TASK 1 - COGNITION & CULTURE Flashcards
what is culture?
= defined by characteristics + knowledge of a particular group of people including language, customs, habits, modes of dress, beliefs + philosophies
- cultural cohesion: feel connected to in-group
- shapes how people attend to their environment, perceive, memorise + make decisions
external factors of culture
= visible; tip of the iceberg
- distinct language
- habits, traditions, symbols, customs
- bound to one region/area
- models of beliefs/philosophy
- politics
internal factos of culture
= invisible; underlying mechanisms of culture
- biological differences (ontogenetic = changes due environment)
- wisdom, world views
- attitudes and values, assumptions
reasons for cultural differences
- due to social structure
W: more loose social structure vs. E: tight social structure (hierarchy) - caused by economic factors
W: middle class vs. E: working class - educational system
- language
= social & ancient economic structure –> social practice (W: hunter+gatherer vs. E: agriculture) –> attention & perception –> cognition
origins of differences
- ancient greek: analytic thought; sense of control due to rule-thinking; stability in world
- fewer, less complex social relations; independent - ancient chinese: holistic thought; lack of rules, world is constantly changing (yin/yang)
- complex role relations; interdependent
- social orientation hypothesis
analytic thinking vs. holistic thinking
analytic thinking = WESTERN; focus on objects and attributes
- objects = exist independently from contexts; sum of component parts
holistic thinking = EASTERN; context as a whole and relations among objects/surroundings
- objects = how they relate to the rest of the context
social interdependence/social orientation hypothesis
= social orientation (independence vs interdependence) can account for cultural differences in cognitive styles with the former promoting holistic thinking and the latter promoting analytic thinking
independent vs. interdependent/collectivistic self-concepts
independent = WESTERN; socialised to be independent, analytic thinking, viewing oneself as disconnected from others
- logic: one certain decision
interdependent = EASTERN; socialised in relational contexts, holistic thinking, viewing oneself as embedded in relations with others
- dialect: middle way decision (compromise)
dispositional vs. situational attributions
dispositional = WESTERN, considering inner characteristics, behaviour in terms of their underlying dispositions/feelings/ thoughts
situational = EASTERN; considering situational influences and individual’s relations with context, behaviour in terms of contextual variables
language/communication
WESTERN: explicit message, low context societies
EASTERN: implicit message, high context societies
rule-based vs. associative reasoning
rule-based = WESTERN; view world as operating according to a set of universal abstract rules and laws
associative reasoning = EASTERN; considering view world as relationships among objects or events; evidence for clustering together (similarity, temporal contiguity of events)
stability vs. change (world view)
stable world: WEST; attending to a focal object + assigning it to an abstract, static category
- future orientation
changing world: EAST; attending to a greater number of objects and relationships
- past orientation
environmental affordances
= environmental factors contribute to people’s habitual patterns
- environment influence perception –> perceptual preferences influence people –> produce environments
WEST: salient, distinctive objects
EAST: more complex and numerous objects
cultural-related perceptual differences
- activities + experience with environment shapes our perception –> creates perceptual culture-related differences –> expectations make particular interpretations likely to occur –> increase speed and efficiency of perceptual process
- children already learn perceptual preferences
cultural-related creative differences
WEST: NOVELTY; breakthrough innovations
- individualism: facilitates, greater motivation for uniqueness
EAST: USEFULNESS; incremental innovations
- collectivism: concern about other’s opinion, practical solution with aim of group
neurological manifestations
- different neural networks underlie cultural differences in social cognitive & affective processes
Culture shapes functional anatomy of self presentation. Cultural differences are mediated by distinct neuronal networks.
WEST: higher activity in right lingual gyrus, right inferior parietal cortex & precuneus
- higher activity in areas of self-reflection, own emotional responses & empathy for other’s emotional states
EAST: higher activity in left inferior parietal cortex, left middle occipital & left superior parietal cortex
- higher activity in areas involved in inference of other minds, social perception & self-control/emotional regulation
- -> Interdependent cultures: less distinct, neuronal representations for themselves and other people (close relatives)
norm sensitivity hypothesis
= people acquire culture through reinforcement-mediated social learning processes (dopaminergic neural pathways)
- people are genetically variable in sensitivity to culture/social norms
- -> mutual influence between culture and genes
- acquisition of norms of culture (independence/interdependence) is influenced by reinforcement-mediated social learning
WEIRD countries
Western Educated Industrialised Rich Democratic
WEIRD bias
= 95% of research literature is based on WEIRD countries
- not universal results: most psychologically unusual –> only 12% of population (there is more variation)
- culture blindness: assumption that observed findings in one’s own culture are presumed to be universal
solutions for WEIRD bias
- awareness
- support cross-cultural research, more diverse samples
hermeneutic definition of culture (PRESENTATION)
= shared meanings and practices of a social group –> give shape to personal identities
- self and culture are strongly linked and inseparable (through all layers of onion)
aspects of hermeneutic culture (PRESENTATION)
- folk psychology: any understanding of behaviour, emotion, cognition, or complex social
- concerning what a person is and what is expected to do - moral visions: inform people about what is worthy, good, and desirable
- provide guidance about how a person ought to behave
- vary widely across cultural groups
