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Monika Wrobel, Ph.D.
M17. People Across Cultures: An Introduction to Cross-Cultural Psychology
#5
CULTURE AND
CULTURE AND
COGNITION
COGNITION
11/24/2010
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Cross
Cross
-
-
cultural approach to
cultural approach to
cognition
cognition
Universal nature of cognitive processes
18
th
& 19
th
century philosophy
(Locke, Hume, Mill)
20
th
century psychology
(Piaget)
But cross-cultural research has challenged
this view
(e.g. limited universality of Müller-Lyer
illusion)
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Richard E.
Richard E.
Nisbett
Nisbett
’
’
s
s
r
r
esearch
esearch
(1)
(1)
Conducted in China,
Korea, Japan, and the
USA
Focused on differences
between East Asian and
Western cognitive
processes.
2
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Richard E.
Richard E.
Nisbett
Nisbett
’
’
s
s
r
r
esearch
esearch
(2)
(2)
The Japanese participants:
made over 60 % more
references to contextual
elements;
made almost 100% more
statements about
relationships with
inanimate aspects of the
environment.
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Limited universality of
Limited universality of
the
the
fundamental attribution error
fundamental attribution error
(FAE)
(FAE)
FAE
= the tendency to overestimate the internal and
underestimate the external factors when explaining the
behaviors of others
(Heider, 1958; Ross, 1977)
A result of our tendency to pay more attention to the
object rather than to the situation.
A classic experiment by Jones and Harris (1967)
pro-
and anti-Fidel Castro essays.
Cross-cultural comparisons indicate that the FAE
may be more common in Western societies than in
Eastern societies.
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Analytic
Analytic
vs
vs
.
.
holistic
holistic
information
information
processing
processing
Two kinds of information processing
Westerners
analytic information processing
Easterners
holistic information processing
This dimension is responsible for the
differences in cognitive processes between
people from the West and people from the
East.
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Cultural
Cultural
differences
differences
in
in
attention
attention
and
and
perception
perception
Westerners
engage in context-
independent and analytic
perceptual processes
easily distinguish an
object from its
surroundings
fixate on the focal object
Easterners
engage in context
dependent and holistic
perceptual processes
do not distinguish an
object from its
surroundings
make more saccades
(rapid eye movements
from one location to the
other)
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Cultural
Cultural
differences
differences
in
in
categorization
categorization
Westerners
are more likely to use
categorization and rules
in reasoning about
everyday life events
focus on features that
both objects have in
common (A and B are
both X)
Easterners
are more likely to
emphasize relationships
and similarities
focus more holistically on
relations between objects
when organizing the
environment (A is a part
of B)
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Cultural
Cultural
differences
differences
in
in
thinking
thinking
and decision making
and decision making
Westerners
deeply believe in formal
logic
what is true must
be logical
think that two contradictory
things can’t exist together
and one has to choose
between them
often argue if they have
different opinions
Easterners
make relatively little use of
formal logic
search for the ”Middle
Way” between opposing
propositions (harmony and
balance!)
think that there’s no sense
in arguing, because both
different opinions may be
true
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Locus of control in analytic and
Locus of control in analytic and
holistic cultures
holistic cultures
Differences in locus of control:
Westerns
internal locus of control
Easterners
external locus of control
Westerners experience the illusion of control more
often than Easterners.
Study by Lee et al. (1996)
differences between
Western and Eastern sport presenters.
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Mechanisms underlying cultural
Mechanisms underlying cultural
differences in cognitive processes
differences in cognitive processes
Social factors
a complex, interdependent social world
one needs to
pay attention to relationships and to the context
an independent, individualistic social world
one might
pay attention to objects and one’s goals
Physical factors
particular environments may encourage culturally specific
patterns of attention
Eastern environments are more complex and contain a
larger number of objects than Western environments
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Culture and intelligence
Culture and intelligence
(1)
(1)
Intelligence
= good memory, the ability to think logically,
plan, solve problems, comprehend ideas, use language,
and learn?
Intelligence and race
socio-economic factors
danger of stereotyping
Problems with intelligence measures
intelligence tests
may be biased in favor of some cultural groups
non-verbal tasks (e.g. Picture Arrangement, Matrix Reasoning,
Block Design)
verbal tasks (e.g. Vocabulary, Information, Similarities)
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Culture and intelligence
Culture and intelligence
(2)
(2)
Cattell’s Culture Fair Intelligence Test and Raven
Intelligence Test
„culture-fair”/„culture-free”?
„culture-reduced”?
Problems with the situation of testing
Sternberg
IQ measured by intelligence tests vs.
practical intelligence
research in Kenya – the lower the child’s IQ was, the more
herbs used in folk medicine he or she could list.
children from maladjusted families (the ability to count money
vs. poor mathematical knowledge)