Task 1 - WEIRD

Question 1

Major Differences of East & West

Answer 1

Cognitive differences:

1. Casual attribution and prediction: westerners explain events by refererencing to property of an object, easteners by referencing to interactions between object and the field
2. Logic vs dialetics: westerners need one side or other to be correct, easterners likely to propose “middle way” solutions
3. categorization: westerners classify based on rule category membership; easterners classify on relationships and family resemlance (–> w: cow&chicken, e: cow&grass)
4. Detection of covariation
5. Field dependence:
6. Attention to the field
7. Change blindness
8. “affordances” in environment

Americans: self=autonomous entity –> behave according to their own internal attributes and thoughts; interdependent social orientation (emphasizing uniqueness)
East Asian: interconnectedness; interdependent social orientation (emphasizing relationships)

Question 2

Social, regional & religious differences

Answer 2

These three are also forms of culture
1.Social class:
provides different circumstances leading to different psychological adaptations
parrallels traditional East-West research
linked to differences in prosocial tendencies and ethical behavior
working class emphasizes more on context & situational influences, middle class on individual and internal factors
2. Region
study: recently settled states endorse more individualistic values (less common popular names, more likely to vote for 3rd party)
–> economic activities are affected by regions, and affect culture
3. Religion
= cultural influences that shape psychological functioning
–>shown to affect visual attention
–>cognitive differences attributed to variations in individualism and collectivism in religions
–> religion has effect on worth ethic and moral judgement

Question 3

Brain differences in West & East

Answer 3

quantitative meta analysis showed that cultural differences are mediated by distinct neural networks
-east cultures have increased activities in brain regions related to interference of other’s mind and emotion regulation
-Western cultures increased activities in areas related to self-relevance and emotional responses
Detailed differences found in summary of task 1 (table)