Understanding Cultural Norms and Differences

• Culture is a universally recognized concept encompassing behaviors, attitudes, and identities common among a unified group of people.
• Cultures are a group's response to their environment, explaining why different cultures exist.
• Humans have a basic need to belong, forming social groups for protection and survival.

Categories of Cultural Differences

• Surface culture refers to easily observable elements like behaviors, customs, traditions, and architecture.
• Deep culture involves cognitive elements like gender roles, respect for authority, and concepts of social identity, which are easily accessible to members but may be inaccessible to outsiders.
• Globalization has increased interconnectedness among different cultural groups.

Cultural Norms

• Cultural norms are unique attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors specific to a culture.
• These norms define expectations of appropriate attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors within a specific environmental context.
• Cultures are dynamic, adapting to changing environmental demands, yet remain largely stable across generations for survival.
• Cultural transmission is a learning theory where individuals acquire information through interaction within their culture, via enculturation and social cognition which involves processing, storing, and applying cultural and social schemas.
• Enculturation is the process by which individuals learn their culture through observation, instruction, and direct experience.
• Cultures and norms grow from individual behavior, and individual behavior is shaped by culture and norms, illustrating a bidirectional relationship known as reciprocal determinism.

Gatekeeper Theory

• Kurt Lewin's Gatekeeper theory explains who controls access to information in a social group.
• Gatekeepers filter information, deciding what is shared and removing unwanted or harmful content from circulation. Culture of Honor
• Culture of honor exists in societies where strength and social reputation are highly valued, often resulting in violent responses to insults.
• These cultures can be found in places like India, Pakistan, and the Southern USA, and may arise in areas lacking clear authority.
• Children exposed to adults who respond to threats with violence may become socialized to engage in that behavior through cultural transmission.

Cohen et al. (1996)

• Cohen et al. (1996) investigated whether southern states exhibit more culture of honor behavior.
• Male University of Michigan students from the North and South were bumped into and insulted.
• Southerners were more likely to feel their masculine reputation threatened, be upset (elevated cortisol), and physically primed for aggression.
• Southerners were more likely to engage in aggressive and dominant behavior.
• Aggression is used to restore reputation, provoking an insult-aggression cycle in Southerners.
• Culture of honor leads to more weapons in schools, higher school shooting rates, and increased rates of depression and suicide.

Acculturation

• Acculturation involves psychological and cultural changes resulting from interaction between cultures.
• Cultural conflict is of growing concern as diverse groups with incompatible attitudes live side by side.
• Acculturation changes all cultures involved, not just the non-dominant one.

Hsu and Barker (2013)

• Hsu and Barker (2013) aimed to investigate how individualism-collectivism affects advertising in China (I=20) and USA (I=91) and whether acculturation is also a factor.
• 566 TV ads were rated for individualism/collectivism and traditional/modern themes, and assessed for their target audience.
• Ads for younger Chinese viewers scored higher on individualism than collectivism.
• When China opened borders for trade, it opened borders for external cultural influence, assuming ads reflect culture.

Hofstede's Dimensions

• Geert Hofstede researched in 70+ countries, identifying five cultural dimensions to explain behavior patterns.
• By 2010, 76 cultures and regions were included.
• He distributed questionnaires to 117,000 IBM Europe employees, asking about their values and behaviors.

Dimensions of Culture

• Individualism versus collectivism
• The power distance index (PDI)
• Masculinity versus femininity
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Long-term versus short-term orientation
• Indulgence versus restraint
• These dimensions are complex and expressed differently, not acting in isolation.

Individualism vs. Collectivism

• Individualistic cultures define identity by personal characteristics, with loose ties and valuing autonomy and competitiveness.
• Collectivist cultures connect identity to a social group, focusing on group responsibilities and viewing "we" as stronger than "I."

Power Distance Index (PDI)

• PDI measures the extent to which less-powerful members accept unequal power distribution.
• High PDI indicates tolerance of inequalities and hierarchy.
• Low PDI indicates intolerance of inequalities and preference for equal distribution of power.

Masculinity vs. Femininity (1980)

• Assesses the extent to which dominant values are masculine or feminine.
• Masculine values include achievement, autonomy, and competitiveness.
• Feminine values include caring, cooperation, and compassion.

Uncertainty Avoidance Index (1980)

• Measures a culture's comfort with ambiguity and uncertainty.
• High uncertainty avoidance means intolerance for unconventional ideas and risk aversion.
• Weak uncertainty avoidance means tolerance for behavior outside the norm and risk-taking.

Long Term vs. Short-Term Orientation (1991)

• Describes how cultures relate to time, tradition, and planning.
• Low score honors traditions, views social change with suspicion, and is conservative.
• High score is pragmatic, favoring anticipation of future needs for change and innovation.

Indulgence vs. Restraint (2010)

• Indicates the extent a culture allows access to the enjoyment of natural human drives.
• High score means open access to indulgence.
• Low score is restrained and conservative in personal gratification.

Triandis (2001)

• Triandis (2001) identified four categories of individualism versus collectivism.
• Horizontal individualism: Members are unique and mostly of the same status.
• Vertical Individualism: Members are unique but it is possible to distinguish yourself by status in a social hierarchy.
• Horizontal collectivism: Members merge with the in-group and have the same status.
• Vertical collectivism: Members merge with the in-group and submit to authority.

Berry and Katz

• Aim: comparing cultures, the Tenme people of Sierra Leone and Inuit people from Baffin Island, in their individualistic or collectivistic character and subsequent conformity.
• Inuits - highly individualistic due to the hunting and fishing and low food accumulation.
• Tenme people - collectivist rice farmers who harvest one crop a year, share all of what they harvest within their society.
• Procedure: examining the individualism score and administering the Asch paradigm to check for conformity.
• Tenme people had a highly significant tendency to accept the suggestion of the cultural norm - conformity
• The Inuit group disregarded the suggestion of the cultural norm, being individuals.
• The level of individualism characteristic of a group affects its members’ behavior, in this case conformity.

Meeuwesen, van der Brink-Muinen and Hofstede (2009)

• Meeuwesen, van der Brink-Muinen and Hofstede (2009) investigated if Hofstede’s dimensions could predict cross-national differences in patient-doctor communication.
• Researches collected data from 10 diverse European countries.
• Higher a country’s PDI score, the less unexpected information was shared and the shorter the consultation.
• In low PDI score countries the doctors conveyed more information to patients through more flexible communication styles and consultations lasted significantly longer.
• In individualistic cultures, patients are more likely to speak openly and be involved in decisions about their care.
• In collectivist cultures, communication is often more indirect, and patients tend to rely more on the doctor's authority
• National cultural dimensions, particularly power distance and individualism, significantly predict differences in doctor-patient communication styles across countries
• Method triangulation is a studying phenomenon using both quantitative and qualitative methods - it improves confidence in the results, as we are able to holistically look at one issue.

Socialization

• Socialization is the process of becoming a member of a social group.
• Primary socialization occurs in the family, where children learn basic rules and norms.
• Primary Socialization determines prosocial or antisocial behaviors and the main force is family, school & peers.
• Children learn from their first relationships how to create and nurture relationships, mediate disputes, and navigate ethical conventions.
• Socialization monitors behavior to conform with norms, like saying "please" and "thank you," and respecting social conventions.
• Witnessing a parent expressing racism - the child may internalize that behavior as accepting.
• Secondary socialization involves the larger community and the media, indirectly influencing adherence to norms.
• Secondary socialization influences behavior by affecting or reinforcing transmission of norms from primary forces.
• Reinforcing secondary socialization shows positive norms while detracting secondary socialization models antisocial behavior.
• Secondary socialization is important for beliefs, behaviors, identities, and attitudes apart from family and close friends.
• Group socialization is a form of secondary socialization where the peer group influences personality and behavior.
• Theories of socialization include gender socialization, where children learn gender-appropriate attitudes, and cultural socialization, where children learn about their heritage.

Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner)

• This theory explains how group membership influences self-definition, leading to in-group favoritism.
• Membership can have positive or negative associations. An individual’s identity is viewed as a collective value (salience) of their group.
• Individuals assess in-group membership value through social comparison with the out-group.
• Social groups can be permeable or impermeable, defining the possibility of exiting the group.

Tajfel et al (1971)

• Tajfel et al (1971) investigated the practical validity of SIT in explaining in-group favoritism.
• Participants were 48 boys asked to rate 12 paintings by Kandinsky and Klee.
• They were told they preferred either Klee or Kandinsky and then randomly allocated.
• Each boy had to award points to two other boys, one from his group, one from the other group, knowing the group the other boys belonged to.
• Maximizing joint profit: high value, but higher profit to out-group
• Maximizing in-group profit: mid-range value for in-group and out-group
• Maximizing difference: low value for in-group, only 1 point to out-group
• Boys were reluctant to rate in ways that would generate maximum joint profit.
• When given the choice between maximizing joint profit and maximizing in-group profit, they favored their own group.
• When given the choice of maximizing the difference in reward against profit for all, the boys were willing to give their own team fewer points, because they wanted to maximize their different between the in-group and out-group.
• Out-group discrimination is easy to trigger and a minimal group is all that is necessary for discrimination.

Social Cognition

• Social Cognition is the study of how people perceive, analyze, interpret, and think in terms of the social world they live in.
• Behaviour determines something a dead man can’t do and people are cognitive misers, engage in automatic and controlled thinking & seek consistency in behavior.
• Self-esteem guides human behavior.

Behavioralism

• Behaviorism focuses on observable behaviors learned through environmental interactions.
• Classical conditioning: Neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus paired with an unconditioned stimulus which produces a conditioned response.
• Operant conditioning: Learning through consequences, behavior is strengthened by rewards or weakened by punishments.

Social Cognitive Theory (Albert Bandura)

• This framework explains how norms, behaviors, attitudes, and identities are transmitted between group members through direct or indirect learning.
• Triadic reciprocal determinism model: mutual influence between personal, behavioral, and environmental factors.
• Individuals can control actions, have forethought, regulate behavior, and reflect.
• One can learn through mistakes and successes of others through vicarious learning.
• Observational learning takes place when a behavior is replicated as a model, depending on retention, reproduction and perceived self-efficacy.
• Self-efficacy derives from mastery of experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasion, and emotional/physical states, and motivation stems from reinforcement through reward or punishment.

Bandura, Ross & Ross (1961)

• Bandura, Ross & Ross (1961) investigated observational learning in children with an aggressive adult model.
• Children observed an aggressive or non-aggressive model or no model at all for 10 minutes.
• Children in the aggressive condition showed more imitative acts of aggression toward a Bobo doll.
• There was more same-sex imitation of aggressive behavior.
• Aggression can result from observational learning in one setting and carried over to another.

Bandura (1965)

• Bandura (1965) examined the role of reinforcement in social learning of aggression.
• Children either saw the aggressive model rewarded, punished, or not reacted to.
• Children in the punishment condition were significantly less aggressive, reinforcement affects behavior.

Social Stereotypes

• Stereotypes are simplified and generalized abstractions about social groups.
• Stereotypes are helpful to organize and make sense of the world but can lead to unfair treatment.
• Schemas can be updated through new experiences or second-hand information.
• New schema will be more accessible. Priming: recent experience will increase accessibility of a schema.

Origins of Stereotypes

• Social identity theory suggests cognitive bias where out-groups are seen as having similar (negative) traits.
• Conformity influences conforming to stereotypes assumed true about out-groups.
• Grain of truth hypothesis: gatekeeper or personal experiences have some basis in reality, interaction with one individual is used to define the entire group.
• Illusory correlations: perceiving a trait to be related to a group, when such a relation is not real.
• Confirmation bias makes stereotypes more resistant to change.

Hamilton and Gifford (1976)

• Hamilton and Gifford (1976) investigated the formation of illusory correlations and stereotype formation.
• Participants listened to statements about Group A (majority) and Group B (minority) with the same proportion of positive and negative comments.
• The participants overestimated negative traits in the minority group because negative behaviors of the smaller group appeared more distinctive and representative of the entire group.
• Illusory correlations lead to stereotype formation, associating negative behaviors with minority groups even with no actual difference in behavior.

Schaller (1991)

• Schaller (1991) examined how group membership influences stereotype formation and recall.
• Participants were assigned to a group and presented with statements about positive and negative behaviors of in-group and out-group members.
• Participants exhibited in-group bias, recalling more positive behaviors of their own group and more negative behaviors of the out-group.
• Social categorization influences memory, reinforcing stereotypes.

Stereotypes and Behavior

• Stereotypes work as cognitive schemas that influence how people interact in social groups, affecting information processing and memory.
• Shapes behavior through top-down processing, affecting how information is processed and recalled which influences both the person holding the stereotype and the person being stereotyped.
• Major effects of stereotypes on behavior: stereotype threat, self-fulfilling prophecy, and memory distortion.

Steele and Aronson (1995)

• Steele and Aronson (1995) examined the impact of stereotype threat on test performance.
• White and African American students were given a verbal test under different conditions.
• Awareness of stereotypes increases anxiety, negatively affecting cognitive performance for African American students when the test was framed in a way that assessed their abilities.

Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968)

• Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) investigated self-fulfilling prophecy in academic performance.
• Teachers were falsely told certain students were “academic bloomers”.
• Students labelled as bloomers showed higher IQ scores, stereotypes can shape reality by influencing behavior in ways that lead individuals to conform to expectations.

Charlton et al. (2002)

• Charlton et al. (2002) investigated if violent television would increase aggression in children on St. Helena after television was introduced.
• Children were exposed to the same level of violence as the UK.
• After five years, there was no significant increase in aggressive behavior.
• Social learning doesn't always translate directly into behavior, as cultural and social factors mediate effects.

Smith and Lloyd (1978)

• Smith and Lloyd (1978) investigated gender enculturation and how gender labeling influences parental behavior.
• Mothers played with a baby dressed in clothing that did not match their biological sex.
• Mothers chose toys matching their perception of the child’s gender.
• The gender expectations are reinforced from infancy, influencing how children are socialized into their gender roles.

Fagot (1978)

• Fagot (1978) investigated how parents respond to gender-nonconforming behavior.
• Parents reacted more positively when their child engaged in same-sex-preferred behaviors.
• Parents reinforce gender norms through responses to children’s behavior, often without conscious awareness of it.

Acculturation and Berry's Model

• This involves adapting to a new culture, often with stress, mitigated by social support, resilience, language, and cultural similarity.
• Berry’s Model has four outcomes: integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization.

Miranda and Matheny (2000)

• Miranda and Matheny (2000) examined factors reducing acculturative stress among Latino immigrants.
• Immigrants with strong English, coping skills, and family support had lower acculturative stress.

Kraeh et al. (2016)

• Kraeh et al. (2016) investigated the relationship between acculturation and health among North Korean refugees.
• Higher acculturation was associated with better psychological health, high-pressure environment led to initial decline in physical health.
• Acculturation can improve mental well-being, the process itself may be physically demanding though.

Studies and Theories Overview

• Social Identity Theory - Tajfel et al. + Schaller
• Social groups - Tajfel et al.
• Social Cognitive Theory - Bandura et al + Bandura + Charlton et al.
• Stereotypes and Behavior - Steele & Aronson + Rosenthal & Jacobson
• Formation of Stereotypes - Hamilton & Gifford + Tajfel et al.
• Cultural origins of behavior and effect on behavior- Cohen et al + Berry & Katz
• Cultural groups and behavior - Berry & Katz
• Cultural dimensions - Berry & Katz, Meeuwesen, van der Brink-Muinen and Hofstede (2009)
• Enculturation - Smith and Lloyd, Fagot
• Acculturation - Miranda & Matheny, Kraeh et al

Study Strengths & Limitations

• Steele & Aronson (1995): Strong internal validity and clear causal link but low ecological validity and ethical concerns.
• Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968): Demonstrates self-fulfilling prophecy, longitudinal, influential, but has ethical concerns.
• Hamilton & Gifford (1976): Explains illusory correlation with controlled experiment, but artificial task and lacks real-world complexity.
• Schaller (1991): Demonstrates in-group bias with well-controlled conditions, but has low ecological validity.
• Bandura, Ross & Ross (1961): Strong evidence for observational learning, replicable with matched pairs controlled for the potential confounding variable of individual differences in aggression, applicable, data triangulation - increased reliability but lacks ecological validity and has ethical concerns.
• Bandura (1965): Reinforcement impacts learning but lacks realism and raises ethical concerns.
• Charlton et al. (2002): High ecological validity and long-term study but contradicts SCT.
• Tajfel et al. (1971): Supports SIT and is well-controlled, but artificial setting and lacks complexity.
• Smith & Lloyd (1978): Highlights gender stereotyping and supports enculturation with a controlled setting, but has a small sample.
• Fagot (1978): Strong naturalistic observation and supports gender role learning, but cannot establish causality and observer bias is possible.
• Cohen et al. (1996): Supports culture of honor and adds physiological data, but limited to specific populations.
• Miranda & Matheny (2000): Identifies protective factors and uses a large sample, but has self-report bias.
• Kraeh et al. (2016): Links acculturation to health,has a large sample and uses medical data, but it is correlational.
• Hsu & Barker (2013): Shows cultural shift and supports acculturation research, but relies on interpretation.
• Berry & Katz (1967): Supports collectivism-individualism differences and uses a cross-cultural approach, but lacks ecological validity
• Meeuwesen, van den Brink-Muinen & Hofstede (2009): Large sample and cross-cultural comparison, but lacks control over external factors.

Summary of Theory Strengths & Weaknesses

• Social Identity Theory (SIT): Explains in-group favoritism and out-group discrimination but studies are artificial.
• Social Cognitive Theory (SCT): Demonstrates learning through observation, explains cultural spread of norms, but experiments may not reflect real life.
• Stereotypes: Explains formation of social beliefs, supported by research, but effects can be ethically sensitive.
• Cultural Dimensions (Hofstede): Provides framework to compare cultures, widely used, based on cross-national datasets, but may be too simplistic.
• Enculturation: Explains how we learn cultural values, connects well to SCT, but studies use narrow samples.
• Acculturation (Berry’s Model): Explains adaptation in new environments, useful in immigration, but outcomes are complex.