1. The Study of Human Thought & Behaviour: Looking Back & Looking Forward
Mark H.B. Radford
The 5th International Workshop on Cultural and Ecological Foundations of The Mind, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
April 7, 2003

2. Introduction The last 10 years Employee attitudes, corporate culture
Fad vs. Competitive Advantage
Reflection of social psychology?
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3. Some Constraints
Behavioural science – the study of psychological phenomena taking into account person, society, culture & environment
Applied environment – “What?”, “So What?”, “Now What?”
Sharing of ideas
Universal ideal
Global, generalist approach
‘Ideas in progress’
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4. Lecture Format Issues in social psychology & cross-cultural psychology
2 examples of current research interests
Future & conclusions
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5. Issues in Social Psychology & Cross-Cultural Psychology The ‘Crisis’
Wilhelm Wundt, 1879 – first laboratory
Two approaches:
Laboratory Approach
Descriptive Approach
Universal Laws
Behaviourism
1940s – Psychology was empirical, mechanistic & quantitative
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6. ‘Crisis’ Continued Behaviourism in crisis in 1960s
Limited internal & external validity
Issue of viable paradigms & appropriate methodologies
‘Crisis of confidence’ in many areas of psychology
Social Psychology (Hogg & Grieve, 1999):
reductionist, immature in theories;
positivist & unsophisticated in methods;
blind to role of language, history, culture
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7. The Reaction Approaches:
Radical rejection of traditional theories & methods
Less radical approaches that incorporated wider range of variables (e.g. culture, society) – ‘social cognition’, ‘social identity theory’
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8. The Role of Culture Cross-Cultural Psychology Cultural Psychology
Culture is antecedent behaviour, outside individual, ‘universalist’ approach
Cultural Psychology
Culture is inside individual, ‘contextualist’ approach
Indigenous Psychology
Folk theories into formal psychological theories, ‘integrationalist’ approach
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9. Culture, expectations & behaviour in real-life
Saudi Arabian bank employees
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”
Television Show
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10. The challenges Perceptual inference
Globalisation through migration, technology & economy
Continual change & adaptation within cultures
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11. Globalisation Long history… Migrant groups & ‘time warp’ cultures
Multinational companies
Individual preference & selection
Hofstede & collectivism in Japan
Massive changes in last 20 years
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12. The ‘Issues’ Consider psychological phenomena in their context
Comprehensive conception of culture
Culture is not a ‘static, unchanging’ variable
Combining both qualitative & quantitative measures
Extension of laboratory research to real settings
Application of problems to real-life settings
Educating non-psychologists of our research findings
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13. Two Examples Impact of culture on depression & anxiety
Work attitudes & behaviour
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14. Cultural impact on depression & anxiety disorders
Depression & anxiety exist in all cultures so far examined, although variation in prevalence, type, nature & severity of symptoms
Biological diversity between some racial groups have implications for efficacy of some treatments
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15. We know…
Depression can result from a specific event or experience, or from genetic and/or chemical imbalances
Depression can have both adaptive & maladaptive consequences depending on severity & social environment
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16. We know…
Differences occur between Asian & Caucasian subject in terms of biochemical tolerance to & absorption rates of medication
Food intake, herbal remedies & cigarette smoking can interact with drug treatments to increase or decrease efficacy of drug treatments
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17. So…
Understanding the causes of depression & anxiety (biological, chemical, social, environmental, psychological) becomes essential to understanding the ways they are manifested, how they will impact behaviour & thought, & how they can be treated
Research from many different disciplines has made clear that there is no simple answer
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18. Culture-biology interactions (Lin, 2002)
cognitive
coping
social support
Culture-biology interactions
(cf. Lin, 2002)
genetics
environment
ETHNICITY
CULTURE
vulnerability
‘BIOLOGICAL MARKERS’
‘State’
‘Trait’
psychopathology
clinical syndromes
course & outcome
Stress
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19. An example…Japanese Work Setting
Negative impact of depression often masked by traditional social support systems & norms about what is appropriate behaviour
Dramatic changes in society (age distribution, urbanisation, loss of traditional social support)
Economic changes (increase in unemployment, change, uncertainty)
Deterioration in mental health
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20. Sources of stress in the workplace includes:
Role ambiguity
Role conflict
Career uncertainty
Job insecurity
Lack of control & authority
Poor relationships with supervisors
Poor relationships with colleagues
‘Work overload’
‘Work underload’
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21. Japanese work environment
Encourages conformity & consensus at expense of individual responsibility & self-direction greater sense of helplessness & hopelessness
Long working hours impact on physical & mental health
High prevalence of depressive symptoms
‘Karoshi’
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22. Research has shown…
Hopelessness predictor of suicidal intent & behaviour
Markus & Kitayama’s research on self
Yamagishi & colleagues’ research on trust
Suicide in the workplace
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23. Summary
Enormous consequences of mental health problems – psychological, social & economic
Understanding the cultural, social, psychological & biochemical interactions helps us devise appropriate treatment programmes
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24. Work attitudes & behaviour
Employee Attitude & Organisational Climate Surveys
Philosophy
Satisfied Satisfied Satisfied
Employees Customers Owners
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25. Problems… Lack of theoretical framework Badly designed instruments
“My boss beats me and doesn’t pay me enough”
Inappropriate comparisons
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26. Little attempt is made to…
Develop model of employee satisfaction that identifies those elements that drive satisfaction & those that contribute to low morale
Ensure instruments are designed appropriately (cf. conceptual, linguistic & metric equivalence
Conduct appropriate analyses - not just provide descriptive statistics but also identify causal relationships
Understand results in terms of local social, cultural & economic conditions
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27. And so…
Lots of statistics but little information telling you what is happening, why it is happening & what needs to be done
False conclusions
Frustrated employees
Wasted exercise?
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28. A model of employee satisfaction & commitment
Four essential ingredients for a happy employee:
Satisfying or satisfactory relationship with colleagues & supervisors
Personal satisfaction
Reward & recognition
Brand image of organisation (or product)
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29. The Model © Mark H.B. Radford, 2002 MHBR “Context” “Social Exchange”
Organisational
Strategy, Goals, Values
“Context”
Organisational Environment
(culture/style, work organisation, work practices, work environment, communication)
“Social Exchange”
“Give”
(ethics/values, customer focus, quality – products & services)
Employee Satisfaction/
Commitment;
Productivity
“Take”
(leadership/management, supervision, training performance appraisal, personal development)
“Needs”
Affiliation
(working relationships, employee involvement, identification & image)
Basic Needs
(rewards, recognition)
Aspiration
(career development)
© Mark H.B. Radford, 2002
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30. The Future Old Concept? New Concept?
Universities as places of intellectual learning
New Concept?
Competitive environment – people & resources
Relevance & application of thinking & research
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31. Conclusion The Elephant story Subject vs. discipline based research
Four important questions:
What am I looking at?
Why am I looking at it?
How has it come about?
What I am I going to do now that I have that knowledge?
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32. Finally…
Perhaps it is time for another revolution in psychology…
Thank you
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