SL - Culture effect on cognition (cultural dimensions/cultural influence on behaviour)

Question 1

Ji et al (2000)

Answer 1

Aim ->
effect of culture on memory

Method ->
American and Chinese ppts used. ppts were given questionnaires where they answered how many times they had engaged in certain publicly observable behaviours or behaviours that were not publicly observable.

Results ->
Found that American ppts do not remember public or private behaviours but while the Chinese ppts did not remember private behaviours, they remembered their public behaviours.

Conclusion ->
Since seeing oneself as part of a collective is important in Chinese culture, Chinese people remember their public actions.

Evaluation ->

✔ good validity -> behaviours asked to the ppts were agreed by both American and Chinese ppts to be either public or private behaviours so measurement method was very valid
✔ supported by Chua (2005) and Wang and Brockmeier (2002)

❌ Bad generalizability -> Only ppts were students used from two countries so results are not applicable to every country and also since China/America does not represent every collectivist/individualist culture these results can not be applied to every collectivist/individualist culture
❌ Response bias -> Questionnaires are subject to response bias. Ppts may answer to fit their own agenda so our trust in these results are challenged so this may lead to reduced validity

Question 2

Chua (2005)

Answer 2

Aim ->
To investigate culture’s effect on perception

Method ->
Ppts shown 36 images. Images comprised of a background and a central object. Ppts’ eye movements were tracked as they studied the images for a brief amount of time. In the next phase, ppts looked at 72 images separated into 4 different categories: Previously seen (PS) background with PS object, PS background with a new object, new background with PS object, and new background with a new object. Ppts asked whether they recognised the central object.

Results ->
American ppts looked at the central object more while Chinese ppts looked at the background more. If the central object was on the PS background then all ppts recognised the object with the same accuracy; however, when the PS object was on a new background the Chinese ppts were significantly worse at recognising the central object

Conclusion ->
Since Chinese culture is collectivist and focuses more on where one belongs with regards to those around them, Chinese people will focus more on the context of a situation. Since American culture is individualist, less attention is needed for the context of a situation as focussing on the context of a situation is not as necessary.

Evaluation ->

✔ high validity -> triangulation of methods allows us to develop a better understanding of the results and also better confidence in the results as there is support in many different aspects, not in just one method.
✔ Supported by Ji et al (2000) and Wang and Brockmeier (2002)

❌ Bad generalizability -> Only ppts were students used from two countries so results are not applicable to every country and also since China/America does not represent every collectivist/individualist culture these results can not be applied to every collectivist/individualist culture
❌ Low reliability -> Very small sample size means it is harder to trust the results and this, along with the bad generalisability, makes it difficult to trust and apply these results to the general population

Question 3

Wang (2001)

Answer 3

Aim->
To investigate whether the emotional content of mother-child conversations would be different for American and Chinese participants.

Method ->
22 white American mothers and 25 Chinese mothers, with their three-year-old children, participated in this correlational study. The mothers were asked to record conversations with their children relating to four different events, each relating to a different emotion: happy, sad, scared or angry. The conversations were then analysed.

Results
American mothers offered significantly more explanations than Chinese mothers for the emotions felt by their child and by others when discussing events with their children. American children showed the same pattern.
American mothers and their children were significantly more likely to choose personally-focused events to discuss, while Chinese mothers and their children were more likely to talk about social themes.
American mothers elaborated (gave more details about the events being discussed) significantly more than the Chinese mothers.
Chinese mothers focused more on social rules than American mothers (who focused more on their child’s experience and feelings).
American children talked less about others than the Chinese children, and more about themselves.

Conclusion
“Findings indicate that [parent-child conversations about shared emotional experiences] serve culture-specific functions in transmitting to children knowledge about emotions and ways of personal reminiscing.”
“While American children are encouraged to focus on their own feelings, Chinese children are often encouraged to be attuned to those of others.”
“American conversations focused on the opinions of the child, whereas Chinese conversations often referred to other people and emphasised social norms and behavioural expectations.”
“For American mothers, emotions constitute an important aspect of the child’s self and therefore need to be explained and elaborated on fully in order to facilitate the child’s emotion understanding and individuality. For Chinese mothers, in contrast, emotions are consequences of social interactions between the child and significant others and therefore are instrumental for reinforcing in the child proper behavioural conduct and a sense of connectedness.”

Question 4

Cultural dimensions

Answer 4

Features that are present in all cultures that can be monitored and controlled.

One is collectivism vs individualism