psych 307 - F

Question 1

ethnocentricism

Answer 1

• assumption that one’s culture’s way is better or more natural than others’
• obstacle to understanding people in unfamiliar cultures
• hard to avoid: people are socialized to think in ways consistent with their cultural values

Question 2

2 approaches in morality

Answer 2

• evolutionist approach: perspective that assumes the development of a trait for all humans follows a progressing trajectory
  (later stages deemed more advanced and better)
• relativist approach: perspective that the development of a trait depends on local demands, where outcomes are a cultural solution to a cultural problem
  
  • no trajectory, no hierarchy / stages
  • all are solutions and none is better / advanced

Question 3

Description of Kohlberg’s Stage Theory of Morality

Answer 3

• evolutionary approach
  
  • universal progression through the 3 levels
  • cannot reach next level without passing the previous level
• cognitive abilities underlie moral reasoning → those abilities progress as individuals develop and are educated
• right and wrong is dependent on which stage of moral development they have achieved

Question 4

Steps of Kohlberg’s Stage Theory of Morality

Answer 4

• level 1: pre-conventional level
  
  • calculation of what provides the best overall return, taking into account one’s needs and being punished
    
    • main driver: being punished
    • should not steal because A will get in trouble
  • good v bad action determined by whether it satisfies the person’s own needs, and occasionally the need of others
  • morality = behave in the way that provides the best overall return
• level 2: conventional level
  
  • following rules, maintaining and facilitating social order (abiding by conventions)
    
    • main driver: the law / rules
    • should not steal because A should uphold the law because the law is right
  • able to identify themselves with a particular group and social order
  • morality = help maintain social order — violating any rules is wrong regardless what the rules are about
• level 3: post-conventional level
  
  • considering abstract, universal ethical principles that emphasize individual rights
    
    • main driver:
    • should steal because it is just, as allowing someone to die when it can be helped is always wrong regardless of what the law says
  • moral values exist separately from authority of social groups
    
    • based on consideration of abstract ethical principles
  • good behaviour = consistent with set of universal ethical principles that emphasize justice and individual rights

Question 5

Universality v Variability of Kohlberg’s Stage Theory of Morality

Answer 5

• universality
  
  • all cultures go through same order of development — although they will vary in rate and terminal point
  • all urban societies had at least one adult engaging in post-conventional level
• variability
  
  • the levels that various cultures reach: post-conventional reasoning is not found universally
  • some tribal and indigenous societies no evidence of post-conventional thinking
  • possible explanation: not necessarily that some are better than others
    
    • some cultural environments encourage different kinds of moral reasoning (i.e. based on individual principles)
  • too much focus on certain forms of moral reasoning assumes certain cultural environments are on the “top” of a hierarchy → prompted relativist approach

Question 6

Description of Shweder’s Big Three Approach

Answer 6

• argues that Kohlberg’s model only represents one of 3 codes of ethics (ethic of autonomy)
  
  • Westerners often view ultimate principles to be protection of individual rights, but ethics of community and divinity are important principles in many parts of the world
• relativist approach
  
  • there are 3 moral codes that different cultural groups emphasize, and no one code is better than the others
  • reflect understanding of right and wrong that is not based on one’s preferences / community’s view
  • differences in emphasis result in cross-cultural grievances
• studied using scenarios
  
  • how much money would you need to be convinced to _______ ?
  • more money = more strongly you adhere to that code of ethic
• over-reliance on one type of code can be problematic
  
  • many clashes between code of autonomy v community: i.e. are you allowed to mandate masks? vaccinations?
  • clashes with divinity: i.e. abortion laws

Question 7

Shweder’s Big Three

Answer 7

• ethic of autonomy: associated with concerns about issues of harm, rights and justice
  
  • must protect freedoms of individuals as much as possible
    
    • was someone harmed?
    • was someone denied their rights?
  • more emphasized in individualistic cultural groups
  • sees morality in terms of individual freedom and rights violation
    
    • i.e. personal choice, right to engage in free contracts, individual liberty
  • immoral if directly hurts another person / infringes on their rights and freedom (i.e. stealing someone’s lunch)
• ethic of community: tied to individual’s interpersonal obligations
  
  • must protect social order by fulfilling one’s obligations to others
    
    • did someone show a lack of loyalty?
    • did someone conform to the traditions?
  • more emphasized in collectivist cultural groups
  • people have duties in their roles in society — must uphold one’s duties and obligations to others
  • women are more likely to reason this way than men — much controversy on whether such differences exist
  • moral obligations ≠ responsibilities
    
    • [1] viewed as objective obligations → obligation to act in a certain way when there is no official rule or law that requires it
    • [2] legitimately regulated → people should be prevented from engaging in moral violations, and should be punished if they act that way
      
      • Indians far more likely to view interpersonal breaches in moral terms — sometimes view them more seriously than justice obligations
• ethic of divinity: associated with concerns about sanctity and “natural order”
  
  • must preserve standards mandated by transcendent authority
    
    • did someone do something disgusting?
    • did someone act in a way that God would approve of?
  • more emphasized in collectivist cultural groups
  • has overlap with code of community, but can have cultures that emphasize code of community without divinity
  • concerned with sanctity and perceived natural order — obligated to preserve standards mandated by a transcendent authority
    
    • involves belief in God creating a sacred world
    • must respect and preserve its sanctity
  • immoral = cause impurity or degradation to oneself or others / sinning against the sacredness of God
  • people from a lower socioeconomic status shows stronger concern for ethic of divinity
    
    • based on emotions — shows that reaching moral judgements is not purely in cold, cognitive terms
    • people can come up with moral justifications for strong emotions when witnessing undesirable behaviour

Question 8

Culture wars: religious orthodoxy v progressivism

Answer 8

• orthodox religions: close affinity with ethic of divinity
  
  • committed to idea of transcendent authority
    
    • [1] authority existed long before humans
    • [2] operates independently of people
    • [3] more knowledgeable and powerful than all of human experience
  • transcendent authority originated a moral code and revealed it to humans in sacred texts
    
    • code holds across time and context
    • should not be altered for any social change or individual differences
  • individuals and society are expected to adapt themselves to this moral code
  • more likely to make judgements based on ethic of divinity: spoke about God’s exclusive authority on human life
• progressive religions: close affinity with ethic of autonomy
  
  • emphasize importance of human agency to understand and formulate a moral code
  • rejects idea that transcendent authority reveals itself and its will to humans
  • people play an integral role in formulation of moral code
    
    • as social circumstances change, moral code must change
  • more likely to make judgements based on ethic of autonomy: individuals had to interpret scriptures and reach a conclusion for themselves
• **ethic of community seems to characterize all religious viewpoints*
• this is a broad distinction — people’s values do not always fall neatly to one or the other
  
  • people from each sect occassionally offers justification from each 3 ethics
  • everyone has potential to reason in either way
  • but most people tend to favor one ethic over another
  • [universality] everyone makes judgements about right and wrong in importantly different ways

Question 9

5 Moral Foundations (expanded from Shweder)

Answer 9

• ethic of autonomy can be split into:
  
  • avoiding harm
    
    • mammalian evolution has shaped parental brains to be sensitive to the suffering of an offspring
    • over time, sensitivity become generalized beyond mother-child relationship as societies become larger and require anonymous cooperation
    • i.e. see teacher hit student’s hand with ruler
  • protecting fairness
    
    • whether resources are distributed to people in a fair way
    • alliance formation and cooperation led to emotions that helped motivate cooperation and prevent cheating
    • i.e. see boy skip to the front of the line because his friend is an employee
• ethic of community can be split into:
  
  • loyalty to in-group
    
    • history of living in kin-based groups lead to trusting in-groups and distrusting out-groups
      
      • showing loyalty to group allows the survival of your group
      • prompts us to prioritize our group over others
    • i.e. teacher hopes another school wins the math contest
  • respecting hierarchy
    
    • hierarchically-structured in-groups shape our brains to navigate hierarchies
      
      • when groups come together, some sort of hierarchy always forms
      • i.e. see teenager girl coming home late, ignoring her curfew
• ethic of divinity [not split further]
  
  • achieve purity
    
    • motivated by wanting to achieve wellness (of the soul / of the physical body)
      
      • about sickness, contamination (physical / meta-physical)
    • disgust is often a strong predictor, even in the absence of deities
    • i.e. see a single man order a sex doll that looks like his secretary

Question 10

Shweder’s Moral Foundations

Answer 10

• perceived to be universal, but certain cultures differ in which they emphasize
  
  • political liberals tend to feel strongly about avoiding harm and protecting fairness
  • political conservatives tend to feel strongly about all 5
    
    • have stronger disgust responses than liberals
    • invoke more purity concerns than liberals
• different principles are necessary to solve the same problem
  
  • i.e. being vegetarian
    
    • North America: to avoid harm and protect fairness (associated with liberalism)
    • India: related to all 5 (associated with conservatism)
• many of the same issues can be thought of in terms of different moral values

Question 11

Fairness

Answer 11

• can be defined in multiple ways
  
  • principle of need: resources directed to those who need the resources the most
  • principle of equality: resources shared among all members of a group
  • principle of equity: resources distributed based on people’s individual contributions
• individualistic societies (= principle of equity)
  
  • more emphasis on work for rewards
  • one’s input is proportional to one’s reward
  • supposed to increase motivation to work — breeds competition
• collectivistic societies (= principle of equality)
  
  • everyone gets same raise, but reward those who have been in a workplace the longest
  • weakens link between input and rewards — decreases motivation to work hard
  • promotes harmonious relations by removing intragroup competition

Question 12

Economic Games (to judge fairness)

Answer 12

• dictator game: gives $100, and asks how much you want to give to another person
  
  • 50-50 split is not common — some will keep more and share less
  • more about what the player thinks is fair — see what the person generally thinks is fair
• ultimatum game
  
  • receiver can decide to accept / reject offer
    
    • if reject → neither of you get the money
  • will have to tap into what people generally think is fair
  • economic theorist’s of Homo economicus: offer low, accept low
  • but results find that:
    
    • minimum offers accepted: 30%
    • offers made: 40-50%
  • typical explanations for prosocial behaviour
    
    • kinship — expanded version
    • reciprocity — if you do something nice, they will be nice to you in the future
  • humans are sensitive to fairness, even in large unrelated groups
  • cross-cultural variations — fairness norms vary
• public goods game: willingness to incur personal cost to punish others (3 players)
  
  • everyone contributes resources to the common pot
  • at the end of the turn, common resource accrues in value→ value gets split evenly
  • individually, better to pay nothing and get from the system
  • collectively, better for everyone to go all in and divide
  • i.e. A and B go all in, but C gives 10%
    
    • A and B can spend money to punish C — not get dividends / get smaller share of dividends
  • results on willingness to incur personal cost to punish others:
    
    • all groups showed altruistic punishment: punishing people who don’t contribute enough
      
      • likely triggered by negative emotions from violation to fairness norms
    • all groups showed some anti-social punishment: punishing people who cooperate too much
      
      • could be due to prior behaviour — still taking it out on the person / motivated by idea that they are showing off
    • negatively predicted by rule of law and civic cooperation
    • the more rule of law and civic cooperation, the less anti-social punishment
      
      • rule of law: faith in judicial system, practice civic responsibilities

Question 13

Market Integration

Answer 13

• market integration: measured as the percentage of purchased calories
  
  • = how much of your daily calories are not grown by yourself
  • more market integration → more 50/50 fairness norms
    
    • more used to dealing with unfamiliar people
    • need to have enough trust, fairness and cooperation with anonymous groups that what you are giving to the person is approx. a similar value of what you are getting back

Question 14

Secularization Theory

Answer 14

• religion is on the decline and that people everywhere are discovering new secular and rational ways to make sense of their lives > due to progression of the world
  
  • but religion remains a potent force
  • religion is strong in many parts of the world
    
    • coming into contact with each other more now → interfaith hostility

Question 15

Protestanism

Answer 15

• developed as a reaction to perceived corruption of medieval Catholic Church
• main idea of P: individuals were capable of communicating with God directly → not dependent on the church as an intermediary
  
  • emphasized literacy training so people can read Bibles on their own
  • individualized relationship with God → central to growth of individualism (that continues to influence Western society today)
• Martin Luther (founder of Protestanism)
  
  • every individual has a calling: unique, God-given purpose to fulfill during their lifetime
  • God gives each person skills to attain his / her purpose, and it is up to the individual to discover what that is
  • highest moral duty: serve God by working hard at their calling
    → able to give daily labor a spiritual significance (previously reserved for religious activities like prayer)
    
    • work became moral obligation, not just out of need for subsistence
    • felt like they should take their work very seriously

Question 16

Predestination

Answer 16

• Weber believed this played key role in development of capitalism
  
  • predestination brought feeling of inner loneliness:
    people were motivated to escape it by convincing themselves they were among the privileged elect
    
    • God would not reward those who were doomed to burn in hell
    • any material success from diligence = elect status
• modern capitalism was concerned with accumulation of wealth for its own sake (not for its material pleasures)
• predestination → converted into code of behaviour of honesty, hard work, seriousness and thrifty use of money and time
  = laid foundation for development of capitalism
• evidence:
  
  • Protestant > Catholic in county wealth in the 19th century
  • Protestant > Catholic in earnings
  • Protestants:
    
    • consider prospect of being unemployed as more of a blow to their well-being
    • a pro-market economc attitude
    • more likely to enter high-status, nonmanual occupations
  • nations were more industrialized
• evidence shows difference of psychological variables between Catholics and Protestant individuals
  
  • degree of individualism → 6 most individualistic countries are largely Protestant, while least individualistic Western societies are largely Catholic
  • work ethic → Protestants have:
    
    • negative attitude towards laziness and being over weight
    • parents expected children to be self-reliant at an earlier age
    • stronger achievement motivations

Question 17

Max Weber v Cross-cultural Research

Answer 17

• interested in how capitalism emerged out of traditional, medieval economies
  
  • proposed: capitalism grew out of belief system rooted in cultural idea that grew out of the Protestant Reformation
• cross-cultural research shows evidence is not consistent with Weber’s thesis
  
  • [1] Weber: Protestantism resulted in work becoming seen as a spiritual task → motivated to work harder
    
    • study primed participants with words related to salvation (v neutral in control) → given work task to complete
    • Americans primed about salvation worked harder, regardless of whether they were religious → supports Weber’s claim that ideas about predestination has become secularized — part of American cultural fabric
    • Canadians did not work any harder regardless of which condition → shows implicit link between salvation and working does not exist for them
  • [2] Weber: when working, Protestants should be entirely focused on the task and avoid distractions because work is sacred
    
    • American Protestants have a more serious, professional attitude toward their work than other groups
      
      • Americans focused primarily on work task at hand
      • Mexicans had better recall for interpersonal information
    • American-born workers more likely to decorate cubicle in professional manner compared to immigrants→ fewer personal items
    • Americans see hypothetical job candidate more negatively when candidate mentioned non-work-related activities
      
      • preferred candidates who only discussed information related to work
    • American Protestants found to focus only on work-related tasks
      
      • pay less attention to interpersonal cues
      • non-Protestant Americans attended to relational cues + work
  • [3] Weber: Protestant anxiety about salvation + worldview maintaining that people are inherently wicked and corruptible = driving force behind their work ethic
    → any thoughts that behaviour is less than holy → motivate Protestants to work even harder in their calling to confince themselves they are still among the elect
    → additionally, Protestanism do not have institutional rituals for forgiveness (i.e. Judaism’s Day of Atonement / Catholicism’s confessions) → fewer ways of dispelling guilt
    
    • Protestants with sexual anxieties (= anxiety about sex in their lives) were x2 as productive in their careers and creative pursuits
      
      • sexual anxiety was unrelated for Jews and Catholics
    • participants primed with inappropriate sexual thoughts → made the best sculptures (judged by local art experts) = more creative
      
      • also unrelated for Jews and Catholics
    • Protestant drive to be creative and productive may be based on effort to rid oneself of spiritually-unpure thoughts

Question 18

Influence of religion on moral reasoning

Answer 18

• Protestants and Jews feel dissimilar theories about being morally responsible for your thoughts
• Jewish: doctrine based on Hebrew Bible
  
  • foundation is on the 10 Testaments — 8/10 is focused on behaviours
    
    • Protestants more likely to view “honor your parents” as having respectful thoughts about them
    • Jews more likely to view “honor your parents” as taking care of them when they’re old
  • membership is defined by descent
  • rated practices as more important than beliefs
    
    • emphasizes specific practices — i.e. kosher foods
• Christian: doctrine based in part on Hebrew Bible (= old testament), but primarily oriented to New Testament (includes Jesus’ teaching)
  
  • clear evidence of thoughts to be moralized
  • stronger focus on faith and belief (than in Judaism)
  • membership defined as publicly accepting Christian faith
  • rated beliefs more important than practices

Question 19

Universal physical predictors of attraction

Answer 19

• [1] clear complexion: skin signals health in a direct, visible manner
  
  • strong predictor – more attractive if free of blemishes, blotches, sores and rashes
    
    • people are attracted to healthy mates who would produce healthy offspring that would survive
    • does not mean people are consciously thinking about healthy mates — more towards unconscious preferences for traits associated with health
    • guided by natural selection — over time, preference for perfect skin became more common in human gene pool
• [2] human face is rarely symmetrical, but high levels of asymmetry signals health issues
  
  • symmetry is an indicator of developmental stability
    
    • asymmetry caused by genetic mutations, pathogens, stressor in the womb
  • smaller effect size than for clear complexion
  • preference is strongest in hunter-gatherer populations
    
    • i.e. Hadza in Tanzania — have higher rates of infant mortality → should be especially attracted to any indicator of health in mates
• [3] average features (in size and configuration)
  
  • average = less likely to contain genetic abnormalities
  • quick processing associated with good feelings and a sense of attraction (easier to process something close to average)
  • exceptions in industrialized societies:
    
    • men prefer youthful features in women
    • women prefer masculine features in men
  • attractiveness of average faces consistent even in how people view those from unfamiliar cultures (tested through morphing)
    
    • the more faces used to morph, the more attractive the face is
    • due to genetic fitness explanation: genes predict traits and determine immune system
    • mixed faces = more heterozygosity
    • more resistant to infections
    • more survivability
    • why are mixed faces more attractive?
      
      • genetic diversity = marker of healthy genes
      • multiracial faces represent best average of all faces
• [4] bodies that depart from the average
  
  • most varied across culture: women’s weight
    
    • ideal female form is different in the past than today
    • Western societies: attractive = slender
    • West Africa: “fat” is considered a compliment → strength and beauty
      
      • African Americans have heavier ideal body weight, and feel less social pressure to be slender

Question 20

Universal characteristics as predictors of attraction

Answer 20

• emotional stability (stand out more)
• dependability (stand out more)
• kindness
• intelligence

Question 21

Socially-oriented predictors of attraction

Answer 21

• ultimately, attraction is a social process
  
  • not just about physical attractiveness personality, but has a social-oriented processes
• aspects of social interaction that increase attraction
  
  • propinquity effect
  • similarity-attraction effect

Question 22

Propinquity Effect

Answer 22

• tendency we have to form relationships with people we encounter more often
  
  • [1] surprisingly powerful
    
    • study at Maryland State Policy Academy: recruits lined up alphabetically, in seating arrangement and dorm rooms
    • 45% of all friendships were with adjacent last names
    • proximity was a more important influence on selection of friends than personality, background or religious belief
    • friendships are not fully voluntarily, but can be influenced by circumstances that bring people together
  • [2] due to mere exposure effect: more exposure → greater attraction due to familiarity
    
    • can happen with people, objects — i.e. the more you see a particular phone model, the more you’ll be attracted to it
    • culturally universal: Japanese and Americans equally likely to like people they interact with most often
  • primarily works for people whom we’ve had lightly negative, neutral or positive impressions at first
  • if very negative first impression, more unlikely (but not impossible) to have that attraction

Question 23

Socially-oriented predictors of attraction - Similarity Attraction Effect

Answer 23

• tendency to become attracted to others if they share many similarities with us
• similarity plays a bigger role for important issues (than on less important issues) — attitudes, personality, religion, social background, economic level, activities
• associated with independent self-construal
  
  • self = enduring traits → want a partner with the same enduring traits
  • contrast with interdependent self-construal → internal traits are less important + do not fully get to pick their social circle
  • not non-existent for interdependent, but less likely to desire someone with similar traits as them
• one of the most powerful and reliable predictors of interpersonal relationships – but not necessarily as universal as propinquity effect
  
  • study: met a stranger with same sex and nationality, and told to fill out questionnaires
    
    • shown (fake) questionnaire filled out by stranger that was highly similar / dissimilar
    • Canadians: showed evidence of similarity-attraction effect
    • Japanese: liking for a stranger is less affected by similarities — results were identical regardless of stranger’s background
    • in some studies, Japanese do show similarity-attraction effect, but is consistently weaker than for North Americans

Question 24

4 Basic Elements of Sociality

Answer 24

• all relationships are based on one or more of the 4 elements
• universal, but some variability exists
• possible for one relationship to be governed by all 4
  (i.e. at a family dinner)
  
  • communal sharing: everyone allowed to eat until satisfied
  • authority ranking: father occupies head of table
  • equality matching: each person can claim same-sized cupcake
  • market pricing: child paid $1 for loading the dishwasher

Question 25

4 basic elements of sociality - Communal Sharing

Answer 25

- **communal sharing**: common identity based on something socially meaningful (to that group) - emphasis by members is on their common identity - ideal goal: equality among all members of the group - people will share resources - not a lot of keeping of track of who is taking what from pool / who is contributing what - pooled resources belong to larger whole for the greater good (not distributed based on merit) - strongest groups created via _consubstantial assimilation_ - created based off of sharing some aspect of their bodies with each other - can be literal: families (shared genes) - can be metaphoric: cults (i.e. blood pacts) - high level of compassion for each other’s suffering - attack on one = attack on all

Question 26

Authority Ranking

Answer 26

- **authority ranking**: hierarchical ordering of members, leading to asymmetrical relationships - *higher ranking* → more privilege and prestige, entitlted to more resources - tend to give commands / demand things from lower ranks - *lower ranking* → entitled to protection and care from above - tend to have expectation to be more obedient to higher rank - in exchange for obedience → services, care - i.e. military

Question 27

Equality Matching

Answer 27

- **equality matching**: relationships based on reciprocity and balance - everyone is treated as more or less equals - contributions are always tracked — high need for reciprocation - i.e. receive a gift → will “have to” give a gift back - i.e. everyone gets 1 vote - turn-taking to ensure equality matching (”eye for an eye”) - motivated to pay back in _equivalent terms_ - i.e. car pools, reciprocal dinner invites - relative position of individuals do not matter — everyone gets their turn regardless of rank - especially common in traditional subsistence societies - elaborate rituals often part of a reciprocal exchange of equally valued goods - i.e. Trobriand Islanders — men take long, dangerous joruneys in open ocean to exchange shell necklaces (that have no ‘practical’ value) - person who received necklace is obligated to go on same journey to exchange a similarly-valued gift

Question 28

4 basic elements of sociality - Market Pricing

Answer 28

- **market pricing**: emphasizes balance and reciprocity through monitoring - based on proportionality and ratios - still focusing on balance, but not recicprocity in kind - does not entail turn-taking (usually occurs immediately) - relies on arbritary symbols (i.e. currency) for interactions on same turn (main difference with equality matching — not giving the same thing back) - similar to equality matching, but both sides of the exchange usually occurs at once, with different kinds of goods exchanged - relative status of individuals is irrelevant (CEO charged same amount for milk as the mailman) - especially common in individualistic cultural groups

Question 29

Variability in 4 Basic Elements of Sociality

Answer 29

- although 4 basic relational models serve the same purpose globally, some cultures rely on particular ones more than the others - communal sharing — norms stronger in India than US - West: most common in families (more common in people with lower socioeconomic status - authority ranking — greater proportion in hierarchical class-based societies - equality matching - more common in traditional subsistence societies: elaborate rituals often part of a reciprocal exchange of equally valued goods - stronger motivations in East Asians: reluctant to accept gifts due to feeling of obligation to reciprocate - market pricing — more common for individualistic → does not involve close relationships

Question 30

Relational Mobility

Answer 30

- **relational mobility**: amount of freedom people have to move between relationships - high: - people have flexible ties, have options - plenty of opportunities for forming new connections (rather than being bound to existing ones) - people are usually keeping eyes opened to new relationships that appear promising - low: - fewer opportunities to form new relationships - commitments and obligations to existing ones guide them - relationships viewed as stable, lifelong connections - relationships provide benefits as well as costs to maintain them - people are typically not considering how they might find better relationships than the ones they currently have - when people move to new cultures → acquire some of new culture’s attitudes about relational mobility (although not all)

Question 31

Key Differences of Relational Mobility

Answer 31

- **key difference: basis for starting and maintaining relationships** - low: - relationships primarily determined by circumstances, and exist independently of one’s actions - born into family with network of relatives - connections not up for negotiation — they simply exist - establishes relationships with those they share contexts with (same school, neighborhood, jobs, etc) - relationships exist naturally regardless of what one does — default, people do not choose - how much someone likes / attracted to others is less important - primarily seen in: - East, Southeast Asia, North and West Africa, Middle East - farming communities - people have little opportunity to get up and move - interdependent with neighbors for irrigation, etc - societies with severe ecological threats (natural disasters) / high prevalence for disease-causing pathogens = people tend to form close-knit communities, and distrust outsiders - high: - relationships primarily determined by choice - relationships are started and maintained on mutually voluntarily basis - default state between 2 people: no relationship - only happen when people take steps to form them - tenous nature requires people to agree that benefits are worth effort to keep connection healthy and strong - living in open relationship market - regularly face new possibilities for friendships, partners and colleagues - if current relationship is not satisfying → can look to form new ones - due to option to leave: motivated to behave in ways to strengthen mutual commitment - primarily seen in: - Latin America, North America, Western Europe - herding communities - less reliance on neighbours) - in a more open relationship market: - any kind of attribute that can attract potential new relationships should be more useful - contrast: if relationships are stable, characteristics that attract people should be less useful - i.e. inclination for similarity-attraction effect is less clear in non-Western cultures (i.e. Japan) - Americans were more drawn to similar others - Americans felt they had more chances for starting new relationships than the Japanese did - cultural differences in relational mobility can account for cultural difference in similarity-attraction effect → because being attractive to others is more important in high-relational mobility context, people pay more attention to features that makes someone attractive (i.e. similarity) - people are more likely to strive to be unique — access to broader network will allow them to find more like-minded others

Question 32

Relational Mobility - tyranny of the beautiful

Answer 32

- enhanced value of attractiveness in high-relational-mobility context - Westerners: physical attractive people have more positive life outcome - essays written by attractive author is evaluated more possitively - attractive politicans get more votes - attractive chidlren are rated as smarter and better-behaved - attractive MBA graduates earn more money - attractive criminals get lighter sentences - from young age, we learn that attractive people have more desirable characteristics - i.e. Cinderella is kind and beautiful, unlike her evil and ugly stepsisters - halo effect: because the first thing we learn about someone is their physical attractiveness, it is cognitively easier to assume they have other positive features as well - however, most of this research is done in high-relational-mobility samples: did study on Ghanaian and American students - tyranny of the beautiful evident for American participants - more-attractive Americans reported being more satisfied with their lives and friendships - contrast: more-attractive Ghanaians report being less satisfied with their general life outcomes and friendships (due to having lower relational mobility than the Americans) - parallel findings when study was done on urban v rural Americans: more-attractive urban American women had greater well-being, but this relationship is not found with rural American women

Question 33

Residential Mobility

Answer 33

- residential mobility: being more physically mobile (i.e. changing place of residence) - influences relational mobility - high residential mobile areas have - higher crime rates - less pro-community action - more large national chain stores + more goods sold at these stores - people with residential mobility - shows more conditional loyalty (i.e. only identify with your university when being described positively) - have more Facebook friends on campus, and continue to acquire more over time - view personality traits to be a more central part of their identity than group memberships - personality traits (= immediately apparent upon meeting) - group memberships (= takes more time to get to know) - prefer large national chain stores that are the same everywhere (i.e. Starbucks, Walmart) than local regional stores - better employment opportunities - different views have significant economic consequences over generations -- people learn attitudes about mobility from their families → families with lower mobility tend to remain poorer - *one reason why Americans appear to be psychologically unusual in the context of world culture may be due to their mobile lifestyle*

Question 34

Organizations around the world - Chaebol

Answer 34

- *chaebol*: South Korean form of business organization (not unique to Korea, but very common in Korea) - collection of corporations in different domains under one name, controlled by one chairman and family — i.e. Samsung - runs on a hierarchy with a chairman and other executives at the top - superiors are supposed to act fatherly to workers (loving but stern) - superiors supposed to create a family-like working environment - important to foster sense of family within the company - trying to foster tight-knit network within the workplace - mixing of life inside and outside of work - expectations that you’re not only going to work in work hours, but expected to hang out with work friends and superiors outside of work

Question 35

Organizations around the world - Simpatia

Answer 35

- *simpatía*: the approach to interactions common in Latin cultures (similar to East Asian cultural environments) - emphasis on maintaining social harmony and interpersonal attention (= paying attention to other people’s emotional states) → meant to allow for smoother social interactions - someone who demonstrates *simpatía* has *simpático* (= easygoing, respectful, courteous, agreeable) - differences from East Asian cultural context - positive v negative affect - Latin: emphasizes high arousal positive affect (v low arousal positive affect) - in-group v out-group - emphasizes social harmony, but in-group v out-group is not very emphasized (”everyone is welcome”) - bosses from Latin cultural environments pay more attention to goals and aspirations of subordinates - workers from Latin cultural environments pay more attention to emotional state of other workers - can see more cooperation (v employees in the US) - Latin Americans spend more time socializing with others (compared to European Americans) - presence of Latin Americans in groups comes with *simpático* attitude → warmer exchanges

Question 36

Friends and Enemies

Answer 36

- friendships are very important — sometimes considered key to success - quality of friendships is best predictor of happiness - close friendships increases lifespan - cultural differences: - [1] Americans felt enemies were more likely to come from outside their group - high mobility: people do not get to know each other unless its to their advantage to form a relationship - show greater desire to avoid enemies -- enemies are not a problem because they chooses not to engage with them - low mobility: people do not get along, but stay in the relationship despite negative feelings - show greater desire to understand enemies - [2] Americans have more friends than people from other cultures - Ghana: friendships come with obligations (many friends = many obligations) due to low relational mobility - [3] in collectivistic cultures, important aspect of friendship is giving advice (regardless of whether listener wants it or not)

Question 37

Love

Answer 37

- romantic love is evolutionarily advantageous, and experiencing this is universal - not only for procreation, but is the emotional glue that binds people together to stay together and provide resources to ensure survival for their babies - love towards the child is also necessary to give the necessary care they need to survive - historically: love and marriage did not mix (people did not marry for love) - over last century: perspectives have changed dramatically — but change has not been universal - pattern has been changing → people in collectivistic cultures have increasingly perceived necessity of romantic love in marriage - but differences in perceptions of love persist across cultural environments: Chinese/HK songs - indicated negative outcomes for love (v 37% in US) - indicated suffering as consequence of love (v 40% in US)

Question 38

Elements of Love Relationships

Answer 38

- elements - intimacy - passion - commitment - strength of each varies according to the - individual - type of friendship (friendships have intimacy, but no passion) - stage of friendship (passion stronger in the beginning → commitment in later stages)

Question 39

Elements of Love Relationships - Intimacy

Answer 39

- intimacy: feelings of closeness and connection - Western couples experience great deal of intimacy (esp. self-disclosure) compared to East Asian couples - West: confiding in partner = essential to intimacy (not a basic ingredient in non-West) - instead, kindness is key predictor of relationship success across set of diverse cultures - reason for lower level of intimacy: _interdependent self-concept_ - have their intimacy needs met across a larger network of close relationships - partner does not occupy such a central position for them (more likely to prioritize needs of their mothers > spouses) - romantic relationships might claim a higher position in hierarchical network of close relationships for Westerners - reason for higher level of intimacy: _relational mobility_ - since people have opportunities to form new relationships → necessary to invest more in their existing relationships if they want to last (= done through self disclosure)

Question 40

Elements of Love Relationships - Passion

Answer 40

- passion: physical attraction and sexual desire - Westerners report - higher degrees of passion for their romantic partners (v from East Asian cultures) - relationship satisfaction based more on feelings of passion (v from East Asian cultures) - reason passion is a stronger element of romantic love for Westerners is due to _relational mobility_ - open relationship market: tempted to leave current partner in pursuit of another - but if you have strong passionate love, should be less likely to consider connectiong with others - Americans reported stronger felings of passionate love + scored higher on relational mobility - passionate love acts as glue to keep couples together, and a stronger glue is needed when partners have more opportunities to stray

Question 41

Elements of Love Relationships - Commitment

Answer 41

- commitment: decision to maintain the loving relationship - feelings of commitment are stronger in Asia > West (→ reflects culture’s lower relational mobility) - relationship satisfaction predicted more by levels of commitment with Asian relationships (v with Western ones) - divorce rates correlate highly with country’s degree of individualism and relational mobility - *how to sustain commitment?*— idealizing one’s partner - those who idealize their partner the most (see in unrealistically positive way compared to other people) loved their partner more, and more likely to still be together - idealization fosters successful relationships because it positively distorts view of partner → protects from thoughts about partner’s unlovable characteristics - collectivistic cultures: people are less likely to view others in terms of personal dispositions - people’s behaviours are perceived as less reflective of their dispositions → less motivation to ensure partner’s personality is seen in rosy terms - Canadians more likely to idealize their partners than Japanese (since commitment is stronger in non-West, commitment is not strongly based on idealization everywhere)

Question 42

Marriage across history

Answer 42

- [1] first decade of American revolution - vast majority supported themselves through herding and farming - marriage's purpose: establishing and securing families — help spouses meet basic needs: food, child care, education, elder care, resources, shelter - [2] second half of 19th century - US population began moving from rural to urban centers → start to engage in wage labor - more division of labor by gender (men work outside the home, women in charge of domestic tasks) - primary purpose: help spouses fulfill their psychological and emotional needs for belonging, companionship, love and passion - shift to more personal concerns - less rule-bound and more companionate - [3] counterculture movement in 1960s till today - women are now pursuing higher education, have own careers, and can take charge of own sexuality through improved contraception - people still rely on spouses to provide love and companionship, but begin to see marriage as facilitating self-expression - marriage: vehicle for building self-esteem, growth and identity (not essential) - people are expecting partners to satisfy their own emotional and psychological needs more than in the past - correlation between successful marriage and well-being is now stronger over time - *why are we turning to our partners?* : smaller network of confidants than in the past

Question 43

Arranged Marriage

Answer 43

- marrying because of falling in love is a relatively new idea, and uncommon throughout history - but percentage of arranged marriages has recently been dropping in many cultures - love is considered necessary feature in some cultures, but not others - why was arranged marriage favoured in the past? - due to dominant kind of family structure in the culture - powerful romantic love can be irrelevant / problematic in cultures with strong extended ties (interfere with networks) - romantic love is becoming more important as strength of extended family ties decrease - romantic love acts as binding force to keep couples together in the absence of social pressure from family ties to stay together

Question 44

3 assumptions Westerners have about love

Answer 44

- [1] you will only love someone you have chosen for yourself - arranged marriages gradually develop strong loving feelings for each other (like getting a new puppy) - [2] love is ultimately an individualistic choice - Westerners believe they are a unique person: can only connect with someone in a unique way - in other cultures, marriage is an intersection between 2 families - families would be in a better position to evaluate success of marriage than the 2 individuals involved - couples usually trust families to make right decision for them and everyone over the long term - [3] marriage that does not have love at the foundation is bound to be unhappy and unsuccessful - in certain cultures, arranged marriages are more likely to succeed than love marriages — believed by 74% men and women in India - positive correlation between culture’s emphasis on love as basis and divorce rate - love marriages initially have more love, but arranged marriages have more live over time - men in arranged marriages are at least as satisfied with their marriages as those in love marriages (not true for women)

Question 45

Marriage Systems (4)

Answer 45

- **monogamy**: 2 people - polygamy: multiple people - **polgyny**: 1 husband + multiple wives - most pre-industrial societies allow polygyny, but mongamy is still more overwhelmingly common - **polyandry**: 1 wife + multiple husbands - occurs in small number of societies - often practiced in the form of fraternal polyandry — the multiple husbands are often brothers - usually exists in regions that have scarcity of resources → multiple people are able to put resources together for the sake of one family surviving - **polygynandry**: multiple women and multiple men get married into one unit - extremely rare — very isolated religious contexts / particular regions of the world (even then, not super common) - also extremely resource scarce → allows better diversification of economical activities (for group’s survival)

Question 46

Independent v Interdependent in day-to-day interactions

Answer 46

- independent self-construal / independent cultural environment: - have more interaction partners - have more interactions - spend more time interacting with people - interdependent self-construal / interdependent cultural environment: - speak to fewer people - restrict the conversations to those whom they feel closer to (in-groups)

Question 47

Independent v Interdependent in nature of interactions with in v out-group members

Answer 47

- _subordination_: - showing deference to interaction partner - not asserting themselves over partner - entailing cooperation between interaction partners - study: - US → same willingness to engage in subordination regardless of perceived distance from others - China → less social distance = more likely to engage in subordination - _superordination_: - asserting oneself over interaction partner (i.e. talk over them) - demonstrate superiority - study: - US → same willingness to engage in superordination regardless of perceived distance from others - China → less social distance = less likely to engage in superordination - _dissociation_: - engage in behaviour that repels interaction partner (i.e. avoid other person, being rude, steal resources) - study: less social distance = less likely to engage in dissociation - US → weak relationship - China → strong relationship

Question 48

Independent v Interdependent in conformity

Answer 48

- higher collectivism = higher conformity - non-conformity among non-Western participants: usually when confederates seen as out-groups rather than in-groups - more recent in the US = less conformity (suggests increase in independent self-construal in the US over time)

Question 49

Independent v Interdependent in cooperation with in v out-group members

Answer 49

- cooperation: the ability to work together towards common goals - essential for efficient functioning and survival of social groups - studied with Prisoner's Dilemma (best strategy collectively: both parties cooperate) - US symbols → no difference between in and out group - Chinese symbols → lower level of cooperation with out-groups - key factor is **trust** - _personalized trust_: trust given to someone because partner is connected to you - more commonly seen for interdependent self-construal - reserved for people in your network — not given to people out of your network - driven by monitoring even if its done indirectly (their reputation, whether they are trustworthy) - _depersonalized trust_: trust given to someone because partner shares group membership with you (loose collection of individuals) - more commonly seen for independent self-construal - trust is for anyone in the same category (monitoring is not important)

Question 50

Biological Variation

Answer 50

- **innate biological differences**: result of selection pressures - i.e. skin colour: strongly correlated with ultra violet radiation - exception: Inuit who are not exposed to sun, but have darker skin due to their diet (heavy on vitamin D) - _culture-gene coevolution_: as culture evolves over time, it changes the selection pressures → will lead to genetic differences - i.e. lactose intolerance: regions with places that ingest lactase more develop mutation to allow for digestion of lactase - **acquired biological differences** → proximal cultural effects on one’s biology, independent of genes - can be learnt through training - i.e. pupil constriction: allows for better acuity underwater

Question 51

Culture and Sleep

Answer 51

- has changed significantly through time - throughout history → biphasic sleep: sleep across 2 phases in subsistence societies - ongoing sleep started in the industrial revolution — invention of reliable artificial lighting pushes their waking time - people in different cultural environments sleep at different lengths - have reliable cultural differences in sleep times: Euro-Canadians > Asian-Canadians > Japanese - transitional group (Asian Canadians) shows its the impact of local norms, not genes - people in different cultures have different beliefs about sleep - people in different cultures have different expectations about consequences of health on sleep (Japanese see weaker association on sleep and health)

Question 52

Culture and Medicine

Answer 52

- traditional chinese medicine (TCM): restores body balance - if something is out of balance, then you eat something to bring back balance - things that help restore balance: food, acupuncture (unlock certain energy channels in the body) - doctors who have Chinese heritage background with Western education have better impression of TCM - American medicine: “body is a machine” - more likely to recommend surgery to repair or replace parts - higher dosage of antibiotics (this germ is the problem — high dose to help remove problem) - treatment likely to be more aggressive - comparing populations: - doctors and laypeople from same country have high agreement of medical issues and ideas - doctors from different country have less agreement regarding medical issues and ideas

Question 53

Culture and Mental Health

Answer 53

- issues with definitions of health and mental health: - what, who and how do we come to a consensus? - disorders: behaviours that are rare and cause some kind of impairment to the individual - exceptions: i.e. alcohol abuse is a disorder, but is not rare at a party - even harder when certain behaviours are problematic in one culture, but not another - culture is involved in the expression and experience of psychopathology - cultural differences show that we cannot assume psychological disorders arise automatically and uniformly from innate causes - diagnostic criteria for mental health should vary across cultures - biology is highly similar, but psychological disorders present themselves in different ways - example: _dhat syndrome_ - belief among young men that they are leaking semen, causing them to be anxious because semen is a source of vitality - seen in South Asian cultures: associated with crippling guilt and anxiety about indulging in disapproved sexual acts that may cause an enduring leak - due to cultural differences, Dhat Syndrome would not be observed in North Americans - issue: field of psychiatry was largely developed in the West, disorders observed in the West are viewed as basic categories of diagnosis → tendency to evaluate local psychological problems in terms of how well they fit into Western categories

Question 54

Universal v Culture-bound Syndromes

Answer 54

- **universal syndromes:** found across cultural groups - highlights biological foundation of mental illness - even though its universal, manifestations can vary dramatically across cultures - **culture-bound syndromes (= cultural concept of distress):** found only in specific cultural settings - group of psychological symptoms that appear to be greatly influenced by cultural factors - occur far less often, or are manifested in highly diverse ways in other cultures, or are not as prevalent than in primary origin - important to consider cultural values and meanings that go along with them

Question 55

Culture-bound syndromes: sinbeyong (= spirit sickness)

Answer 55

- found in Korea, primarily among women - symptoms: - dizziness, heart palpitations - insomnia - loss of appetite - hallucination - dissociation and possession - communicating with spirits - seen as spiritual calling to be a shaman - can only be alleviated with initiation ritual called *kut* to become a shaman - involves accepting spiritual possessions and performing superhuman feats

Question 56

Culture-bound syndromes: anorexia nervosa

Answer 56

- **anorexia nervosa**: - refusal to maintain a normal body weight - an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat - and a denial of the seriousness of an abnormally low body weight - anorexia could be existential universal - has a presence everywhere, but frequency varies considerably across cultures - does not meet standards for functional universal because a similar motivation (self-starvation) is associated with different ends: avoid weight gain / lifestyle / practice - complex: - rates have increased over recent decades (= highlight role of culture) but unable to be found / far fewer cases in certain groups - some cases do not have key symptom: fear of weight gain - Hong Kong: stop eating due to lack of appetite - "holy anorexia": not driven by weight gain, sees as divine intervention

Question 57

Culture-bound syndromes: bulimia nervosa

Answer 57

- **bulimia nervosa:** - recurring episodes of binge eating (= eating unusually large amount in a 2h period while feeling lack of control over the eating) - along with inappropriate behaviours to prevent weight gain (purging, self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise) - occurring at least twice a week for 3 months - bulimia is a culture-bound syndrome largely confined to modern cultures with Western influence - rates have increased dramatically over the past 5 years - age which people develop them have gotten significantly younger over the years — likely caused by changing cultural norms

Question 58

Culture-bound syndromes: koro (= head of a turtle)

Answer 58

- morbid anxiety in men out of fear their penis is shrinking into their body with harmful consequences of death, anxiety, terror - identified in various countries in South and East Asia - not clear what cultural factors affect its prevalence - possibly: grounded in classical Chinese medicine belief that yin yang imbalance cause genitals to retract - qualifies as culture-bound, but have rare incidents around the world (may be universally accessible) - but only seem to manifest as clinical syndrome within cultures where people have awareness of the existence of the disorder

Question 59

Culture-bound syndromes: ataques de Nervios

Answer 59

- broad array of symptoms: convulsions, partial loss of consciousness, heart palpitations, numbness, sudden outbursts, heat rising to the head - occurs within couple of days of stressful event — serious death / family conflict / violence - usually brief - happens across the lifespan, more commonly in women - commonly seen with Puerto Ricans, but also observed in other Latino populations - seen as means of communicating strong emotions, protest unfair treatment (esp within family relationships) - symptoms somewhat overlap with panic disorder — but do not meet criteria for diagnosis for panic disorder

Question 60

Culture-bound syndromes: amok

Answer 60

- sudden outburst of uncontrolled behaviour or unrestrained violence - preceded by brooding - ending with exhaustion and amnesia - triggered by stress, lack of sleep and alcohol — more common in males - most commonly found in Malay, where it is common for people to be passive and non-confrontational > ultimately explode - pattern is specific to certain Southeast Asian cultures - somewhat similar to mass killings that occur in Western cultures - difference: Western mass killings tend to be pre-mediated

Question 61

Culture-bound syndromes: hysteria

Answer 61

- common in the mid-19th century for women - degrees of hysteria decreased dramatically in early 20th century - no longer a formal diagnostic category today - symptoms: fainting, insomnia, sudden paralysis, temporary blindness, loss of appetite for food and sex, general disagreeableness - explanation for drop in prevalence - [1] patients with hysteria-like symptoms are being diagnosed with other conditions: somatoform disorder, dissociative disorder, conversion disorder, schizophrenia - [2] prevalence was in response to repressive social norms

Question 62

Culture-bound syndromes: others

Answer 62

- **frigophobia:** morbid fear of catching a cold — dress in heavy coats and scarves, even in summer [China] - **susto:** feels that a frightening experience caused their soul to get dislodged from their body — wide range of physical and psychological symptoms [Latin America] - **voodoo death:** convinced a curse has been put on them / they have broken a taboo — fear sometimes leads to death [Africa] - **latah:** after a startling event, person falls into transient dissociated state — exhibits unusual behaviours (barking, acting inappropriately) with no memory of outburst or behaviour [Southeast Asia] - **malgri:** believe they are invaded by a totemic spirit that makes them sick and drowsy — territorial anxiety from entering a territory without appropriate ceremonial procedures [Aboriginal Australians] - **agonias:** anxiety disorder — burning sensation, loss of breath, hysterical blindness, sleep problems, eating disorders [Portuguese and Azoreans] - **kufungisisa (= “thinking too much”)**: anxiety and physical problems from mental exhaustion, causing them to feel their mind has been damaged — panic attacks, irritability [Africa, Caribbean, Native Americans, East Asians]

Question 63

Universal syndromes: depression

Answer 63

- everyone has experienced some symptoms temporarily — usually confined to aftermath of an event - diagnosed only if experienced 5/9 for 2+ weeks: - depressed mood - feeling worthless - inability to feel pleasure - suicidality - psychomotor change - change in weight/appetite - sleep problems - fatigue or loss of energy - poor concentration - [universality] has found cases that fit DSM-5 criteria in all explored cultures - but prevalence in China is 1/5 of US) > debate about international application of DSM-5 diagnostic criteria - another complication: people have differences in symptoms - psychologization: experiencing symptoms primarily psychologically (European Americans) - somatization: symptoms are primarily physical (Asian Americans) - possible explanations: - [1] social stigma associated with having mental illness → may prevent Chinese from discussing their psychological problems - [2] within the same experience, people from some cultures notice and focus on certain symptoms more than others - Westerners are more sensitive to their own emotional experiences - bipolar disorder also characterized by presence of depressive episodes — conceptually similar - however, people with bipolar disorder also have manic episodes — hyperactive, extreme euphoria, optimism that impairs judgement

Question 64

Universal syndromes: social anxiety disorder

Answer 64

- fear that one is in danger of acting in an inept and unacceptable manner, which will result in disastrous social consequences, leading to avoiding social situations altogether, compromising their lives - social anxiety disorder is a universal condition that is recognized everywhere - but in East Asian contexts, symptoms are more common — but common enough that it is thought of a normal state (instead of abnormal) - *taijin kyoufushou* (TKS) (= altruistic phobia): phobia of confronting others - specifically triggered by social situations - main preoccupation: how uncomfortable others will feel around them due to their physical flaws - respond favorably to same antidepressant as anxiety disorder - distinct enough and rare outside of East Asia → considered a culture-bound syndrome

Question 65

Universal syndromes: schizophrenia

Answer 65

- has genetic factor (more likely if your relative has it), but cause is still unknown - course and manifestation still differs dramatically despite biological basis - must have 2+ symptoms, with each present for a siginificant amount of time during a single month - delusions - hallucinations - disorganized speech - disorganized or unresponsive behaviour - other negative symptoms: loss of speech, flattening of mood - striking evidence for variability - [1] similarity of symptoms is partly due to methods used — those who had different experiences were excluded because they didn’t meet diagnostic criteria - [2] variation in subtypes of schizophrenia observed across cultures - **paranoid schizophrenia**: characterized by delusional visions - 75% of schizophrenics in UK v 15% in India - **catatonic schizophrenia:** characterized by near absence of motor activity and insensitivity to external stimuli - 1% of schizophrenics in the West v 20% in India - [3] some symptoms of schizophrenia vary cross-culturally - WEIRD samples have lack of hallucinations and fear them - other cultures have different meanings in different societies (i.e. communicating with ancestors, with God) - course of schizophrenia is better for less-developed societies (v industrialized ones) - [1] people in less-developed societies have more fatalistic attitude and weaker sense of personal control → more accepting of people with schizophrenia - [2] hallucinations and belief in possession is more common - [3] strong sense of community → less likely to be left alone / become homeless

Question 66

Universal syndromes: suicide

Answer 66

- suicide tendencies are universal, but cultural influences vary in _suicide rates and motivations_ - frequency varies across cultures (rates are lower in Muslim countries) - across culture, there is increased rate for older adults (except Micronesia) - rising suicide rates in traditional cultures that have been westernized (i.e. First Nations) - rate in adolescents is x5 from mainstream adolescents - can no longer identify much with their traditional culture (has been largely eradicated) but also cannot relate to mainstream Canadian culture - more connections with traditional culture, the lower the suicide rate - motivations for suicide can vary dramatically across cultures — - West: from depression, substance abuse, health problems, economic misfortune, tragic life events - Japan: to accept responsibility and preserve one’s honor

Question 67

Treating Mental Illness

Answer 67

- West: clients seek professional help, explore inner nature, reflect on themselves, verbally disclose feelings - non-West: should pay attention to relationships rather than focus on themselves, where private feelings - should not be dwelled on - should not unnecessarily discuss emotional problems - should keep some distance from out-group members - non-West still has stigma associated with acknowledging mental disorders

Question 68

Social Support and Mental Health

Answer 68

- key role in coping with psychological distress -- associated with physical health benefits - people seek social support differently cross-culturally - European Americans more likely to actively seek help from others (i.e. tell friend about problem) - East Asians do depend on social support from family and close friends, but more likely to rely on implicit support (— find comfort in close relationships) - difference because East Asians more concerned with how looking for help will disrupt relationship with others - European Americans and Mexican Americans show more direct evidence for health benefits with perceived strong social network (pattern not seen for Asian Americans) - kinds of support people offer varies cross-culturally - type of help - North American: emotion-focused help (encouraging words) - East Asian: problem-solving support (provide specific advice) - type of feelings - American: support involves positive feelings - Germany: evenly on positive and negative feelings

Question 69

Psychotherapy to treat Mental Illness

Answer 69

- Sigmund Freud: Western psychotherapy originated in Western Europe - proposed that many psychological problems are rooted in conflicts and fears at an unconscious level - best treated by having people explore memories through discussions with a trained therapist in individual sessions - *therapist plays key role in helping clients interpret their memories and experiences* - modified by Carl Rogers: emphasized client-centred approach where therapist aids client in self-discovery - **cognitive behavioural therapy:** therapist helps client restructure unhealthy thoughts by - identifying dysfunctional biases - alleviate negative reactions to certain situations through controlled exposure - *this approach hinges on client's ability to engage in psychological discourse that is grounded in shared cultural meanings

Question 70

Other methods to treat mental illness

Answer 70

- indigenous healing practices (seen in 16 societies in Africa, Asia, South America, Middle East, Caribbean) - [1] family played most important role to resolve mental health problems for guidance and to shield from outside world - [2] focus on spiritualism and religion - mental illness often perceived as being rooted in an underlying spiritual problem - treatment often left to traditional healers: shamans and sorcerers - i.e. Yoruba in West Africa - people are thought of as union of the *ara* (body), *emi* (mind/soul) and *ori* (inner head) - each comes into existence by specific gods - *emi* does not have any personal characteristics, and qualities come from the *ori* (viewed as a deity) - different attitudes about treating mental illness: Western v Japan - Morita therapy - main goal: for clients to accept the circumstances of their lives and change their perspective to see symptoms as part of who they are - intended for people coping with anxiety and depression - isolated bed rest, light manual activities, heavy manual labor, reading Moritist literature, life training, meditation - Naikan therapy - help people gain insight about their past - encourages clients to appreciate how indebted they are to the kindness of important close people in their lives - used to treat addiction, depression and sociopathic behaviour - guided meditation to reflect on kindness of close others, and consider how little they may have given in return - goal: reinterpret their past through prism of gratitude → give new meaning to their lives

Question 71

Multicultural therapeutic settings

Answer 71

- applying Western mental health treatments result in - less effective treatments in non-Western cultures - led to spread of some conditions in places that did not previously exist (i.e. PTSD in Sri Lanka, anorexia in HK) - cultural matching between therapist and client only has modest benefits - can instead serve to segregate therapists from different background - can be impossible in many multicultural situations - instead, therapists who work with clients from a different cultural background should strive to achieve **cultural competence** - [1] recognize their own cultural influences — so they can consciously monitor their personal preferences, interpretations and projections - [2] develop knowledge about cultural background of client and expectations clients may have - [3] sharpen skills for intervening in culturally-sensitive and relevant ways - important for therapist to be flexible between generalizing from client’s mainstream culture v individualizing the client - each person cannot be reduced to a typical member of their culture - everyone responds to their culture differently - better method is **cultural consultation service** - group of workers from various disciplines meet regularly to discuss cases referred by therapists who need expert advise - invite interpreters, consultants and culture brokers to speak on specific cases - identify issues relevant to the therapy (i.e. family systems, issues peculiar to certain cultures, impact of war) - therapists have reported that consultations have been helpful to manage their clients - drawback: expensive

Question 72

Social determinants of health (indigenous)

Answer 72

- **social environment:** the people around us (think about effect of residential schools) - i.e. for Inuit: happiness is family and kinship, talking and communication and traditional knowledge and practice - **income** - indigenous have lower income, employment and education = lower economic power - high costs of living in first nation reserves - **physical environment**: environment around you (ecosystem, quality of homes) - out of 617 indigenous communities, 28 communities have drinking water advisories - _therapeutic landscapes_: any physical environment that is associated with treatment and healing - for indigenous: being out on the land, plants and herbs (for most people: hospitals, camping) - a lot of modern medicine is actually derived from traditional medicine - **culture**: protective factors for suicide in cultures - connected to Arends-Tóth & Van de Vijver’s model of acculturation - cultural continuity helps with heritage identification - mainstream identification helps with mainstream discrimination

Question 73

acculturation

Answer 73

- acculturation: consequences of people from different cultural groups being in continuous first-hand contact - *migrants:* people who move from heritage culture to host culture - *sojourners:* those who stay temporarily - *immigrants:* those who stay permanently - can be individual-level or group-level acculturation - literature on acculturation is still contradictory and not coherent - people have such varying experiences (using original language v the only ones looking different) - people move for many different reasons (dreams, temporarily for studying, forced by war) - remote acculturation: people gradually adjust to foreign culture from afar through media / eating their food

Question 74

effects of acculturation at the group level

Answer 74

- multiple outcomes, none are inherently positive or negative - **destructive**: loss of culture through absorption or elimination due to continuous contact with another cultural group - i.e. Chinese lotus foot - **reactive**: groups re-establish their original cultures by revitalizing or reaffirming them - i.e. language classes - **creative**: new cultures or cultural information emerge through interactions between the original cultures - i.e. fusion food, practicing religion

Question 75

effects of acculturation at the individual level

Answer 75

- multiple strategies to reflect how people reconcile norms and values of heritage and mainstream culture - **mutual-exclusion model (=unidimensional model)**: assumes adoption of dominant norms and values is inversely related to the retention of original norms and values - [1] adopt mainstream culture and reject heritage culture → assimiliated - [2] reject mainstream culture and retain heritage culture → separated - **bidimensional model of acculturation**: guided by positive/negative attitudes towards host and heritage culture - spectrum, not fully categorical - becomes less straightforward when people acculturating don’t have a dominant cultural majority - **integration**: strongly identifies with both cultures - participates in host culture, but also maintains traditions of heritage culture - most commonly pursued: one of the most successful strategy for better well-being and adjustment - incorporates protective features: absence of prejudice, clear ethnic identity, involvement of 2 cultural communities (= access to 2 support groups) - **assimilation**: strongly identifies with mainstream culture, not with heritage culture - participates in host culture, but leave behind traditions of heritage culture - possibly due to lack of acceptance by mainstream culture / government - cost: loss of heritage culture and social support network, sense of disconnection with the past - **separation**: strongly identifies with heritage culture, but not with mainstream culture - ignore host culture, and maintain traditions of heritage culture - would group together with their heritage conclaves for mutual protection - possibly due to lack of acceptance by mainstream culture / government - costs: rejecting host culture, lose all its protective features (→ feel rejected by host) - **marginalization**: not identified with either culture - least common strategy — associated with lowest levels of psychological outcomes - involves rejection of dominant society + loss of original culture = weakened social support

Question 76

Predictors of acculturation strategies

Answer 76

- increased prejudice from host → increased separation (would not strive to fit into host culture) - migrants with physically-distinguishable features from host culture are more likely to face more prejudice → increased separation / marginalization - lower migrant socioeconomic status → increased marginalization or separation - host valuing diversity and multiculturalism → increased integration or assimilation - multicultural / salad bowl model: distinct qualities of immigrant cultures are maintained - assimilationist / melting pot model: immigrants encouraged to act like locals

Question 77

Changing attitudes towards host culture

Answer 77

- **honeymoon stage:** first few months - enjoying new experiences, meeting new people, excitement over new environment - **culture shock (= crisis stage):** 6-18 months - begin to have increasingly negative views about their host culture - feelings of being anxious, helpless, irritable, disoriented and homesick - many migrants realize their language skills are not yet good enough to fully function in the new environment - don’t have deep enough understanding of how the system works to be able to thrive - others used to be interest about exotic stories, but not anymore - now are more interested in talking about local events that migrants cannot fully participate in yet - homesickness — people start to miss the little things they used to never think about (i.e. favourite snack) - can be so problematic that people decide to quit their sojourn - **adjustment stage:** several months after crisis stage - gets better in language skills, can function better in daily lives, getting used to host culture, start to think more alike with locals - tends to last several years - *not limited to foreign country*: can occur for sojourners after returning to home country - honeymoon period: initially happy to meet family and eat favourite foods - reverse culture shock: feel somewhat alienated / don’t feel quite at home (can be unexpectedly disturbing - start to question self-concept) - adjustment period: gradually acclimate to the familiar life they knew - most migrants follow u-shaped curve - no honeymoon: first few weeks are marked with anxiety - *factor*: homogeneity of the country (migrants in Japan had L-shaped pattern instead of U-shaped) results in no adjustment stage

Question 78

factors that influence how people make the adjustment to a new country

Answer 78

- **cultural distance:** difference between two cultures in their overall ways of life - the larger the distance, the harder the acculturation process - highly affected by language — English is similar to Dutch / German - those who grew up speaking Dutch / German do better than other Europeans who speak French / Spanish - sojourners from more distant cultures suffer more distress — seen through more medical consultations and more social problems - distance makes it harder to establish and maintain interpersonal relationships with members of host culture - **cultural fit:** degree to which an individual’s own personality is compatible with the dominant values of the host culture - greater cultural fit, the easier it is to acculturate - example: extraversion is believed that extraverts should fare better in acculturation experiences - but extraversion is only positive if it is a good cultural fit with the host culture (i.e. New Zealand), but marked with boredom, frustration, depression and health problems if not (i.e. Singapore) - example: first-generation university students tend to have interdependent self-concept - poorer cultural fit in universities because American universities tend to have independent norms

Question 79

pitfalls of acculturation

Answer 79

- **immigrant paradox:** common finding that children of immigrants have a variety of negative outcomes - lower educational achievement, poorer physical and mental health than parents - paradoxical: children are usually more acculturated / assimilated than their parents - examples: - obesity: immigrants who move to the US are susceptible to weight gain if they adopt host culture habits - academic performance: immigrants who assimilate into surrounding community end up having more problems than those who resist cultural values - immigrants tend to have stronger motivation to do well at school (v children of immigrants who have acculturated) - Latino adolescents who acculturate would also take studies less seriously → do worse in school

Question 80

Consequences of discrimination

Answer 80

- prejudice is not limited to those who move to new cultures, but to those whose ancestors come from a different cultural background - **identity denial:** people’s cultural identity is questioned because they are not recognized as matching the prototype of the cultural group - frustrating and demoralizing: *“where are you really from?”* - Asian Americans are more likely to show their authentic American identity when confronted with identity-denying statements because they wished to publicly affirm their American identity - would order less healthy, more typically American food - perceived as more American if they are overweight → saw unhealthy habits as an advantage - can occur even if it is recipient of positive stereotypes (i.e. Asians are good at math) - leads to bad feelings because the person feels depersonalized from their individual identity - **stereotype threat:** fear of behaving in a way that confirms a negative stereotype about one’s group (self-fulfilling prophesy) - stereotypes represent cultural beliefs — not necessarily have to believe a stereotype to be aware of it - experience stress over fear of confirming: working memory capacity decreases, blood pressure increases, more likely to be thinking of negative words (”dumb”, “loser”, “black”) → will directly influence test performance - can be elicited even in seemingly harmless stereotyped images (i.e. Pocahontas) - stereotype threat makes acculturating process difficult - people may cope with stress by dis-identifying with stereotyped domain / avoid reminders of stereotype - solutions: - being aware of the stereotype threat itself - present with materials that focus on African American contributions → perform better - having a clear, well-defined cultural identity has benefits - leads to strong sense of loyalty → group members become source of self-esteem and meaning - will have stronger sense of identification if you come from a distinctive cultural background → positive feelings about individual and group → valuable for coping with discrimination

Question 81

Multicultural People

Answer 81

- **blending**: tendency for bicultural people to show psychological characteristics of both their cultures - how long does it take for people to completely acculturate to host culture? - acculturative changes can be evident since 7 months, but takes 3 generations to reach the host's level of self-esteem (Japanese and European Canadian) - **frame-switching:** alternating between different cultural selves - can master both cultural worlds and selectively activate in different cultural contexts - seen in African Americans - young children quickly learn to discriminate between norms and unwritten rules of mainstream society v the streets - _code-switching_: cultural frame-switching in how people act and present themselves to others - not isolated to how people act, but could affect the way people are thinking as well (differs in how they describe the fish: typically-American way v typically-Chinese way) - degree of frame-switching: - depends on **bicultural identity integration:**extent to which bicultural people see their 2 identities as compatible or in opposition - high bicultural identity integration: integrate aspects of both cultures in daily lives (high frame-switching) - low bicultural identity integration: feel they have to choose (cannot have both simultaneously) - more common for bi-culturals born in North America (perhaps they are more experienced) - frame-switching is not limited to bi-culturals - study: Chinese v American students on a tennis game - Americans could be led to think in Chinese-like ways when primed with certain values (despite little exposure to Chinese culture) - culture can be conceptualized through _situated cognition_ - see culture as information: some ideas are more common in X cultures, less common ideas are still present in X cultures

Question 82

Third Culture Kids (TCK)

Answer 82

- **TCKs:** people who travel with expatriate parents and spend large parts of their formative years outside their heritage culture - first: parent’s heritage culture - second: current host country - third: expatriate community from being exposed to various host cultures - typically form relationships with each culture, yet do not feel a strong sense of connection to any of them (= cultural homelessness) - learn about parent’s heritage culture from afar - move between cultures before forming a cultural identity - feel at home everywhere and nowhere at the same time - common frustration: sense of being a minority wherever they do - trouble fitting in with non-TCK peers - will have a more global identity than a cultural identity - often proud of their international worldview, openness to other cultures, ability to speak multiple languages, maturity from constant resettling - without a clear “right” cultural way, tend to be: - less ethnocentric - score lower on measures of prejudice - in terms of relationships: - develop especially close ties with their parents — the one relationship that remains constant - have transient notion of relationships from having participated in many social networks (sense of restlessness, expectation to move more frequently)

Question 83

Multiculturalism and Creativity

Answer 83

- **integrative complexity**: a willingness and ability to acknowledge and consider different viewpoints on the same issue - comes from experiencing life in unfamiliar cultures - after living in a new culture for 10 months, people scored higher on integrative complexity - enhanced performance in creativity is due to a higher integrative complexity - multicultural experiences allow approach that is more naive and free of expectations that govern perceptions of insiders → can see things differently in a more accurate or objective way - children raised with multiple languages perform better in perspective-taking task → 1+ perspective fosters creative thinking - people who had lived in 1+ cultures were more likely to come up with outside-the-box solutions - greater professional success for people with multicultural experience - effect is stronger if cultures have a greater cultural distance + individuals feel their cultural identities are blended - conclusion: adapting to a new culture leads to more creativity - linear relationship between amount of time lived abroad and ratings of creative innovations - curvilinear relationship between # of countries and ratings of creative innovations - curvilinear relationship between cultural distance and creativity

Question 84

downside to learning about other cultures

Answer 84

- exposed to alternative systems of moral values - make people opened to **moral relativism:** belief that what is right or wrong is not absolute - makes them less likely to follow own moral compass - people who had visited multiple cultures - more likely to score higher on moral relativism - more likely to act immorally - *conclusion: living in multicultural worlds can have both positive and negative consequences*

Question 85

global orientation

Answer 85

- **global orientation:** individual differences in degree to which people are receptive to cultural globalization - *attitudes have 3 components: affective, cognitive, behavioural* - **proactive responses:** receptive to acquiring new cultures - appreciating cultural diversity *(a)* - have diverse knowledge of other groups *(c)* - learn the language and norms of other groups *(b)* - making social contact with cultural others *(b)* - **defensive responses**: focus on affirming one’s ethnic culture - feeling uneasy about cultural interactions *(a)* - believe in superiority of one’s own cultural group *(c)* - insist on sticking to norms of ethnic culture *(b)* - does not try to make social contact with cultural others *(b)* - proactive responses: migrants perceive less discrimination and have better acculturation outcomes - fosters more tolerance for other culture groups - predicts more frequent pleasant intercultural contact - defensive responses: greater acculturative stress (difficulty adjusting)

Question 86

Impact of Globalization (5)

Answer 86

- self identity - quality of life - mental health - interpersonal relationships - environment

Question 87

Impact of Globalization - self identity

Answer 87

- traditional theories of the self - traditional characteristics of individuals (indiv v cultural) - personality traits - individual characteristics - characteristics of cultures as embodied by individuals - interdependence - holistic v analytic thinking - *needs to consider cultural fit* - **cultural fit:** you get cultural fit if a person matches what the culture emphasizes - third culture kids: - [1] lack of rooted sense of belonging in a particular country — feel like outsiders - can adjust everywhere but do not belong anywhere - feel belonging more strongly to relationships (i.e. where their best friend is) / like a citizen of the world - [2] more chameleon-like interactions — changing identities, adaptable, tendency to change accents unintentionally - hard to find people to understand their experience / can affirm their identity - identity is not fixed or permanent — highly fluid and adaptive - some suggest high levels of marginalization as an acculturation strategy — hard to identify with any culture

Question 88

Impact of Globalization - quality of life

Answer 88

- deterritorialization of information: - our brain is not meant to handle the amount of information we have access to - we now can engage in global and local networks of information - sense of subjective overload - also results in deterritorialization of relationships - absent-present: physically present, but psychologically disengaged in a virtual realm - have negative impact on mental health — have more enjoyment when forced to put away their phones

Question 89

Impact of Globalization - mental health

Answer 89

- Western models of mental health have now been exported to other places - example: tsunami in Sri Lanka - counsellors knew little about the region + no consultations with local informants - assumed universality of trauma responses - ignored established cultural traditions regarding traumatic events - unprepared for resilience of Sri Lankans due to Hindu and Buddhist beliefs of reincarnation - assumed many of them are in “denial” due to the resilience they were seeing - to help: - [1] must learn about local culture — needs, customs, are you creating more work for them instead - [2] danger of insistence on “western” therapy — harms effective cultural systems and indigenous ways of healing that are already in place - [3] understand that psychological conditions have cultural meaning, and are embedded in cultural systems

Question 90

Impact of Globalization - interpersonal relationships

Answer 90

- more globalization → more intergroup contact → higher likelihood of intergroup conflict - seen especially when groups see culture as “threatened” (whether real or imagined) - these conflicts now have a global impact - more countries involved in conflicts → effect on more countries emerge

Question 91

Impact of Globalization - environment

Answer 91

- climate change - will affect environment - non-industrialized nations are less complicit, but are more impacted and are at greater risk - i.e. island countries that are ‘sinking’ because sea levels are rising - impact of climate change - rising temperatures → aggression - natural disasters → trauma - increased intergroup conflict over natural resources

Question 92

Western v Sri Lankan approach to trauma

Answer 92

- centred around - W: damage to the individual psyche - S: damage to social relationships (i.e. cannot bury the dead) - associated with - W: fear, anxiety, etc - S: physical ailments: joint pain, muscle ache - negative social consequence - W: happen because of damage to individual psyche (i.e. isolate themselves > lose relationships) - S: as source of distress (instead of it being an outcome) - talking about it - W: directly (should not avoid) - S: through euphemisms