Psychology 307: Cultural Psychology March 27 Lecture 20

1. Psychology 307: Cultural PsychologyMarch 27 Lecture 20

2. Reminder Paper: Topic due date: March 28 (Option A or B, 3-5 sentence summary; e-mail to your TA for approval). Paper due date: April 8. Questions?

3. Announcement Course evaluations will be available online until April 11. If you have not received an e-mail link to your evaluations, visit: https://eval.olt.ubc.ca/arts. Your feedback is extremely valuable—to the Faculty of Arts, Psychology Department, and me. I modify courses on the basis of student feedback. Please complete your evaluation for this course. Your evaluation will be anonymous and secure. To date, 1% of students have completed the evaluation.(Goal: 60% completion rate!) 3

4. A little R&R …. (Review and Reflect)

5. Perception and Cognition • Does culture influence visual perception? (continued) • Does culture influence cognition?

6. By the end of today’s class, you should be able to: 1. review evidence supporting cultural differences in “object versus field.” 2. define the terms field independence, field dependence, analytic thinking, and holistic thinking. 3. review explanations for cultural differences in field independence and field dependence.

7. 4. discuss the influence of analytic thinking and holistic thinking on categorization, attribution, prediction, and dialecticism. 5. define the terms fundamental attribution error, reverse fundamental attribution error, and hindsight bias.

8. Does culture influence visual perception? (continued) (c) Tendency to Focus on “Object versus Field” • Research (e.g., Masuda, Gonzales, et al., 2008) has demonstrated distinctions between Western and Eastern art in: • position of horizon. • size of focal object.

10. Sharma: Moghul Hunting Scene, Year Unknown

11. Da Vinci: Mona Lisa, 1503-1519

12. Manohar: Portrait of Jahangir Holding a Falcon, 1600-1610

13. Comparisons of Museum Paintings (Masuda, Gonzales, et al., 2008)

14. Similar distinctions have been observed in: • drawings by laypersons in distinct cultures. • photos taken by laypersons in distinct cultures.

15. Drawing by an American Participant(Masuda, Gonzales, et al., 2008)

16. Drawing by an East Asian Participant(Masuda, Gonzales, et al., 2008)

17. Comparisons of Student Drawings (Masuda, Gonzales, et al., 2008)

18. Photos by an American Participant(Masuda, Gonzales, et al., 2008)

19. Photos by an East Asian Participant(Masuda, Gonzales, et al., 2008)

20. Photo Comparisons (Masuda, Gonzales, et al., 2008)

21. These differences in art and photography appear to reflect cultural differences in the tendency to focus on “object versus field.”

22. The Rod and Frame Task (RFT):

23. Research suggests that people from collectivistic cultures are more likely than people from individualistic cultures to perceive the rod as tilted. E.g., Ji, Peng, and Nisbett (2000): Found that Chinese, Japanese and Korean participants made more “errors” on the RFT than European American participants.

24. In light of such findings, theorists suggest that people from individualistic cultures are relatively high in “field independence,” whereas people from collectivistic cultures are relatively high in “field dependence.”

25. Field independence: Reflects a tendency to separate the focal object from its environment and attend to its attributes. • Field dependence: Reflects a tendency to attend to the context that surrounds the focal object and the relationships among the objects in the environment.

26. The greater field independence of individualists and greater field dependence of collectivists has been demonstrated using other methodologies: • Example: Masuda and Nisbett (2001) • Recruited Japanese and American participants.

27. Instructions: Describe what you see.

28. Found that: • Americans typically started by describing the focal animal (i.e., the wolf). • Japanese typically started by describing the context (i.e., the snowy forest scene).

30. Accuracy

31. Example: Masuda, Ellsworth, et al. (2008) • Recruited Japanese and American participants. • Used an eye monitor to track participants’ eye gaze as they looked at images of cartoons.

32. How does the boy in the center feel?

33. American Gaze Japanese Gaze

35. Explanations for cultural differences field independence and dependence: (i) Socialization Members of individualistic cultures are socialized to focus on attributes that distinguish people or objects. Members of collectivistic cultures are socialized to focus on the relations among people or objects.

36. (ii) Landscape Complexity American landscapes contain fewer elements and are less ambiguous than East Asian landscapes. Accordingly, American landscapes direct attention to focal objects, whereas East Asian landscapes direct attention to the “field.” Example: Miyamoto et al. (2006):

38. Does culture influence cognition? • Cultural differences in field dependence versus independence reflect a more general cognitive difference across cultures: People from individualistic cultures tend to engage in analytic thinking, whereas people from collectivistic cultures tend to engage in holistic thinking.

39. Analytic thinking Characterized by a tendency to: (a) focus on discrete objects and their attributes and (b) use fixed abstract rules to explain and predict behaviour. • Holistic thinking Characterized by a tendency to: (a) focus on the context and (b) use the relations among objects and prior experience to explain and predict behaviour.

40. Theorists (e.g., Nisbett et al., 2001) argue that these styles of thinking have their origins in ancient Greek and Chinese civilizations, respectively. • In addition to their impact on perception (e.g., the RFT), these styles of thinking have a profound influence on a variety of cognitive processes:

41. 1. Categorization Americans are more likely than East Asians to categorize objects on the basis of their common attributes. East Asians are more likely than Americans to categorize objects on the basis of their temporal, causal, or spatial relationships.

42. 2. Attribution Americans are more likely than East Asians to attribute behaviour to the internal dispositions of the person (i.e., the fundamental attribution error). East Asians are more likely than Americans to attribute behaviour to situational factors (i.e., the reverse fundamental attribution error).

43. 3. Prediction Americans are more likely than East Asians to consider internal dispositions when making predictions about how people will behave. East Asians are more likely than Americans to consider situational factors when making predictions about how people will behave.

44. 4. Dialecticism (i.e., tolerance for contradiction) Americans are more likely than East Asians to have difficulty tolerating contradiction. Among the principles that characterize Western intellectual tradition is Aristotle’s law of non-contradiction: A ≠ not A.

45. East Asians are more likely than Americans to accept contradiction. Among the principles that characterize Asian intellectual tradition is the principle of contradiction: Because reality is in constant flux and all elements of the universe are connected to one another, contradiction ceases to exist.

46. Yin and Yang

47. By the end of today’s class, you should be able to: 1. review evidence supporting cultural differences in “object versus field.” 2. define the terms field independence, field dependence, analytic thinking, and holistic thinking. 3. review explanations for cultural differences in field independence and field dependence.

48. 4. discuss the influence of analytic thinking and holistic thinking on categorization, attribution, prediction, and dialecticism. 5. define the terms fundamental attribution error, reverse fundamental attribution error, and hindsight bias.