psych 355- study guide- exam 2
4) What is the evidence for the universality of facial expressions? What is the evidence for cultural variability in facial expressions? (NOTE: These are integrative questions, and draw on a lot of different research findings from class and the textbook!)
(If expressions are universal, then participants from different cultures will agree on the emotion being expressed) (Cultural difference- in some situations where people feel differently about the situation) Ekman- took pictures of people expressing the 6 basic emotions and asked participants to identify. commonly got 80-90% correct -in contrast, people were 9% more accurate in judging the facial expressions of someone from their own culture
How do these self-construals differ across cultures? How do these differ across situations? Specifically, what types of situations may temporarily shift one's self-construal?
--Differ across cultures- IND: 1) relation to self= distinct. 2) self defined as= individual. 3) nature of self= consistent. 4) distinction between in group and out group= permeable. -INT: 1) relation to self= connected. 2) self defined as= relations to others. 3) nature of self= more fluid. 4) distinction between in group and out group= concrete --Differ across situations- IND: self construals are stable and self does not change from situation to situation. -INT: can be fluid and depending on situation/persons role, self construals will vary.
5) Why do people from different cultures differ in their need to be consistent? (HINT: Pay attention to thesis sentences when reading this section of the textbook!)
-Collect.-tend to be more affected by trying to be consistent with how others behaved -Indiv.- tend to be more affected by trying to be consistent with how they themselves have behaved in the past. --Because we differ in how we think/act across situations. The need to be consistent differs in benefits associated with self consistency.--
3) What are the six basic emotions?
-Happiness -Sadness -Anger -Disgust -Fear -Surprise
How does culture influence how people react to cognitive dissonance? (HINT: Knowing the procedures and results of the Hoshino-Browne et al., 2005 study discussed in class would be helpful.)
-Japan- concerned with being consistent with others (COLL CULT) -NA- concerned about being consistent with themselves (INDIV CULT) --Japanese rationalize (react to dissonance) when they make decisions for others, with suggest a motivation to have their behaviors be consistent with other expectations.- -Americans rationalize after we make our decisions because that is when the potential inconsistencies emerge. reactions to dissonance when making other people choices are not as intense when rationalizing own choice and dealing with personal dissonance.
5) What is the evidence for cultural variation in physiological reactions (Hint: the rude researcher study)?
-Purposefully be rude/confusing to participant. -Interested in the spike of blood pressure. and how quickly is goes back to normal when they calm down across cultures. -measured blood pressure before and after and for 10 minutes after. -Chinese were less mad and they calmed down faster --how you respond to a rude situation. -European-canadians (indiv)- express emotions- vocalizing anger. -Chinese-canadians (collect)- think differently-silver lining/think positive. something good comes from bad situation
a. Know the findings from the "fish study" by Masuda & Nisbett (2001, see pg. 354; also Class #20), and the Masuda, Ellsworth et al (2007) study (see pg. 355-356), both of which examine attentional differences across cultures.
-Show a fish tank and asked for them to describe it. -Analytic- would describe fish and what they look like (objects and their attributes) -Holistic- would talk about objects in their context -USA- analytic -Japan- holistic. context is a memory aid. Japanese participants made about 60% more references to background objects than americans, who tended to talk more about the fish at center of screen. -Americans recognition of fish regardless of the background was the same -Japanese had more likely recognition with the fish when it was in the original background
6) What is the difference between subjective and objective self-awareness?
-Subjective- consider ourselves from the perspective of the subject. -the "I" that interacts with the world. -attention directed away from ourselves, from the inside out. "we are an audience member and our awareness is directed to the stage" -Objective- self is expressive as "me" that is observed and interacted with others. -concerns are directly specifically to self, from the outside in. (Focusing attention on you and your behavior, which allows you to evaluate what you see based on the standards/expectations you have developed through life)
In particular, know the findings from the William & Best (1990) study as well as Boserup's (1970) theory and related research (Alesina et al., 2011) about agricultural innovation and gender equality.
-William & Best- Focus on sex roles using a sex role ideology scale. -Inventory includes items that reflect traditional views and egalitarian/modern views of gender -Boserups- Origin of gender roles. -Proposed that a simple cultural innovation in agriculture had implications for gender roles. "There are two key ways that traditional agriculture cultivation is generally conducted" 1- Shifting cultivation: earth being dug up with tools, planting, weeding (Woman do most of this agriculture work-with children nearby) 2- Plow cultivation: large animal used to pull plow (Requires heavy power/strength-done by men. difficult for women because requires much concentration-and they have to watch kids)
4) What is naïve dialecticism (i.e., tolerance for contradiction)? What type of thinking style (analytic or holistic) encourages naïve dialecticism?
-a perspective in which events and objects in the world are perceived as interconnected and fluid. Such view leads to acceptance of contradictions between two opposing beliefs.
1) If you knew that a culture tended to be individualistic (or collectivistic), would you be able to identify the types of self-descriptions members of that culture might use on the Twenty-Statements Test (TST; Kuhn & McPartland, 1954)?
-individualistic culture- "I am creative". focus on self/inner attributes. -stable/consistent, (creative attribute won't just go away after event) -collectivistic culture- "I am a younger sister". -superficial identity. -self descriptions include culturally shaped statements. -focus on connections with others and how relationship defines ones self concept.
4) What is cognitive dissonance? How does it relate to self-consistency?
-the discomfort and distressing feeling we have when we observe ourselves being inconsistent. --Dissonance reduction- get rid of that feeling by acting more consistent OR change attitude so we don't appear inconsistent. -After making a choice people experience dissonance because there are elements that are inconsistent with their decisions. -make ourselves think that these inconsistent decisions are less important, to get rid of unpleasant feeling. -Relates to self consistency-we as people want to hold ourselves as more consistent. we have a powerful motivation to be consistent
4) What is predestination? How does it relate to cultural influences on self-enhancement?
-the idea that before people were born, it had already been determined whether they would be sent to heaven or hell -this caused people to be highly motivated to interpret events in their lives as signs from God. -It is how self-enhancement grew. This idea makes your own self-concept become more and more focused on the lone individual, than in individualism. So achieving certain goals would be extremely difficult for some, if one did not view oneself positively. This reasoning suggest that cultures become more individualistic, rendering more people concerned be able to take care of themselves and to carve their own paths, there should be a corresponding motivation to view oneself positively.
a. What is the fundamental attribution error? How does culture influence this bias? Specifically, what were the findings from the Miller (1984) study on attribution across cultures and across age groups? (NOTE: See pgs. 361-362, and notes from Class #21).
-the tendency to ignore situational information while focusing on dispositional information -When we see people acting, we assume they are doing so because of their underlying dispositions and we tend to ignore the situational constraints that might be driving their behaviors
How do these lay theories (Entity and Incremental) affect how people respond to difficulties?
-when a person who embraces an entity theory of intelligence encounters a failure, they are more likely to blame their static intellectual ability (blame their intelligence/abilities for failure) -person with more incremental theory, they respond to failure by focusing on their efforts and strategies they utilized
3) How do cultures influence people's views of gender equality?
1) First- different views-where/location of collected data (Germany/Finland/Netherlands= expressed men/women should be viewed as equal-modern view. -India/Pakistan/Nigeria= expressed that roles are clearly different-traditional view.) 2) Second- Gender equality can be based just of culture and people within culture (like men) - (women from india/pakistan/nigeria are more likely to embrace traditional gender attitudes than European nations) 3) Third- Embraced a particular religion. (christian/protestantism-more likely to have egalitarian/modern gender views. and muslim- more likely to have traditional gender views) 4) Fourth- Geographical location (more northern countries-modern views. -more southern countries-traditional views) 5) Fifth- Urbanization (more urbanized a country-more likely to be egalitarian)
2) What are appraisals? What kinds of appraisals are universal? Culturally influenced? Would you be able to identify examples of appraisals that are likely to be universal vs. culturally influenced?
Appraisal-the evaluation of what the situation/event means -some situations mean the same to everyone (Basic needs) -Culture shapes our interpretations and resulting emotions
6) What level of universality characterizes self-enhancement/self-improvement? (NOTE: the answer is the same for both motivations)
Existential universality
1) Know the characteristics of and distinctions between analytic and holistic thinking. What are some possible origins of these thinking styles? Cultural differences?
Analytic thinking- focus on objects- which are existing separately from their context. and the objects are comprised of component part-attributes (more common in western cultures-individualistic) Holistic thinking- focus on contexts and association between objects/contexts. Objects understood by relationship to context. connectedness. (more common in east Asia-collectivistic) Analytic thinking is evident in the platonic perspective that the world is a collection of discrete unchanging objects. (surgery-changing the body or removing part of the body. the idea that we can take or alter one part of body, because body is comprised of separate parts) Holistic thinking is evident among the ancient Chinese in their intellectual traditions of Buddhism emphasizing harmony, interconnections, and change (surgery- think body as a whole. parts are connected. affect one part of body, affect the whole body. Mind body connection)
a. The Iyengar & Lepper (1999) study on cultural influence on children's choice. (Dr. Iyengar discussed a similar, yet different, study during her TED talk.)
Asian american students attempted the most games when their classmates chose their spaceship for them, they were more motivated. However, like the European-americans, they were not very motivated when an undesirable other made their choice for them. In contrast with the european americans, they seemed especially motivated when a trusted other made a choice for them
Why does the experience of objective self-awareness tend to be aversive (at least in the US)?
Because we tend to see ourselves in ways that we would like to see ourselves, whereas we see others in a more detached objective way. And if we view ourselves as the object, we will be more critical when adopting this perspective of an audience, because we take on the role of the judge. This criticalness comes from always being able to conjure up standards to compare ourselves with that are higher than our current levels of performance.
3) Do East Asians really self-enhance less than North Americans?
Yes, they have a strikingly lack of self-enhancement tendencies. When they experience failure, they are more likely to upward social comparison targets than downward ones. They make more external attributions to their successes. They even exaggerate a netgative self-view.
2) Know the characteristics of and distinctions between field independence and field dependence. Could you identify examples of these concepts within a "story problem"? How do these relate to analytic and holistic thinking?
Field independence- they can separate objects from their background fields. understanding of object is not related to the field. (analytic thinkers) Field dependence- tend to view objects as bound to their background. perception is dependent on the field (holistic thinkers)
3) Know the characteristics of and distinctions between dispositional and situational attributions.
Dispositional attributions- tendency to explain peoples behaviors in terms of their underlying disposition Situation attributions- explain people's behaviors in term of contextual variables
2) Know the self-enhancement strategies discussed in the book and in class.
Downward social comparison- comparing your performance with someone who is doing worse than you (US uses downward more than upward) Upward social comparison- comparing performance with someone who is doing better Compensatory self enhancement (self affirmation)- Compensating bad qualities in one domain, but focus on strength in another domain. Basking in the reflected glory-sharing success with others and feel better for ourselves with success of a group that we're part of. External or internal attribution- blaming cause to be external or internal
What is the free-choice paradigm and how does it assess reactions to cognitive dissonance?
Free choice paradigm- model that sees the reactions we make after making a free choice, and then comparing the dissonance reduction between cultures. --CD model- *look at leah study guide* -rate CD's before and after choosing a CD. -If Ps are rationalizing- chosen CD should be even more desirable, moving up on the list. -Canadians- showed evidence they were rationalizing their decisions (big change in preferences-show how people engage in post decision dissonance reduction). -Japan- show no tendency to rationalize decisions. (did not have much motivation to ensure that their decisions were consistent)
6) Know the characteristics of and distinctions between low and high context cultures. How does this cultural dimension influence directness/indirectness of communication?
High context cultures- deeply involved with eachother and this involvement leads to them having much shared info that guides their behavior. Low context cultures- less involvement among individuals, and there is less shared info to guide behavior
How does culture affect people's self-awareness?
If an individual has more of an interdependent view of self, they would be more likely to consider themselves from the point of view of an audience. Focusing more on their belongingness and connection to others as opposed to independent views of self. If we are the objective, we will focus on what people think of us, and our views will be guided by the impressions of others.
7) How do entity and incremental theories of self differ? Can you generate and identify examples?
Incremental theory- represents belief that a person's abilities and traits are malleable and can be improved. -Our attribute that we possess are not constant but do reflect how hard we worked to get them. Example: if we believe we are intelligent, we believe it is due to us studying hard. Entity theory- views their abilities and traits as fixed, innate features of the self. -Self is largely resistant to change.
2) Know the characteristics of independent and interdependent self-construals.
Independent- focus on self or intuition. personal success. Initiate relationships. (Indiv. culture) standout Interdependent- focus on connection with others within the culture. social goals. maintain relationships. focus on others or long distance. (Collect. culture) fit in and share goals.
1) What are emotions according to the James-Lange theory? What are emotions according to the two-factor theory? What is the take-home message of the Schachter & Singer (1962) study?
James Lange- Emotions are physiological/body responses (such as change in heart rate, breathing, pupil dilation, blood flow to skin, and stomach contractions) (Ex-Anger situation->distinctive physiological state->Anger) The situation determines the physiological state, and the physiological state completely determines the emotion Two-factor theory- Emotions are interpretations of bodily responses. focuses on mind, not body
6) How does culture influence people's daily emotional lives? (See pgs. 427-428, with particular emphasis on the research on interpersonally engaged and disengaged emotions.)
Japanese participants who reported feeling a great deal of positive interpersonally engaged emotions reported a lot more positive feelings in general. In contrast, Americans who reported feeling a great deal of positive interpersonally disengaged emotions reported much more positive feelings in general. -This shows that Japanese feel especially good when they're focusing on how their emotional experiences lead them to connect with others, and Americans feel especially good when they're dwelling on those emotional experiences that distinguish from others
5) Know the characteristics of and distinctions between monochronic and polychronic time. What correlates to "pace of life" (Levine & Norenzayan, 1999)? (Note: this information was only discussed in class.)
Monochromic cultures like to do just one thing at a time. -They value a certain orderliness and -an appropriate time and place for everything. -They do not value interruptions. -They like to concentrate on the job at hand and take time commitments very seriously. -Show a great deal of respect for private property and are -reluctant to be either a lender or a borrower. Polychromic cultures like to do multiple things at the same time. -They can be easily distracted but also tend to manage interruptions well with a willingness to change plans often and easily. -People are their main concern and they have a -tendency to build lifetime relationships
10) How does culture influence motivations for harmony and distinctiveness?
More interdependent motivation for more harmony, more independent motivation towards distinctiveness
How do these lay theories (Entity and Incremental) differ across cultures
North Americans-entity. Asians- incremental. -This makes sense when we think about the cultural difference on consistency of the self. -For example, Americans said being intelligent is inborn, but Japanese say its in the hard work they put into studying that's the key to successes. (SAT in America originally was designed to measure innate aptitudes and not efforts in one's classes.)
What are some alternative explanations for this finding? (see pgs. 307-310)
One alternative explanation for this is that East Asians really are just as motivate as Westerners to evaluate themselves positively; however, various Western biases in our research methodologies prevent us from seeing those motivations. Another possibility is that East Asians value a different set of traits from those that have been explored in research thus far, and if they were asked to evaluate themselves on especially important traits, the cultural differences would be reduced.
c. The Rozin et al (2006) study on culture and the effects of too much choice.
Research shows that Americans fare better when they have only few choices to make. Having too many choices can be quite debilitating at times, as making choices requires a great deal of cognitive resources
1) What is self-enhancement? How does culture influence this motivation?
Self enhancement- motivation to view one's self positively -Indiv. > Collect.
5) What is self-improvement? How does it relate to the concept of "face"? How does it relate to prevention and promotion orientations toward losses and gains? How does culture influence self-improvement motivation?
Self improvement- motivation to identify weaknesses and improve them into strengths. (-Self improvement- be good. for collect cultures. -Self enhancement- feel good. for indiv cultures) -individual is motivated to self improve to save face or live up to societies standards. Face is more easily lost than gained. -Prevention orientation is the defensive and cautious approach to not losing something. (trying to avoid bad things) -Promotion orientation- concern over advancing oneself and aspiring for gains (trying to secure good things)
7) What is subjective well-being? Why do rates of subjective well-being differ across cultures? Specifically, know the effects of money, human rights, and equality on subjective well-being.
Subjective well being- feeling of how satisfied one is with one's life. Many factors contribute to overall satisfaction that people have with their lives. -People who live in countries in which they have access to enough wealth to meet basic needs easily, tend to be more satisfied than those who do not. -Also, human rights. Countries in which people live under constant threat of being thrown in jail for suspicions of plotting against the government are not as happy. -Also, income equality. -Factors that predict life satisfaction across cultures is whether or not they are living up to others' standards for being a good person and how happy they think they should feel.
b. The Snibbe & Markus (2005) study on social class and satisfaction with one's choices.
The working class participants were almost as satisfied with the pen they received in the usurped choice condition as they were in the free choice condition. However, the upper class participants were significantly less satisfied when their choice has been taken away from them
8) How has Protestantism influenced achievement motivation? (HINT: focus on the research studies that test Weber's ideas and especially the findings from these studies, pgs. 318-322. Again, locating thesis sentences is helpful!).
Weber proposed that Protestantism converted into a more enduring secular cold of behavior that included honesty, hard work, seriousness, and the thrifty use of money and time
d. The Oettingen studies on choice in East and West Germany before and after unification.
West German children felt they had more control than East German children. At the bar, the body language showed that people of east Germans were far more likely to show signs of depression.
