lesson 3: culture and Cognition 1

Question 1

Universality assumption for cognition

Answer 1

• People have believed that cog processes are same for all normal adults
• British empiricist philosophers of 18th/19th C (Locke, Hume, Mill) wrote about human cog processes under that assumption

Question 2

influence of the universality assumption

Answer 2

Adopted by mainstream psychologists of 20th c, where it has been predominant from the earliest treatment of cog psychology by Piaget, to mid-century learning theories, to modern cog science

Question 3

what analogy was the universality assumption strengthened by?

Answer 3

Universality assumption was probably strengthened by the analogy of human cognition to a computer

Has been implicit and often explicit in the study of human cog
- Brain: hardware ( ex: hindbrain = graphic cards ?)
- Inferential rules and data processing procedures: software
- Beliefs/judgements/behavior: output
We receive info from senses (input), brain processes this info, our behaviors and beliefs are the output)

Question 4

what are the “basic” processes

Answer 4

Presumed to be the same for all human groups, regardless of culture

Types of basic cog processes:

1. categorization
   Ex: chairs, colors, etc.
2. selective attention
   Remembering a small part of what we experience
3. learning and memory
   Ex: remember series of digits and words
   These examples indicate all humans may have the same cog processes

Neumonic: basic girl, that’s a chair that’s a chair, I only see that chair, I remember that chair

Question 5

Can cog processes ever be changed?

Answer 5

Psychologists suggest that cog processes (statistical, logical, etc) can be changed by training

ex: availability heuristics : which group has more words
- (a) Words starting with letter “r”
- (b) Words with “r” as third letter
Most say A but its B
Because it’s easier to think of A (more available in memory)

Training can change reasoning process about life events

Question 6

Malleability of cog processes- If cog processes are changeable even for people in the same culture using training, what about people in other cultures?
Example:

Answer 6

Ex) Mueller-Lyer illusion ( <-> >-<)
In some cultures, the illusion doesn’t trick them

Question 7

Nisbett et al. (2001) argued that considerable social differences among cultures affect

Answer 7

• (a) their native metaphysical systems
  Beliefs about nature of the world and causality
• (b) their tacit epistemologies
  Beliefs about what is important to know/ how knowledge is obtained
• (c) nature of their cog processes
  Ex: ancient china and greece

If two societies differ both socially and cognitively-
Because social and cog differences are related, their cognitive processes will differ

Question 8

Origin of human civilization

Answer 8

From 8th to 3rd c B.C., many civilizations made important innovations in moral, philosophical, and scientific thoughts

Greece and China were most distant from each other and impacted each other the least-

Significant impacts of China and Greece on the modern world
- Greek civilization gave rise to European and post-Columbian American civilization
- Chinese civilization impacted East and Southeast Asia

Question 9

Ancient Greek chacteristics

Answer 9

• personal agency
• tradition of “debate”
• sense of curiosity and finding rules
• using causal rules/ models

Question 10

personal agency

in ancient greece

Answer 10

• Most important characteristic: location of power in the individual
• It was the most important element of life ( freedom and agency)
  
  • Ordinary people had a sense of personal agency
• “The idea of the Athenian state was a union of individuals free to develop their own powers and live in their own way” (hamilton, 1930/1973)

Question 11

tradition of debate

in ancient greece

Answer 11

Well established by the time of Homer in 8th C
- Homer emphasized that next to being a capable warrior, the most important skill for a man was to debate
- Ordinary people participated in marketplace debates and political assembly

Question 12

sense of curiosity/ finding “rules”

in ancient greece

Answer 12

• Important to have a sense of curiosity about the world
• The world could be understood by discovering “rules” and principles about it

Question 13

Understanding the world using “causal rules” or models

in ancient greece

Answer 13

• The Greeks speculated about the nature of things and events around them, leading to the creation of causal models
• The models were constructed by categorizing objects and events and using general rules to create systematic description
  Ex: scientific method, using inductive reasoning
  Influenced advances in physics, astronomy, geometry, logic, rational philosophy, natural history, etc.

Question 14

Ancient Chinese Characteristics

Answer 14

• collective agency
• Confucianism
• social structure
• in-group harmony
• confrontation discouraged
• exemplar-based/intuition-based thinking

Question 15

collective agency

in ancient china

Answer 15

Reciprocal social obligation

Felt that: “individuals are part of a closely knit collectivity, whether a family or a village… behavior of the individual should be guided by the expectations of the group”
- People are part of a whole
- What you want vs obligation

Question 16

Confucianism

Answer 16

Chief moral system of China

Elaboration of obligations or duties one obtained from diverse social relationships
- ex) emperor/subject, parent/child, husband/wife, brothers, friends
- Expectations of how to behave in particular relationships

Neumonic: Confucius saying “do your duty!”

Question 17

Social structure

in ancient China

Answer 17

• Individuals were part of a large and complex social organism in which prescriptive role relations were their guide to ethical conduct
• Individual rights were seen as one’s “share” of the community’s rights
  “Role fulfillment in a hierarchical system… [took] priority over most other goods” (Munro, 1985)

Question 18

in-group harmony

Answer 18

Emphasis on collective agency resulted in value of in-group harmony

Question 19

confrontation in social groups was discouraged

in ancient china

Answer 19

• Any form of confrontation within the group is discouraged (debate is uncommon)
• One person couldn’t contradict another without fear of making an enemy

Question 20

Exemplar-based/ Intuition-based thinking

Answer 20

• General principles and causal rules/models were not used
• More emphasis on exemplar-based or intuition-based thinking.

Question 21

who was more technologically advanced- Ancient Chinese, or Greeks? is this suprising?

Answer 21

Chinese civilization was interestingly much more technologically advanced than the Greeks
ex) irrigation system, magnetic compass, pascal triangle, paddle-wheel boat, immunization techniques etc

Surprising because:
- They didn’t use causal models or rules (like the ancient greeks)
- They used examples or insights

Question 22

where scientific principles well developed in early Chinese history?

Answer 22

• No: these advancements weren’t the result of scientific theory and investigation.
• Instead they are reflective on their genius for practicality, and reliance on a different way of thinking

Question 23

Thinking styles in ancient China

Answer 23

• No formal models of natural world
• Used intuition and empiricism
  Ex: chinese medicine (symptom based)
• Ancient Chinese never developed concept corresponding to laws of nature, because they did not have a concept of “nature” as distinct from humans

Question 24

Deterministic vs Probabilistic

Ancient China vs Greece

Answer 24

Contrast between two ancient civilizations and resulting differences do not indicate “deterministic” differences between the two
- Not dichotomous
- ex) There are some general rules in ancient china, not every westerner loves debate
- Differences should be understood in a “probabilistic” sense (More likely to, not definite)
- Seeing the differences between cultures as a simple dichotomy can likely lead to misunderstanding

Question 25

Context

Answer 25

Background information (other than what is said or written) that helps us understand others

Some cultures put a lot of weight on context, while others see it as extraneous
- Often plays crucial role in communication

Question 26

types of context

Answer 26

• low context
• high context

Question 27

Low-context cultures

Answer 27

• People’s communication or behavior is interpreted by what is actually said or written
• Details of business deals are specifically stated (Contracts)
• Written contracts matter much more than personal relations
  Ex: emails are fine for important business transactions

Ex: Swiss, German, American, English, Italian

Question 28

High Context cultures

Answer 28

The context itself often provides information
- What is unsaid but understood carries more weight than what is said or written
- Contracts are shorter in business

Relies on trust for agreement
- Face to face relations are preferred to emails
- Build up trust by meeting in person first

Personal relations add to business

Ex: Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Arabic

Question 29

Cog differences btwn Ancient China and Greece can be grouped under these systems of thought:

Answer 29

• Holistic thought (china)
• Analytic thought (greece)

Question 30

Holistic thought

Answer 30

Involve an orientation to the context or field as a whole
- including attention to relationships between focal object and the field
- Preference for explaining and predicting events on the basis of these relationships

Question 31

Holistic approaches (within holistic thought)

Answer 31

Rely on experience-based knowledge instead of abstract logic

Are dialectical
- Meaning there is an emphasis on change, a recognition of contradiction, of the need for multiple perspectives, and a search for a “middle way” between opposing propositions
- Two opposite things can be integrated

Question 32

Analytic thought

Answer 32

Detachment of an object from its context

Tendency to focus on attributes of the object and use those attributes to assign it to categories
- Preference for using rules about the categories to explain and predict the object’s behavior

Question 33

analytic approaches

Answer 33

Inferences rest (in part) on the practice of de-contextualizing structure from content, the use of formal logic, and avoidance of contradiction

Question 34

field vs object in holistic thinking and medicine

Answer 34

an individual object is not just a primary focal point. Instead, parts exist only within wholes, to which they have relations ( “continuities” and “relationships” are important in ancient chinese culture)

Medical model:
- Good health depends on balance and flow of natural forces (called “Chi”)

Question 35

field vs object in analytic thinking and medicin

Answer 35

Greeks were inclined to focus primarily on the central object and its attributes. This tendency often led to misunderstanding of natural laws (Aristotle explained that a falling stone has “gravity”)

Medical model:
- Surgery is common in western medicine from an early period of time
- Focusing on the one part at a time

Question 36

Dialectics vs Foundational Principles and logic (math

Answer 36

Chinese didn’t develop general or “abstract” principles underlying their mathematical or scientific assumptions
- Chinese advances in algebra and arithmetic were substantial while they made little progress in geometry (proofs rely on formal logic)

Instead they developed dialectics, which involves reconciling, transcending, or accepting apparent contradictions. Opposites can coexist
- Ex: Yin-Yang principle, the spirit of Tao
- Ex: “A” and “not A” both have merit, they are not necessarily incompatible

Question 37

Early study by Abel & Hsu (1949)

Answer 37

Rorschach cards shown to European Americans and Chinese Americans
- Found that Chinese Americans were more likely to give “whole-card” responses. European Americans were more likely to give “part” responses (honing in on a single aspect in part of the image)

Neumonic: do you see a wolf here? No im not able to

Question 38

Recent study by Masuda and Nisbett (2001) —- fill in

Answer 38

– assigned article #1

Question 39

study by Hedden et al. (2000, 1999)

Answer 39

• Asked Chinese and American participants to look at a series of cards with words printed either on a background of social stimuli (e.g. people at a market) or no background. The words were unrelated to the pictures
• Participants were asked to recall as many words as they could. Chinese participants (but not the Americans) recalled words better if they had been presented on the background
• -Indicating recall of the background served as a retrieval cue for the word for them

Neumonic: words hidden in a marketplace

Question 40

studies on attention

Answer 40

• Abel & Hsu (1949)
• Masuda and Nisbett (2001)
• Hedden et al (2000, 1999)

Question 41

studies on Attribution

Answer 41

• Miller (1984)
• Morris and Peng (1994)

Question 42

Recent studies by Miller (1984)

Answer 42

American and Asian participants were asked to explain someone’s behavior-
- Americans mentioned internal personality traits (e.g. recklessness, kindness)
- Asians (Indians) mentions social roles, obligations, physical environment, and other contextual factors

Neumonic: were the millers- and we are kind smart, American
Indian millers- we came from a good family and circumstances

Question 43

Morris and Peng (1994)

Answer 43

When asked to explain events like mass murders
- Americans focused on presumed mental instability and other negative dispositions of the murderer
- Chinese focused on situational. contextual, and societal factors

Neumonic: morrisey the mass murderer

Question 44

Western traditions of formal logic- how might they analyze an argument

Answer 44

Ex: Analyze argument structure apart from content and reason based on the underlying abstract propositions alone (seldom found in the east)

Question 45

East Asians and logic

Answer 45

Tend to rely less on formal logic and more on experiential knowledge in their reasoning

Question 46

A Study by Norenzayan et al. (2000)

Answer 46

Measured the extent that people relied on formal logic vs. experiential knowledge in their reasoning
The study:
1. all birds have ulnar arteries. Therefore, all eagles have ulnar arteries
2. all birds have ulnar arteries. Therefore, all penguins have ulnar arteries

One way to measure whether people use formal logic or experiential knowledge is to examine how they project properties from superordinate categories (birds) to subordinate categories (eagles, penguins).
- The two arguments have the same premise, but the conclusions vary in the typicality of the example (eagles are more typical birds then penguins)

Asked Korean and american participants to evaluate the convincingness of a series of these arguments
- If participants used formal logic, the “typicality” should not matter.
- Results showed that Koreans showed a large typicality effect, being more convinced by typical than atypical arguments
- European Americans were equally convinced by typical and atypical arguments

Neumonic: norepinephrine- have to give the bird an epipen in the ulnar artery