Cultural Psychology - Thierry Devos PDF

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The impact of culture on an individual's psychological state. Investigating biases and stereotypes. Lecturer: Thierry Devos ...

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CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY: Thierry Devos DEFINITION OF CULTURE: - ‘A set of attitudes, behaviors and symbols shared by a large group of people, usually communicated from one generation to the next’ (Shiraev & Levy 2010 p3) - ‘A network of shared knowledge that is produced, distributed and reproduced among a collection of interconnected individuals’ (Chiu & Hong 2006 p18) WHAT IS CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY? General Psychology (Shweder): - Reveals the underlying central processing unit (CPU) - CPU is universal - Culture = noise Cultural Psychology (Shweder): - Mind cannot be separated from content or context - Mind and culture are mutually constituted IMPORTANCE: 1. Emotion 2. Self and identity 3. Motivation 4. Reasoning 5. Conformity 6. Mental health 7. Moral development 8. Close relationships DATABASE: - Psychological database is largely comprised of data from Western (especially American) college students - However this database has 2 issues – psychologists generalize from a very narrow sample, meaning findings may not apply to other samples, as well as this psychologists generalize from a ‘weird’ sample, meaning the sample may be considered unusual in the context of the world’s cultures. WEIRD: Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic Societies - Weird countries make up only 16% of the world’s population ANALYTIC THINKING: - Separating objects from each other - Breaking down objects to their component parts - Using rules to explain and predict an objects behavior - Analytic thinkers are more likely to apply abstract rules in order to solve problems HOLISTIC THINKING: - An orientation to the entire scene - Attending to the relations among objects - Predicting an objects behavior on the basis of those relationships - Relies on associative though - Holistic thinkers attend more to similarities among objects or temporal relations among events 3 PRINCIPLES TO ALLOCATE RESOURCES:

1. Principle of Equality: Everyone gets the same amount, irrespective of contributions 2. Principle of Equity: People get an amount based on what they have contributed 3. Principle of Need: People get an amount based on the degree of their needs CULTURAL FRAME-SWITCHING (HONG ET AL., 2000) - Individuals can successfully internalize more than one culture - Multicultural individuals hold multiple theories about the world - Cultural theories become activated depending on the situation - Influence cognition, affect, and behavior - Ability to switch cultural frames of reference MULTICULTURAL EXPERIENCES AND CREATIVITY: - Multicultural experiences may foster the creative expansion of ideas in at least 5 ways: 1. Richer input 2. Same form, different functions 3. Destabilized cognitive structures 4. Readiness to seek out diverse ideas 5. Resolving conflicting ideas CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY: - What is real for us is in fact a construction of reality - How people construe the world, how they make sense of their environment is how they construct a reality for themselves. - Our impressions of others are constructions based on our own selection and interpretations of cues PERVASIVENESS OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE: Our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by: - The people around us - The groups to which we belong - Our personal relationships - The teaching of our parents - The culture we live in - Our past experiences TWO FUNDAMENTAL AXIOMS: - Social psychology is about the interaction between the individual and the social world, with the key concepts of the construction of reality and the pervasiveness of social influence. WHY DO WE FORM FIRST IMPRESSIONS? 1. Striving for Mastery: We seek to understand the world around us to help us control outcomes in our lives, understanding others helps us successfully deal with them. Eg. Good grades, not be fired. 2. Seeking Connectedness: We attempt to create and maintain feelings of mutual support, liking and acceptance, as knowing others helps us meet affiliation goals. What do we rely on? - Physical appearance - Non-verbal cues

- Behavior PRIMACY EFFECT (ASCH, 1946): - The tendency for information presented early in a sequence to have more impact on impressions than information presented later – we develop a bias as soon as we have been given initial information - Once we think we have formed an accurate impression of someone, we pay less attention to subsequent information. This is more likely to have when people are unstimulated or tired. - People differ in their need for closure, the desire to reduce ambiguity. Primacy effects are less likely to occur for those who are low in their need for closure. - Information presented earlier on may change the meaning of the traits given later on – information and the meaning of a trait is malleable. Once we have formed an impression, we start to interpret inconsistent information in light of that impression. ACCESSIBILITY: - Many cues are ambiguous, interpretation will be influenced by the accessibility of relevant ideas, concepts, categories etc. Recently or frequently activated ideas come to mind more easily. Prior context on the interpretation of new information has an impact. PRIMING: - Knowledge activated in a prior context is used to make sense of the currently attended cues or stimuli. Priming adventurous (positive) vs. Priming reckless (negative). Priming depends on relevance and is not consciously connected. OTHER SOURCES OF ACCESSIBILITY EFFECTS: 1. Expectations: May act as accessible knowledge 2. Mood: Our current mood may make positive/negative information more accessible even if it is not consciously related 3. Chronic accessibility: Practicing over and over some concepts make them very accessible BEYOND FIRST IMPRESSIONS: - First impressions are often formed with minimal effort, going beyond initial shallow first impressions (correction of first impressions, systematic processing) requires both ability – adequate time to think, freedom from distractions – and motivation – reason to form a deeper impression. CONFIRMATION HYPOTHESIS TESTING: - When you seek information, which will confirm your expectations or first impressions – you have a negative first impression so you filter for the negative in future to confirm your original hypothesis, not looking beyond your possibly incorrect first impression. An experiment on Conformation Hypothesis Testing has been carried out by Snyder and Swann (1978). This confirmed 3 steps whereby the individual strengthened rather than corrected their initial impressions. - 1. Perceiver’s expectations - 2. Perceiver’s behavior toward the target - Target’s behavior toward the perceiver SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY:

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Process by which one’s expectations about a person eventually lead that person to behave in ways which confirm those expectations – people will be what is expected of them, where positive or negative. ATTRIBUTION: - Process by which people produce an answer to the question ‘why?.’ They use information to make inferences about the causes of behavior or events. These are called lay explanations. - People as naïve scientists: they seek to explain behavior in order to gain prediction and control. Lay explanation can be grouped into 2 categories: 1. Internal Attribution: An attribution that locates the cause of an event to factors internal to the person, eg. personality traits, attitudes, abilities or effot (personal/dispositional attribution) 2. External Attribution: An attribution that locates the cause of an event to factors external to the person, such as luck, other people, or the situation (situational attribution) CORRESPONDENT INFERENCE THEORY (Jones & Davis 1965): - Expectedness of the behavior – more likely to infer disposition from unexpected behavior. - Actors degree of choice – more likely to infer disposition if behavior is freely chosen FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR: - The tendency to over-attribute other’s behavior to dispositional causes - Exaggerate importance of personality characteristics in explaining other’s behavior minimize influence of situational factors, also known as the correspondence bias. - This is because Actor’s behavior is salient, stands out, whereas situation is less attention-grabbing. - We think that if you do something, your behavior reflects something about who you are ATTRIBUTIONS AS CULTURAL CONSTRUCTIONS: - Culture shapes the kinds of attributions we make about people and social situations - Westerners tend to believe people are autonomous, motivated by internal forces, and responsible for their own actions – we think of ourselves as being individual ‘actor’s’ – responsible for our own actions - Many non-Western ‘collectivist’ cultures take a more holistic view that emphasizes the relationship between individuals and their surroundings – we behave because of our environment – more situational thinking ACTOR/OBSERVER DIFFERENCE: - The tendency to attribute our own behaviors to situational causes (the environment, not our fault), while seeing other’s actions as due to their inner characteristics (their own fault) - This idea was tested in an experiment by Storms (1973), whereby he had 2 observers and 2 actors, and the observers placed greater importance on dispositional factors, while the actors emphasized the situational factors.

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In this experiment, the observer compares the actor’s behavior to the behavior expected from others – the norm/average behavior – differences in behavior are attirubuted to the actor. - However, the Actor compares his behavior to their actions in similar settings previously – differences in their behavior over time are attributed to the situations. CONFORMITY AND OBEDIENCE: WHAT IS CONFORMITY? - Conformity: Changing perceptions, opinions, and behaviors in ways that are consistent with social norms, in response to the real or imagined influence of other people. - Social Norm: A generally accepted way of thinking, feeling, or behaving that people in a group agree on and endorse as right and proper - Sherif’s (1936) Experiment: Autokinetic effect. - Results: When individuals were in a group and gave aloud their estimate of the movement of light, there converged on a common standard or norm. Once the norm was established by the group, it was used by participants even when they were alone – this is an example of participants conforming under uncertainty. - Asch’s (1955) Experiment relays these results through a slightly different experiment – even when the answer was wrong, participants conformed. - Conformity may happen even when the physical information is not ambiguous - Participants conformed to achieve connectedness INFORMATIONAL INFLUENCE: - Occurs when a person looks to another person or group to gain accurate information - Striving for mastery - We conform to be correct – private conformity NORMATIVE INFLUENCE: - Occurs when a person conforms in order to gain rewards or avoid punishments from another group or person - Need for connectedness - We confirm to belong and avoid social sanctions – public conformity PRIVATE CONFORMITY: - Change in beliefs that occurs when a person privately accepts the position taken by others PUBLIC CONFORMITY: - Superficial change in overt behavior without a corresponding change of opinion SITUATIONAL FACTORS AFFECTING CONFORMITY: - Group Size: Near its peak with 3-4 agreeing group members – no increase in effect up to 15. - Consensus: When the majority is not unanimous, conformity drops dramatically OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY: Milgram’s Experiments: (1963) - Cover story ‘Study of memory and learning’

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Participants allegedly assigned randomly 2 roles, teacher and learner (confederate) - Teacher delivered electric shocks to the learner each time he made an error in the learning task - Shock device had switches going from 15-450 volts, after each error, it moved to a higher switch. - Learner made many errors - Participants soon experienced internal conflict - Experimenter pressured them making graded remarks - All participants were volunteers paid in advance Results: - 65% showed total obedience going up to 450 volts Agentic State: - Experienced when people see themselves as merely the agents of the authority figure instead of the agents of their own action (autonomy) - Self=instrument for carrying the wishes of others - Authority figure takes responsibility for the actor’s actions – ‘the responsibility is mine – continue.’ Authority Legitimacy: - Norm of obedience to authority: shared view that people should obey commands given by a person with legitimate authority - Group endows authority figures with the right to give order and the group assigns to its members the responsibility of obeying CONFORMITY V. OBEDIENCE: Conformity: - No request - Follow behavior - Felt pressure - Attribution of behavior to self Obedience: - Direct request - Instruct action - Exerted pressure - Attribution of behavior to other KNOW YOURSELF: Self Concept: - What we know about ourselves - An individuals knowledge about their personal qualities, group membership etc Drawing Inferences from Behavior: Self Perception Theory, Bem 1967: - People infer their own characteristics from observed behaviors - They are more likely to do so for behaviors they have freely chosen - Imagined behaviors can lead people to infer personal characteristics Drawing Inferences from Thoughts and Feelings: - Our most significant clues to self knowledge are our thoughts and feelings - These cues tell us more about ourselves than our overt behaviors

Effects of Other People’s Reactions: - Other people’s views of us also contribute to the development of our self image - Other peoples reactions act as a mirror reflecting our image so we can see it Social Comparison: Social Comparison Theory Festinger 1954: - People want to evaluate themselves accurately - They seek out similar and relevant others for comparison - Attributes that distinguish us from most others often become defining features of the self Limits of Introspection: Telling more than we can know (Nisbett and Wilson 1977): - People have little access to mental processes – they are unaware of the existence of a stimulus that importantly influenced a response, and are unaware that a stimulus has affected the response. - Reports on their cognitive processes are based on a priori lay causal theories. Self Esteem: - How we feel about ourselves – positive or negative evaluation - Individuals strive to maintain or enhance self esteem Lake Wobegon Effect - Most people rate themselves as above average on characteristics such as sincere, friendly, responsible, self-disciplined, reliable, moral, creative, cooperative. - This reflects our desire to view ourselves in a positive light - More likely to occur for characteristics that can’t be easily assessed Self-Serving Attributions: - Attribute our own positive outcomes to internal factors – eg. ‘I passed the test due to my IQ, skills, intelligence, effort.’ - Attribute our own negative outcomes to external factors – eg. ‘I failed the test due to unfairness, sickness, bad luck.’ Self-Handicapping: - A good excuse can be even more valuable if it is lined up before the performance - Self-handicapping is essentially sabotaging your own chances to do well - Provides and excuse for poor performance - Eg. ‘I won’t pass this exam because my lecturer is useless’ Self-Enhancing: - Actions that appear self-enhancing are aimed at self-improvement - High self-esteem can be an important resource that protects us against stress and threats to the self Cultural Differences: Heine and Hamamura 2007: Westerner’s: - Consistent and strong evidence for self-enhancement - Realising one’s positive inner-attributes - Staying ahead of others - Attend, elaborate and emphasize positive aspects of the self East Asians:

- Show evidence for self-criticism - Establishing meaningful relationships and sense of belonging - Attending to one’s weaknesses Rationalizing Beings: - Maintain an image of ourselves as smart, logical and reasonable - Need to convince myself my actions are not absurd and I am a rational human being - Motivated to justify our actions, beliefs and feelings Cognitive Dissonance: Festinger, 1957: - State of tension that occurs whenever an individual simultaneously holds two cognitions (ideas, attitudes, beliefs, opinions) that are psychologically inconsistent - Aversive motivational state - Dissonance thermometer: uneasy, bothered, uncomfortable, tense - Because cognitive dissonance is unpleasant, people are motivated to reduce it and restore consistency - Sometimes there is a good reason for inconsistent behavior, eg. large rewards, large threat of punishment. These imply low or no choice and therefore no responsibility for the behavior. - If our behavior is inconsistent with our attitude and is difficult to externally justify, we will attempt to justify it internally by reducing the cognitive dissonance, making our attitude more consistent with the behavior. PERSUASION: What is Persuasion? - The process of forming, reinforcing, or changing attitudes by communication - The conscious attempt to change attitudes through the transmission of a message - Attitude: The summary evaluation of an object, varying in both direction and strength. Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986): - Seeks to identify what makes people think about persuasive arguments - Explains why attitudes change - Takes an active view of the participant Elaboration Continuum: - Persuasion processes fall along an elaboration continuum - Elaboration: the generation of favorable or unfavorable reactions to the content of a message - Its not just learning message arguments, but relating them to other knowledge, generating own arguments etc. Peripheral Route – Superficial Processing: - People pay little attention to the message, using cues or heuristics to guide evaluation - They accept or reject the message based on heuristics, not message quality - Attitudes formed through peripheral routes are:  Weaker  Less resistant to counter arguments  Less predictive of behavior

Central Route – Systematic Processing: - People pay attention to the strength and quality of arguments - Comprehend and elaborate on message (carefully analyze) - Accept or reject the message based on its quality:  If argument is good, attitudes are likely to change  If argument is bad, the message is rejected (possible boomerang effect) - Central Route processing produces an attitude that is:  More enduring  Resistant  Predictive of behavior Determinants of Central Vs. Peripheral Routes: Motivation: - Important topic - Personally relevant - Need to be accurate Ability: - Cognitive capacity (time, energy, lack of distraction etc.) - Ability to comprehend the message Need for Cognition: - Individual preference for and tendency to engage in effortful cognitive activities - How much people enjoy thinking itself - High NFC people are more likely to engage in central processing Persuasion Heuristics: - Heuristics: mental shortcuts - Associations of superficial cues with positive or negative evaluations - Allow people to evaluate an object quickly and without much thought Likeability – Attractiveness: - We tend to agree with people we like and to believe people we like are right - Association of an object with a popular/attractive figure makes us think the object is likable eg. Kylie Jenner, Bec and Bridge dress Expertise – Credibility: - Competence is often associated with occupation – ‘experts know’ - Trustworthiness – ‘experts tell the truth’ Familiarity: - Repeating a message increases its persuasive power - Frequent exposure of an initially positive or neutral object will increase liking - Mere exposure effect: People’s tendency to prefer objects to which they have been more frequently exposed, eg. familiar sayings - Caveat: burnout may occur with over-exposure Social Influence – ‘Functionalist’ Model: - Majority influence = mechanism of social control - Goal = to ensure the stability of the social system - Emphasize the conformity to social norms - Criteria of normality/deviance are treated as absolutes Social Influence – ‘Interactionist’ Model:

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Even when interactions are characterized by status asymmetries (minority vs. majority), they involve some kind of reciprocity - Both majorities and minorities can exert influence - Social System = continual p...