psych test 3 (ch 8)

One study explored how "fundamental" the fundamental attribution error is by examining it cross-culturally—in India (Miller, 1984). Participants (8 years old to adult) were asked to describe a situation when someone had behaved in either a prosocial manner or a deviant manner. Participants were then asked to explain the person's behaviors. Explanations were then coded for being dispositional or situational. Americans vs Indians...

-American and Indian 8-year-olds gave similar attributions. -Older Americans made more dispositional attributions, but not situational ones fundamental attribution error* -Older Indians made more situational attributions but not dispositional ones reverse fundamental attribution error*

Holistic thinking involves What kind of Catagorization? More common among east asians or North Americans?

-An orientation to the entire scene -Attending to the relations among objects -Thematic categorization: stimuli are grouped together on the basis of relationships among them ex: which of these are least like the other two: carrot, dog, rabbit? (dog) -Especially common among East Asians.

The Fundamental Attribution Error is the tendency for observers (us) to:

-Overestimate the causal influence of internal factors (personal characteristics) on behavior -Underestimate the causal role of external factors (situational influences) on behavior

Analytic thinking involves: (what kind of categorization?)

-Separating objects from each other & Breaking down objects into component parts -Taxonomic categorization: stimuli are grouped according to the perceived similarity of their attributes *Ex: which of these are least like the other two: carrot, dog, rabbit? (carrot) Analytic thinking is more common in Western cultures

Western vs Eastern Portraits

-Western portraits tended to show larger figures than East Asian ones. -In particular, Western portraits have larger faces, directing more attention to the individual as s/he dominates the scene. -East Asian portraits portray individuals as being embedded within the context.

American and Japanese participants were shown animated computer images of an underwater scene (Masuda & Nisbett, 2001). The participants were asked to describe what they saw. -The Japanese participants made more references to background objects; Americans talked more about the fish at the center of the scene. The Participants were then shown some additional scenes that included the same fish. But, some of those fish had the same background, whereas other fish had a new background. The participants were asked whether they had seen the fish in the picture before.

-Westerners' performance relatively unaffected by the background (always recognized the fish) -East Asians' performance worse if the background is switched on them. -East Asians appear to see the scene as bound together, Westerners see it as a collection of parts.

Field independence

-typical with Analytic thinkers are able to separate objects from each other *see objects as separate from their backgrounds

What is a Low context cultures? high or low explicit communication? East Asian vs North American?

= less shared information -more explicit information is necessary for communication -North American, and English speaking cultures more generally, are good examples of low context cultures. -Typically, what is conveyed in some East Asian languages is considerably less explicit than what is communicated in English

What is a High context culture? high or low explicit communication? East Asian vs North American?

= people highly connected with each other -much shared information guides behavior, less explicit information is needed for communication -People in high context cultures have a harder time ignoring implicit information than people in low context cultures. -East Asian cultures are good examples of high context cultures.

There appear to be two basic systems for reasoning:

Analytic reasoning and Holistic reasoning

_____ thinkers are more likely to focus their attention on separate parts of a scene. _____ paintings direct attention to particular focal objects.

Analytic thinkers Western paintings

Masdua et al. (2008) investigated whether cultural differences in perception affect the art people product today When Japanese and Euro-American college students were asked to draw a picture involving a house, a tree, a river, a person, and a horizon, the following pattern emerged...

Comparing Euro-Americans' and East Asians' drawings, East Asian drawings: Had higher horizons Had 75% more contextual objects in the scene

Field dependence

Difficulty in separating objects from each other -typical with Holistic thinkers who perceive a scene as an integrated whole

situational attribution -more common with Westerners or East Asians?

Explaining people's behaviors by attending to contextual variables -more common with east asians

dispositional attribution -more common with Westerners or East Asians?

Explaining people's behaviors by attending to their personal characteristics -more common with Westerners

______ should direct their attention across an entire scene. _______ paintings have higher horizons—directs attention to relations amongst objects and places within the scene.

Holistic thinkers East Asian paintings

All spoken communication contains both ______ and ______ information.

implicit (i.e. nonverbal)...explicit

Rod and Frame task (crooked line in the crooked square)

The challenge is that the frame around the rod is rotated independently and thus is provides misleading information. -Analytic thinkers should fare well on this task (People who are high on field independence can do this task well) -In general, East Asians (who are holistic thinkers and are more field dependent) do relatively poorly on this task

People in individualistic societies are more likely to be socialized to be independent and to have their attention focused on objects. Engage in more ______ thinking

analytical thinking

An American student, Ronald, and his Chinese friend, Rui, are looking up at the clear blue sky, where just a few clouds are visible. Coincidentally, the clouds are all grouped into one cluster just above Ronald and Rui. The two start naming shapes that they see in the clouds. Which of the following is most likely to happen in this scenario? a) Rui will give more responses that are diagnostic of psychological disorders than Ronald. b) Rui will give more visual descriptions than Ronald. c) Rui will give answers that are based more on the cluster of clouds than Ronald, who will base his answers more on a single cloud. d) Rui will give more creative answers than Ronald.

c) Rui will give answers that are based more on the cluster of clouds than Ronald, who will base his answers more on a single cloud

A Chinese art critic, Weiwei, and his American counterpart, William, are both looking at a painting of a group of people standing behind a vase in the middle foreground. If you were to compare the eye gaze of Weiwei and William, what would you find? a) Their gazes initially start out in different places on the painting, but become more similar over time attending to an object. b) William shifts his attention around more than Weiwei. c) Weiwei and William describe the painting differently, but they are actually looking at objects quite similarly. d) William spends more time gazing at the vase than does Weiwei.

d) William spends more time gazing at the vase than does Weiwei.

Analytic thinkers focus on objects' component parts, whereas holistic thinkers consider objects' relations with the context. -Same distinction is applied to understanding people. -Based on this differentiation between analytic thinkers and holistic thinkers, people generally make two types of attributions to explain behavior.

dispositional attribution & situational attribution.

In collectivistic cultures, people are socialized to learn to attend to relations among people. Engage in more ______ thinking

holistic thinking

Taxonomic categorization

stimuli are grouped according to the perceived similarity of their attributes *Ex: which of these are least like the other two: carrot, dog, rabbit? (carrot)

Thematic categorization

stimuli are grouped together on the basis of relationships among them ex: which of these are least like the other two: carrot, dog, rabbit? (dog)

naive dialecticism

the acceptance that contradiction is not something to be rejected, but should be accepted because things are always changing.

Saccades

the extremely quick eye movements that shift people's gaze from one fixation point to another

anthropocentric

young children project qualities of people onto animals