Groupthink
Culture Clash: Incompatible Reputation Mechanisms and Intergroup Conflict
Vasiliki Fouka & Alain Schläpfer
NBER Working Paper, September 2022
Abstract:
Under what conditions does intergroup contact lead to conflict? We provide a novel answer to this question by highlighting the role of reputation mechanisms in sustaining cooperation. Reputational concerns can deter defection in one-time interactions within a group, but the informational content of reputation can differ across groups. We consider two types of information. Punishment-based reputation (a "culture of honor") represents past sanctioning behavior of individuals, while a reputation based on image scoring captures past cooperative and uncooperative acts. While either type can successfully sustain cooperation within a group, we show theoretically that interactions of individuals from a punishment-based culture with those from a culture of image scoring can lead to widespread inter-group tensions. Mutual cooperation is a more likely outcome if both cultures use a similar reputation mechanism. We find empirical support for the model's predictions across phenomena related to the emergence of social tensions. Cross-cultural differences in the importance of retaliation predict patterns of host population discrimination against immigrants and variation in bilateral conflict across ethnic groups.
Moral disciplining: The cognitive and evolutionary foundations of puritanical morality
Léo Fitouchi, Jean-Baptiste André & Nicolas Baumard
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Why do many societies moralize apparently harmless pleasures, such as lust, gluttony, alcohol, drugs, and even music and dance? Why do they erect temperance, asceticism, sobriety, modesty, and piety as cardinal moral virtues? According to existing theories, this puritanical morality cannot be reduced to concerns for harm and fairness: it must emerge from cognitive systems that did not evolve for cooperation (e.g., disgust-based “Purity” concerns). Here, we argue that, despite appearances, puritanical morality is no exception to the cooperative function of moral cognition. It emerges in response to a key feature of cooperation, namely that cooperation is (ultimately) a long-term strategy, requiring (proximately) the self-control of appetites for immediate gratification. Puritanical moralizations condemn behaviors which, although inherently harmless, are perceived as indirectly facilitating uncooperative behaviors, by impairing the self-control required to refrain from cheating. Drinking, drugs, immodest clothing, and unruly music and dance, are condemned as stimulating short-term impulses, thus facilitating uncooperative behaviors (e.g., violence, adultery, free-riding). Overindulgence in harmless bodily pleasures (e.g., masturbation, gluttony) is perceived as making people slave to their urges, thus altering abilities to resist future antisocial temptations. Daily self-discipline, ascetic temperance, and pious ritual observance are perceived as cultivating the self-control required to honor prosocial obligations. We review psychological, historical, and ethnographic evidence supporting this account. We use this theory to explain the fall of puritanism in WEIRD societies, and discuss the cultural evolution of puritanical norms. Explaining puritanical norms does not require adding mechanisms unrelated to cooperation in our models of the moral mind.
Social Class and Socialization Values in the United States and China
Xiaochen Chen et al.
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, November 2022, Pages 1300–1306
Abstract:
The psychological correlate of social class across cultures is a topic of debate. Some have argued cross-cultural similarities, while others have maintained culturally divergent manifestations of social class. Using the data from the World Value Survey 2017 to 2020 (Wave 7), the current study examined the associations between social class and socialization values among parents in the United States (n = 1,615) and China (n = 2,524). Results indicated that all social class indices (i.e., education level, income, subjective social status, and composite social class) were positively associated with self-oriented socialization values in the United States, whereas such associations were absent in China, except for education level. In addition, higher social class, in terms of higher income, higher subjective social status, and higher composite social class, was associated with greater other-oriented socialization values in China. However, such associations were absent (for income, education level, and composite social class) or even reversed (for subjective social status) in the United States. These findings extend the literature on social class variations in parenting and highlight cultural specificity in the psychological manifestations of social class.
Regional personality differences predict variation in early COVID-19 infections and mobility patterns indicative of social distancing
Heinrich Peters et al.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed stark regional variation in the spread of the virus. While previous research has highlighted the impact of regional differences in sociodemographic and economic factors, we argue that regional differences in social and compliance behaviors — the very behaviors through which the virus is transmitted — are critical drivers of the spread of COVID-19, particularly in the early stages of the pandemic. Combining self-reported personality data that capture individual differences in these behaviors (3.5 million people) with COVID-19 prevalence and mortality rates as well as behavioral mobility observations (29 million people) in the United States and Germany, we show that regional personality differences can help explain the early transmission of COVID-19; this is true even after controlling for a wide array of important sociodemographic, economic, and pandemic-related factors. We use specification curve analyses to test the effects of regional personality in a robust and unbiased way. The results indicate that in the early stages of COVID-19, Openness to experience acted as a risk factor, while Neuroticism acted as a protective factor. The findings also highlight the complexity of the pandemic by showing that the effects of regional personality can differ (a) across countries (Extraversion), (b) over time (Openness), and (c) from those previously observed at the individual level (Agreeableness and Conscientiousness). Taken together, our findings support the importance of regional personality differences in the early spread of COVID-19, but they also caution against oversimplified answers to phenomena as complex as a global pandemic.
Cultural Differences in Consumer Responses to Celebrities Acting Immorally: A Comparison of the United States and South Korea
In-Hye Kang & Taehoon Park
Journal of Business Ethics, September 2022, Pages 373–389
Abstract:
Scandals involving celebrities’ moral transgressions are common in both Western and Eastern cultures. Existing literature, however, has been primarily based on Western cultures. We examine differences between South Korea and the United States (U.S.) in consumers’ support for celebrities engaged in moral transgressions and for the brands they endorse. Across six studies, we find that Korean (vs. U.S.) consumers show lower support for celebrities who engaged in moral transgressions. This effect occurs because Korean (vs. U.S.) consumers have a stronger belief that an individual’s competence and morality are interconnected. Thus, Korean (vs. U.S.) consumers are less likely to separate their judgments of celebrities’ morality and competence in professional performance, thereby lowering support for the celebrities. Building on the proposed mechanism, we identify the moderating role of transgression relevance. When a moral transgression is relevant (vs. not relevant) to the domain of the celebrity’s professional competence, the difference in celebrity support between the two countries is attenuated. This difference extends to the support for a brand endorsed by the celebrity transgressor when the brand retains the celebrity endorser, but not when the brand dismisses the endorser.
Kinship Structure and the Family: Evidence from the Matrilineal Belt
Sara Lowes
NBER Working Paper, September 2022
Abstract:
Kinship structure – how extended families are organized – varies across societies and may have implications for outcomes within the household. A key source of variation in kinship structure is whether lineage and inheritance are traced through women, as in matrilineal kinship systems, or men, as in patrilineal kinship systems. Anthropologists hypothesized that matrilineal kinship systems benefit women because they have greater support from their kin and husbands have less authority over their wives. However, they believed these same factors may also reduce spousal cooperation. I test these hypotheses using OLS and a geographic regression discontinuity design along the matrilineal belt in Africa. Using over 50 DHS survey-waves, I find that matrilineal women experience less domestic violence and have greater autonomy in decision making. Additionally, matrilineal kinship closes the education gap between male and female children, and matrilineal children experience health benefits. To better understand the specific mechanisms behind these effects, I collect original survey and experimental data from along the matrilineal belt. Men and women from matrilineal ethnic groups cooperate less with their spouses in a lab experiment. This is particularly the case for matrilineal women when they have the opportunity to hide income from their spouse. The results highlight how broader social structures shape key outcomes within the domestic sphere.
Are age-of-marriage laws enforced? Evidence from developing countries
Matthew Collin & Theodore Talbot
Journal of Development Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Child marriage is associated with negative outcomes for women and girls. Many countries have raised the legal age of marriage, but the incidence of early marriage remains high. We propose a simple test for whether laws are effective in deterring early marriage and apply it to data from both the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) covering over 100 countries using statistical tests derived from the regression discontinuity literature. By this measure, many countries are not enforcing the laws on their books, and enforcement may not be improving over time. We argue that survey data provides a simple way to test if laws are being enforced and are binding, and interpret our results to show that legal change needs to be accompanied by better enforcement and greater monitoring to be effective.