Defining dimensions of culture Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

What is culture?

A

Originating in anthropology

Increasing impact on social sciences over course of 20th century

Kroeber & Kluckhohn (1963) famously listed 161 different definitions!

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What are some examples of anthropology definitions of culture?

A

“That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, laws, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man [sic] as a member of society” (Tylor, 1871)

“The man-made [sic] part of the human environment” (Herskovits, 1948)

Culture includes both physical artefacts and social system

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What are psychological definitions of culture?

A

The totality of equivalent + complementary learned meanings maintained by a human pop., or by identifiable segments of a pop., and transmitted from one generation to the next (Rohner, 1984)

“The collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group […] of people from another (Hofstede, 2001)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What are social systems (cultural groups)

A

The behaviour of multiple individuals within a culturally-organised population, including their patterns of interaction and networks of social relationships” (Rohner, 1984)
Might include nations, organisations, families, etc.

Social systems ‘have’ cultures

Cultures do not ‘have’ social systems

Cultures make behaviour comprehensible

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What are problems of psychologists face whilst studying culture?

A

Theorising based on stereotypes = why exploring is important + being aware of power differences (be open minded)

Methodology issues = working in diff. languages, comparability of constructs in language, response style (rude to disagree in culture), cultures are not indvdls.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What is the emic approach?

A

Berry (1989)

Grounded in spec. cultural context
No claim to generality or attempt to compare

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is the epic approach?

A

Berry (1989)

Aspire to universality or at least comparability
Impose etic vs derived etic

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What does cultural psychology aim to do?

A

Question: How do cultures ‘work’?
 Psychological study of cultural processes
 Focus on reflexive relationship between indvl + social system
 Usually ‘within-culture’ focus

Social anthropology = social cognition from 1990s
 Qualitative studies in single cultures = experiments in two or more cultures

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What does cross-cultural psychology aim to do?

A

Question: How and why do psychological processes differ across cultures?
 Influence of culture on psychology
 Focus on cross-national comparison
 Culture as a level of analysis
 Get away from relativism = higher-order universality

Origins in social/organisational psychology
 Mainly surveys, some experiments

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What does indigenous psychology aim to do?

A

Question: How can psychology become more globally representative?
 Overcoming power dynamics by empowering diverse local perspectives (~decolonisation)
 Indigenous methods
 Initially avoid cultural comparisons
 “Psychology” = Western indigenous psychology
 Can lead to cross-indigenous approach

Aims to build research from diff. cultural groups.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Describe the early cross-cultural studies.

A

Failures to replicate US findings:
 Conformity (rest of world > US & Europe)
 Social loafing (US effects reversed in Pacific Asia)

Problem is how to explain these differences
 Showing differences between nations is just desc., but social science needs explanation

Need a theory of how cultures differ

Attempts to construct cultural ‘map of the world’

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Who is Hofstede and what did he do?

A

IBM (HERMES) employee surveys
 Originally conducted 1967 + 1973
 > 116,000 respondents = 72 countries
 Qs abt job satisfaction, perceptions of work situations, personal goals + beliefs
 Wide variety of response formats

Hofstede conducted secondary analysis to look for dimensions of cultural variation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What did Hofstede find in his research?

A

Aggregated the data = ecological level of analysis + units of his analysis were the different countries.

Robinson’s (1950) paradox = same variables might relate to each other diff. @ diff. levels of analysis
 State %immigrants and %literacy (r =.526)
 Individual immigrant status and literacy w/in state (r = -.118)

Different explanations at each level of analysis
 Ecological fallacy = falsely extrapolating group-level findings to individual level of explanation
 Reverse ecological fallacy = wrongly attributing prop. of indvdls to cultures

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is acquiescence bias and how did this affect Hofstede’s research?

A

Methodological problem
 People in different cultures use response scales in different ways
 Variation in acquiescence – in some cultures people tend to agree more with everything

Hofstede’s solution
 Country mean agreement with all items
 Subtract and/or control in analyses

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What was Hofstede’s analysis?

A

Analysis at ecological level = Sufficient data for CC analysis of 40 countries

For each item = weighted country mean
- Combination of averages w/in diff. occupational groups w/in IBM (marketing + service depts.)
- Corrected for acquiescence where possible

Theoretically guided data exploration led to
‘discovery’ of 4 dimensions of CC variation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What is power distance?

A

Extent to which members of a society accept that power in institutions + organisations = distributed unequally

Survey items to measure
- Employees afraid to disagree with managers
- Subordinates perceive Bosses = autocratic/ paternalistic (vs democratic/ consultative)
- Subordinates = like Bosses to be autocratic, paternalistic or democratic (vs consultative)

 Highest: Malaysia, Guatemala, Panama
 Lowest: Austria, Israel, Denmark

17
Q

What is uncertainty avoidance?

A

Degree to which the members of a society feel
uncomfortable w/ uncertainty + ambiguity =
leads them to support beliefs promising certainty + to maintain institutions protecting conformity
- Company rules should not be broken—even when employee thinks in company’s best interest
- % employees expecting to stay at least 5 years
- How often feel nervous or tense at work (stress)

 Highest: Greece, Portugal, Guatemala
 Lowest: Singapore, Jamaica, Denmark

18
Q

What is individualism?

A

A preference for a loosely knit social framework in society = indvdls supposed to take care of themselves + their immediate families

19
Q

What is collectivism?

A

A preference for a tightly knit social
framework in which individuals can expect their
relatives, clan or other in-group to look after
them, in exchange for unquestioning loyalty

20
Q

Descibe indivdualism as a dimension

A

Assessed by items about work goals:
- IDV: personal time, freedom, challenge
- COL: training, physical conditions, use of skills

Highest: USA, Australia, Great Britain (richer)
Lowest: Guatemala, Ecuador, Panama (poorer)
Strong negative correlation with PD (r = -.68)

Enormous amount of subsequent research
 For review, see Triandis (1995)
 For critique, see Oyserman et al. (2002)
 For riposte, see Schimmack et al. (2005)

21
Q

What is masculinity?

A

A preference for achievement, heroism, assertiveness, and material success

 Assessed by items about work goals:
 MAS: earnings, recognition, advancement, challenge
 FEM: relationship with manager, cooperation, live in desirable
area, employment security
 Highest: Japan, Austria, Venezuela
 Lowest: Sweden, Norway, Netherlands

22
Q

What is femininity?

A

A preference for relationships, modesty, caring for the weak, and quality of life

23
Q

What is a limitation of masculinity as a dimension?

A

Unfortunate choice of name by Hofstede = Masculinities and femininities differ across cultures. E.g toughness vs. tenderness
 Reverse ecological fallacy?

Has some predictive value = e.g., %GNP spent on international development

This dimension is uncorrelated with IDV (r = .00)
 FEM: focus on relationships, others in general
 COL: focus on in-groups, social position

24
Q

What is Hofstede’s dimensions of cultural variation?

A

Power distance (PD)
Uncertainty avoidance (UA)
Individualism (vs. Collectivism) (IDV)
Masculinity (vs. Femininity) (MAS)

Provides 4D cultural map of the world

Guided much future research (mostly DIV)

25
Q

What were the criticism of Schwartz on Hofstede’s work?

A

Content too narrow = weren’t designed to measure cultural differences

Some world regions unrepresented = IBM didn’t have offices there

Effects of sample type = was the sample representative of the country

Historical change = old data

Culture-level vs. individual-level dimensions

Meaning equivalence of items

26
Q

What is the Schwartz Values Survey (1990-now)

A

Adapted items from various sources to create 56 things people may value = research into structure of values
- Individual and cultural levels of analysis

Items derived from diverse sources
- Rokeach Values Survey, Chinese Culture Connection, social sciences and humanities, research collaborators

Initial study sampled teachers + students

Currently >80,000 participants in 82 countries

27
Q

What did find when looking if the items behaved differently between each nation (within-cultures analyses)?

A

Do items have similar meanings in each culture?

Separate within-culture smallest space analyses in each sample to check for similar structure

Responses ipsatised w/in participants to control for acquiescent response bias

Therefore, analysis is of relative value endorsement

Similar structure observed in most samples = security, traditional, stimulation.

28
Q

What were the cultural differences Schwartz found (between-cultures analysis)?

A

40 of 56 values showed similar positions in
structure within all cultures

Country means for ecological analysis = intellectual autonomy, harmony, hierarchy, mastery

Standardisation to remove acquiescence

Ecological smallest space analysis shows
circumplex model of seven value types

29
Q

Comparison of the levels

A

Within-cultures
- Openness to change vs. conservation
- Self-transcendence vs self-enhancement

Across-cultures
- Autonomy vs. embeddedness
- Harmony vs. mastery
- Egalitarianism vs. hierarchy

NB differences in selected values

30
Q

Comparison to Hofstede

A

Some conceptual similarities

Correlations (see Schwartz 1994):
- Individualism + autonomy + egalitarianism vs
power distance + embeddedness + hierarchy
- Mastery correlated w/ masculinity - femininity
- Harmony correlated w/ uncertainty avoidance

31
Q

What happened in the Minkox-Hofstede mdodel?

A

Minkov (2018; see also Minkov et al., 2017,2018)

Reanalyses of existing data (e.g., World Values Survey)
- New samples from 56 nations (N > 52,000)
- New items to measure Hofstede dimensions + more
- Bipolar format to account for acquiescence
- Between-culture analysis only

Individualism replicated (≈ low power distance) = only dimension t0 replication well

Masculinity and uncertainty avoidance not replicated

New dimension of monumentalism vs flexibility