Locals
Teens in Rice County Are More Interdependent and Think More Holistically Than Nearby Wheat County
Xiawei Dong, Thomas Talhelm & Xiaopeng Ren
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
China’s smallest province Ningxia sits in North Central China. Surrounded by herding cultures to the north and wheat farmers to the south, Qingtongxia is a small outpost of rice farming fed by the Yellow River. We test the hypothesis that rice-farming cultures are more interdependent by comparing high school students from Qingtongxia (N = 190) to students in a nearby wheat district, Yuanzhou (N = 223). Comparing two nearby counties provides a natural test case that controls for third variables. Students in the rice county thought more holistically, treated a close friend better than a stranger, and showed lower implicit individualism. Students in the rice area showed more relative perception than students from the wheat areas on the practice trials of the framed line task, but differences were nonsignificant on the main trials. Differences between teenagers — born after the year 2000 — suggest that rice–wheat differences continue among China’s next generation.
The Regulation of Language
Yehonatan Givati
Journal of Law and Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Can language be centrally planned and controlled? Friedrich Hayek considered language the archetypal example of spontaneous order, yet many countries adopt a planned order approach to language, attempting to centrally plan and control it through language academies. I collect original data on the regulation of language across countries, and show that countries that adopt a planned order approach to language, also do so in their law, and similarly rely on a planned order approach in their economy. Countries that adopt a spontaneous order approach to language, also do so in their law, and similarly rely on a spontaneous order approach in their economy. This is consistent with the idea that these approaches are driven by an underlying cultural attitude towards the two types of order.
Politico-Economic Regimes and Attitudes: Female Workers under State-Socialism
Pamela Campa & Michel Serafinelli
Review of Economics and Statistics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper investigates whether attitudes are affected by politico-economic regimes. We exploit the efforts of state-socialist regimes to promote women’s economic inclusion. Using the German partition after WWII, we show that women from East-Germany are more likely to place importance on career success compared to women from West-Germany. Further, the population at large in East-Germany is less likely to hold traditional gender-role attitudes. Examining possible mechanisms, we find that the change in attitudes under the East-German regime was larger in areas where the growth in female employment was larger. A comparison of Eastern versus Western Europe confirms these results.
Self-assertive interdependence in Arab culture
Alvaro San Martin et al.
Nature Human Behaviour, November 2018, Pages 830–837
Abstract:
Arabs represent a major cultural group, yet one that is relatively neglected in cultural psychology. We hypothesized that Arab culture is characterized by a unique form of interdependence that is self-assertive. Arab cultural identity emerged historically in regions with harsh ecological and climatic environments, in which it was necessary to protect the survival of tribal groups. Individuals in Arabian cultures were honour-bound to be respectable and trustworthy group members. Supporting this hypothesis, study 1 found that Arabs were interdependent and holistic (like East Asians), but also self-assertive (like Westerners). This psychological profile was observed equally for both Muslim and Christian Arabs, thus ruling out Islamic religion as an alternative explanation for our findings. Studies 2 and 3 showed that the self-assertive tendency of Arabs is in service of interdependence, whereas that of Westerners is in service of independence. Our work contributes to the current effort by cultural psychologists to go beyond the prevailing East versus West, interdependence versus independence paradigm. It also speaks to the emerging socioecological perspective in cultural research.
Future-Time Framing: The Effect of Language on Corporate Future Orientation
Hao Liang et al.
Organization Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
We examine how international variation in corporate future-oriented behavior, such as corporate social responsibility and research and development investment, could partially stem from characteristics of the languages spoken at firms. We develop a future-time framing perspective rooted in the literatures on organizational categorization and framing. Our theory and hypotheses focus on how companies with working languages that obligatorily separate the future tense and the present tense engage less in future-oriented behaviors, and this effect is attenuated by exposure to multilingual environments. The results based on a large global sample of firms from 39 countries support our theory, highlighting the importance of language in affecting organizational behavior around the world.
Cultural differences in the development of a preference for scarce objects
Gil Diesendruck et al.
Developmental Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Adults value scarce objects, such as rare precious stones and limited edition items. This valuation may derive from an understanding of market forces and sociological considerations, but it may also be related to more basic cognitive and motivational processes. The present studies addressed these possibilities by investigating the development and cross-cultural prevalence of a preference for scarce objects. Children (N = 366) from Israel and Taiwan, ranging from 4 to 11 years of age, were given a choice between a scarce and an abundant reward. We found that whereas a preference for the scarce appeared among Israelis by age 7, it never appeared among the Taiwanese. These findings indicate that a scarcity preference emerges already at age 7, but only among children living in a culture that emphasizes self-individuality. These findings are discussed in light of cultural accounts of the development of self-motivations.
Climatic Roots of Loss Aversion
Oded Galor & Viacheslav Savitskiy
NBER Working Paper, November 2018
Abstract:
This research explores the origins of loss aversion and the variation in its prevalence across regions, nations and ethnic group. It advances the hypothesis and establishes empirically that the evolution of loss aversion in the course of human history can be traced to the adaptation of humans to the asymmetric effects of climatic shocks on reproductive success during the epoch in which subsistence consumption was a binding constraint. Exploiting regional variations in the vulnerability to climatic shocks and their exogenous changes in the course of the Columbian Exchange, the research establishes that consistent with the predictions of the theory, individuals and ethnic groups that are originated in regions marked by greater climatic volatility have higher predisposition towards loss-neutrality, while descendants of regions in which climatic conditions tended to be spatially correlated, and thus shocks were aggregate in nature, are characterized by greater intensity of loss aversion.
On the cultural basis of gender differences in negotiation
Steffen Andersen et al.
Experimental Economics, December 2018, Pages 757–778
Abstract:
We study how culture and social structure influence bargaining behavior across gender, by exploring the negotiation culture in matrilineal and patriarchal societies using data from a laboratory experiment and a natural field experiment. One interesting result is that in both the actual marketplace and in the laboratory bargaining game, women in the matrilineal society earn more than men, at odds with years of evidence observed in the western world. We find that this result is critically driven by which side of the market the person is occupying: female (male) sellers in the matrilineal (patriarchal) society extract more of the bargaining surplus than male (female) sellers. In the buyer role, however, we observe no significant differences across societies.
How history matters for student performance. Lessons from the Partitions of Poland
Paweł Bukowski
Journal of Comparative Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper examines the effect on current student performance of the 19th century Partitions of Poland among Austria, Prussia and Russia. Using a regression discontinuity design, I show that student test scores are 0.6 standard deviations higher on the Austrian side of the former Austrian-Russian border, despite the modern similarities of the three regions. However, I do not find evidence for differences across the Prussian-Russian border. Using a theoretical model and indirect evidence, I argue that the Partitions have persisted through their impact on social norms toward local schools. Nevertheless, the persistent effect of Austria is puzzling, given the historical similarities of the Austrian and Prussian education systems. I argue that the differential legacy of Austria and Prussia originates from the Austrian Empire’s policy to promote Polish identity in schools and the Prussian Empire’s efforts to Germanize the Poles through education.
Post-marital residence patterns show lineage-specific evolution
Jiří Moravec et al.
Evolution and Human Behavior, November 2018, Pages 594-601
Abstract:
Where a newly-married couple lives, termed post-marital residence, varies cross-culturally and changes over time. While many factors have been proposed as drivers of this change, among them general features of human societies like warfare, migration and gendered division of subsistence labour, little is known about whether changes in residence patterns exhibit global regularities. Here, we study ethnographic observations of post-marital residence in societies from five large language families (Austronesian, Bantu, Indo-European, Pama-Nyungan and Uto-Aztecan), encompassing 371 ethnolinguistic groups ranging widely in local ecologies and lifeways, and covering over half the world's population and geographical area. We apply Bayesian comparative methods to test the hypothesis that post-marital residence patterns have evolved in similar ways across different geographical regions. By reconstructing past post-marital residence states, we compare transition rates and models of evolution across groups, while integrating the historical descent relationships of human societies. We find that each language family possesses its own best fitting model, demonstrating that the mode and pace of post-marital residence evolution is lineage-specific rather than global.
Explaining marriage patterns in a globally representative sample through socio-ecology and population history: A Bayesian phylogenetic analysis using a new supertree of human cultures
Riana Minocher, Pavel Duda & Adrian Jaeggi
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Comparative analyses have sought to explain variation in human marriage patterns, often using predictions derived from sexual selection theory. However, most previous studies did not control for non-independence of populations due to shared ancestry. Here we leverage a phylogenetic supertree of human populations that includes all 186 populations in the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS), a globally representative and widely-used sample of human populations. This represents the most comprehensive human phylogeny to date, and allows us not only to control for non-independence, but also to quantify the role of population history in explaining behavioral variation, in addition to current socio-ecological conditions. We use multiple imputation to overcome missing data problems and build a comprehensive Bayesian phylogenetic model of marriage patterns with two correlated response variables and eleven minimally collinear predictors capturing various socio-ecological conditions. We show that ignoring phylogeny could lead to both false positives and false negatives, and that the phylogeny explained about twice as much variance as all the predictors combined. Pathogen stress and assault frequency emerged as the predictors most strongly associated with polygyny, which had been considered evidence for female choice of good genes and male intra-sexual competition or male coercion, respectively. Mixed support was found for a polygyny threshold based on variance in male wealth, which is discussed in light of recent theory. Barring caveats, these findings refine our understanding of the evolution of human marriage systems, and highlight the value of combining population history and current socio-ecology in explaining human behavioral variation. Future studies using the SCCS should do so using the present supertree.
Colder weather and fewer sunlight hours increase alcohol consumption and alcoholic cirrhosis worldwide
Meritxell Ventura‐Cots et al.
Hepatology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Risk of alcoholic cirrhosis is determined by genetic and environmental factors. Although it is generally accepted that colder weather predisposes to alcohol misuse, no studies have investigated its impact on alcohol intake and alcoholic cirrhosis. We aimed to investigate if climate has a causal effect on alcohol consumption and its weight on alcoholic cirrhosis. We collected extensive data from 193 sovereign countries as well as 50 states and 3,144 counties in the United States. Data sources included World Health Organization, World Meteorological Organization, and the Institute on Health Metrics and Evaluation. Climate parameters comprised Koppen‐Geiger classification, average annual sunshine hours, and average annual temperature. Alcohol consumption data, pattern of drinking, health indicators, and alcohol‐attributable fraction (AAF) of cirrhosis were obtained. The global cohort revealed an inverse correlation between mean average temperature and average annual sunshine hours with liters of annual alcohol consumption per capita (Spearman's rho −0.5 and −0.57, respectively). Moreover, the percentage of heavy episodic drinking and total drinkers among population inversely correlated with temperature −0.45 and −0.49 (P < 0.001) and sunshine hours −0.39 and −0.57 (P < 0.001). Importantly, AAF was inversely correlated with temperature −0.45 (P < 0.001) and sunshine hours −0.6 (P < 0.001). At a global level, all included parameters in the univariable and multivariable analysis showed an association with liters of alcohol consumption and drinkers among population once adjusted by potential confounders. In the multivariate analysis, liters of alcohol consumption associated with AAF. In the United States, colder climates showed a positive correlation with the age‐standardized prevalence of heavy and binge drinkers.
Designing nudges for the context: Golden coin decals nudge workplace behavior in China
Sherry Jueyu Wu & Elizabeth Levy Paluck
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, forthcoming
Abstract:
We conduct a field experiment in a Chinese workplace to illustrate that designing nudges requires an understanding of the motivational structure of a behavior, which includes recognizing people’s subjective understandings of their local context. Workers in six production departments of a textile factory in China were unresponsive to the factory’s rules and monetary incentives to throw waste in trash cans, rather than on the floor. We designed a nudge in the form of decals depicting golden coins placed on the production floors. The coins were intended to counter workers’ motivation to work without pause with their motivation to keep the golden coins uncontaminated by waste, given the shared belief that golden coins are an omen for fortune and luck. Using a stepped wedge repeated within-group design, we randomized which days the coin nudge was implemented, removed, and re-implemented in each department over a period of 5 months. We collected and coded daily pictures (7,927 total) of each production floor before, during, and after these “coin nudge” implementations and removals. Waste on the floor was significantly reduced by over 20% following the first coin nudge implementation, compared to baseline. However, the coin nudge was not effective when reimplemented, after coins were removed without justification. Removing and re-implementing the coin nudge may have shifted workers’ subjective interpretation of the coins. Results support the idea that nudges are not always off-the-shelf, given that they must recognize motivations and subjective interpretations within a particular context.
The Ratification of CEDAW and the Liberalization of Abortion Laws
Kate Hunt & Mike Gruszczynski
Politics & Gender, forthcoming
Abstract:
Do international treaties lead to cross-national increases in women's rights? In contrast to Asal, Brown, and Figueroa's (2008) suggestion that the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is not an important factor in explaining the liberalization of abortion rights polices, this article argues that the treaty contributes to increases in abortion rights when the terms of ratification are disaggregated. Previous excursions into this question have only considered whether a state has ratified the treaty, which is problematic from both a methodological and theoretical standpoint given that many states ratified with conditions, while only six states did not ratify at all. Additionally, some states ratified the Optional Protocol and some have not. We demonstrate that the disaggregation of levels of treaty ratification is associated with increases in women's rights in a model replicating that of Asal, Brown, and Figueroa. Further, we extend our knowledge of the dynamics of treaty ratification through the use of structural equations to more fully model how political, cultural, and economic factors, as well as exogenous international pressures, interact to produce changes in women's rights around the world.