Cultural Sensitivity
Weber Revisited: A Cross-National Analysis of Religiosity, Religious Culture, and Economic Attitudes
David Hayward & Markus Kemmelmeier
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, November 2011, Pages 1406-1420
Abstract:
Weber's Protestant Ethic hypothesis holds that elements of theology gave Protestants a cultural affinity with the economic demands of early market capitalism, particularly compared with their Catholic neighbors, which led to more rapid economic development in nations where Protestant culture was dominant. Previous research has found inconsistent support for a Protestant inclination toward pro-market attitudes, depending on whether the level of analysis was at the individual or national level. The present study uses cross-national panel data to combine these approaches with multilevel modeling. Results showed effects at the national level; people living in nations with dominantly Protestant cultural histories had more pro-market economic attitudes. At the individual level, there were differences in the impact of religiosity by religious group affiliation; Protestants had relatively pro-market attitudes regardless of religiosity, while members of other groups tended to increase in market orientation as a function of religiosity. Together, these effects support the existence of a Protestant Ethic that is linked with cultural Protestantism, rather than with personal adherence to specific Protestant religious beliefs.
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How General Is Trust in "Most People"? Solving the Radius of Trust Problem
Jan Delhey, Kenneth Newton & Christian Welzel
American Sociological Review, October 2011, Pages 786-807
Abstract:
Generalized trust has become a paramount topic throughout the social sciences, in its own right and as the key civic component of social capital. To date, cross-national research relies on the standard question: "Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you need to be very careful in dealing with people?" Yet the radius problem - that is, how wide a circle of others respondents imagine as "most people" - makes comparisons between individuals and countries problematic. Until now, much about the radius problem has been speculation, but data for 51 countries from the latest World Values Survey make it possible to estimate how wide the trust radius actually is. We do this by relating responses to the standard trust question to a new battery of items that measures in-group and out-group trust. In 41 out of 51 countries, "most people" in the standard question predominantly connotes out-groups. To this extent, it is a valid measure of general trust in others. Nevertheless, the radius of "most people" varies considerably across countries; it is substantially narrower in Confucian countries and wider in wealthy countries. Some country rankings on trust thus change dramatically when the standard question is replaced by a radius-adjusted trust score. In cross-country regressions, the radius of trust matters for civic attitudes and behaviors because the assumed civic nature of trust depends on a wide radius.
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A Racialized Peace? How Britain and the US Made Their Relationship Special
Srdjan Vucetic
Foreign Policy Analysis, October 2011, Pages 403-422
Abstract:
The extensive literature on the Anglo-American "special relationship" revolves around an observation that Britain and the US tend to cooperate more closely than any other comparable pair of states. I argue that this cooperation pattern originates in the construction of a "racialized peace" between the American and British empires at the fin-de-siècle. My argument builds on constructivist theorizations of the links among state/national identity, foreign policy, and international conflict/cooperation. Beginning with a discourse analysis of representative texts from the period leading up to the Venezuela crisis of 1895-96, I show how American and British elites succeeded in framing themselves as the vanguards of civilization and how the idea that two Anglo-Saxon entities could not fight each other in a global political system defined by race had significant consequences in world politics.
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Will people work hard on a task they choose? Social-eyes priming in different cultural contexts
Jinkyung Na & Shinobu Kitayama
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although previous work shows that people are strongly motivated to work on a task they choose, little is known on the boundary conditions for this effect. Here, we hypothesized that European Americans work hard on a task they choose in private so as to achieve their independence. In support of this hypothesis, we found that performance in an alleged IQ test increased when the test was chosen in the absence of social-eyes priming for European Americans and, moreover, this effect was more pronounced for independently oriented individuals. We also hypothesized that Asians work hard on a task they choose in public so as to establish their interdependence. In support of this hypothesis, we found that performance in the IQ test increased when the choice was made in the presence of the social-eyes priming for Asians and, moreover, this effect tended to be more pronounced for interdependently oriented individuals. Implications for theories of culture and motivation are discussed.
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Miriam Koschate, Wilhelm Hofmann & Manfred Schmitt
British Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Intergroup contact and group relative deprivation have both been shown to play a key role in the understanding of intergroup relations. Nevertheless, we know little about their causal relationship. In order to shed some light on the directionality and causality of the relationship between intergroup contact and group relative deprivation, we analysed responses by East and West Germans from k= 97 different cities, collected 6 (NT1= 1,001), 8 (NT2= 747), and 10 years (NT3= 565) after reunification. Multi-level cross-lagged analyses showed that group relative deprivation at T1 led to more (rather than less) intergroup contact between East and West Germans 2 years as well as 4 years later. We found no evidence for the reverse causal relationship, or moderation by group membership. Furthermore, admiration mediated the positive effect of relative deprivation on intergroup contact for both East and West Germans. This intriguing finding suggests that intergroup contact may be used as a proactive identity management strategy by members of both minority and majority groups.
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Culture and Crying: Prevalences and Gender Differences
Dianne van Hemert, Fons van de Vijver & Ad Vingerhoets
Cross-Cultural Research, November 2011, Pages 399-431
Abstract:
Results of a cross-cultural study of adult crying across 37 countries are presented. Analyses focused on country differences in recency of last crying episode and crying proneness and relationships with country characteristics. Three hypotheses on the nature of country differences in crying were evaluated: (a) distress due to exposure to taxing conditions, (b) norms regarding emotional expressiveness, and (c) personality (at country level). Individuals living in more affluent, democratic, extraverted, and individualistic countries tend to report to cry more often. These indicators relate to freedom of expression rather than to suffering; therefore, our data provide support for a model that views country differences in crying as being connected with country differences in expressiveness and personality rather than in distress. Gender differences in crying proneness were larger in wealthier, more democratic, and feminine countries. Differences in the meaning of crying at individual level (usually viewed as a sign of distress) and country level (as a sign of expressiveness and personality) are discussed.
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Reproduction of Cultural Values: A Cross-Cultural Examination of Stories People Create and Transmit
Toshie Imada & Steven Yussen
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Narratives are one of the oldest and universal forms of communication in human societies. In the present research, the authors hypothesized that narratives play an important role in the reproduction of cultural values. To test this idea, Study 1 examined the contents of stories created by American and Japanese participants for their reflection of individualistic and collectivistic values, and Study 2 examined whether information consistent with cultural values would be more likely to be retained and passed onto others. The studies found that American participants created stories that reflected individualistic values and retained more individualistic information than collectivistic information when they transmitted a story to others. In contrast, Japanese participants created stories that reflected collectivistic values and retained more collectivistic information than individualistic information when they transmitted a story to others. These findings support the idea that narrative communication is an important part of cultural reproduction mechanism.
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The Chinese ambivalence to humor: Views from undergraduates in Hong Kong and China
Xiao Dong Yue
Humor - International Journal of Humor Research, October 2011, Pages 463-480
Abstract:
This paper proposes that Chinese people have traditionally been ambivalent about humor in the following three manners: (1) they tend to value humor but consider themselves to lack humor; (2) being humorous is not associated with being an orthodox Chinese; (3) humor is important but not for everyone. The paper also proposes that the Chinese ambivalence toward humor is largely due to an appreciation-despising complex about humor that is deep-rooted in Chinese culture. To verify this, this author conducted a survey study among a sample of 337 undergraduates in Hong Kong and Huhehot. Results show that (1) participants all rated highly on importance of humor but low on perception of self humor; (2) male students considered themselves to be more humorous than female students; (3) the top ten important characteristics for humor are fundamentally different from the top ten characteristics important for Chinese personality; (4) perception of humor is more positive than that of the Chinese personality. The paper concludes with a discussion of the psycho-social implications of the present findings on studies and enhancement of humor in Chinese society as well on some thoughts on further directions of research.
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Regional Collectivism in Appalachia and Academic Attitudes
Jonathan Gore et al.
Cross-Cultural Research, November 2011, Pages 376-398
Abstract:
Prior research on Appalachian students has noted key differences in academic performance compared to the general population, but few researchers have examined the influence of cultural values on academic attitudes. The current study tested the hypothesis that the association between collectivism and academic attitudes (i.e., academic efficacy, school connectedness, and fear of academic success) would be stronger among Appalachian students than among non-Appalachian students. Participants were 605 university students from Appalachian and non-Appalachian regions of Kentucky and Georgia who completed survey assessments of the variables. A series of regression analyses confirmed the hypotheses. These results highlight the importance of applying cross-cultural theories to explain regional differences within countries.
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Why Men (and Women) Do and Don't Rebel: Effects of System Justification on Willingness to Protest
John Jost et al.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Three studies examined the hypothesis that system justification is negatively associated with collective protest against ingroup disadvantage. Effects of uncertainty salience, ingroup identification, and disruptive versus nondisruptive protest were also investigated. In Study 1, college students who were exposed to an uncertainty salience manipulation and who scored higher on system justification were less likely to protest against the governmental bailout of Wall Street. In Study 2, May Day protesters in Greece who were primed with a system-justifying stereotype exhibited less group-based anger and willingness to protest. In Study 3, members of a British teachers union who were primed with a "system-rejecting" mind-set exhibited decreased system justification and increased willingness to protest. The effect of system justification on nondisruptive protest was mediated by group-based anger. Across very different contexts, measures, and methods, the results reveal that, even among political activists, system justification plays a significant role in undermining willingness to protest.
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Kathleen Otto, Anna Baumert & Ramona Bobocel
Social Justice Research, September 2011, Pages 255-277
Abstract:
Drawing on social resource theory, we investigated the evaluation of distributive justice principles in relation to material benefits (monetary rewards in working life) and symbolic benefits (praise at university) in a cross-cultural study. We predicted that the equity principle would be perceived as more just for distributing culturally valued resources, whereas the equality principle would be perceived as more just for resources that are less valued within culture. Moreover, applying uncertainty management theory, we predicted that cross-cultural fairness evaluations would be more pronounced for individuals with higher (vs. lower) uncertainty avoidance or lower (vs. higher) uncertainty tolerance. Data of 608 Canadian and German students were collected in a two-wave survey. As expected, when allocating material benefits Canadians found the equity principle to be more just than did Germans, whereas Germans perceived the equality principle as more just than did Canadians. When allocating symbolic benefits, by contrast, Canadians perceived equality as more just than did Germans, though unexpectedly culture did not influence evaluations of the equity principle. Finally, consistent with uncertainty management theory, some of the cultural differences in the evaluation of distributive principles were more pronounced among people with higher uncertainty avoidance and lower uncertainty tolerance. Implications for cross-cultural research on distributive justice are discussed.
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When it matters how you pronounce it: The influence of regional accents on job interview outcome
Tamara Rakić, Melanie Steffens & Amélie Mummendey
British Journal of Psychology, November 2011, Pages 868-883
Abstract:
The visual dimension has featured prominently in person perception in the last 25 years. Alone, this dimension cannot give the complete ‘picture' of others because language and speech (i.e., the auditory dimension) are also highly informative. Social-cognition research investigates the role of auditory information for impression formation. In a series of experiments, we tested perceived competence, hirability, and socio-intellectual status of different targets based on their regional accents. Given identical content of statements in different conditions of an alleged job interview, regional German accents (Saxon, Bavarian, and Berlin) resulted in lower perceived competence and hirability than standard German, even though the Bavarian accent at the same time resulted in higher ratings of socio-intellectual status compared to other regional accents (Experiment 1). These findings were confirmed when using a broader population sample and a ‘matched guise' technique (Experiment 2). Our findings indicate that regional accents, similar to faces, can be very powerful in creating differentiated pictures of individuals.
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Holger Lutz Kern
Comparative Political Studies, September 2011, Pages 1179-1205
Abstract:
Do foreign media facilitate the diffusion of protest in authoritarian regimes? Apparently for the first time, the author tests this hypothesis using aggregate and survey data from communist East Germany. The aggregate-level analysis takes advantage of the fact that West German television broadcasts could be received in most but not all parts of East Germany. The author exploits this "natural experiment" by conducting a matched analysis in which counties without West German television are matched to a comparison group of counties with West German television. Comparing these two groups of East German counties, the author finds no evidence that West German television affected the speed or depth of protest diffusion during the 1989 East German revolution. He also analyzes a survey of East German college students. Confirming the aggregate-level results, the survey data show that, at least among college students, exposure to West German television did not increase protest participation.
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The origin and evolution of word order
Murray Gell-Mann & Merritt Ruhlen
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Recent work in comparative linguistics suggests that all, or almost all, attested human languages may derive from a single earlier language. If that is so, then this language - like nearly all extant languages - most likely had a basic ordering of the subject (S), verb (V), and object (O) in a declarative sentence of the type "the man (S) killed (V) the bear (O)." When one compares the distribution of the existing structural types with the putative phylogenetic tree of human languages, four conclusions may be drawn. (i) The word order in the ancestral language was SOV. (ii) Except for cases of diffusion, the direction of syntactic change, when it occurs, has been for the most part SOV > SVO and, beyond that, SVO > VSO/VOS with a subsequent reversion to SVO occurring occasionally. Reversion to SOV occurs only through diffusion. (iii) Diffusion, although important, is not the dominant process in the evolution of word order. (iv) The two extremely rare word orders (OVS and OSV) derive directly from SOV.
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How Linguistic and Cultural Forces Shape Conceptions of Time: English and Mandarin Time in 3D
Orly Fuhrman et al.
Cognitive Science, September/October 2011, Pages 1305-1328
Abstract:
In this paper we examine how English and Mandarin speakers think about time, and we test how the patterns of thinking in the two groups relate to patterns in linguistic and cultural experience. In Mandarin, vertical spatial metaphors are used more frequently to talk about time than they are in English; English relies primarily on horizontal terms. We present results from two tasks comparing English and Mandarin speakers' temporal reasoning. The tasks measure how people spatialize time in three-dimensional space, including the sagittal (front/back), transverse (left/right), and vertical (up/down) axes. Results of Experiment 1 show that people automatically create spatial representations in the course of temporal reasoning, and these implicit spatializations differ in accordance with patterns in language, even in a non-linguistic task. Both groups showed evidence of a left-to-right representation of time, in accordance with writing direction, but only Mandarin speakers showed a vertical top-to-bottom pattern for time (congruent with vertical spatiotemporal metaphors in Mandarin). Results of Experiment 2 confirm and extend these findings, showing that bilinguals' representations of time depend on both long-term and proximal aspects of language experience. Participants who were more proficient in Mandarin were more likely to arrange time vertically (an effect of previous language experience). Further, bilinguals were more likely to arrange time vertically when they were tested in Mandarin than when they were tested in English (an effect of immediate linguistic context).