Chapter 8 - Set

Know the findings of the Kim (2002) studies on cultural influences on talking and thinking.

American professors encourage their Asian students to speak up more by making it apart of their class grade. But this is an assumption that the students possess shyness or a lack of interest in class, and also an assumption that talking reflects thinking and engagement in class, when in reality this in grounded in Western practices. Talking and language have held a privileged position in much of Western intellectual history. Here we hold the standard for people speaking their mind, which was protected by the 1st amendment. Asians being holistic thinkers involves an attention to the whole and the perception how various parts are interrelated. Holistic thinking involves an attention to the whole and perception of various parts interrelated, and since speech is sequential, they don't do that because it takes a lot to describe multiple relations at once, one after another. Analytic thinking emphasize on the focus of separate parts, lending itself very well to spoken word.

Know the characteristics of and distinctions between analytic and holistic thinking.

Anlaytic thinking characteristis are: We focus on focal objects - Existing separately from their contexts, and Comprised of components parts, attributes. In addition, we understand via use of systematic, logical rules, universal properties, having an emphasis on models, rules, principles for prediction. Holistic thinking characteristic are: Focused on contexts-Association between objects, objects and context, Objects understood by relationship to context- Understand via experience with associations.

What are some possible origins of these thinking styles?

Arising from the different social experiences people have within individualistic and collectivistic societies

situational attributions?

East Asians whom are more holistic thinkers would observe the situations from the aspect of the outside characteristics such as the situation he's in, like maybe he purchased a defective item and the store's clerk will not exchange it. This would be situational attribution, which is explaining someone's behavior in terms of contextual variables.

Know the characteristics of and distinctions between field independence and field dependence. How do these relate to analytic and holistic thinking?

Field independent would be - Analytical thinkers tend to show focus on object, independent of the field when we're focused on our environment. Field dependence would be, Holistic thinkers tend to show focus on context, dependent of the field to understand the objects, and focal point, Example would be the fish story.

Dispositional attributions?

For example you see your friend arguing at a shop's store clerk, angrily; use westerners whom are analytic thinkers would analyze and interpret this as his internal characters like his short temper, and difficult personality. This would be dipositional attribution, which is explaining someone's behavior in terms of their underlying dispositions.

Could you identify examples of these concepts within a "story problem"?

For field dependence, Japanese people made more (60%) references to the background objects than Americans (field independence/analytic thinkers). When they saw the fish with its original background, the Japs were more likely to recognize the fish than Americans. However, when the fish was shown with a novel background (Different), Americans were more likely to recognize the fish than the Japs. This means that Americans tended to perceive the fish separately from the background—they were not influenced by whether the fish was present with the original background or novel background. But, Japs seem to have seen the fish and background as bound together, so when the background changed, the fish no longer looked quite the same.

High-context culture?

High context culture is a culture where people are deeply involved with each other, and this involvement leads them to have much shared information that guides behavior. Clear rules of how to behave appropriately in each situation, and this information is widely shared, understood, and communicated, so it does not need to be fully-revealed in communication, it can be inferred. They use nonverbal cues, and focus on the external.

Low-context culture?

Low-context culture is a culture where there is relatively less involvement among individuals, and there is less shared information to guide behavior, hence individualism and individualistic cultures. Because of the less shared info, it's necessary for people to communicate in full detail. They focus on the language.

Monochronic time?

Monochronic - we view time as quite linear. We view time as discrete, time is a very limited resource. - Time is linear...and discrete - Preference for sequenced activities/events (we prefer these type of events) - The schedule is more important than the event. We want to focus on the schedule we've set, than other events. We focus on the schedule than the event itself. We have it to save time. - Attention focused on "when" things will be achieved. - Time being looked at as based on the person and their character

What is naïve dialecticism? What type of thinking style (analytic or holistic) encourages naïve dialecticism? How does this play out in people's understanding of their own personality (look to your class notes for assistance)?

Naïve dialecticism is the acceptance of contradiction. Holistic thinkers tend to encourage naïve dialecticism because they perceive everything as fundamentally connected, they look at everything as a whole, not field independence.

Polychronic time?

Polychronic time - Time is continuous...and flexible. We may not be focused on specific events, we have as much time as we want because time is there. - Comfort with shifting attention between events happening simultaneously - Multitasking - The event (and people) is more important than the schedule. The interaction with the people there. - Attention focused on "what" will be achieved. What are we getting out of certain activities - More collectivistic in those cultures. - Time being based on the events than the person - In the U.S. Hawaii and New Orleans are Poly

Know the take-home message of the "fish study" by Masuda & Nisbett (2001, see pg. 293-295), and the Masuda, Ellsworth et al (2007) study (see pg. 295-295), both of which examine attentional differences across cultures.

The Japanese were more likely to recognize the fish than were the Americans when its original background. In a different background the Americans were more likely to recognize the fish than were the Japanese. Indicating Americans tended to perceive the fish separately from the background, regardless. Japanese saw the background scenery and the fish as bound together.

What is the fundamental attribution error? How does culture influence this bias?

This is the tendency to ignore situational information while focusing on dispositional information (it's the person's fault than the external factors). Because some cultures like westerners tend to use this information more for understanding others (and themselves), and East Asians may generalize to many other non-Western cultural contexts.

What did we learn about cultural influences on and health consequences of a nation's "pace of life" (Levine & Norenzayan, 1999)? (NOTE: this content is exclusively from class)

We learned as it relates to health and consequences that the more faster paced we live (more industrialized nations) the more stress, more health problems (Coronary hearth disease).

How cultural distinctions of high-context and low-context cultures relate to the directness/indirectness of communication?

Well low-context culture is direct because it is focus on the direct information that is communicate in language. High-context culture focuses on shared (Already known) , implied/inferred, and nonverbal communication, which is not direct because it's not explicit.

Cultural differences of analytic and holistic thinking?

Western cultures being more analytic, and East Asians being more holistic. Like independent and interdependent self-concepts. Cultural difference being people with independent self-concepts come to understand people by focusing on their inner attributes and attending less to relationships. People with interdependent self-concepts, in contrast, tend to conceive people in terms of their relationships with others.