1. 1 Psychology 307: Cultural Psychology Group Processes, Relationships, Interpersonal Attraction, and Love

2. 2 1.How does culture influence (a) ingroup-outgroup relations, (b) conformity to social norms, and (c) cooperative behaviour? 2.What characteristics are perceived to be attractive across cultures? 3.Are attitudes regarding romantic love similar across cultures?

3. 3 How does culture influence ingroup-outgroup relations? ● Ingroup: A group of people with whom one shares a sense of belonging or a feeling of common identity (i.e., “us”). ● Outgroup: A group of people with whom one perceives dissimilarity or a lack of familiarity (i.e., “them”).

4. 4 ● Theorists have come to believe that “individualism” leads people to develop relatively low levels of commitment towards their ingroups and to view the distinction between ingroups and outgroups as relatively fluid or permeable. ● In contrast, collectivism leads people to develop relatively high levels of commitment towards their ingroups and to view the distinction between ingroups and outgroups as relatively stable or fixed.

5. 5 ● Among the studies that have provided support for this theory are those that have compared: (a) the day-to-day interactions of people from different cultures and (b) the attitudes that people from different cultures have towards ingroup and outgroup members.

6. 6 ● Research has shown that people from collectivistic cultures engage in fewer social interactions per day than people from individualistic cultures. Moreover, their social interactions are more likely to involve ingroup members than the social interactions of people from individualistic cultures. (a) Day-to-day interactions:

7. 7 ● Example: Wheeler, Reis, and Bond (1989)  Recruited participants from the U.S. and China.  Had participants complete the Rochester Interaction Record (RIR).  The RIR requires that participants record details related to social interactions of 10 minutes or more.

8. 8 Sample Copy of a Rochester Interaction Record

9. 9 ● Research has shown that, in contrast to people from individualistic cultures, people from collectivistic cultures are more likely to engage in subordinate behaviour when interacting with ingroup members, and superordinate and “dissociative” behaviour when interacting with outgroup members. (b) Attitudes towards ingroup and outgroup members:

10. 10 ● Example: Triandis, McCusker, and Hui (1990)  Recruited participants from the U.S. and China.  Had participants rate their “social distance” from 20 stimuli (e.g., their father, their closest friend).  Had participants indicate how appropriate they believed subordinate behaviour, superordinate behaviour, and dissociative behaviour were when interacting with each stimulus:

11. 11 Relationship Between Subordinate Behaviour and Social Distance * PRC = People’s Republic of China *

12. 12 Relationship Between Superordinate Behaviour and Social Distance * PRC = People’s Republic of China

13. 13 * PRC = People’s Republic of China Relationship Between Dissociative Behaviour and Social Distance

14. 14 How does culture influence conformity to social norms? ● For several decades, researchers have been interested in identifying the factors that lead people to conform to social norms. ● The most influential research examining these factors was conducted by Asch (1951), who developed a line judgment task to study conformity.

15. 15 Asch’s Line Judgment Task

16. 16  Across several studies using the line judgment task, Asch found that American participants agreed with the group’s incorrect response (i.e., conformed) in 37% of the trials.  Subsequent research demonstrated that conformity was greatest when: (a) the group was relatively large. (b) the group provided a unanimous incorrect response. (c) the participant admired, liked, or felt a sense cohesiveness or similarity among group members.

17. 17 ● Bond and Smith (1996) conducted a meta-analysis of conformity studies in an effort to determine the precise relationship between IC and conformity: ● Theorists have come to believe that individualism promotes a resistance to conformity, whereas collectivism promotes a tendency toward conformity.

18. 18  133 experiments were included in the meta- analysis: 97 were conducted in the U.S., 1 was conducted in Canada, the remaining were conducted outside of North America (e.g., Brazil, Fiji, Ghana, Hong Kong, Japan, Kuwait, Zimbabwe).

19. 19  Examined: (a) differences in conformity across individualistic cultures and collectivistic cultures. (b) changes in conformity across time in the U.S.

20. 20  Found: (a) a negative relation between individualism and conformity, indicating that conformity is lower in individualistic cultures than collectivistic cultures. (b) a negative relation between date of publication and conformity in the U.S. studies, suggesting that the U.S. is becoming increasingly individualistic across time.

21. 21 How does culture influence cooperative behaviour? ● Theorists have come to believe that individualism promotes competitiveness among individuals, whereas collectivism promotes cooperation among individuals. ● Among the studies that have provided support for this theory are those that have comparedhow bicultural people who have been “culturally primed” respond when given the choice to compete or cooperate.

22. 22 ● Example: Wong and Hong (2005)  Recruited bicultural participants from Hong Kong.  Randomly assigned participants to one of 3 conditions: ● Cultural priming is a method used to activate “cultural frames” among bicultural people.

23. 23 Chinese priming condition: Exposed to slides of Chinese cultural icons. American priming condition: Exposed to slides of American cultural icons. Neutral priming (control) condition: Exposed to slides of geometric figures.

24. 24  Had participants take part in a prisoner’s dilemma game in which their partners were 5 friends.  Among the options that were given to participants were: (b) to cooperate, in which case the participant and each of his or her partners would receive 3 points. (a) to compete, in which case the participant would receive 4 points and each of his or her partners would receive 0 points.

25. 25  Found the following pattern of results: Priming Condition

26. 26  When researchers conducted a similar study in which they paired participants with strangers, the percentage of cooperative choices made by participants in the Chinese priming condition dropped to the same level as the percentage of cooperative choices made by participants in the American priming condition.

27. 27 What characteristics are perceived to be attractive across cultures? ● Research suggests that there are many similarities across cultures with respect to the factors that influence interpersonal attraction. ● Among these factors are the following: (a) Propinquity  Researchers have found that, across cultures, propinquity is positively correlated with attraction.

28. 28  Frequent contact results in the “mere exposure effect.”  Propinquity allows for more frequent contact between individuals.  The mere exposure effect has been found to occur with both animate stimuli and inanimate stimuli.

29. 29  Example: Moreland and Beach (1992).  Had 3 female confederates pretend to be students and attend a university classroom. One attended the class 5 times, one had attended the class 10 times, and one had attended the class 15 times  At the end of the term, the students were asked to rate the attractiveness of the confederates, as well as the attractiveness of a fourth female who had never attended the class.

30. 30  Found the following pattern of results: Number of Times in Classroom

31. 31  Researchers have found that, across cultures, people are attracted to similar physical characteristics:  Example: Cunningham, Roberts, and Wu (1995) (b) Physical characteristics  Recruited Asian, Hispanic, and European American participants.  Found an average correlation of.93 between the facial attractiveness ratings provided by the 3 groups.

32. 32 Faces Rated as Being Highly Attractive

33. 33  Among the characteristics that have been found to be attractive across cultures are the following:  A complexion that is free of blemishes and sores.  Facial features that are relatively average in size and shape.  Bilateral symmetry of the face and body.

34. 34 Bilateral Facial Symmetry (Braun et al., 2001) Original FaceSymmetrically Optimized Face

35. 35 Facial “Smoothness” (Braun et al., 2001) Original FaceSmoothed Face

36. 36 Average-Sized Facial Features (Braun et al., 2001) += Original Face 1Original Face 2Morphed Face

37. 37  In addition to these findings, research has shown that the faces that are perceived to be most attractive are those that result from morphing people from different ethnic groups:  Example: Rhodes et al. (2005)  Recruited European-Australian and Japanese participants.  Had participants provide attractiveness ratings and health ratings for several composite images created by morphing multiple faces:

38. 38

39. 39

40. 40  Found that: (a) for both males and females, the Eurasian face was perceived to be most attractive. (b) for both males and females, the Eurasian face was perceived to be most healthy.

41. 41  Researchers have found that, across cultures, people are attracted to similar personality characteristics: (c) Personality characteristics  Example: Buss et al. (1990)  Recruited participants from 33 countries (e.g., Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, France, India, Japan, Iran, Nigeria, Poland, U.S., Zambia).

42. 42  Found: (a) an average cross-cultural correlation of.78, suggesting cultural similarity with respect to preferred personality characteristics. (b) an average male-female correlation of.87, suggesting sexual similarity with respect to preferred personality characteristics.  Had participants rate a number of personality characteristics for how desirable they would be in choosing a mate.

43. 43 Are attitudes regarding romantic love similar across cultures? ● Theorists have come to believe that individualism promotes an emphasis on the married couple; romantic love is viewed as the force that binds the couple together. ● In contrast, collectivism promotes an emphasis on the extended family and the married couple’s position within the family; familial support is viewed as the force that binds the couple together.

44. 44 ● Among the studies that have provided support for this theory are those that have compared: (a) the beliefs that people from different cultures have about love and (b) the importance of love as a basis of marriage in different cultures.

45. 45 ● Although romantic love has been documented in virtually all cultures, research suggests that there is cultural variation in the extent to which romantic love is believed to be associated with positive affect. (a) Beliefs about romantic love: ● Example: Rothbaum and Tsang (1998)  Examined the lyrics of 38 American and 42 Chinese love songs.

46. 46  Found that: (a) significantly more Chinese love songs than American love songs depicted love as embedded within a broader social context. (b) significantly more Chinese love songs than American love songs indicated that there were negative outcomes associated with the relationship. (c) significantly more Chinese love songs than American songs expressed suffering as a consequence of the love relationship.

47. 47  Consistent with these findings, Wu (1992) found that Chinese students agreed more strongly than did American students with the statement “love without pain is not true love.”  Similarly, following from an analysis of emotion- related concepts in Chinese, Shaver, Wu and Schwartz (1992) found that the Chinese conception of love has a distinctive “hedonically negative” connotation, which they labeled “sad or painful.”

48. 48 ● Research suggests that romantic love is more likely to be viewed as a necessary precondition for marriage in individualistic cultures than collectivistic cultures. (b) The importance of romantic love as a basis of marriage ● Example: Levine et al. (1995)  Recruited participants from 11 countries (e.g., Australia, Brazil, England, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Thailand, U.S.).

49. 49  Asked participants to respond to the following question: If a man (woman) had all the other qualities you desired, would you marry this person if you were not in love with him (her)?  Found that participants from collectivistic cultures were more likely to respond “yes” than participants from individualistic cultures.

50. 50  E.g., Percentage of participants who responded “yes”: Australia4.8% India49.0% England7.3%Pakistan50.4% U.S. 3.5% Thailand18.8%  Consistent with these findings, people from collectivistic cultures often report that they “love the person they marry,” not “marry the person they love.”

51. 51 Group Processes, Relationships, Interpersonal Attraction, and Love 1.How does culture influence (a) ingroup-outgroup relations, (b) conformity to social norms, and (c) cooperative behaviour? 2.What characteristics are perceived to be attractive across cultures? 3.Are attitudes regarding romantic love similar across cultures?