FOURTH EDITION CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY CRITICAL THINKING AND CONTEMPORARY APPLICATIONS Eric B. Shiraev George Mason University Northern Virginia Community College David A. Levy Pepperdine University Allyn & Bacon Boston • New York • San Francisco Mexico City • Montreal • Toronto • London • Madrid • Munich • Paris Hong Kong • Singapore • Tokyo • Cape Town • Sydney Senior Acquisitions Editor: Stephen Frail Editorial Assistant: Kerri Hart-Morris Senior Marketing Manager: Jeanette Koskinas Production Assistant: Maggie Brobeck Manufacturing Buyer: Renata Butera Cover Designer: Jayne Conte Cover Photo: Raycat/Istockphoto.com Electronic Composition: Integra Software Services Pvt Ltd. Copyright © 2010, 2007, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Allyn & Bacon, 75 Arlington Street, Suite 300, Boston, MA 02116 All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner. To obtain permission(s) to use material from this work, please submit a written request to Pearson Higher Education, Rights and Contracts Department, 501 Boylston Street, Suite 900, Boston, MA 02116, or fax your request to 617-671-3447. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shiraev, Eric, 1960– Cross-cultural psychology : critical thinking and contemporary applications / Eric Shiraev, David Levy. —4th ed. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-0-205-66569-3 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-205-66569-1 (alk. paper) 1. Ethnopsychology—Methodology. I. Levy, David A., 1954– II. Title. GN502.S475 2010 155.8—dc22 2008048514 10987654321 [HAM] 13 12 11 10 09 ISBN-10: 0-205-66569-1 ISBN-13: 978-0-205-66569-3 CONTENTS Preface ix Acknowledgments xiii Chapter 1 Understanding Cross-Cultural Psychology 1 What Is Cross-Cultural Psychology? 2 Basic Definitions 3 Culture 3 Society, Race, and Ethnicity 4 Knowledge in Cross-Cultural Psychology 6 Cultural Traditionalism 9 Empirical Examination of Culture 11 Collectivism and Individualism: Further Research 13 Cultural Syndromes 14 Evolutionary Approach 14 Sociological Approach 15 Ecocultural Approach 16 The Cultural Mixtures Approach: A New Cross-Cultural Psychology in the Twenty-First Century? 18 The Integrative Approach: A Summary 19 Indigenous Psychology 21 Ethnocentrism 21 Multiculturalism 21 A Brief History of the Field 22 Chapter 2 Methodology of Cross-Cultural Research 27 Goals of Cross-Cultural Research 28 Quantitative Research in Cross-Cultural Psychology 29 Quantitative Approach: Measurement Scales 29 Quantitative Approach: Looking for Links and Differences 30 Qualitative Approach in Cross-Cultural Psychology 31 Major Steps for Preparation of a Cross-Cultural Study 32 Sample Selection 33 Observation in Cross-Cultural Psychology 35 Survey Methods 36 Experimental Studies 38 iii iv Contents Content-Analysis 38 Focus-Group Methodology 39 Meta-Analysis: Research of Research 40 A Hidden Obstacle of Cross-Cultural Studies: Test Translation 40 Comparing Two Phenomena: Some Important Principles 42 On Similarities and Differences: Some Critical Thinking Applications 43 Cultural Dichotomies 44 There Are Fewer Differences than One Might Think 44 There Are More Differences than One Might Expect 45 Avoiding Bias of Generalizations 45 Know More about Cultures You Examine 47 Chapter 3 Critical Thinking in Cross-Cultural Psychology 53 The Evaluative Bias of Language: To Describe Is to Prescribe 54 Differentiating Dichotomous Variables and Continuous Variables: Black and White, or Shades of Gray? 57 The Similarity–Uniqueness Paradox: All Phenomena Are Both Similar and Different 59 The Barnum Effect: “One-Size-Fits-All” Descriptions 61 The Assimilation Bias: Viewing the World through Schema-Colored Glasses 63 The Representativeness Bias: Fits and Misfits of Categorization 65 The Availability Bias: The Persuasive Power of Vivid Events 68 The Fundamental Attribution Error: Underestimating the Impact of External Influences 71 The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: When Expectations Create Reality 74 Correlation Does Not Prove Causation: Confusing “What” with “Why” 76 Bidirectional Causation and Multiple Causation: Causal Loops and Compound Pathways 79 Bidirectional Causation 79 Multiple Causation 80 The Naturalistic Fallacy: Blurring the Line between “Is” and “Should” 82 The Belief Perseverance Effect: “Don’t Confuse Me with the Facts!” 85 Conclusions: “To Metathink or Not to Metathink?” 88 Contents v Chapter 4 Cognition: Sensation, Perception, and States of Consciousness 93 Sensation and Perception: Basic Principles 94 How Culture Influences What We Perceive 95 How People Perceive Pictures 97 Perception of Depth 98 Are People Equally Misled by Visual Illusions? 99 Some Cultural Patterns of Drawing 100 Perception of Color 100 Other Senses 103 Hearing 103 Taste 103 Smell 103 Touch 104 Perception of Time 105 Perception of the Beautiful 106 Perception of Music 108 Consciousness and Culture 109 Sleep and Cultural Significance of Dreams 110 Beyond Altered States of Consciousness 114 Chapter 5 Intelligence 120 Defining Intelligence 121 Ethnic Differences in IQ Scores 123 Explaining Group Differences in Test Scores: Intelligence and Intelligent Behavior 125 Do Biological Factors Contribute to Intelligence? 126 Incompatibility of Tests: Cultural Biases 127 A Word about “Cultural Literacy” 128 Environment and Intelligence 129 Socioeconomic Factors 130 The Family Factor 131 “Natural Selection” and IQ Scores 133 Cultural Values of Cognition 133 General Cognition: What Is “Underneath” Intelligence? 137 Classification 137 Sorting 137 Memory 138 vi Contents Formal and Mathematical Reasoning 138 Creativity 139 Cognitive Skills, School Grades, and Educational Systems 140 Culture, Tests, and Motivation 141 IQ, Culture, and Social Justice 143 And in the End, Moral Values 145 Chapter 6 Emotion 150 When We Laugh We Are Happy: Similarities of Emotional Experience 152 You Cannot Explain Pain If You Have Never Been Hurt: Differences in Emotional Experience 154 Emotions: Different or Universal? 157 Physiological Arousal 157 The Meaning of Preceding Events 158 Emotion as an Evaluation 161 We Are Expected to Feel in a Particular Way 162 How People Assess Emotional Experience 163 When Emotions Signal a Challenge: Cross-Cultural Research on Stress and Anxiety 164 Expression of Emotion 165 When Emotion Hurts: Cross-Cultural Studies of Anger 168 Emotion and Inclination to Act 169 Emotion and Judgment 169 Chapter 7 Motivation and Behavior 172 A Glance into Evolution 173 Social Science: See the Society First 174 Drive and Arousal: Two Universal Mechanisms of Motivation 174 The Power of the Unconscious: Psychoanalysis 175 Humanistic Theories 176 Learning and Motivation 178 A Carrot and a Beef Tongue: Hunger and Food Preference 178 When Hunger Causes Distress: Eating Disorders 179 Victory and Harmony: Achievement Motivation 180 Aggressive Motivation and Violence 183 Culture and Sexuality 188 Sex and Sexuality: Some Cross-Cultural Similarities 191 Contents vii Chapter 8 Human Development and Socialization 195 Development and Socialization 196 Quality of Life and the Child’s Development 196 Norms, Customs, and Child Care 197 Parental Values and Expectations 199 Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development 200 Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development 202 Stages of Moral Development According to Kohlberg 203 Developmental Stages 204 Life before Birth: Prenatal Period 205 First Steps: Infancy 206 Discovering the World: Childhood 209 Major Rehearsal: Adolescence 211 Adulthood 214 Late Adulthood 216 Chapter 9 Psychological Disorders 221 American Background: DSM-IV 222 Two Views on Culture and Psychopathology 223 Central and Peripheral Symptoms: An Outcome of the Debate between Universalists and Relativists 225 Culture-Bound Syndromes 226 Anxiety Disorders 230 Depressive Disorders 232 Schizophrenia 235 Culture and Suicide 236 Personality Disorders 239 Is Substance Abuse Culturally Bound? 244 Psychodiagnostic Biases 246 Psychotherapy 247 Culture Match? 249 Chapter 10 Social Perception and Social Cognition 255 Values 256 Western and Non-Western Values 258 Striving for Consistency: The Cognitive Balance Theory 260 Avoiding Inconsistency: Cognitive Dissonance 260 Psychological Dogmatism 261 viii Contents Social Attribution 261 Attribution as Locus of Control 262 Attribution of Success and Failure 264 Self-Perception 266 Do Social Norms Affect the Way We See Our Own Body? 267 Duty and Fairness in Individualist and Collectivist Cultures 268 Stereotypes and the Power of Generalizations 270 On “National Character” 272 Chapter 11 Social Interaction 277 Universal Interaction 278 Direct Contacts 281 Conformity 282 Is Conformity Universal across Cultures? 284 Following Orders 288 Social Influence 289 Feeling Good about Some Views 291 Is Social Loafing Universal? 292 Cooperation and Competition 292 Leadership 293 Chapter 12 Applied Cross-Cultural Psychology: Some Highlights 299 Health 300 Spirituality, Science, and Health 303 Business Decisions 306 Working with Immigrants 309 Education 312 Culture, Behavior, and the Law 313 Human Rights 314 Working and Serving Abroad 316 Religion: A Campus Context 318 Conclusion 319 References 322 Author Index 352 Subject Index 357 PREFACE Welcome to cross-cultural psychology of the Twenty-first century. The field is new and exciting, fascinating in its content, important in its applications, challenging