Exam #3: Chapters 9-12; PSY 342

Chapter 9:

• Field of Dependence 

  • Tendency to rely on external cues (the "field") for perception and decision-making.

    • Example: Struggling to find a shape embedded in a complex background.

    • Cultural Note: More common in collectivist cultures.

• Field of Independence

  • Ability to separate details from surrounding context and focus on specific elements.

    • Example: Easily identifying a shape hidden in a complex image.

    • Cultural Note: More common in individualist cultures.

• Analytic Thinking

  • Focuses on objects and their attributes, using rules and logic to understand them.

    • Example: Categorizing objects based on shape or function.

    • Cultural Link: Common in Western cultures (linked to field independence and low-context cultures).

• Holistic Thinking

  • Focuses on context and relationships between elements.

    • Example: Understanding behavior by considering environment and relationships.

    • Cultural Link: Common in East Asian cultures (linked to field dependence and high-context cultures).

• Taxonomic Categorization

  • Grouping items based on shared properties.

    • Example: Grouping a panda and a monkey because they’re both animals.

    • Cultural Note: Favored by analytic thinkers.

• Thematic Categorization

  • Grouping items based on relationships or context.

    • Example: Grouping a monkey and a banana because monkeys eat bananas.

    • Cultural Note: Favored by holistic thinkers.

• Dispositional Attribution

  • Explaining behavior by internal traits or personality.

    • Example: “He failed because he’s lazy.”

    • Cultural Link: More common in individualist cultures.

• Situational Attribution

  • Explaining behavior by external circumstances.

    • Example: “He failed because of a family emergency.”

    • Cultural Link: More common in collectivist cultures.

• Fundamental Attribution Error

  • Tendency to overemphasize dispositional factors and underestimate situational ones when explaining others’ behavior.

    • Example: Assuming someone is rude without considering they had a bad day.

    • Cultural Insight: More prevalent in individualist (low-context) cultures.

• High Context Culture

  • Relies heavily on implicit communication, shared experiences, and nonverbal cues.

    • Example: Japan, where meaning often depends on context.

    • Related to: Holistic thinking and field dependence.

• Low Context Culture

  • Relies on explicit, direct communication where everything is spelled out.

    • Example: U.S., where clarity and directness are valued.

    • Related to: Analytic thinking and field independence.

• Language and Thought

  • Idea that language influences how we think and what we pay attention to.

    • Connection: Tied to the Whorfian Hypothesis.

• Language and Perception

  • How language shapes how we perceive the world, including colors, time, and space.

    • Example: Some languages have more words for shades of blue, affecting how speakers perceive them.

• Saccades

  • Rapid eye movements during visual scanning.

    • Cultural Note: Research shows Westerners tend to focus more on focal objects (analytic), while East Asians scan scenes more broadly (holistic).

• Naive Dialecticism

  • Acceptance of contradiction and change in beliefs.

    • Example: Believing both sides of an argument can be valid.

    • Cultural Note: Common in East Asian cultures; contrasts with Western emphasis on consistency.

• Whorfian Hypothesis of Linguistic Relativity

  • Language shapes thought and perception.

  • Strong version: Language determines thought.

  • Weak version: Language influences thought.

    • Example: Inuit languages have multiple words for snow, possibly affecting snow perception.

• Categorical Perception

  • Tendency to perceive stimuli as belonging to distinct categories, even when differences are gradual.

    • Example: Hearing "ba" vs. "pa" as entirely different sounds.

    • Connection: Shaped by native language and tied to language-perception interaction.

Key Connections to Know:

• Analytic vs. Holistic Thinking → connects to field (in)dependence, categorization, attribution styles, and context culture types.

• Language and Thought/Perception → central to Whorfian Hypothesis and affects categorical perception.

• High vs. Low Context Cultures → influence communication, thinking styles, and attributions.

• Naive Dialecticism ↔ contrasts with Western logical consistency and ties into holistic thinking.

Chapter 10:

• James-Lange theory of emotions

  • Emotions result from physiological reactions to events.

    • Example: "I feel afraid because my heart is racing."

    • Cultural Insight: Emotions are rooted in the body; might be interpreted differently across cultures based on attention to internal states.

• Two-factor theory of emotions

  • Emotion arises from physical arousal plus cognitive interpretation of that arousal.

    • Example: Heart racing + seeing a bear = fear; heart racing + on a date = excitement.

    • Cultural Note: Interpretation of arousal varies by cultural norms and context.

• Universal emotions

  • Basic emotions recognized across all cultures (e.g., happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust).

    • Example: People across cultures generally recognize a smile as happiness.

    • Connected to: Evolutionary psychology and cross-cultural emotion recognition studies.

• Display rules

  • Cultural norms that dictate how, when, and where emotions should be expressed.

    • Example: In Japan, people may suppress anger in public to maintain group harmony.

    • Key Point: Emotions may be felt universally, but expressions are shaped by culture.

• Ritualized displays of emotion

  • Culturally specific expressions of emotion that don’t occur universally.

    • Example: Embarrassment in some cultures might be shown with a hand covering the face.

    • Connection: Go beyond display rules; they’re unique expressions tied to cultural norms.

• Emotional smoothness

  • Ideal in some East Asian cultures—emphasizes moderation and emotional balance to preserve harmony.

    • Example: Avoiding intense displays of happiness or sadness.

    • Contrasts with: Western ideal of emotional expressiveness and authenticity.

• Subjective well-being

  • A person’s perceived happiness or life satisfaction.

    • Components: Positive emotions, low negative emotions, and life satisfaction.

    • Cultural Note: Measured and valued differently across cultures (e.g., individual achievement vs. social harmony).

• Predictors of subjective well-being

  • Factors that influence happiness:

• Western cultures: personal achievement, self-esteem, autonomy.

• Eastern cultures: social harmony, fulfilling roles, low conflict.

  • Key Insight: What “makes people happy” varies depending on cultural values.

• Ideal Affect

  • The emotional states a culture values and promotes.

    • Example:

• U.S.: high-arousal positive states (e.g., excitement, enthusiasm).

• East Asia: low-arousal positive states (e.g., calmness, contentment).

  • Important Link: Influences everything from emotional goals to media and parenting styles.

Key Connections to Know:

• Display Rules, Ritualized Displays, and Emotional Smoothness → shape how universal emotions are expressed across cultures.

• James-Lange vs. Two-Factor Theory → help explain how people interpret bodily responses, which varies with cultural context.

• Subjective Well-Being and Ideal Affect → both influenced by cultural values (individualism vs. collectivism, arousal preferences).

• Predictors of Well-Being differ by culture → reflecting varying emotional ideals and social goals.

Chapter 11:

• Propinquity

  • Physical or psychological closeness increases the chance of forming relationships.

    • Example: You're more likely to become friends with someone who sits next to you in class.

    • Cultural Note: Matters more in low relational mobility cultures where long-term proximity influences ties.

• Mere exposure

  • The more we are exposed to something or someone, the more we tend to like it.

    • Example: Liking a song more after hearing it repeatedly.

    • Cultural Insight: Reinforces propinquity in stable, close-knit communities.

• Similarity-attraction

  • We tend to be attracted to people who are similar to us (values, beliefs, background).

    • Example: Becoming friends with someone who shares your humor or hobbies.

    • Cultural Note: Especially strong in low relational mobility cultures, where social bonds are more stable and based on similarity.

• Communal sharing

  • Relationships where people treat each other as equals and share resources freely.

    • Example: A close-knit family or small tribe where everything is shared.

    • Cultural Link: Common in collectivist and interdependent societies.

• Authority ranking

  • Relationships organized in a hierarchy; respect and obedience flow one way, while care and protection flow the other.

    • Example: Parent-child or boss-subordinate relationships.

    • Cultural Note: More emphasized in cultures with high power distance.

• Equality matching

  • ​​Relationships focused on balance and equal give-and-take.

    • Example: Splitting a dinner bill equally or taking turns helping each other.

    • Cultural Insight: Seen in peer relationships, common in East Asian or egalitarian contexts.

• High relational mobility

  • Social environments where people can freely form and leave relationships.

    • Example: In the U.S., you can make new friends often and easily.

    • Ties to: Greater focus on similarity-attraction, personal choice, and market pricing relationships.

• Low relational mobility

  • Social environments where relationships are stable, long-lasting, and harder to change.

    • Example: A small town or workplace where social circles rarely change.

    • Leads to: More reliance on propinquity, mere exposure, and harmony.

• Market Pricing

  • Relationships based on proportional exchange, costs, and benefits—like transactions.

    • Example: Paying someone for tutoring services.

    • Cultural Link: More common in individualist, high-relational-mobility cultures

• Simpático

  • A cultural script emphasizing kindness, politeness, and social harmony in relationships.

    • Example: In many Latin American cultures, being warm and agreeable is socially valued, even over directness.

    • Connection: Promotes social smoothness and collective cohesion.

Key Connections to Know:

• Propinquity, Mere Exposure, and Similarity-Attraction → help explain how relationships start and are maintained.

• High vs. Low Relational Mobility → influences which of the above factors matter most (freedom of choice vs. maintaining harmony).

• Fiske’s Four Relationship Models:

  • Communal Sharing

  • Authority Ranking

  • Equality Matching

  • Market Pricing → foundational for understanding how different cultures structure relationships.

• Simpático → reflects emotional and interpersonal ideals in specific cultural contexts (e.g., Latin America).

Chapter 12:

• Secularization Theory

  • As societies become more modern, religious influence declines.

    • Cultural Insight: Western societies have shown this trend, but it's not universal—many non-Western cultures remain highly religious.

• Preconventional Moral Reasoning

  • Moral decisions based on personal consequences (reward/punishment).

    • Example: “Don’t steal because you’ll get in trouble.”

    • Common in: Young children; across cultures at early developmental stages.

• Conventional Moral Reasoning

  • Moral decisions based on societal rules and social approval.

    • Example: “Don’t steal because it’s against the law.”

    • Cultural Note: Aligns with ethic of community in collectivist societies.

•  Postconventional Moral Reasoning

  • Moral decisions based on abstract principles (justice, human rights).

    • Example: “Stealing might be wrong, but if it's to save a life, it may be justified.”

    • Cultural Note: Valued in individualistic cultures; less common globally than previously assumed.

• Ethic of Autonomy

  • Morality focused on individual rights, freedom, and justice.

    • Example: Belief that everyone has the right to make personal choices.

    • Common in: Western, individualist cultures.

• Ethic of Community

  • Morality based on duties, roles, and loyalty to one's group or community.

    • Example: Putting family needs before personal desires.

    • Common in: Collectivist cultures (e.g., East Asia, Latin America).

• Ethic of Divinity

  • Morality grounded in religious or spiritual beliefs, with focus on purity, sin, and sacredness.

    • Example: Avoiding behavior considered sinful in a religion.

    • Strong in: Highly religious cultures and orthodox communities.

• Orthodox

  • Value tradition, fixed moral codes, and authority (especially religious).

    • Example: Following scripture literally.

    • Connected to: Ethic of Divinity, Respecting Authority, Achieving Purity.

• Progressive

  • Value change, personal experience, and reinterpretation of traditions.

    • Example: Adapting religious teachings to modern life.

    • Connected to: Ethic of Autonomy, Postconventional Reasoning.

• Avoiding Harm

  • Core moral concern with preventing suffering or injury to others.

    • Example: Opposing violence or abuse.

    • Universal, but emphasized differently by culture.

• Protecting Fairness

  • Concern with justice, rights, and equal treatment.

    • Example: Protesting discrimination.

    • Linked to: Ethic of Autonomy, often emphasized in Western cultures.

• Loyalty to Ingroups

  • Valuing commitment, support, and duty to one’s group (family, nation, etc.).

    • Example: Defending your team or country no matter what.

    • Connected to: Ethic of Community, Conventional Reasoning.

• Respecting Authority

  • Upholding social order and obeying tradition or hierarchy.

    • Example: Deferring to elders or leaders.

    • Prominent in: Collectivist cultures, and Orthodox communities.

• Achieving Purity

  • Concern with spiritual or physical cleanliness, avoiding degradation or sin.

    • Example: Ritual washing, dietary laws.

    • Key to: Ethic of Divinity and religious moral codes.

• Calling

  • Belief that one has a spiritual or moral duty to fulfill a specific role or career.

    • Example: Becoming a teacher or nurse out of a sense of moral purpose.

    • Rooted in: Protestant ethics; linked to religion, morality, and identity.

Key Connections to Know:

• Three Ethics (Autonomy, Community, Divinity) → Framework for understanding moral reasoning across cultures.

• Pre-, Conventional, Postconventional → Reflect developmental and cultural differences in moral reasoning.

• Orthodox vs. Progressive → Reflect how religious values influence moral views (Divinity vs. Autonomy).

• Moral Foundations (Haidt):

  • Avoiding Harm & Protecting Fairness → tie to Autonomy

  • Loyalty, Authority, Purity → tie to Community & Divinity

Calling → Can blend Divinity and Community, depending on motivation.