Context
Native Language Promotes Access to Visual Consciousness
Martin Maier & Rasha Abdel Rahman
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Can our native language influence what we consciously perceive? Although evidence that language modulates visual discrimination has been accumulating, little is known about the relation between language structure and consciousness. We employed electroencephalography and the attentional-blink paradigm, in which targets are often unnoticed. Native Greek speakers (N = 28), who distinguish categorically between light and dark shades of blue, showed boosted perception for this contrast compared with a verbally unmarked green contrast. Electrophysiological signatures of early visual processing predicted this behavioral advantage. German speakers (N = 29), who have only one category for light and dark shades of blue, showed no differences in perception between blue and green targets. The behavioral consequence of categorical perception was replicated with Russian speakers (N = 46), reproducing this novel finding. We conclude that linguistic enhancement of color contrasts provides targets with a head start in accessing visual consciousness. Our native language is thus one of the forces that determine what we consciously perceive.
The culture of social comparison
Matthew Baldwin & Thomas Mussweiler
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 25 September 2018, Pages E9067-E9074
Abstract:
Social comparison is one of the most ubiquitous features of human social life. This fundamental human tendency to look to others for information about how to think, feel, and behave has provided us with the ability to thrive in a highly complex and interconnected modern social world. Despite its prominent role, however, a detailed understanding of the cultural foundations of social comparison is lacking. The current research aims to fill this gap by showing that two prominent cultural dimensions, tightness–looseness and individualism–collectivism, uniquely explain variation in social-comparison proclivity across individuals, situations, and cultures. We first demonstrate the yet-undocumented link between cultural tightness and comparison proclivity across individuals, and further show that perceptions of ambient tightness and interdependence are uniquely associated with stronger social-comparison tendencies. Next, we show that these associations arise across social settings and can be attributed to properties of the settings themselves, not solely to individual differences. Finally, we show that both tight and collectivistic US states show a propensity to engage in Google searches related to specific social-comparison emotions, but that the tightness–comparison link arises from a unique psychological mechanism. Altogether, these findings show that social comparison — a fundamental aspect of human cognition — is linked to cultural practices based both in prevalence and strength of social norms as well as the tendency to construe the self in relation to others.
Does national culture change as countries develop? Evidence from generational cleavages
Danko Tarabar
Journal of Institutional Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Development scholars have identified several Hofstede (1980, 2001) cultural dimensions as critically important determinants of long-run economic development across countries. Does economic progress, in turn, shape culture in a predictable direction? This paper investigates whether economic change since 1970 has induced shifts in five of the Hofstede value orientations in a sample of up to 72 countries. To achieve identification, we employ a unique data set on country-level cleavages in the values of two non-overlapping age cohorts approximately one generation (30 years) apart, on average. We find evidence that faster-growing countries during the period of coming of age and personality development of the younger cohort witnessed the rise of more individualistic and politically egalitarian generations, suggesting the existence of a self-perpetuating cycle between certain “good-for-development” cultural attitudes and economic development.
A New Worldwide Measure of Happiness Explains National Differences in Suicide Rates and Cigarette Consumption
Michael Minkov et al.
Cross-Cultural Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Studies of happiness or subjective well-being (SWB) employ a variety of conceptualizations and item formats. Some authorities prefer to focus on the cognitive or evaluative component of SWB in studies of national happiness, and consider the affective component a lesser priority. However, we show that the latter component has unique and important predictive properties. We measured the stable element of the affective component (being “usually happy and in a good mood”) in 44,096 respondents recruited probabilistically from 56 societies (nations and some ethnic groups), from all inhabited continents. Consistent with previous studies, we obtained the highest positive affect scores in the nations of northern Latin America and Africa, whereas the highest percentages of respondents “rarely in a good mood” were recorded in East Asia, Russia, Italy, and the Arab world. Our happiness measure is a significant negative predictor of national suicide rates and cigarette consumption, after controlling for other plausible predictors, including other SWB measures from the World Values Survey, Veenhoven’s World Database of Happiness, and climate and socioeconomic variables.
Cultural Patterns Explain the Worldwide Perception/Performance Paradox in Student Self-Assessments of Math and Science Skill
Carmen Sanchez & David Dunning
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Having skill does not necessarily mean more self-confidence in that skill, as shown in four panels, from 2003 to 2015 (n ≈ 983,934), of self-assessments by eighth graders in the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS). Within a given country, self-judgments of math and science skill correlated positively with actual performance, but at the level of country average the correlation flipped. Students in countries with the best average performance held the most negative self-views of their skill, whereas students from nations with lowest average performance tended to hold the most favorable self-views. National differences in long-term orientation (LTO) versus short-term orientation (STO) accounted for this performance/perception paradox. Although LTO was associated with superior TIMSS performance, it also was associated with a general humility about the self. STO was related to lower objective performance but self-aggrandizing opinions of skill. Surprisingly, greater self-accuracy was related to individualism.
Northerners and Southerners Differ in Conflict Culture
Evert Van de Vliert & Lucian Gideon Conway
Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present study uses regression analysis of existing cross‐national data sets to demonstrate that ingroup–outgroup discrimination and intergroup conflict management vary more along the north–south (latitudinal) axis than along the east–west axis of the Earth. Ingroup favoritism, outgroup rejection, political oppression, legal discrimination, and communication bullying are all less prevalent among Northerners than among Southerners in the Northern Hemisphere, but more prevalent among Northerners than among Southerners in the Southern Hemisphere. These findings provide a rich source for further research into how social conflicts are habitually experienced and handled by residents of northern versus southern habitats. A supplementary analysis specifies the extent to which ecological stressors — thermal stress, hydraulic stress, pathogenic stress, and subsistence stress — help explain why there are oppositely sloping north–south gradients of conflict culture above and below the equator. Taken in total, these results demonstrate the importance of considering latitude in forming a deeper understanding of conflict management and negotiation.
Distinct facial expressions represent pain and pleasure across cultures
Chaona Chen et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Real-world studies show that the facial expressions produced during pain and orgasm — two different and intense affective experiences — are virtually indistinguishable. However, this finding is counterintuitive, because facial expressions are widely considered to be a powerful tool for social interaction. Consequently, debate continues as to whether the facial expressions of these extreme positive and negative affective states serve a communicative function. Here, we address this debate from a novel angle by modeling the mental representations of dynamic facial expressions of pain and orgasm in 40 observers in each of two cultures (Western, East Asian) using a data-driven method. Using a complementary approach of machine learning, an information-theoretic analysis, and a human perceptual discrimination task, we show that mental representations of pain and orgasm are physically and perceptually distinct in each culture. Cross-cultural comparisons also revealed that pain is represented by similar face movements across cultures, whereas orgasm showed distinct cultural accents. Together, our data show that mental representations of the facial expressions of pain and orgasm are distinct, which questions their nondiagnosticity and instead suggests they could be used for communicative purposes. Our results also highlight the potential role of cultural and perceptual factors in shaping the mental representation of these facial expressions. We discuss new research directions to further explore their relationship to the production of facial expressions.
Culture, Psychological Proximity to the Past and Future, and Self‐Continuity
Li‐Jun Ji et al.
European Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present research explores how culture influences individuals’ psychological proximity to the past and future, which may predict differences in perceived self‐continuity across time. In Studies 1 and 2, we hypothesized and found that Chinese participants saw the past and future as more connected and subjectively closer to the present compared to Euro‐Canadians. Following this, we expected and found in Studies 3 and 4 that Chinese participants perceived greater self‐continuity over time than Euro‐Canadians. Additionally, perceived closeness to the past mediated the effect of culture on past‐present self‐continuity, which subsequently predicted present‐future self‐continuity. Study 5 further documented a causal effect of perceived distance to the past on self‐continuity. These results suggest that cultural differences in temporal attention to the past and future play a pivotal role in people's sense of self‐continuity across time. This has important implications for temporal focalism, intertemporal discounting, and social interactions between Chinese and Euro‐Canadians.
When words become borders: Ingroup favoritism in perceptions and mental representations of Anglo-Canadian and Franco-Canadian faces
Thora Bjornsdottir et al.
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, forthcoming
Abstract:
Language is critical to social identity, including nationality. However, some nations encompass multiple languages, raising questions about how their citizens perceive members of their national versus linguistic groups. We explored perceptions of Canadian nationality, which consists of two linguistic groups: Anglo-Canadians and Franco-Canadians. In Study 1, we used reverse correlation methods to visualize how Anglo- and Franco-Canadians mentally represent the faces of linguistic ingroup and outgroup members, and of Canadians in general. Structural similarity analyses and subjective ratings of the resulting images showed that both groups mentally represented Canadians as more similar to their own linguistic ingroup. In Study 2, Anglo-Canadians and Franco-Canadians rated photos of real Anglo- and Franco-Canadian targets. Both samples showed some ingroup favoritism when inferring their traits but only Anglo-Canadians could accurately differentiate group members. Differences between Anglo-Canadians and Franco-Canadians therefore extend beyond language, with linguistic groups impacting impressions before any words are spoken.
Cross‐Cultural Differences in the Influence of Peers on Exploration During Play
Shirlene Wade & Celeste Kidd
Cognitive Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Certain social context features (e.g., maternal presence) are known to increase young children's exploration, a key process by which they learn. Yet limited research investigates the role of social context, especially peer presence, in exploration across development. We investigate whether the effect of peer presence on exploration is mediated by age or cultural‐specific experiences. We test its impact on exploration across development (2–11 years) and across cultures (United States and the Tsimane', indigenous farmer‐foragers in Bolivia). Specifically, peer presence does not boost exploration among young U.S. children and becomes more inhibitory among school‐age children. In contrast, peer presence facilitates exploration and provides an additional boost for older Tsimane' children, who differ from U.S. children in their cultural‐specific learning experiences (e.g., formal education), among other differences. We discuss potential cultural factors and mechanisms by which peer presence may boost exploratory behavior.
Parental Control and Conflicts in Adolescence: A Cross-National Comparison of the United States, Canada, Mexico, France, and Italy
Michel Claes et al.
Journal of Family Issues, November 2018, Pages 3857-3879
Abstract:
This study investigated parental behavioral control, disciplinary style, and parent–youth conflicts in five countries: The United States, Canada, Mexico, France, and Italy. A self-report questionnaire was applied to 1,751 adolescents and their parents. Results indicate that, after controlling for possible confounding variables, parenting in the United States and Canada was characterized by reduced requirements and rules and a disciplinary style marked by induction and negotiation. A higher level of control, and a disciplinary approach more punitive and coercive characterized parents in Mexico and France. Mexican adolescents reported the highest levels of conflict, while the United States stands out with the lowest rate of conflict. Generally, Italy was at a middle position. Regression analyses indicated that harsh parental disciplinary measures are associated with conflicts in all countries. Results are discussed in light of the ethnocultural perspectives developed in cross-cultural psychology.