Culture clashing
Are the Motivational Effects of Autonomy-Supportive Conditions Universal? Contrasting Results Among Indians and Americans
Ritu Tripathi, Daniel Cervone & Krishna Savani
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
In Western theories of motivation, autonomy is conceived as a universal motivator of human action; enhancing autonomy is expected to increase motivation panculturally. Using a novel online experimental paradigm that afforded a behavioral measure of motivation, we found that, contrary to this prevailing view, autonomy cues affect motivation differently among American and Indian corporate professionals. Autonomy-supportive instructions increased motivation among Americans but decreased motivation among Indians. The motivational Cue × Culture interaction was extraordinarily large; the populations exhibited little statistical overlap. A second study suggested that this interaction reflects culturally specific norms that are widely understood by members of the given culture. When evaluating messages to motivate workers, Indians, far more than Americans, preferred a message invoking obligations to one invoking autonomous personal choice norms. Results cast doubt on the claim, made regularly in both basic and applied psychology, that enhancing autonomy is a universally preferred method for boosting motivation.
At the root of the North‐South cooperation gap in Italy: Preferences or beliefs?
Maria Bigoni et al.
Economic Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
The sharp gap in development between the North and the South of Italy represents a paradigmatic case of persistent within‐country disparities. The evidence suggests that this gap could depend on a difference in the ability to cooperate. We investigate experimentally three possible sources of this difference, and find that Northerners and Southerners share the same pro‐social preferences, but differ both in their belief about cooperativeness and in the aversion to social risk ‐ respectively more pessimistic and stronger among Southerners. Intervention or events that reduced pessimistic beliefs should directly boost cooperation.
The Happiest Kids on Earth. Gender Equality and Adolescent Life Satisfaction in Europe and North America
M.E. de Looze et al.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, May 2018, Pages 1073–1085
Abstract:
Cross-national differences in adolescent life satisfaction in Europe and North America are consistent, but remain poorly understood. While previous studies have predominantly focused on the explanatory role of economic factors, such as national wealth and income equality, they revealed weak associations, at most. This study examines whether societal gender equality can explain the observed cross-national variability in adolescent life satisfaction. Based on the assumption that gender equality fosters a supportive social context, for example within families through a more equal involvement of fathers and mothers in child care tasks, adolescent life satisfaction was expected to be higher in more gender-equal countries. To test this hypothesis, national-level data of gender equality (i.e., women’s share in political participation, decision making power, economic participation and command over resources) were linked to data from 175,470 adolescents aged 11–16 years old (M age = 13.6, SD = 1.64, 52% girls) from 34 European and North American countries involved in the 2009/10 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Results of linear multilevel regression analyses indicate that adolescents in countries with relatively high levels of gender equality report higher life satisfaction than their peers in countries with lower levels of gender equality. The association between gender equality and adolescent life satisfaction remained significant after controlling for national wealth and income equality. It was equally strong for boys and girls. Moreover, the association between gender equality and life satisfaction was explained by social support in the family, peer and school context. This analysis suggests that gender equality fosters social support among members of a society, which in turn contributes to adolescent life satisfaction. Thus, promoting gender equality is likely to benefit all members of a society; not just by giving equal rights to women and girls, but also by fostering a supportive social climate for all.
Gendered language and the educational gender gap
Lewis Davis & Megan Reynolds
Economics Letters, July 2018, Pages 46-48
Abstract:
Languages differ in the degree to which they employ gender distinctions for nouns and pronouns. Speaking a gendered language may highlight gender roles. We find that speaking a gendered language is associated with a greater gender gap in educational attainment.
Cultural Individualism Is Linked to Later Onset of Adult-Role Responsibilities Across Time and Regions
Jean Twenge & Keith Campbell
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, May 2018, Pages 673-682
Abstract:
This article explores links between cultural individualism and the age at which adult-role responsibilities are assumed (the speed of maturation to adulthood). Across 43 years (1973-2015) within the United States, yearly indicators of individualism were positively correlated with later onset of work and family responsibilities (a slow life strategy). The same pattern appeared cross-culturally: Across 53 nations, cultural individualism was significantly correlated with slower maturation to adulthood. These links remained over time and cross-culturally when unemployment rate, an indicator of economic strength, was included in the model. Analyses including GDP showed mixed results, suggesting a complex relationship between economic indicators, individualism, and maturation to adulthood. Across nations and time, more individualistic cultures are also those with slower maturation to adulthood (a slow life strategy).
Language group differences in time preferences: Evidence from primary school children in a bilingual city
Matthias Sutter et al.
European Economic Review, July 2018, Pages 21–34
Abstract:
We study differences in intertemporal choices across language groups in an incentivized experiment with 1,154 children in a bilingual city. The sample consists of 86% of all primary school kids in Meran/Merano, where about half of the 38,000 inhabitants speak German, and the other half Italian, while both language groups live very close to each other. We find that German-speaking primary school children are about 16 percentage points more likely than Italian-speaking children to delay gratification in an intertemporal choice experiment. The difference remains significant in several robustness checks and when controlling for a broad range of factors, including risk attitudes, IQ, family background, or residential area. Hence, we are able to show that language group affiliation, which is often used as a proxy for culture, plays an important role in shaping economic preferences already early in life.
Culture and financial literacy: Evidence from a within-country language border
Martin Brown, Caroline Henchoz & Thomas Spycher
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, June 2018, Pages 62-85
Abstract:
We study the effect of culture on financial literacy by comparing secondary-school students along the German–French language border within Switzerland. We find that students in the French-speaking region have a lower level of financial literacy than students in the German-speaking region. The difference in financial literacy across the language groups is stronger for native students and monolingual students than for immigrant students and bilingual students. This supports the hypothesis that embedded cultural differences rather than unobserved heterogeneity in schooling are driving the effect. A mediation analysis suggests that the cultural divide in financial literacy is related to systematic differences in financial socialisation across the language groups. Students in the German speaking region are more likely to receive pocket money at an early age, and are more likely to have independent access to a bank account than students in the French speaking region.
How Do Consumers’ Cultural Backgrounds and Values Influence Their Coupon Proneness?: A Multi-Method Investigation
Ashok Lalwani & Jessie Wang
Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although coupons are very effective in increasing sales, a major challenge marketers face with coupons is the low redemption rates. Consequently, marketers are continuously trying to identify consumers who are more or less likely to respond to couponing efforts, in order to better direct coupons to segments high in coupon proneness, and hence increase redemption rates. The current research identifies consumers’ cultural backgrounds and values as important determinants of their likelihood of redeeming coupons. Across five studies, we find that Asians (vs. Caucasians), Indians (vs. Americans) and, more generally, consumers with an interdependent (vs. independent) self-construal, are more likely to use coupons because they are more motivated to engage in self-regulation, which is proposed to enhance coupon proneness. We conclude with the implications of these findings for marketers, such as for their segmentation and targeting endeavors. We also provide specific tools that marketers could use, both inside and outside the store, to influence consumers’ use of coupons.
Exploring Cultural Differences in Expressive Suppression and Emotion Recognition
Michael Sun & Anna Lau
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, May 2018, Pages 664-672
Abstract:
Previous research has shown that the habit of suppressing emotional expressions is associated with long-term, general reductions in social cognitive abilities and interpersonal adjustment. This may be because theoretically, habitual suppression requires the fixation of attention to the self instead of to others. The present research explored the association between the habitual tendency to suppress one’s own emotions and accuracy in recognizing the emotions of others. Emotion recognition accuracy was tested across two tasks, a limited-channel task that presents limited emotional information and a multimodal full-channel task. We further explored cultural differences in this association given that expressive suppression may be normative for individuals of Asian descent due to cultural motivations toward social harmony and interdependence. Our findings revealed few cultural group differences. U.S.-born Asian Americans outperformed foreign-born Asian Americans and European Americans in limited-channel emotion recognition. However, the three groups did not differ in terms of interdependent self-construal, habitual emotion suppression, and full-channel emotion recognition ability. Interdependent self-construal was related to greater habitual suppression and emotion recognition accuracy in the full-channel task. Habitual emotion suppression was negatively related to limited-channel but not full-channel emotion recognition. There was no evidence of cultural differences in the link between habitual suppression and emotion recognition.
Worldwide distribution of the DCDC2 READ1 regulatory element and its relationship with phoneme variation across languages
Mellissa DeMille et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
DCDC2 is a gene strongly associated with components of the phonological processing system in animal models and in multiple independent studies of populations and languages. We propose that it may also influence population-level variation in language component usage. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the evolution and worldwide distribution of the READ1 regulatory element within DCDC2, and compared its distribution with variation in different language properties. The mutational history of READ1 was estimated by examining primate and archaic hominin sequences. This identified duplication and expansion events, which created a large number of polymorphic alleles based on internal repeat units (RU1 and RU2). Association of READ1 alleles was studied with respect to the numbers of consonants and vowels for languages in 43 human populations distributed across five continents. Using population-based approaches with multivariate ANCOVA and linear mixed effects analyses, we found that the RU1-1 allele group of READ1 is significantly associated with the number of consonants within languages independent of genetic relatedness, geographic proximity, and language family. We propose that allelic variation in READ1 helped create a subtle cognitive bias that was amplified by cultural transmission, and ultimately shaped consonant use by different populations over time.
What Does “Happiness” Prompt in Your Mind? Culture, Word Choice, and Experienced Happiness
Ji-eun Shin et al.
Journal of Happiness Studies, March 2018, Pages 649–662
Abstract:
What three words come to your mind in association with “happiness”? We analyzed the 1563 words reported by 521 Korean and American participants in this free association task. The most frequently endorsed word was “family” in Korea, whereas the most popular word among Americans was “smile.” The overall frequency of social words (e.g., relationships, social emotions) reported by Koreans was higher, and the most often mentioned relationship type differed between the two groups (family in Korea; friend in the US). Nonetheless, both in Korea and the US, individuals who mentioned more social words were significantly more satisfied with their lives. The amount of social support provision mediated the link between the number of reported social words and experienced happiness. Regardless of culture, a simple count of social words associated with happiness appears to offer a reasonably good clue for how happy the person actually is.
Are Gender Differences in Emotion Culturally Universal? Comparison of Emotional Intensity Between Chinese and German Samples
Xianmin Gong, Natalie Wong & Dahua Wang
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Are gender differences in emotion culturally universal? To answer this question, the current study compared gender differences in emotional arousal (intensity) ratings for negative and positive pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) across cultures (Chinese vs. German culture) and age (younger vs. older adults). The raters were 53 younger Germans (24 women), 53 older Germans (28 women), 300 younger Chinese (176 women), and 126 older Chinese (86 women). The results showed that gender differences in arousal ratings were moderated by culture and age: Chinese women reported higher arousal for both negative and positive pictures compared with Chinese men; German women reported higher arousal for negative pictures, but lower arousal for positive pictures compared with German men. Moreover, the gender differences were larger for older than younger adults in the Chinese sample but smaller for older than younger adults in the German sample. The results indicated that gender differences in self-report emotional intensity induced by pictorial stimuli were more consistent with gender norms and stereotypes (i.e., women being more emotional than men) in the Chinese sample, compared with the German sample, and that gender differences were not constant across age groups. The study revealed that gender differences in emotion are neither constant nor universal, and it highlighted the importance of taking culture and age into account.