PSY 355 Exam 1

Aquiescence bias

agreeing with something to avoid conflict, may not always be socially acceptable

Consequences of the one-child policy in China (3 things)

1. 4-2-1 problem (4 grandparents, 2 parents, 1 child) 2. over indulged and anxious children 3. a single person cares for the older family members

Why are responses biases so problematic for cross-cultural research? (two answers

1. These biases make it difficult for a researcher to determine whether a person's response genuinely reflects their psychology or whether it reflects a bias way of responding 2. These biases make it difficult for a researcher to draw conclusions about cultural differences and similarities because data from one culture may be influenced by this bias and therefore inaccurate

how did the child behave in the strange situation procedure with a secure attachment style during all of the phases (adjustment to strange place, departure of mom, reunion)?

1. adjustment, comfortable 2. departure, distress 3. reunion, soothed with close proximity

how did the child behave in the strange situation procedure with an ambivalent attachment style during all of the phases (adjustment of strange place, departure of mom, reunion)?

1. adjustment, less comfortable 2. departure, more distress 3. reunion, more difficult to calm baby down. angry that mom left but still want to be held

how did the child behave in the strange situation procedure with an avoidant attachment style during all of the phases (adjustment to strange place, departure of mom, reunion)?

1. adjustment, more comfortable 2. departure, less distress 3. reunion, less need for close proximity

how caregiver sensitivity can influence a child's attachment style they develop (avoidant, secure, ambivalent

1. avoidant caregivers are less attentive because the child doesn't always need attention 2. secure caregivers are constantly sensitive in a trusting way to the child 3. ambivalent caregivers are inconsistent in how they react to the child and the child does not know if they can trust them or not

Cultural information spreading like a disease analogy (3 things)

1. cultural information become mutated as is transmitted 2. revisions occur where the information is similar but communicated differently 3. the general gist is preserved

How/why are cultures changing? (4 things)

1. different cultures interact with each other more 2. cultures are becoming more individualistic 3. people are becoming more intelligent 4. changing societal policies

How does ecological and geographical variation cause cultural differences? (2 things)

1. different environments affected the way people live their lives, such as what food is accessible 2. different foraging behaviors affect how the society is structured and values adopted such as gender roles (who hunts/gathers?)

What are common concerns in cultural research? (two things)

1. gaining background information on your specific investigation through ethnography and only learning it from that one perspective 2. methodological equivalence

How are the kids from Kibbutz Israel compared to the kids in the U.S.? (2 things)

1. higher ambivalent than the u.s. 2. u.s. and Israel were the same in secure and avoidance

Why don't the strict, parent-centered perspectives seen in other (non-U.S) cultures fit neatly into the authoritarian category? (2 things)

1. in Asian cultures, they use different parenting styles during different stages of the kids life (like overindulgence as a baby and then becoming more strict when they reach school age) 2. this parenting style excludes the "training" part of chinese parenting where parents provide the kid with explicit examples of proper behavior

How is cultural information transmitted successfully? (4 things)

1. it is communicated with people regularly 2. it is easy to understand and is useful 3. it appeals to emotions 4. it involved minimally counter intuitive ideas

Two reasons why people fall prey to ethnocentrism

1. it stems out of basic cognitive and evaluative process (it's easy to go from comparison to judgement) 2. people lack the ability/motivation to overcome bias'

How can we prevent social desirability bias? (2 things)

1. keep it anonymous 2. use a cover story at first (say the research is for something else and then tell them at the end)

what are the steps in unpacking cultural findings? (3 things)

1. let a theory guide the search for potential underlying cultural variables 2. find evidence to support the theory 3. figure out if the two variables relate

The success of cultural information spreading like a gene depends on... (3 things)

1. longevity of its existence 2. fecundity, or the degree to which it is transmitted (how much we transmit our genes, like having kids) 3. fidelity, or the accuracy of whether or not it was transmitted/communicated in the same way

how you can develop information about a certain culture (4 things)

1. make sure you know something about what you are studying 2. read other's texts and ethnography's 3. talk to someone from that culture 4. do ethnography yourself

What cultural features are associated with increased distress during adolescence? (2 things)

1. more fighting between parents and kids in individualistic cultures 2. learning how to accept adult roles in more complex societies, since there are more careers and responsibilities to choose from

why cultures are becoming more individualistic? (6 things)

1. more time with the media means less time socializing 2. increasing rate of people wanting money and material things 3. people feel more financially pressed and have to spend more time at work 4. older generations live a different lifestyle than younger generations 5. more suburban living 6. women working

What are some limitations to dividing cultures into individualism/collectivism? (5 things)

1. not applicable in all aspects 2. cultures change 3. we can change the trends 4. overgeneralizing 5. this is only one of the many unifying themes

why cultures stay the same due to the power of early conditions (2 things)

1. the core of a certain culture is so engraved that it stays (such as individual rights in the U.S) 2. anything that changes maintains the essential features/functions

how can we get truthful answers from people, rather than them just agreeing to avoid conflict? (2 things)

1. use a liken scale 2. ask questions backward

what are the three things you ask when comparing cultures?

1. what is your question/hypothesis? 2. how will you measure your concepts? 3. what is your study design?

If a person's perspective on psychology was described, would you be able to identify it as consistent with the general psychology perspective or the cultural psychology perspective?

Cultural psychology because culture interacts with the minds of the people who make them up, so this shapes the way those minds operate

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 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 universals

What were the results in the frontier spirit study?

Hokkaido (north japan) show up on a graph looking more like the U.S meaning that both types of emotions (personal success and social harmony) were important to their happiness.

what is amae?

Japanese mother's extreme indulgence which makes the child more dependent

Joanne hypothesizes that bilingual individuals will be less polite during social interactions with elders if they speak English vs. Japanese (which includes an extensive number of "honorifics", words and phrases that are intended to convey respect and humility). She recruits bilinguals and randomly assigns them to engage in a scripted interaction with another person in English or Japanese. 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

You review all of the studies that you've conducted in your career, and realize that they all use WEIRD examples. Which of the following criticisms is accurate given this characteristic of your samples?

The findings from your studies may not generalize to other cultures

(why cultures are changing) What is an example we talked about in class about societal policies changing within a culture?

The one-child policy was established in China because of over population from the old tradition of "more people equals more power"

In class, an iceberg was used to portray culture. What does the iceberg symbolize?

The tip of the iceberg that you can see out of the water is our behaviors and what is under the water that we cannot see is our beliefs, values and mindset

What do the results of this study tell us about the principles that guide sleeping arrangements in India?

They are guided by four moral principals, incest avoidance, protection of the vulnerable, female chastity anxiety and respect for hierarchy

The Unites States' culture is commonly associated with individualism. Based on your class discussion on individualism, which of the following conclusions is most reasonable and accurate?

U.S. culture encourages people to place greater importance on personal goals more than collective goals

existential universal

a psychological phenomenon exists in all cultures but it is not used in the same way

Nonuniversal

a psychological phenomenon that does not exist in all cultures

functional universal

a psychological phenomenon that is in all cultures, used in the same way, but not easily accessible to all

What is methodological equivalence, and why is it hard to achieve?

all participants need to same questions in a survey, but you can's do this because when things are translated the meaning could change because not all languages have direct translations fir certain words or phrases

What is something to criticise about the frontier spirit study in terms of accuracy?

all participants were college students, so it makes sense that they are focused on personal success

evoked culture

all people have biologically encoded behaviors that will come out in certain situations (such as acting out on an emotion)

which attachment style is most common in japan?

ambivalence

What attachment style is greater in kids from Kibbutz Israel because of the inconsistency from different caregivers?

ambivalent

How is culture defined in the course?

any kind of information that is acquired from other members of one's species through social learning that is capable of affecting an individual's behaviors

What is general psychology?

assumes that our mind operates under a set of natural and universal laws that are independent from content and context

which parenting style leads to the most desirable outcomes in terms of perceived parental warmth, acceptance, better school achievements, autonomy and self-reliance?

authoritative

avoidant attachment style

autonomous

which attachment style is more common in germany?

avoidant

is there anything that is culturally universal?

basic human needs

why do the children from Kibbutz Israel receive an inconsistency in attachment styles?

because they have multiple caregivers throughout the day, so they receive different types of reactions from all caregivers

extremity bias

choosing the extreme choice on a liken scale, like choosing a 7 on a 7 point scale

high level of uncertainty avoidance

clear ways to behave guidelines on how to act

what influences which attachment style children develop?

caregiver sensitivity and behaviors

Proximal causes

causes that have direct and immediate relation with their effects

Power distance in cultures

cultures accept/maintain unequal distribution of power between people (high distance, there is a big gap between people who have power and those who don't)

uncertainty avoidance in cultures

degree to which cultures tolerate/adopt to uncertainty or lack of structure

ambivalent attachment style

dependent

permissive parenting style

parents being very involved with their kids, a lot of expressed parental warmth and respectiveness, and have few limits on the kids behaviors

toolbox analogy

does the tool exist in all cultures? is it used the same way? do we have the same understanding/experiences? is the tool present to the same degree?

operational definition

the actions or operations that will be used to measure/control the concept being studied

Can the developmental stage (adolescent rebellion) of adolescence be considered a functional universal or an existential universal? why?

existential universal, because all cultures view adolescence as being a distinct period of life (not a child, not an adult) but not all adolescence act in the same way (rebellious)

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?

her child is less happy than children raised with less parental control

authoritarian parenting style

high demands on kids, strict rules and little open dialogue between kid and parent

When unpacking cultural findings, the researcher needs to ultimately...

identify an underlying variable that likely causes the cultural difference

what is unpacking cultural differences?

identifying the underlying variables that give rise to the cultural difference

distal causes

initial differences that lead to effects over a long time

experimental (study design)

involves a random assignment manipulation of an independent variable and measurement of the influence that the manipulation had on the dependent variable

why is dividing cultures into individualism/collectivism useful?

it is a guide for organizing and predicting aspects of culture

what were their findings when comparing attachment styles of u.s children and japanese children?

japanese kids needed a closer proximity

Transmitted culture

learning a behavior from someone else

What is the underlying message of the Miner article entitled "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema"?

makes the familiar unfamiliar to highlight tendencies toward ethnocentrism

example of operational

measuring/manipulating extroversion

low level of uncertainty avoidance

more free to act as you want or to be your own individual

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

need to make sure there is methodological equivalence

Cultural information spreading like a gene analogy

our basic cultural evolution involves a basic unit of cultural info spreads like a gene because something can become more common among certain populations than they were in the past

What is cultural psychology?

our minds operate based on our cultural experiences

why is there an increased rate of children with an ambivalent attachment style in japan?

parents encourage child to be dependent and the child feels comfortable being dependent which is called indulgent dependence

authoritative parenting style

parents hold high expectations of the maturity of their kids, try to understand kids feelings and encourage kids to be independent while maintaining limits on their behaviors

accessibility universal

psychological phenomenon is in all cultures, used the same way, and is equally accessible to everyone

how is cultural information transmitted?

replicated like genes or spreads like a disease

which attachment style is most common in the u.s?

secure

what is the purpose of unpacking cultural findings?

so we can reveal the specific cultural experiences of variables that relate to the cultural difference

how to the definitions of "culture" and "society" differ?

society is the infrastructure and culture is how you define the infrastructure

Social desirability bias

tendency to respond in a way that is more socially acceptable even if you feel another way

in cross cultural studies what is the independent variable?

the culture

correlational (study designs)

these predict/examine associations that already exist

What do the results of this study tell us about the principles that guide sleeping arrangements in the u.s.?

they are guided by two moral principals, incest avoidance and the sacred couple where parents need their own space for intimacy

How was amae studied within the context of the Strange Situation?

they compared the need for close proximity between Japanese and u.s. kids

How do the types of questions a cultural psychologist asks influence the specific cultures they study?

they will want to chose cultures that have theoretical variability

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

toddlers raised in the u.s. throw fits to show early signs of individualism, while kids raised with cultural goals if interdependence appear to put their efforts into fitting in with the surrounding 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 class room in Au Sable hall. If cultural information is transmitted like diseases (rather than genes), then it is likely this rumor will...

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

What does the acronym WEIRD stand for?

western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic

moderacy bias

when people express their agreement on a liken scale in a moderate way, like choosing a 5 on a 7-point scale.

quasi-experimental (study design)

you cannot change the cultural background of someone because you are born into it (comparing existing groups)