Psychology and Culture Exam IV

Voice and Paralinguistic Cues

Paralinguistic cues: tone, pitch, speed, important for negative emotional states Expressive cultures- loud tones, rapid speech Less Expressive cultures- soft tones, less rapid speech

Cultural Differences in depth perception

Africans don't perceive depth in pictures like Europeans (Elephant and gazelle ponzo)

Influences on visual illusion effects

Age Urban-rural Industrial vs Non-Industrial Level of Education

Math universals

All humans have the ability to do basic math, part of everyday cognition

Cognition

All mental processes we use to transform sensory input into knowledge

Perception

Process of gathering information through the senses

Consciousness

Awareness of the external world

Why do optical illusions occur?

Because our brain-not our eyes- is the final arbiter of truth

Gaze

Can denote: dominance, power, aggression, affiliation, nurturance, or attraction Contact cultures (encourage physical touch, middle east, latin cultures, greece, spain)- more gazing, less space, touching Noncontact cultures (discourage touch, US, Japan, Canada, England)- opposite pattern Can be a sign of respect or disrespect

Categorization

Processed by which objects are grouped or classified together based on their perceived similarities

Attention

Cognitive process, focusing of capabilities on a particular stimuli

Holistic perception

Context dependent perception that focuses on the relationship between objects and their context (Non-Western)

Analytic perception

Context-independent perception that focuses on salient object independently from the context in which it is embedded (Western, US)

Creativity Universals

Creativity dependent on divergent thinking Creative traits: high capacity for hard work, willingness to take risks, high tolerance for ambiguity and disorder

Culture Specifics of pain

Differences in what is considered painful Attributions of causality What is considered appropriate signs/symptoms Differences in what cures pain Chinese infants- more pain than Canadian infants Around world, boys socialized to tolerate higher pain

Five Major Features of language

Lexicon (vocabulary) Syntax/Grammar (stringing words together) Phonology (sound of words) Semantics (meaning given to words) Pragmatics (how to use words) Phonemes- basic unit of sound Morpheme- basic unit of meaning

Math Culture-Specifics

East-Asians outperform everyone else Due to their educational system, skills valued throughout culture, type of numbering system, and language form (use of symbols)

Body dissatisfaction can lead to?

Eating disorders High economic societies- thin bodies preferred Low economic societies- heavy bodies preferred

Three Indicators of Health

Life Expectancy- highest in Monaco and Japan, lowest in Angola and Zimbabwe Infant Mortality- Highest in Angola, lowest in Monaco Subjective Well-Being (person's perception of health and well-being)- highest in Denmark, Switzerland, Canada, and US, Low in Algeria, Bulgaria, Romania, and Zimbabwe

Types of nonverbal communication

Facial expressions of emotion Voice- tone, pitch, silence Gestures Body postures Interpersonal space Touch Gaze

Universals for categorization

Facial expressions, basic emotions Primary colors Stereotyping Perfect geometric shapes

Differences in pace of life (climate)

Fast- cold climates, vibrant economies, individualism, happiness Slow- opposite

Sensation

Feelings that result from excitation of the sensory receptors

Individualist cultures and health

Generally not good lifestyle, problems: heart disease/cancer

Important cultural influences on cultural health

Genetics lifestyles and behaviors attitudes and beliefs health care environment

Individualist-Collectivist

High cancer, high heart disease, low infection, low stroke

Uncertainty Avoidance and health

High heart disease, low stroke, respiratory disorders

Masculine-feminine

High rates of stroke

Culture specifics for Pragmatics

How to use words, context affects how to give apologies, compliments, criticism, and how to self-disclose.

Counterfactual thinking

Hypothetical beliefs about the past that could have occurred in order to avoid or change a negative outcome (if I had only....) Cross-culturally- greater regret for inaction

Greater stress can lead to?

Increased coping strategies

Creativity Culture Specifics

Individualist societies- encourages/presents few limitations for creativity Collectivist- prefer creative people to seek cross-functional support Countries higher on power distance- need authority's support High uncertainty avoidance cultures- must work through organizations rules and norms

Intelligence

Proficiency at intellectual/cognitive tasks involving verbal and analytic skills

Intercultural Communication Problems

Language differences, improper assumptions about people, nonverbal misunderstandings, over-reliance on stereotypes, creation of tension, uncertainty Improve: mindful of own habits, sensitive to others, regulate negative emotions

What is the relationship between culture and language?

Language is a human universal, Culture influences thoughts, feelings, and motives, culture influences language, the use of language reinforces culture

Disease

Malfunctioning of biological/psychophysiologic processes

Major Components of intra- and intercultural communication

Messages (meanings) Encoding Signals (words and behaviors sent) Channels (sensory modalities by which signals are sent and received) Decoding

What is the influence of genetics on physical health and disease?

Most disease are linked to multiple factors that include mutations in genes that interact with environmental factors Diseases due to genes: Cancer, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, obesity

Two explanations of cultural differences in IQ

Nature Hypothesis: genetic/thinking skills Problems: how intelligence is measured, use of faulty concept (race/ethnicity) to define groups, heritability only reflects Euro-Americans Nurture Hypothesis: Experimental factors more important Problems: Can't disentangle nature and nurture, culture defines intelligence

Problem solving Culture-Specifics

Non Westerners rely on context Schooling has benefits on theoretical/hypothetical problems

Emblems

Nonverbal gestures that carry verbal meaning without words, but are ties to words or phrases (peace sign) Cultural differences- amount, type, intensity, duration differences, emblems are culture specific, same emblem can have different meaning across cultures

Suicide and culture

Often brought on by sociocultural change and disconnection, and individualism Usually male, Rural china shows higher female suicidal rates Religion often important in stopping suicidal thinking

Culture specifics for human memory

Oral tradition leads to better memory of meaningful material People who went to school better at memorizing lists Westerners greater episodic memory Non-Westerners better at generic events

Why does language transform a person into an agent of the culture?

Over time, an individual embodies the essence of culture via language, and in using the language they reinforce the language's concept of culture

Carpenter World Theory

People (most Americans) are used to seeing things that are rectangular in shape, and thus unconsciously expect things to have square corners (Mueller-Lyer illusion: tend to see the figures as having square corners that project toward or away from us)

Symbolizing three dimensions in two theory

People in Western cultures focus more on representations on paper than people of other cultures and spend more time learning to interpret pictures.

Visual/Optical Illusions

Perceptions that involve an apparent discrepancy between how an object looks and what it actually is

Illness

Personal cultural reactions to disease or discomfort

Episodic memory

Recollection of specific events that took place at a particular time and place in the past

Positive Logical Determinism

See contradictions as mutually exclusive (only one right answer, opposite of dialectical thinking) US/Western Cultures use this

Culture Specifics of time

Short-term oriented cultures: focus on the present, US/Africa Long-term oriented cultures: delayed gratification, focus on future, Asia Neither long nor short term: many European cultures

Dreaming Universals and Culture Specifics

Sleeping and dreams are universal Culture specifics: dream content Emotions associated with content Acceptance/usage of content of dreaming

Foreign language processing difficulties

Slowness in responding in second language, cognitive difficulties while processing info in second language

Cross-Cultural Issues with intelligence

Some cultures have no word for intelligence, wide array of factors associated with intelligence. Thus, difficult to make cross cultural comparisons, and develop culture fair tests Recent developments: expanded definitions of intelligence, notion of collective intelligence Intelligence is a catch all concept used to summarize important skills and abilities important for success in one's culture

Proxemics

Spacing Intimate and personal- mid-eastern and latin culture Social/Public (less distance)- US, Germany, Japan

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Speakers of different languages think differently because of differences in their languages Evidence for: cultures have more words for what is important, bilinguals and thought expression Disconfirming evidence: color perception is universal, can think without words/language, deaf children can think, infants have decision making abilities, visual and non-verbal thinking Disconfirming evidence mostly deals with least complex aspects of hypothesis

Bilingualism

Speaking two languages, speakers possess two different mental meaning systems, manifest different personalities and behaviors, view facial expressions differently, code frame switching- switch between languages

Psychosocial Influences on Health

Stress, unemployment, negative life events, socioeconomic status, lifestyle factors, LONELINESS

Foreign language effect

Temporary decline in thinking ability when using second language

Hindsight bias

The process in which individuals adjust their memory for something after they find out the true outcome

Dialectical thinking

The tendency to accept what seem to be contradictions in though or beliefs (trying to find a middle ground) East Asian Cultures- use dialectical thinking US/Western Cultures- only one view is correct (positive logical determinism)

Cultural differences in attention

US tends to focus more on the foreground (analytic), while Japan focuses on the foreground and background (holistic)

Culture specifics for categorization

US- color, shape, function Africa- color, color, color China- Functional relationship across ages

Gesture

Use of hands/body parts to illustrate/expand on speech to convey verbal meaning

Universals for human memory

Wanes with age Hindsight bias Events related to self more than recent past/politics

Front-Horizontal Foreshortening Theory

We interpret vertical lines as horizontal lines extending into the distance. In the horizontal-vertical illusion, we interpret the vertical line as extending away from us, and see it as longer

Self-other referents

What we call ourselves and others Americans have few Japanese, Spanish and Koreans have many

The Ponzo Illusion

Which horizontal line is longer? (Westerners more likely to be fooled) When

The Horizontal-Vertical Illusion

Which line is longer? (Non-Westerners more likely to be fooled)

The Mueller-Lyer Illusion

Which line is longer? (Westerners more likely to be fooled)

Holistic approach

balance involving mind, body, spirit, and natural environment Seen in China, Native American cultures, Latin American cultures

Health

complete physical, mental, and social well-being

Immigration paradox

despite lower resources, new immigrants tend to experience better health on a number of measures, but further assimilation leads to worse health outcomes

Biomedical model

disease results from a specific, identifiable cause such as a pathogen, genetic abnormality, or physical insult

Biopsychosocial

disease results from biological, psychological, and social factors

Collectivist cultures and health

generally better lifestyle, provides social support, problem: infections/parasites

Obesity

high in US, factors: diet, lifestyle, lack of exercise

High Power distance and health

high infections, low cancer rates, low cardiovascular disease

High context cultures

promote communication in which many messages are conveyed indirectly in context rather than directly in verbal language

Low context cultures

promote direct communication, effects of context are minimized

Face

public appearance or image of a person

uncertainty reduction

reduce level of uncertainty and anxiety that one feels when attempting to decode intercultural messages

Honorific speech

speech styles in certain languages that denote status differences among interactants