1. Culture

2. Friday’s Lecture is Pre- recorded I will be attending the UTSC Convocation Ceremony at 9:30 because: One of your fellow students, Jennifer Khoury, is AMAZING!! Lecture will be shown in AC223 as a video at normal time and posted online I will be holding extra office hours in the chairs closest to Tim Hortons in the Meeting Place from 5 - 6 pm this Friday evening to answer last-minute exam questions

3. Lecture Overview Defining Culture Studying Culture Describing Cultures Social Psychology of Culture Moving Between Cultures

4. Defining Culture What is Culture? Why should we care?

5. What is Culture? An ever-changing1, constructive2 stimulus which shapes3 the way individuals perceive and contribute to the world 1. Dynamic 2. Influenced by members of the culture 3. Influences members of the culture

6. What is Culture? Nationality The country you were born in Ethnicity Your cultural heritage Identification Shared identity of group members

7. Meaning System Symbols, language, experiences Metaphysics Beliefs about the world, universe, & existence

8. Studying Culture 2 Primary Methodological Orientations Typical Methods Methodological Concerns

9. Methodological Orientations Culture-comparative Cross-cultural

10. Culture Comparative Universalist approach to cultural psychology that assumes basic psychological processes are fundamental to all humans Most common approach in cultural psych Think between-culture variation is comparable to within-culture variation

11. Cross-Cultural Relativist approach to cultural psychology that assumes that human behaviour is essentially cultural Psychological processes are defined by the cultural context in which they occur Focus on within-culture variation Usually only discuss between-culture differences qualitatively

12. Typical Methods Culture-comparative psychologists 1. Identify a construct (e.g., individualism) that might vary by culture 2. Test the construct in more than one culture Cross-cultural 1. Choose a culture 2. Study and identify psychological processes of people in that culture (e.g., Heuristics, Persuasion)

13. Describing Cultures Individualism/Collectivism Political climate Religious Beliefs Ecological Differences

14. Individualist Cultures Emphasize personal achievement, even at the expense of others Greater emphasis on competition E.g., Canada, Western Europe

15. Collectivist Cultures Emphasize social roles and collective responsibilities, even at the expense of the individual Greater emphasis on co-operation E.g., China, Korea, Latin America

16. Political Climate Political structure greatly constrains behaviour and cultural expression Sometimes government change can extinguish a culture

17. Religious Beliefs Dominant religious beliefs characterize a culture’s moral reasoning and motivations Religion also affects social roles and norms

18. Ecological Differences Environmental context shapes the development and focus of a culture

19. How Does Culture Affect Us? Cognition/Perception Cognitive Mechanisms Cognitive Framing Dialectical vs. Linear Reasoning Affect Emotional Complexity Behaviour Social Roles & Norms

20. Cognitive Mechanisms How do we think? The western assumption that talking is connected to thinking is not shared in the east

21. Do We All Think In Words? Kim (2002) Method: East Asian-American and European-American Ps While solving a cognitive task: Thinking Aloud: Verbalize your thought process, or Articulatory Suppression: Say alphabet aloud

22. Do We All Think In Words? Kim (2002) Results:

23. Cognitive Framing The perceptual framework through which you view the world Affects the attributions made for events

24. Cognitive Framing Cultural Primes (Hong, Chiu, Kung, 1997) Priming someone with a familiar icon of their culture will temporarily increase their identification with that culture Prime Chinese participants with Chinese icons (100 ms) versus Western icons Observe greater endorsement of traditional Chinese values after Chinese cultural primes

25. Dialectical Thinking A cognitive reasoning structure through which an individual interprets the environment 3 principles: Change: Everything is in flux / constantly changing Contradiction: Opposing propositions may both be true Wholism: Everything is interrelated/interdependent

26. Peng & Nisbett (1999) Method: Compare proverbs from China and US Look at degree of linearity or dialecticism in proverb: Eg., Linear: “For example is no proof” Dialectical: “Beware of your friends, not your enemies”

27. Peng & Nisbett (1999) Results: Chinese had four times as many dialectical proverbs as Americans Preferences: Americans preferred linear to dialectical American proverbs Chinese preferred dialectical to linear Chinese proverbs Chinese also preferred dialectical to linear Yiddish proverbs

28. Emotional Complexity The experience of many emotions at the same time, especially if those emotions are a mixture of positive and negative feelings

29. Emotional Complexity & Culture Correlations between positive & negative emotions (Schimmack, Oishi, & Diener, 2002) In US → Negative correlation E.g., If you feel happy, then you feel less sad In East Asians → No correlation E.g., Your level of sadness is unrelated to your level of happiness Chinese & Koreans have a positive correlation between positive & negative emotional intensity (Bagozzi, et. al., 1999)

30. Social Norms & Social Roles Social norms are completely relative to cultural context Punishment for violation of social norms varies by culture, too Importance of Social Roles varies by culture East Asians list significantly more social roles in Twenty Statements Test

31. Moving Between Cultures Acculturation Assimilation Bicultural Identity Integration

32. Acculturation Successful integration of the heritage of two cultures Adoption of new culture through incorporating value systems of both new and original cultures

33. Assimilation Complete adoption of a new culture Adoption of a new culture and simultaneous rejection of original culture

34. Bicultural Identity Integration (BII) Degree to which two cultural identities are integrated into a super-ordinate bicultural identity 2 Key Components: Perceived Harmony vs. Conflict Perceived Similarity vs. Distance

35. BII & Frame Switching Benet-Martínez, Leu, Lee, & Morris (2002) Method: Bring Chinese-Americans Biculturals into the lab Measure BII Prime them with either Chinese or US cultural primes Measure attributions on fish image task

36. Benet-Martínez, Leu, Lee, & Morris (2002) Results: Internal and External Attributions by Prime High BII Low BII

37. Example Exam Question Compared to a Dialectical Thinker, a linear thinker: A. Believes that life is full of paradox B. Views many issues as being explained by a super-ordinate concept C. Likes contradictory proverbs D. Thinks that nothing stays the same E. Perceives the causes of events as stable

38. Example Exam Question Compared to a Dialectical Thinker, a linear thinker: A. Believes that life is full of paradox B. Views many issues as being explained by a super-ordinate concept C. Likes contradictory proverbs D. Thinks that nothing stays the same E. Perceives the causes of events as stable

39. “When in Rome, Do As The Romans Do” Next Lecture: Social Power and Hierarchy Related Websites: Canadian Culture on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Canada Words Without Borders: http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/ http://www.wordswithoutborders.org Where is the BlogFather? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hossein_Derakhshan