Influence on Social Cognition Flashcards
How does individualism and collectivism shape thought and actions? (3 points)
- Perception of Self
- Visual Processing
- Attribution
What are the 6 theories of self-perception (unique vs. common)?
- The importance of self concept
- Self View (Markus & Kittyama)
- Models of the self (Fiske)
- Twenty Statements Test (Kuhn and McPartland)
- The Mutual Constitution of Cultures and Self
- Psychological Patterns associated to Self-concept
Why is self concept important?
- Organise information about self
- Direct attention to relevant information
- Guides motivation
- Interpretation of the environment
- Emotional experiences
- Shape lifestyle decisions
What is Markus and Kittyama’s Self-veiw theory?
Independent people = individualist
A person who is self contained, autonomous, comprised of component parts; personality traits, attitudes and abilities.
Interdependent people = collectivist
They are a part of a social network, their role benefits a group and they have obligations to their group.
According to the models of the self (Fiske) what is the independent person?
6 traits
- They are bounded, stable and autonomous.
- They have personal attributes to gain action.
- They are achievement orientated and they form goals.
- They define life by success and are highly competitive.
- They’re responsible for their own behaviour.
- They strive to feel good about the self.
According to the models of the self (Fiske) what is the interdependent person?
6 traits
- They are connected, fluid and flexible
- Their social relationships guide their action
- They are orientated tot he collective
- They meet obligations and conform to norms
- They’re jointly responsible for join behaviour
- They are cooperative and subsume in the collective
What is the point of Kuhn and McPartland’s twenty statement test?
It measure sense of self and self image.
A person is either independent or interdependent and follows norms based on that self-image.
What is the difference between independent and interdependent people according to Kuhn and McPartlands twenty statements test?
Independent:
Usually westerners, individual people living in countries such as UK, Canada and Australia. Their internal psychological character has fixed personality traits and attitudes.
Interdependent:
Usually easterners, collective people living in societies such as Native America, East Asia. They each have roles such a ‘provider’ and identify themselves based on relationships like ‘father’, ‘brother’ etc. Their identity depends on the context and group they’re in therefore they are sensitive to contextual cues.
What are the psychological patterns associated to self-concept?
- Positive self-view
- Personal choice
- Motivations to conform
What effect does a ‘positive self-view’ have on a person?
Self-serving bias or the better than average effect which has long been considered fundamental to human psychology. It only represents a small percentage of the human population. Non-western populations (like native american and Mexicans) score lower. East-Asian populations score non or reverse shooing a self-effacing bias.
What effect does ‘personal choice’ have on a person?
Henrich!
Personal choice shows differences in level of value ascribed, extent of control over feelings and decisions and feeling that you have made a choice.
There is higher feeling of free choice in western cultures and lower free choice in eastern countries.
What effect do ‘motivations to conform’ have on a person?
Classic Asch experiment. People will go along with majority even when they know it is wrong.
Bond and Smith studies 17 societies and showed a weaker effect in westerners and easterners show higher motivation to conform.
What are the two types of visual processing?
Global and local
What visual processing do you see in western, independent societies?
Local processing. It is more analytic.
What visual processing do you see in eastern, interdependent societies?
Global processing. It is holistic. They are sensitive to contextual information such as emotion judgement and eye fixations (Masuda). they recall more contextual information and make more error when recognising novel context. They perceived relationships better, they display changes in categorical perception (Goldstone)
