Unpacking culture Flashcards
What happened in Hofstede’s study (1980)?
Provided initial ‘map’ of global differences in national culture
- Explosion of interest (+ research) in cross-cultural psychology from 1980 to present
- Comparing nations with different Hofstede scores
- Usually focusing on individualism-collectivism
- Particular focus on USA vs East Asia (esp. Japan)
What are cultural syndromes?
Collectivism + individualism
Subjective culture = shared, central theme + same lang, geography or period in history (Triandis et al., 1995)
How shared are elements of subjective culture?
Schwartz values 6% to 26% country-level variance
(Fischer & Schwartz, 2011)
How strongly do subjective culture covary?
Individual-level vs. ecological-level relationships
What are unpacking studies?
Mediation studies:
group membership –> cultural orientation –> outcome variable
What is the theory of self-construals?
Markus & Kitayama (1991)
- Review paper which defines area
- Over 31,000 citations = influential
Central idea
- ‘Western’ and ‘non-Western’ cultures differ in relative prevalence of independent + interdependent self-construals (perception)
People in diff. cultures = very diff. self-perceptions of others + of the interdependence of the two.
Construals = influence +many cases determine, the very nature of individual experience, including cognition, emotion, and motivation.
What does Markus & Kitayama (1991) show?
Independent self-construal = big self + other people
People = don’t converge but circle comes close e.g being unique + expressing self
Prevalent in North America culture
What is the interdependent self-construal?
Markus & Kitayama (1991) = common in Japan
Circles over lap, characteristics that over lap is the most important features e.g flexible, belonging/ fitting in.
What is the implications of construals can influence cognition?
Vs Americans, South-East Asian Ps typically show:
- more interpersonal knowledge
- more context-specific knowledge of self + other
- more attention to interpersonal context in basic cognition
What is the implications of construals can influence emotion?
Ego-focused emotions = anger, frustration, pride
- predicted to be more important in US
Other-focused emotions = sympathy, feelings of interpersonal communion, shame
- predicted to be more important in Japan
What is the implications of construals can influence motivation?
Cultural differences in self-construal predicted to foster:
Self-expression or self-restraint
Individual or collective bases of achievement
Self-enhancement or modesty
How did Matsumoto (1999) support Markus & Kitayama’s theory
National culture (values, attitudes, etc) –> self-construals –> cognition, emotion + motivation
How did Matsumoto (1999) support Markus & Kitayama’s theory
National culture (values, attitudes, etc) –> self-construals –> cognition, emotion + motivation
How do you measure self-construals?
20 Statements Test (TST)
- Coding for ‘interdependence’, ‘sociality’, etc. = hard bc it relies on translation ability of research
Likert measures (e.g., Singelis, 1994) = “I enjoy being unique and different from others in many respects” / “My happiness depends on the happiness of those around me”
- 2 orthogonal factors: independence, interdependence
- But no control for acquiescent responding
what did Singelis and Sharkey (1995) in their study?
Ps = 86 Euro-American + 417 Asian-American (Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean) university students
Questionnaire measures
Self-construal scale (Singelis, 1994)
Embarrassability scale (Modigliani, 1968)
