act in accordance with collectivistic cultural frameworks.

Question 27

Experiments and Priming Studies

Experiments:

Answer 27

Researchers create conditions to establish cause-effect relationships.

Participants are generally assigned randomly to participate in the conditions, and researchers then compare results across conditions.

Question 28

Experiments and Priming Studies

Priming Studies:

Answer 28

Involve experimentally manipulating the mindset of participants and measure resulting changes in behavior.

Researchers alter mindsets supposedly related to culture in order to see if participants behave differently bc of the primed mindset.

Question 29

Priming experiment:

Answer 29

“For the next two minutes, you will not need to write anything.

 Condition 1 (private):
Please think of what makes you different from your
family and friends.”

 Condition 2 (collective):
Please think of what you have in common with your
family and friends. What do they expect you to do?

Question 30

Behavioral Studies

Answer 30

Involve manipulation of environments and observation of changes in behavior.

Question 31

Bias

Answer 31

Differences that do not have the same meaning within and across cultures, a lack of equivalence.

If bias exists in cross-cultural comparative study, the comparison loses its meaning

Question 32

Equivalence

Answer 32

State or condition of similarity in conceptual meaning and empirical method between cultures and allows comparisons to be meaningful, a lack of bias.

If bias exists in cross-cultural comparative study, the comparison loses its meaning

Question 33

Measurement Bias

Answer 33

Degree to which measures used to collect data in different cultures are equally valid and reliable

—> Different cultures conceptually define a construct differently or measure it differently

Question 34

Operationalizations

Answer 34

The ways a researchers conceptually define a variable and measure it.

Question 35

Psychometric equivalence

Answer 35

Measurement equivalence on a statistical level. The degree to which different measures used in a cross-cultural study are statistically equivalent in the cultures being compared to, whether the measures are equally valid and reliable in all cultures studied.

Question 36

Factor Analysis

Answer 36

A statistical technique that allows researchers to group items on a questionnaire that are answered in similar ways bc they are assessing the same, single underlying psychological construct.

Researchers make inferences about the underlying traits that are being measured.

Question 37

Structural equivalence

Answer 37

Achieved when the same factor analysis is produced in a measure.

Results in the different countries being compared.

Question 38

Internal reliability

Answer 38

Degree to which different items in a questionnaire give
consistent responses.

Question 39

Construct bias

Answer 39

Cross-cultural differences in definitions of meanings
of psychological concepts

Question 40

Linguistic bias

Answer 40

Are the research protocols (instruments, instructions, questionnaires) semantically equivalent across the languages used in the study?
Do the protocols mean the same thing across the various cultural groups and languages in the study?

Question 41

Back Translation

Answer 41

A technique of translating research protocols that involves taking the protocol as it was developed in one language, translating it into the target language, and having someone else translate it back to the original. If the back translated version is the same as the original, they are generally equivalent.

Question 42

Decentered

Answer 42

The concept underlying the procedure of back translation that involves eliminating any culture-specific concepts of the original language or translating them equivalently into the target language.

Question 43

Response bias

Answer 43

Systematic tendency to respond in certain way to items or scales

Question 44

Socially Desirable responding

Answer 44

Tendencies to give answers on questionnaires that make oneself look good.

Question 45

Acquiescence Bias (falls into response bias)

Answer 45

The tendencies to agree rather than disagree within items on questionnaire. Usually because participant isn’t reading question bc they just want to get survey over with

Question 46

Extreme Response Bias

Answer 46

The tendencies to use ends of a scale regardless of item content.

Question 47

Reference Group Effect

Answer 47

The idea that people make implicit social comparison with others when making ratings on scales. That is, people rating will be influenced by the implicit comparisons they make between themselves and other, and these influences may makes comparing responses across cultures difficult.

Question 48

Model Bias

Answer 48

If frameworks and hypotheses tested are not equivalent across cultures, data obtained may not be comparable (frameworks and hypothesis tested mean different things in the cultures studied.)

Question 49

Sampling bias

Answer 49

Refers to when samples may not be adequate representations of their cultures, or when samples are different on noncultural demographic characteristics.

Question 50

Procedural (administration) bias

Answer 50

Refers to situations in which the process of conducting research is different in different cultures in a study

– Do the procedures by which data are collected mean the same in all cultures tested?

Question 51

Interpretational bias

Answer 51

Refers to situations when researchers interpret data in a globalized, almost stereotypical fashion or with their own cultural filters
– Analyzing data: cultural effect size statistics
– Interpreting findings: culture creates bias in the way findings are
interpreted

Question 52

Validity

Answer 52

The degree to which a finding, measurement, or statistic is accurate, or represents what it is supposed to.

Accuracy!!

Question 53

Reliability

Answer 53

The degree to which a finding, measurement, or statistic
is consistent

Consistency!!

Question 54

Cross-cultural validation study

Answer 54

A study that examines whether a measure of a psychological construct that was originally generated in a single culture is applicable, meaningful, and thus equivalent in another culture

• Test equivalence of psychological measures, not specific
hypotheses about cultural differences
• Important to conduct before cross-cultural comparisons

Question 55

Indigenous Cultural Studies

Answer 55

Studies that use rich, complex, and in-depth descriptions of cultures and cultural differences to predict and test for differences in a psychological variable.