Culture Struggles
What predicts girls' and boys' political ambition? Evidence from the United States and China
Rachel Leshin et al.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, forthcoming
Abstract:
Women are underrepresented in positions of political leadership across the world. One reason for this disparity is a gender gap in political ambition, which seems to emerge reliably as children transition from childhood to adolescence. Why does this gap in political ambition arise? The present study (N = 367 children ages 5-11 from the United States and China; 180 girls, 187 boys) provided a cross-cultural investigation of two potential antecedents of this ambition gap: (a) children's concepts of political leaders, which might discourage girls' ambitions if they emphasize traditionally masculine traits, and (b) the social support children anticipate receiving for their political ambitions, which might be lower for girls due to gender role expectations. In both the United States and China, children's concepts of political leaders -- which were characterized by the same three underlying dimensions (prestige/charisma, dominance/assertiveness, vulnerability/fallibility) -- did not consistently predict children's political ambition. However, the level of social support for their political leadership pursuits, which was higher for girls than boys in the United States and vice versa in China, did predict levels of political ambition in both countries, particularly for girls. That is, anticipated social support robustly predicted girls' motivation to pursue political leadership in both the United States and China, whereas this link was weaker and less consistent for boys. Together, these findings provide new insight into the sources of gender gaps in political ambition and, in doing so, bring us a step closer to understanding how to remedy the persistent gender imbalances in political leadership.
Beliefs about a brighter future for all humanity as an evolutionary adaptation to pathogen prevalence
Brian Haas et al.
Personality and Individual Differences, December 2025
Abstract:
An important question in cognitive and evolutionary psychology is how the human mind anticipates the future and copes with stress and risk of disease. The parasite-stress model suggests that many patterns of human behavior and thought are adaptations to varying levels of exposure to parasites and pathogens. A growing body of health psychology research shows a link between positive future thinking and resiliency to various forms of disease. In this study, we investigate the link between historical pathogen prevalence in countries and individuals' perception of the future of humanity. We surveyed 18,981 participants across 68 nations, examining their beliefs about how well humanity will be doing 1000 years from now compared to the present. We found that individuals residing in regions with higher historical disease risk tend to have more positive views about the future of humanity than individuals residing in areas with lower historical disease risk. The difference could not be attributed to several other stress-inducing factors, such as climate stress, population density or objective or subjective socioeconomic indicators. This research contributes to a growing body of evidence demonstrating how disease risk shapes human cognition and encourages future exploration of the evolution of temporal forecasting and consciousness.
High Confucian Familism Adherence but Low Fertility Intentions: Evidence From the Lowest Fertility Rate City in China
Yalei Zhai
Journal of Family Issues, forthcoming
Abstract:
Despite transitioning from a one-child policy (1979-2015) to a universal two-child policy in 2016 and a three-child policy in 2021, China's birth rate has continued to decline. These policy changes, rooted in the assumption of high-fertility preferences influenced by Confucian familism, did not result in an anticipated increase in birth rates. Using a three-level policy design, this study estimates the impact of Confucian familism on fertility intention using instrumental variables. Data were drawn from the "Tianjin Citizen Fertility Willingness Survey" of the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences (n = 655 women, aged 15-49). First, the results reveal that although Confucian ideals that encourage childbearing have been widely accepted, fertility intentions (i.e., the expected number of children) remain low. Second, despite controlling for fertility burdens and policy changes in the estimations, we observed that stronger adherence to Confucian familism does not significantly predict greater fertility intentions. However, such strong adherence may be associated with a greater willingness to have only one child. The results suggest that the inclination to have a single child, even under incentive-based birth policies, arises from an ultracompetitive society that lacks comprehensive social welfare guarantees.
Enduring Legacy of Collective Resistance: How Historical Responses to Trauma Affect Modern Native American Venturing
Shon Hiatt, Travis Howell & Trenton Alma Williams
University of Southern California Working Paper, July 2025
Abstract:
Scholarship recognizing the profound impact of historical trauma on modern organizational behavior critically misses how past collective responses to traumatic shocks shape present-day organizational differences. In this paper, we theorize how historical variations in group responses to traumatic shocks differentially influence modern entrepreneurial activities and outcomes. We focus on a particular traumatic shock that has received relatively little scholarly attention: the trauma of colonization experienced by Native American tribes. We investigate the relationship between tribes' collective resistance to the trauma -- as measured by battles with European colonists -- and their modern business decisions. We propose that tribes' historical legacy of cultural resistance generates bounded solidarity and norms of defiance, which persist in the modern day through the launching of illicit gambling establishments. We further theorize and find that the relationship between collective resistance and legally ambiguous venturing is moderated by three factors, namely boundary, culture, and governance preservation. Our study contributes to management scholarship by examining how responses to historical traumas can impact an affected groups' modern-day organizing practices.
Empowering women through radio: Evidence from Occupied Japan
Yoko Okuyama
Journal of Development Economics, February 2026
Abstract:
I study the impact of women's radio programs that the US-led occupying force aired nationwide in Occupied Japan (1945-1952) to dismantle the prewar patriarchal norms. From the perspective of the economics of identity, the radio messages can be viewed as attempts to alter gendered identity norms, and thus to shift women's political, economic and family outcomes. Using local variation in radio signal strength driven by soil conditions as an instrumental variable, I show that greater exposure to women's radio programs increased women's electoral turnout, and the vote share for female candidates, highlighting women's votes matter. I find no effects on women's labor market outcomes, but exposure to women's radio programs accelerated the postwar fertility transition. Overall, disseminating pro-gender-equality messages can have significant implications for both women's lives and society at large, potentially paving the way for rapid economic growth that would follow.
Helping a Boy or a Girl? The Effect of Recipient's Gender and Donor's Culture on Donation Decisions
Danit Ein-Gar et al.
Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, October 2025
Abstract:
This paper shows the effect of recipients' gender on donors' preferences, depending on donors' culture. Among study participants from both Eastern and Western cultures, the choice of donating to a boy or a girl followed donors' cultural norms. In Western culture (e.g., the United States), donors chose to donate to a girl over a boy, whereas in Eastern culture (e.g., China), the choice was reversed. A choice set of different-gender recipients increased donations (compared to a choice set of the same gender), as gender stereotypes served to justify choosing one recipient over the other. However, when the choice was between an organization and a single child, the child's gender (either boy or girl) did not affect donation behavior. Thus, gender preferences are driven by cultural norms only in cases where the recipient's gender is salient and serves as a culturally justifiable reason for the donor's choice.
Is Homo Economicus Performative? Evidence From a Beauty Contest Experiment With Mainstream and Non-Mainstream Academic Economists
Mikhail Sokolov & Alexander Libman
Kyklos, forthcoming
Abstract:
Does studying mainstream microeconomics cause individuals to behave more like the textbook version of homo economicus? Most studies suggesting a positive answer have used student samples and focused on self-interested behaviors in collective dilemma situations. In our study, we conducted an online "beauty contest" experiment with a sample of 1019 academic economists in Russia. The Russian case is of particular interest in this context, as the country's economic discipline is markedly divided between those who associate themselves with "Western" science -- typically having received standard training in mainstream economics -- and those who reject it in favor of a native intellectual tradition. The latter group usually openly denies the universal applicability of theories that describe economic life as an interaction between rational, self-interested agents. We leverage this division by examining variations in beauty contest game strategies within the group of academic economists rather than across disciplines, thereby reducing unobserved heterogeneity. We analyze whether those who embrace the international economic mainstream make choices closer to equilibrium compared to those who reject it and specifically describe homo economicus as an inadequate model of human behavior. The results show no statistical association: Economists who rely on theories assuming common knowledge of rationality did not expect more rational behavior from their colleagues.
Culture and the Social Clock: Cultural Differences in the Optimal Timing of Life
Lu Zang & Heejung Kim
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
People typically hold personal views regarding the appropriate age ranges for significant life events, such as starting college, getting married, or having kids. Such socially prescribed timetables have been termed the social clock. In this paper, we investigate how and why the rigidity (or flexibility) of the social clock may vary across cultures. In three studies (two preregistered), participants from China and the United States were asked to provide the earliest and the latest ages they think appropriate for engaging in several life events. We operationalized the social clock's rigidity as the width of the time windows for these life events. We found notable cultural differences: The social clock was more rigid in China than in the United States, and filial piety beliefs are likely explanations for these differences. We further assessed the anticipated negative self-conscious emotions associated with deviation from the social clocks. Societal implications and future directions were discussed.