• Manners differ across cultures because people are socialized to different sets of norms and customs
  • One reason manners have changed over time is because peoples views of what is healthy have also changed
  • Some differences in manners of the past simply reflect changing norms that are quite arbitrary as to what is considered polite
  • Cultures change – they are fluid and constantly evolving as new ideas emerge and conditions change

 

Ecological and Geographical Variation of Culture

  • The kinds of foods that are available within a given ecology affect the kinds of foraging behaviors that people engage in
  • Different physical ecologies can also come to affect how the societies are structured and the values that people come to adopt o Cultural variations in sex roles can arise from the different ecologies within which people live
    • In cultures where the environment is harsh, cultures of masculinity that value the strength and toughness of males are more likely to arise (places where large game is hunted, risky deep-sea fishing is performed)
  • The physical environment that we live in shape the array of lifestyles that are possible

 

Small differences can have large effects:

  • Geographical differences lead to different cultural responses
    • A dependence on food sources that are obtained through bravery leads to a greater respect for bravery and masculinity
  • Proximal causes: causes that have direct and immediate relations with their effects
  • Distal causes: initial differences that lead to effects over long periods, and often through indirect relations

 

Transmitted versus evoked culture:

  • There are two different bases of cultural variability
  • Evoked culture: the notion that all people, regardless of where they are from, have certain biologically encoded behavioral repertoires that are potentially accessible to them, and these repertoires are engaged when the appropriate situational conditions are present o Ex: all individuals are capable of acting in an intimidating manner when their offspring are under threat – the capacity to act

intimidating is universally present, but is evoked in some people when they find themselves/their loved ones under threat

  • Transmitted culture: the notion that people learn about particular cultural practices through social learning or by modeling the behavior of others who live near them o Ex: if you observe your neighbor planting seeds and notice the benefits she earned for doing so, you might adopt this cultural practice as well
  • Transmitted culture can travel with people when they move to new environments, unlike evoked culture

 

How do ideas catch on?

  • Rumors arise in all kinds of situations – particularly in times of war and disaster
  • Rumors are fueled by a lack information, creating an environment in which facts become extremely valuable, and their spread is fanned by strong emotional feelings
  • Rumors can indicate what kinds of ideas come to be spread and become common within a culture
  • Cultures change when new ideas become widely spread among their populations
  • There are two models for understanding how cultural ideas spread:
    1. First model considers that the spread of ideas through populations is similar to way that genes replicate
    2. Second suggests that the spread of ideas through populations is similar to the way that diseases spread

 

Parallels between Biological and Cultural Evolution

  • Biological evolution occurs when certain genes become more common in populations than they were in the past o It operates through two related mechanisms:
  • Natural selection: the evolutionary process that occurs when the following

3 conditions are present

  1. There is individual variability among members of a species on certain traits
  2. Those traits are associated with different survival rates
  3. Those traits have a hereditary basis
  • If all these are present, with enough time, you will have natural selection
  • It is the balance of all selective pressures that a species faces in a given environment that affects which individuals will survive to pass on their genes to the next generation
  • Sexual selection: evolutionary process whereby individuals best suited to attract the healthiest mate will be the most likely to have surviving offspring o A mechanism that determines which traits will come to be desired by sexual partners
  • Parallels in cultural evolution… o Some ideas are more likely to persist across time than other – they have long survival rates (relating to natural selection)

o Some ideas are more likely to attract adherents than others – they reproduce more (relating to sexual selection)

 

Ideas as replicators

  • Biological evolution is possible because it involves replicators that are able to make copies of themselves
  • Genes are the replicators in biological evolution, and need to possess 3 characteristics: o Longevity: the relative stability and long duration that is an important feature of successful replicators
    • Fidelity: the high level of accuracy in self replicating or reproducing that is an important feature of successful replicators
  • The copying of genes, as accurate as it is, is not always perfect
  • Mutations are a necessary part of evolution, as they provide the variety of potential genes that allows for differential selection o Fecundity: the ability to produce many copies of themselves that is an important feature of successful replicators
    • Determined by the number of offspring an individual organism has
    • Memes: generally the smallest units of cultural info that can be faithfully transmitted (the cultural equivalent to genes) o Ex: tunes, catchphrases, scientific theories, iPod’s, etc.
  • Instructions on particular ways of behaving or speaking which are stored in our brains or written in texts or in objects
  • Basis of variability in genes and memes is fundamentally different o Cultural evolution grows from innovations that are typically not random copying errors but are usually consciously planned innovations

 Memes do not have to be adaptive to become common, unlike evolutionary processes with genes – many spread although they are maladaptive

 

Epidemiology of Ideas

  • Epidemiology of Ideas: a perspective on cultural evolution that contends there is no direct replication of ideas, but that each individual creates his or her own representation of a learned idea
  • Epidemiology is the branch of medicine that is concerned with the distribution of diseases among populations
  • This view argues that there is no direct replication of ideas
  • For an idea to be spread from individual to another, the following steps must occur:
    • The inventor has a mental representation of an idea in her mind o The imitator, who learns about this idea from the inventor, then creates a mental representation of this in her own mind
    • The idea is not transmitted directly, rather just the gist of it is

 

Communicable ideas spread

  • The most direct way for ideas to spread is through language
  • Stereotypes can be seen to reflect ideas that people have in particular cultural contexts about some specific cultural groups
  • Content of stereotypes would be influenced by the kinds of ideas that people were most likely to communicate o If some ideas are rarely communicated about various ethnic groups, then they would be less likely to become part of any shared stereotypes that might exist
  • Culturally based stereotypes tend to be formed based on the kinds of traits that people are most likely to communicate, and for the kinds of groups that people are most likely going to be talking about
  • Dynamic social impact theory: suggests that individuals influence each other through their interactions, which gives rise to clusters of like-minded people separated by geography (cultures) o Norms develop among those who communicate with each other regularly

o Our own preferences and behaviors are shaped by the norms of those who live around us

 

Emotional Ideas spread

  • Contemporary legends: fictional stories told in modern societies as though they are true o Ex: Kids not being allowed to eat candies on Halloween due to the fear of their being dangers associated with getting them from strangers
  • It is highly adaptive for people to communicate potentially useful information to each other
  • Rumors/legends are more likely to spread when they can evoke a shared emotional reaction among people – allowing people to connect with others
  • Emotional ideas are more likely to spread through a culture than are unemotional ones

 

Minimally counterintuitive ideas persist

  • The kinds of stories that are especially likely to persist in our memories are the ones that contain a few minimally counterintuitive ideas o Statements that are surprising and unusual in the sense that they violate our expectations, but are not too outlandish

 

Cultures are Becoming Increasingly Interconnected

  • Cultures have become far more interconnected than before
  • The interconnectedness of cultures allow ideas that emerge in one culture to have an influence on people in other cultures
  • Cultural evolution is happening at a rapid pace
  • Interconnections among cultures result in global culture and globalization
    • Ex: IKEA and SONY do more of their business outside of their respective cultures.
    • We live in a world with national borders
  • Although globalization is happening, it is happening at the same rate that tribalism is happening
  • Tribalism: dissolution of many former Eastern bloc countries into smaller and more culturally distinct nations. Ex: Quebec wants to separate from Canada
  • Increasing cultural heterogeneity within the borders of many countries, as many nations receive immigrants from around the world
  • There is a trend toward cultural homogeneity at a global level and toward cultural heterogeneity at a more local level

 

Many cultures are becoming More Individualistic 

  • Individualistic: include a variety of practices and customs that encourage individuals to prioritize their own personal goals ahead of those of the collective, and consider how they are distinct from others. o Ex: some practices common in individualistic cultures include the tracking of children at school, college-age children being encourage to move out of their parents home, people choosing to put their elderly relatives in retirement homes.
  • Collectivistic: cultures that encourage individuals to put more emphasis on collective goals, specifically the goals of ones group. o Ex: children who like sleeping in their parents bed, marriages being arranged by parents, companies compensating their employees on the basis of how long they have been employed, etc.
  • Cross-cultural comparisons make contrasts at a single point in time.
  • Cultures are becoming more individualistic over the decades.
  • Ex: Back in the day it was more common for people to be in bowling clubs or go bowling, but now stats show that Americans are less likely to participate in formal groups and spend more time yb themselves and participating in fewer organizational activities.
  • Generations are the ones that change, but usually people who are over 60 years old are just as social as people who were 60 in past decades.
  • Younger generations have come to be more individualistic o Ex: they are giving their children more unique names  Why are people more individualist?
  1. There have been increasing pressure of time and money that have competed with peoples time for being socially engaged
  2. Income has been rising but people feel more financially pressed.
  3. The increase in suburbanization in America
  4. This results in people spending more time in their cars and homes and being less likely to run into a friend
  5. Electronic entertainment
  6. TV and Iphones lead people to isolate themselves and engage in more passive forms of entertainment
  7. Cultural change is the most difficult to identify directly
    1. Half the variance in the increase in individualism is because there are different lifestyles between younger and older generations.
    2. Ex: WWII united the country for a common cause, and PUTNAM suggests that’s why older generation is more collectivistic and subsequent generations are more individualistic because they didn’t feel that
  • Individualism is most found in industrialized and developing cultures
    • Japan has increased individualism Ex: divorce rate has increased, and average household size has decreased
    • But some measures show decreasing individualism in Japan Ex: Now there is more importance placed on social obligation.
    • But for the most part à Japan and USA are overall increasing in individualism.

 

People in Many Cultures Are Becoming More Intelligent 

  • People seem to be getting smarted across cultures
  • Flynn Effect: It’s a trend that shows how people in current generations have higher IQ scores than those from earlier generations
  • In 14 nations it shows that the average increase in IQ was between 5 and 25 points per generation
  • IQ has been increasing at a rate of approximately 6 points per decade in many countries around the world.
  • Measurement in intelligence is one of the most contentious issues in psychology  Difficult to conceive of intelligence outside a particular cultural context.
  • HOWEVER à Not all measures of intelligence have been showing the same increase over time.
    • Scores on the SAT’s have been decreasing in the USA over past decades o Argument for decrease in SAT is that it measures acquired knowledge, and the verbal component of SAT measures a good deal of difficult vocabulary.  People are reading less and are gaining more information from TV, Internet, etc, compared to previous generations.
  • The Iq test that shows largest increase across time is the Raven’s Matrices, which is a culture-free measure of IQ.
    • Performance on this test is basic problem solving skills
  • Some suggest nutritional improvements around the world is what explains IQ gains, but that account is incapable of explaining much of the global increase in IQ
  • Another argument says world is more complex and more learning is required and practice is required which ultimately influences ones intelligence.
  • Remember that: increasing number of years of higher education by itself cannot account for the overall increase in IQ, because IQ has also been rising among those who do not go on to higher education
  • Another argument: pop culture is getting more complex and the complexity of our entertainment is making us smarter

 

In the Face of Change, How do cultures persist? 

  • Cultures have surprising abilities to retain much of their shape and many of their characteristics over time o Ex: Regional differences in Italy today mirror the differences that were present 800 years ago
  • Subject well-being: the feeling of how satisfied one is with one’s life.
  • Large positive correlation between the average well-being scores for American ethnic groups and the well-being scores for the countries from which those ethnic groups were originally descended.
  • Well-being is passed down through generations

 

Cultural Innovations Build on Previous Structures

  • Biological evolution: adaptations are constrained by previously existing structures
  • Existing cultural habits influence and constrain the evolution of new cultural habits
  • Some Sub-saharian countries are doing well compared to others, this is a result of cultural persistence that happened in 14th—19th century o Slave trade was very common and the shipment of slaves across the Atlantic ocean to USA or Europe
    • Aftereffects still linger due to the salve trade that happened ’s of years ago – GDP is higher in countries that didn’t do as much slave trades. And GDP is lower in countries that did many slave trades.
    • Gun slave cycle = was when Europeans in exchange for slaves, would give weapons to African countries. o African people developed a mistrusts and Nunn argues that the mistrust is responsible for the lower economic development of many parts of Africa

 

Early Conditions Have Disproportionate Influence on Cultural Evolution

  • The early conditions of a culture likewise have greater influence in shaping a cultures long-term evolution than do later conditions.
  • Early condition is so important for cultural differences to persist over time
  • Quakerism à This placed more emphasis on pragmatic concerns, individual equality, and tolerance.
  • Quaker culture is seen in between Boston and Philadelphia o Harvard Vs University of Pennsylvania o Harvard is more on liberal arts curriculum
    • Penn is more on engineer, med school, and business focuses
      • Few political leaders graduate from Penn
      • Public service received little emphasis and the school received less community or financial support from a Quaker culture that had little trust in the value of higher education
    • Autokinetic Effect: is caused by the involuntary movements in your eyes – illusions of movement.  

 

 

Pluralistic Ignorance 

  • Pluralistic ignorance: the tendency for people to collectively misinterpret the thoughts that underlie other people’s behaviors o Ex: a survey of students said that they think most of their peers on campus approved of drinking a lot, but that same survey revealed that most of the student themselves said that they were not so comfortable with the amount of alcohol being consumed. àWhy would people assume others have more liberal attitude toward heavy drinking than they themselves do?
  • People are more likely to make socially desirable statements because they wis to maintain a positive impression.
    • To drink in excess appear to be more socially desirable and are more regularly stated, which yields a false impression of a consensus that students like to drink in excess.
    • People misrepresent true feelings
  • Pluralistic ignorance is relevant to cultural persistence because people are influenced by what they believe other people feel rather than by what other people actually feel.

 

Methods for Studying Culture and Psychology

  • Experimental psychologists rarely investigate psychological processes by asking their subjects directly about their experiences

 

What Cultures Should We Study?

  • To choose samples based on theoretical variable that you are investigating
  • Look for cultures that vary on a specific theoretical dimension of interest, such as collectivism.
  • Select two cultures that vary greatly on as many theoretically relevant dimensions as possible Ex: language, geography, etc.

 

Making Meaningful Comparisons Across Cultures

  • Make sure you know something about what you are studying!
  • Learn something about the culture you are studying before you study it.
    • Ex: read existing text and ethnographies about the culture
  • Find collaborator who is form the culture that you are studying
  • Immerse yourself in another culture to learn it firsthand o But very time consuming and costly.
  • Methodological equivalence: having one’s methods perceived in identical ways across different cultures.
  • In WEIRD people, there is problem with generalizability à do the findings generalize to populations other than the samples that were studied?
  • The power in studies can be a problem too sometimes
  • Power: capability of your study to detect an effect to the extent that such an effect really exists.
    • It’s the quality of design of your study, and is your study designed so that it is sensitive enough to identify the anticipated effect?
  • In cross cultural studies, culture is the independent variable and if you study two cultures that are the same, it would be hard to detect a variance
  • The More variance there is in the independent variable (the variable being manipulated), the more likely it is that one will detect an effect in the dependent variable (the variable you measure)

 

Conducting Cross-Cultural Research with Surveys

  • In surveys, sometimes problems can occur like:
    • the researchers and participants speak different langauges o Topics that are far less concrete such as emotions, values, etc
  • The language that we’re thinking in can greatly affect the way we’re thinking
  • Many psychological terms don’t have equivalents in other language so it’s important in surveys to make sure they know the definition
  • It’s important to have comparable meaning across cultures.
  • Back-Translation Method: a strategy that is basically you hire a translator to translate language A to language B. Then you hire another translator to translate language B to A. Then you compare the both A texts, let’s say it’s English, and you notice subtle nuances or problematic areas you must fix.
    • Problem: might result in very unnatural or hard to understand translation.
  • Reliable and valid cultural differences are more likely to be found with welltranslated materials.
  • Moderacy Bias: There is a tendency for people from different culture to vary in terms of how likely they are to express their agreement in a moderate fashion –that is, by choosing an item close to the midpoint of the scale (choosing 5 on a 7-point scale) o East Asians tend to be more moderate in their responses than do European –

Americans

  • East Asians show a greater moderacy bias when they complete the materials in their native language than when they complete them in English o
  • Extremity Bias: To express their agreement in extreme fashion, that is by choosing an item close to the end of a scale (choosing 7 on a 7-point scale)  o African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans tend to give more of extreme responses than do Americans of European descent
    • So an Hispanic person would tend to put a 6 on impulsivity scale and a nonHispanic person would put a 5 on impulsivity scale – even though they do not differ in their actual degree of impulsivity
  • Moderacy and Extremity biases are response styles, and they affect how an individual response to an item independent of the content of the item.
    • This is a problem for cultural comparisons, and it will affect ay conclusions that we can draw when comparing average scores across cultures
    • They can be controlled in certain situations; a strategy is to avoid participants with a set of responses that has a middle answer.
    • You can have Yes/No format à but problem with that is it is not sensitive to detect nuanced differences in opinion across individuals.
  • Acquiescence Bias: Tendency to agree with most statements o Problem is it’s an issue for cross cultural comparisons
    • Also it’s hard to compare the individuals true degree of approval with that of another person who tends to find most statements to be disagreeable, regardless of content.
    • East Asians have a holistic way of looking at the world, and problem with that it’s in a holistic world, there are more possible truths.
  • Reference Group effect:
    • Different scores based on the comparison group Correcting problem:
  • Avoid subjective measures that might have different standards in groups being compared.
      • Use more concrete measures
      • Between groups manipulations: different groups of participants receive different levels of the independent variable
      • Within-groups manipulation: Each participant receives more than one level of the independent variable.
    • No random assignment because every participants is assigned all the condition.

 

Cultural Priming

Priming: activation of cultural ideas within participants.

  • It works by making certain ideas more accessible to participants and to the extent that those ideas are associate with cultural meaning system
  • Interdependence prime: similar to others  o Independence prime: different from others  
  • When cultural ideas are activated that are more common in another culture, people start thinking in ways that are more similar to the thinking of people from other cultures

Culture-Level Measures 

  • Quantifiable cultural data
  • Cultural messages because they reflect ideas o Derive a specific hypothesis that we would like to test  
  • Come up with a way to transform raw data into quantifiable data that lend themselves to test hypothesis

 

Challenge of Unpackaging 

 Unpackaging cultural findings means identifying the underlying variables that give rise to the cultural differences.

o Important to find which cultural experiences are relevant

 

Conducting Cross-Cultural Research with Multiple Methods

  • The more divergent the methods across different studies, the more compelling a convergent set of findings would be.
  • Occam’s razor: Any theory should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating or shaving off any extraneous assumptions.
    • It maintains that the simpler theory is more likely to be correct  Why is the South USA more violent than North?
    • Hotter temperature o More poverty o More history of slavery
  • Culture of Honor: people strive to protect their reputation through aggression
    • In these areas of the south, if police can’t help you must develop this reputation of honor so no one tries to take advantage of you.
    • Physiological measures: when people are going to be aggressive, their testosterone levels rise.