Dimensions of Culture Flashcards
Potential pitfalls of studying culture in psychology
Theorising based on stereotypes -> NB power differentials -> Importance of exploring -> Methodological issues -> Working in multiple languages -> Comparability of constructs -> Response styles (e.g., acquiescence) ->Cultures are not individuals.
Emic and etic perspectives
Emic approaches -> grounded in specific cultural context -> no claim to generality or attempt to compare -> Etic approaches -> aspire to universality or at least comparability -> imposed etic vs. derived etic.
Cross-culture psychology
How and why do psychological processes differ across cultures? -> Influence of cultural context on individuals -> Often focuses on cross-national comparison -> Relativism higher-order universality -> Origins in social/organisational psychology -> Mainly surveys, some experiments. How do cultures ‘work’? -> Psychological study of cultural processes -> Relationship between individual and society -> Often ‘within-culture’ focus -> Social anthropology social cognition -> Qualitative studies in single cultures
experiments in two or more cultures.
Early cross-cultural studies
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 description, but social science demands explanation! -> Need a theory of how cultures differ -> Attempts to construct cultural ‘map of the world’.
Hofstede’s project
IBM (HERMES) employee surveys -> Originally conducted 1967 and 1973 -> > 116,000 respondents in 72 countries -> Questions about job satisfaction, perceptions of work situations, personal goals and beliefs -> Wide variety of response formats -> Hofstede conducted secondary analysis to look for dimensions of cultural variation.
The ecological fallacy
Ecological level of analysis -> Robinson’s (1950) paradox: US states: %immigrants and %literacy (r =.526) -> Individuals: immigrant status and literacy (r = -.118) -> Different explanations at each level of analysis -> Ecological fallacy is falsely extrapolating group-level findings to individual level of explanation -> Reverse ecological fallacy is wrongly attributing properties of individuals to cultures.
Hofstede’s analysis
Analysis at ecological level -> Sufficient data for CC analysis of 40 countries -> Each item weighted country mean -> Combination of averages within different occupational groups within IBM (marketing and service depts.) -> Corrected for acquiescence where possible -> Theoretically guided data exploration led to ‘discovery’ of 4 dimensions of CC variation. Power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity.
Power Distance (PD)
Extent to which members of a society accept that power institutions and organizations is distributed unequally -> survey items -> Employees afraid to disagree with managers -> Subordinates perceive Bosses as autocratic or paternalistic (as opposed to democratic or consultative) -> Subordinates would like Bosses to be autocratic, paternalistic or democratic (as opposed to consultative). Highest: Malaysia, Guatemala, Panama -> Lowest: Austria, Israel, Denmark.
Uncertainty avoidance (UA)
Degree to which the members of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity, which leads them to support beliefs promising certainty and 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.
Individualism (IDV)
Individualism: A preference for a loosely knit social framework in society in which individuals are supposed to take care of themselves and their immediate families. Collectivism: 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. 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.
Masculinity
Masculinity: A preference for achievement, heroism, assertiveness, and material success. Femininity: A preference for relationships, modesty, caring for the weak, and quality of life. 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. Unfortunate choice of name by Hofstede -> Masculinities and femininities differ across cultures! a.k.a. toughness vs. tenderness -> Reverse ecological fallacy? Has some predictive value -> e.g., %GNP spent on international development -> NB: Uncorrelated with IDV (r = .00) -> FEM: focus on relationships, others in general -> COL: focus on in-groups, social position.
Chinese Culture Connection (1987)
International project -> student participants in 22 nations -> 40 values proposed by Chinese social scientists and/or taken from Chinese philosophy -> No attempt to be culturally inclusive! -> Statistical analyses -> Items adjusted for response style -> Ecological-level factor analysis. Four cultural dimensions: Integration -> tolerance, harmony vs. filial piety, chastity. Correlated with IDV vs PD. Confucian work dynamism -> persistence, thrift, ordering relationships by status, sense of shame vs. personal stability, protecting face, respect for tradition, reciprocation of favours. (The newer dimension). Human-heartedness -> patience, kindness vs. patriotism, righteousness. Correlated with MAS. Moral discipline -> few desires, moderation vs. adaptability, prudence. Correlated with PD vs IDV.
Confucian work dynamism
Added to Hofstede model as 5th dimension -> Renamed Long-Term Orientation (LTO) -> Positive correlation with economic growth -> Highest: China (mainland & HK), Taiwan, Japan -> Lowest: Pakistan, Nigeria, Philippines.
Schwartz critique of hofstede
Content too narrow? -> Some world regions unrepresented -> Effects of sample type -> Historical change -> Culture-level vs. individual-level dimensions -> Meaning equivalence of items.
Schwartz values survey 1990-now
Research into structure of values -> Individual and cultural levels of analysis -> List of 56 values rated for importance “as a guiding principle in my life” -> Items derived from diverse sources -> Rokeach Values Survey, Chinese Culture Connection,
social sciences and humanities, research collaborators -> Initial study sampled teachers and students -> Currently >80,000 participants in 82 countries.
