Cultural Psych Exam 1

correlational research

A correlational study is in which a researcher investigates associations between variables. Correlation Coefficient. A correlation coefficient may be calculated. This correlation coefficient is a quantitative measure of the association between two variables

experimental research

An experimental study is in which a treatment, procedure, or program is intentionally introduced and a result or outcome is observed. ... True experiments have four elements: manipulation, control , random assignment , and random selection

Research studying individualism in Japan's "northern frontier" shows that early conditions can shape a culture by encouraging cultural stability. Which of the following is also an example of this idea? a. Anti-Jewish sentiment may linger today in regions of Germany that expressed the strongest anti-Jewish sentiment in the 1300s (when Jews were blamed for causing the plague, i.e., "Black Death"). b. U.S. women today will have less knowledge about breastfeeding than women in the 1800s because of the invention and use of formula. c. Italian recipes written in the 1900s will be more likely to include tomatoes as an ingredient than will Italian recipes written in the 1400s, before the tomato was introduced to Italy from South America. d. All of the above statements depict the influence of early conditions on current circumstances

Anti-Jewish sentiment may linger today in regions of Germany that expressed the strongest anti-Jewish sentiment in the 1300s (when Jews were blamed for causing the plague, i.e., "Black Death").

Yuexi, a Chinese mother, wants to use strong parental control with her child. Based on the textbook, which of the following would MOST LIKELY occur as a result? a. Her child feels less family cohesion than children raised with less parental control. b. Her child is less happy than children raised with less parental control. c. Her child's academic achievement suffers in comparison to children raised with less parental control. d. Her child feels less parental acceptance than children raised with less parental control.

Her child is less happy than children raised with less parental control.

What cultural features are associated with increased distress during adolescence?

Modern western societies seem to be associated with increased adolescence distress which includes sheer range of opportunities that confront children as societies industrialize and become more urbanized. Adolescence have to learn how to accept adult roles.

Recall that Schlegel and Barry (1991) reviewed an ethnographic database and looked specifically at information about the lives of adolescents living in 175 different pre-industrial societies. Which of the following statements ACCURATELY describes a finding from this study? a. All of the cultures expected that adolescents would want more choices in life compared to when they were children. b. All of the cultures expected adolescents to experience serious conflict with their parents. c. Only some - not all - of the cultures expected that adolescents would behave in disobedient ways. d. Only some - not all - of the cultures understood adolescence as a different stage of life from childhood and adulthood.

Only some - not all - of the cultures expected that adolescents would behave in disobedient ways.

frontier spirit example

The Frontier Spirit had participants from Japan and the US to show emotions differently predicting happiness. In US personal success emotion is happiness, and in Japan its social harmony emotions

Can the developmental stage of adolescence be considered a functional universal or an existential universal?

The developmental state of adolescence is considered to be an existential universal because all cultures viewed adolescence as a distinct period of life separate from childhood and adulthood in which some restructuring and role-learning occurred.

Why are cultures staying the same?

The early conditions of a culture influence cultures later in time ex) Hokkadio and US frontier spirit

You review all of the studies that you've conducted in your career, and realize that they all use WEIRD samples. Which of the following criticisms is accurate given this characteristic of your samples? a. You don't know how to define culture. b. Your work is ethnocentric. c. The findings from your studies may not generalize to other cultures. d. All of the above criticisms are accurate of your work.

The findings from your studies may not generalize to other cultures.

The theories describing how we transmit cultural information

The gene analogy involves cultural evolution (ex. Creation), length of time it exists, degree to which its transmitted, and accuracy of transmission The disease analogy involves information spreading like a virus or disease, mutation of ideas, revisions-occur, general gist.

dependent variable

The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

Which of the following statements about the individualism-collectivism dimension is TRUE? a. This dimension is typically static - that is, how individualistic or collectivistic a culture is doesn't change very much. b. This dimension refers to cultures - that is, a specific culture (e.g., U.S. culture, Nigerian culture) can be described as being relatively individualistic or collectivistic. c. This dimension can refer to people - that is, a single individual can be described as being relatively individualistic or collectivistic. d. All of the above are true.

This dimension refers to cultures - that is, a specific culture (e.g., U.S. culture, Nigerian culture) can be described as being relatively individualistic or collectivistic.

Know the "toolbox" analogy and the different levels of universality. (NOTE: these levels are also discussed in Chapter 1 as well as Class #7).

a. Accessibility Universal - exists in all cultures - is used to solve the same problem across cultures - is accessible to the same degree across cultures b. Functional Universal - exists in multiple cultures - is used to solve the same problem - it is more accessible to people from some cultures than others c. Existential Universal - exist in multiple cultures - not necessarily used to solve the same problem - nor is it equally accessible across cultures d. Nonuniversal - does not exist in all cultures

Which of the following accurately depicts a way in which culture elaborates on the frameworks provided by society? a. Definition of what constitutes a family (e.g., immediate vs. extended family, pets included in family unit) b. Which educational goals should be pursued (e.g., graduating high school, learning to be more creative) c. Which child-rearing strategies are encouraged (e.g., spanking, " time-out") d. All of the above

all the above

the three parenting styles

authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive

Individualism

cultures include a variety of practices and customs that encourage individuals to place their own personal goals ahead of those of the collective to consider how they are distinct from others

Evoked culture

information that is evoked by the physical environment

Authoritarian parenting

involves high demands on children, with strict rules and little open dialogue between parent and child

What behavioral patterns do U. S. children with each type of attachment style show during the Strange Situation paradigm

look at graph! on next tab

What is situation sampling?

methodology utilizes the fact that cultures do not affect people in the abstract; they affect people in particular, concrete ways. In other words.. it's hard for us to compare cultures in the most un-confounded way possible (with random assignments) so we take specific situations that are specific to a certain culture and see how people from a different culture respond to it.

example of transmitted culture

observe neighbor planting wheat seeds and notice benefits you may start to do this too. typically, begins in a specific geographic area it may spread wide.. unlike evoke it can travel

What is an operational definition? What are some examples? How do cultural psychologists operationally define culture in their research?

operational def = measurement of variable ex) how many times someone smiles You state what you are studying and what a successful/failed experiment means in your results. It will tell those looking at your research what they are looking at. b. They define the cultural trait they are looking for.

permissive parenting

parents being very involved with their children, expressed parental warmth and responsiveness but placing few limits and control on the children's behaviors

transmitted culture

people come to learn about particular cultural practices through social learning or by modeling others who live near them

You want to study personal space in Cultures X and Y. To do this, you simply ask people, "On a scale of 1 (very far) to 7 (very close), how close do you stand to others when conversing?" To your surprise, most people in Culture X think they stand very close to others, even though they actually stand pretty far away compared to those in Culture Y. Conversely, most people in Culture Y think they stand far away from others. This example illustrates the __________, which can be addressed in future research by ___________.

reference group effect; using concrete as opposed to subjective response options

What are the three common types of attachment styles?

secure, ambivalent, and avoidant

Social desirability bias

tendency of survey respondents to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favorably by others. It can take the form of over-reporting "good behavior" or under-reporting "bad", or undesirable behavior.

Acquiescence bias

tendency to agree with most statements. If people in some cultures have a pre disposition to see the truth in more statements than those in another culture, this will lead to cultural differences in responses, independent from the content of the items

What is the purpose of unpackaging cultural findings? What are the steps involved?

unpackaging cultural findings means identifying the underlying variables that gives rise to the cultural difference. The first step of this would be to let a theory guide the researchers' search for potential underlying cultural variables, next is to demonstrate your findings, third is to demonstrate that the observed cultural differences in interdependence relate to the observed differences. (pg. 147) *SEE QUIZ ON BB)

Advantages of situation sampling

we can get view point into how each group is like each other.. ex) how Americanized Japanese behavior and vice visa -allows researchers to explore differences in the ways people from different cultures respond to situations (step 2) -explore whether cultural origin of situations that participants listed in step 1 are responded differently with participants in step 2.

situation sampling involves:

-participants from at least two diff. cultures are asked to describe a number of situation they have experienced in which something specific has happened. (ex. US and Japanese asked to describe situations where they experienced high and low self-esteem.) -then different groups of participants are asked to join the study. This group is asked questions provided by-both of the comparisons group from the first group. (ex. US asked to think about if they were in situations provided by US AND Japanese)

Cultural information is more successfully transmitted when

1. The information is useful 2. The information elicits emotional reactions 3. The information involves minimally counter intuitive idea

quasi-experiment research

A quasi-experimental study shares similarities with the traditional experimental design or randomized controlled trial, but they specifically lack the element of random assignment to treatment or control.

What is amae?

Amae is a Japanese concept/word that is used to describe people's behavior when you desire to be loved, you desire someone to take care of you, when you want unconsciously to be depending on another person

According to this study (Mizuta et al., 1996, discussed in class), what defines anxious-ambivalent attachment in the U.S. and Japan?

Ambivalent- The child fails to develop any feelings of security from the attachment figure. Accordingly, they exhibit difficulty moving away from the attachment figure to explore novel surroundings. When distressed they are difficult to soothe and are not comforted by interaction with the attachment figure. This behavior results from an inconsistent level of response to their needs from the primary caregiver

What special considerations need to be taken when studying cultures that are very different?

Challenge: making sure question being asked is perceived the same way on both ends. Key generalizations, like individualistic and collectivistic culture. Generazilibility Solutions: 1. multilingual collaborator who is as interested as you are. 2. Back translating is one of the best ways. (Two translators, one translating the already translated material back to original language. Discuss discrepancies.) iii. Even best efforts to translate result in questions that may not carry the same meaning.

What special considerations need to be taken when studying cultures that are very different? a. What are the challenges (and solutions) regarding translating psychological materials?

Challenge: making sure question being asked is perceived the same way on both ends. Key generalizations, like individualistic and collectivistic culture. Generazilibility Solutions: 1. multilingual collaborator who is as interested as you are. 2. Back translating is one of the best ways. (Two translators, one translating the already translated material back to original language. Discuss discrepancies.) iii. Even best efforts to translate result in questions that may not carry the same meaning.

If given a psychological or cultural variable, would you be able to label its level of universality?

Ex.) Abacus (calculator used in Japan) = nonuniversal -US tend to find success motivating and failure demotivating, but in Japan they are opposite (work harder after failure) = existential -societies punishing those who are bad, but how much spent on punishment varied = functional -tendency to do better at well-learned tasks & worse at poorly learned ones when around others = accessibility

Why don't the strict, parent-centered perspectives seen in other (non-U.S) cultures fit neatly into the authoritarian category? (A good example is the jiao xun or "training approach", so attend to that especially.)

First, it is important to recognize that in many Asian cultures, infants and toddlers are often shown a great deal of indulgence with a few demands or expectations placed on them until they reach school age, when parents become more stricter; that is, there are different parental styles depending on the stage of the development of the child. Second, the ways that warm and responsiveness are communicated by parents vary considerably across cultures, and thus what might look like cold behavior in one culture is not perceived as cold in another.

examples of evoked culture

Food being scare leads to fuller bodies and higher fat % looked as more attractive/compared to US Sadia (North): Dry and Difficult Environment animals and marriage Itohan (South): wet and easy environment luxury, education, opportunities

STUDY THIS ONE!!! Review the research study examining sleeping arrangements in Chicago, IL, USA and Orissa, India (starting on pg. 177). What do the results of this study tell us about the principles that guide sleeping arrangements in each culture?

Indians have 4 moral principles on deciding sleeping arrangements; incest avoidance- children of opposite sex should not sleep together, protection of the vulnerable- young children should not be left alone, female Chasity anxiety- unmarried children girls should be watched to protect them from engaging in sexual activity, and respect for hierarchy- boy children are conferred by social status allowing them to not have to sleep with anyone else. Americans had 2 moral principles; sacred couple- parents should be able to sleep alone for privacy, and autonomy ideal- children who are needy should learn to be self-reliant and take care of themselves

How do attachment styles differ across cultures? Specifically... Which style is more common in the U.S? Japan? Germany?

Japan? Germany? i. Avoidance most common in Germany ii. Anxious-Ambivalence as common as secure in Japan III. United States was a mixture of all three.

The Thai language includes a number of "honorifics", words and phrases that are intended to convey respect and humility. Based on that fact, Joanne hypothesizes that bilingual individuals will be less polite during social interactions with elders if they speak English vs. Thai. She recruits bilinguals and randomly assigns them to engage in a scripted conversation with another person in English or Thai. After the interaction, the other person rates how polite the participant was during the interaction on a scale from 1 (not at all polite) to 7 (extremely polite). In this example, the independent variable is __________ and the dependent variable is _______________.

Language spoken during the interaction; ratings of politeness

What is the underlying message of the Miner article entitled "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema"? Stated another way, how does ethnocentric language impact how we read and what we get out of the cultural literature?

The article was actually written about America and twisted our "daily rituals" into things that seemed weird or out of the ordinary

reference group effect

a tendency for people to evaluate themselves by comparing themselves with others from their own culture

authoritative parenting

child-centered approach in which parents hold high expectations of the maturity of their children, try to understand their child's feelings and teach them how to regulate those feelings and encourage them to be independent while maintaining control and limits in their behavior

Moderacy and Extremity Bias

e responsive styles as they affect how an indiv. Responds to an item independent of the content of the item. Such response styles are problematic for cultural comparisons because if cultures vary in how people respond to question, this is going to affect any conclusions that we can draw when comparing average scores across cultures ie.. rating a psychological statement on a 1- 7 scale. (moderacy bias) choosing 5 (extremity bias) 7 even with equal feelings on statement. African Am and Hispanic---more extreme, East Asians, more moderate

Recall that people from relatively individualistic cultures will tend to place more importance on personal goals, whereas people from relatively collectivistic cultures will tend to place more importance on social goals. To be clear, both types of goals are present in different cultures, but cultures differ in their tendency to use these goals to guide decision-making and behavior, and these goals are emphasized to different degrees in different cultures. Therefore, personal and social goals would both be characterized as...

existential universal

When unpackaging cultural findings, the researcher needs to ultimately... a. demonstrate that their study materials are appropriately back-translated. b. identify an underlying variable that likely causes the cultural difference. c. demonstrate that several cultures differ from one another on the topic of interest d. identify the most powerful variable underlying the cultural difference.

identify an underlying variable that likely causes the cultural difference.

How do the developmental goals of independence and interdependence influence children during the "terrible twos"?

in American environments they seem to be embracing aspects of independence and individualism through their clumsy efforts to exert control over their worlds.In contrast, children raised with interdependence, such signs of noncompliance often appear to be replaced by efforts to fit in and belong.

Collectivism

include many cultural practices, institutions, and customs that encourage individuals to place relatively more emphasis on goals within a group.

indepedent variable

the eperimental factor that is manipulted the varible whose effect is being studied

Enthrocentrism

the tendency to judge people from other cultures by comparing them to the standards of one's own culture

A group of students at GVSU created and spread a (false) rumor that several Psychology Department professors formed their own "fight club", which meets every Friday night in a classroom in AuSable Hall. If cultural information is transmitted like diseases (rather than genes), then it is likely this rumor will... a. be transmitted accurately, without variation, among the students at GVSU. b. eventually be heard by nonstudents living in the Allendale community. c. vary over the course of its transmission to include minor changes in the story (like the idea that Sociology professors also joined the fight club). d. be transmitted for a long period of time, even after the students who originated the rumor have graduated

vary over the course of its transmission to include minor changes in the story (like the idea that Sociology professors also joined the fight club).