Local Problem
Culture, Status, and Hypocrisy: High-Status People Who Don’t Practice What They Preach Are Viewed as Worse in the United States Than China
Mengchen Dong et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Status holders across societies often take moral initiatives to navigate group practices toward collective goods; however, little is known about how different societies (e.g., the United States vs. China) evaluate high- (vs. low-) status holders’ transgressions of preached morals. Two preregistered studies (total N = 1,374) examined how status information (occupational rank in Study 1 and social prestige in Study 2) influences moral judgments of norm violations, as a function of word-deed contradiction and cultural independence/interdependence. Both studies revealed that high- (vs. low-) status targets’ word-deed contradictions (vs. noncontradictions) were condemned more harshly in the United States but not China. Mediation analyses suggested that Americans attributed more, but Chinese attributed less, selfish motives to higher status targets’ word-deed contradictions. Cultural in(ter)dependence influences not only whom to confer status as norm enforcers but also whom to (not) blame as norm violators.
Folklore
Stelios Michalopoulos & Melanie Meng Xue
Quarterly Journal of Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Folklore is the collection of traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community passed through the generations by word of mouth. We introduce to economics a unique catalogue of oral traditions spanning approximately 1,000 societies. After validating the catalogue’s content by showing that the groups’ motifs reflect known geographic and social attributes, we present two sets of applications. First, we illustrate how to fill in the gaps and expand upon a group’s ethnographic record, focusing on political complexity, high gods, and trade. Second, we discuss how machine learning and human-classification methods can help shed light on cultural traits, using gender roles, attitudes towards risk, and trust as examples. Societies with tales portraying men as dominant and women as submissive tend to relegate their women to subordinate positions in their communities, both historically and today. More risk-averse and less entrepreneurial people grew up listening to stories where competitions and challenges are more likely to be harmful than beneficial. Communities with low tolerance towards antisocial behavior, captured by the prevalence of tricksters getting punished, are more trusting and prosperous today. These patterns hold across groups, countries, and second-generation immigrants. Overall, the results highlight the significance of folklore in cultural economics, calling for additional applications.
Passion matters but not equally everywhere: Predicting achievement from interest, enjoyment, and efficacy in 59 societies
Xingyu Li et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 16 March 2021
Abstract:
How to identify the students and employees most likely to achieve is a challenge in every field. American academic and lay theories alike highlight the importance of passion for strong achievement. Based on a Western independent model of motivation, passionate individuals-those who have a strong interest, demonstrate deep enjoyment, and express confidence in what they are doing-are considered future achievers. Those with less passion are thought to have less potential and are often passed over for admission or employment. As academic institutions and corporations in the increasingly multicultural world seek to acquire talent from across the globe, can they assume that passion is an equally strong predictor of achievement across cultural contexts? We address this question with three representative samples totaling 1.2 million students in 59 societies and provide empirical evidence of a systematic, cross-cultural variation in the importance of passion in predicting achievement. In individualistic societies where independent models of motivation are prevalent, relative to collectivistic societies where interdependent models of motivation are more common, passion predicts a larger gain (0.32 vs. 0.21 SD) and explains more variance in achievement (37% vs. 16%). In contrast, in collectivistic societies, parental support predicts achievement over and above passion. These findings suggest that in addition to passion, achievement may be fueled by striving to realize connectedness and meet family expectations. Findings highlight the risk of overweighting passion in admission and employment decisions and the need to understand and develop measures for the multiple sources and forms of motivation that support achievement.
Swinging for the Fences Versus Advancing the Runner: Culture, Motivation, and Strategic Decision Making
Roxie Chuang et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
This research investigated cross-cultural differences in strategic risky decisions in baseball - among professional baseball teams in North America and Japan (Study 1) and among baseball fans in the United States and Japan (Study 2 - preregistered). Study 1 analyzed archival data from professional baseball leagues and demonstrated that outcomes reflecting high risk-high payoff strategies were more prevalent in North America, whereas outcomes reflecting low risk-low payoff strategies were more prevalent in Japan. Study 2 investigated fans’ strategic decision making with a wider range of baseball strategies as well as an underlying reason for the difference: approach/avoidance motivational orientation. European American participants preferred high risk-high payoff strategies, Japanese participants preferred low risk-low payoff strategies, and this cultural variation was explained by cultural differences in motivational orientation. Baseball, which exemplifies a domain where strategic decision making has observable consequences, can demonstrate the power of culture through the actions and preferences of players and fans alike.
Testing Todd: Family Types and Development
Jerg Gutmann & Stefan Voigt
Journal of Institutional Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Many years ago, Emmanuel Todd came up with a classification of family types and argued that the historically prevalent family types in a society have important consequences for its economic, political, and social development. Here, we evaluate Todd's most important predictions empirically. Relying on a parsimonious model with exogenous covariates, we find mixed results. On the one hand, authoritarian family types are, in stark contrast to Todd's predictions, associated with increased levels of the rule of law and innovation. On the other hand, and in line with Todd's expectations, communitarian family types are linked to racism, low levels of the rule of law, and late industrialization. Countries in which endogamy is frequently practiced also display an expectedly high level of state fragility and weak civil society organizations.
Risky Business: Cosmopolitan Culture and Risk-Taking
Timur Sevincer et al.
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Some metropolitan areas (e.g., Berlin, New York) have a cosmopolitan culture. That is, they serve as centers of economic development and value diversity, creativity, and equality. These areas offer economic and creative opportunities that are open to anyone willing to take a risk. Therefore, such cities may attract people who are high in risk-taking. We first showed that real-world risk-taking is more common in cities with a more cosmopolitan culture (Study 1). Second, we found that people who are more prone to risk-taking as measured by self-report (Studies 2a and 2b) and observed behavior (Study 3, preregistered) have greater preferences for cosmopolitan cities as residential destinations. Third, we tested a causal link between risk-taking and preference for cosmopolitan cities. Inducing a prevention focus (known to inhibit risk-taking) reduced people’s desire to settle in cosmopolitan cities (Study 4). We discuss implications for economic growth and migration to cosmopolitan cities.
The Role of Personality in Shaping Pandemic Response: Systemic Sociopolitical Factors Drive Country Differences
Meghan Siritzky, David Condon & Sara Weston
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
The current study utilizes the current COVID-19 pandemic to highlight the importance of accounting for the influence of external political and economic factors in personality public health research. We investigated the extent to which systemic factors modify the relationship between personality and pandemic response. Results shed doubt on the cross-cultural generalizability of common Big Five factor models. Individual differences only predicted government compliance in autocratic countries and in countries with income inequality. Personality was only predictive of mental health outcomes under conditions of state fragility. Our ability to use individual differences to understand policy-relevant outcomes changes based on environmental factors and must be assessed on a trait-by-trait basis, thus supporting the inclusion of systemic political and economic factors in individual differences models.
Culture, democracy and regulation
Claudia Williamson
Constitutional Political Economy, March 2021, Pages 98-126
Abstract:
This paper examines how culture influences business regulation across countries. Empirical analysis reveals that individualistic countries adopt fewer regulations than collectivist countries. This result is independent of political institutions, suggesting that culture directly affects regulation by shaping preferences over economic policy. Individualism’s influence is magnified in democratic countries. These results support a public choice interpretation of regulation where culture may provide an additional check on government’s ability to rent seek via inefficient regulation.
Cultural relativity in consumers' rates of adoption of artificial intelligence
Annie Tubadji, Toby Denney & Don Webber
Economic Inquiry, forthcoming
Abstract:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a cost‐efficient innovation that challenges customers' consumption patterns and fears of uncertainty. This study assesses whether the likelihood that consumers adopt AI in banking services depends on tastes across different cultures. We propose a culturally‐augmented Arrow-Bilir-Sorensen model to assess the propensity that consumers use AI. Analyses of a unique ING Bank dataset encompassing 11,000 respondents from 11 countries reveal that success rates for the diffusion of robo‐advisory financial services in retail banking vary substantially due to the cultural boundedness of choice. This bias seems to be associated with social capital rather than the fear of novelty.