Social Psych Ch. 2 - Culture & Nature

Differentiate the sociocultural and evolutionary perspectives

Sociocultural perspective: our psychology is shaped by societal norms and focuses on differences across societies
Evolutionary perspectives: our psychology is shaped by evolution and focuses on similarities across societies

Differentiate collectivist and independent cultures

Collectivist: external reasons for behavior and connection with others
Independent: internal reasons for behavior and being different with others

In Miyamoto & Kitayama's (2002) study, what was the main finding regarding how American and Japanese participants responded to essays on capital punishment?

Both American and Japanese participants tended to make dispositional attributions. Americans showed a stronger tendency for the Fundamental Attribution Error compared to Japanese participants.

In Sedikides et al. (2003), how did self-enhancement differ between American and Japanese participants when ranking traits?

Americans self-enhanced traits related to individualism, such as being self-reliant and independent, while Japanese participants self-enhanced traits related to social harmony, like being cooperative and respectful.

Describe the products of evolution

Variation: random changes in genes through mutations
Inheritance: genes that are passed down reliably from P to O and focuses on heritability
Natural & sexual selection: survive & reproduce more

Differentiate proximate and ultimate explanations

Proximate: focusing on the immediate reasons for behavior, questions about how a behavior occurs, and referencing to current factors
Ultimate: focusing on the distant reasons for behavior, questions about why a behavior occurs, and referencing to distant factors

Differentiate social and cultural animals

Social animals: seek connection with others and being social offers evolutionary benefits
Cultural animals: evolution enabled humans to create culture and culture is the essence of what makes us human

Describe what "putting people first" means from a social psychological perspective

Relying on others as a source of knowledge, that affects how our senses are designed, and most sense organs have a tradeoff