Why do people from different cultures think differently? Explaining cultural variation in psychological traits

为什么来自不同文化的人会有不同的想法？

基本信息

批准号：
ES/J01916X/1
负责人：
Alex Mesoudi
金额：
$ 47.07万
依托单位：
Durham University
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2013
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2013 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FJ01916X%2F1
关键词：
Why do people different cultures

项目摘要

Until recently, psychologists assumed that people from different societies all think in the same way as we do in the West - that there is a universal human psychology shared by everyone on the planet. However, when psychologists started testing non-Western people, rather than the American and British undergraduates who typically do psychology experiments, they found intriguing cultural differences. For example, there are differences in perception: Westerners focus on single objects, whereas non-Westerners focus on the relationships between objects. If you show a British and a Japanese person a scene containing lots of objects, the British person is subsequently better at recognising the objects if they are presented on their own, whereas the Japanese person has better memory if the object is presented in the original scene. Or differences in explaining other people's behaviour: Westerners explain behaviour of others in terms of fixed personality traits, whereas non-Westerners explain actions in terms of social contexts. A British teacher might explain a student's poor exam performance in terms of their laziness or lack of intelligence, whereas a Korean teacher might appeal instead to the overbearing pressure to succeed academically.But why do people from different cultures think differently? This is the central question addressed by this project. Several explanations are possible: it could be that psychological variation is caused by genetic differences between populations, and cognitive style is inherited genetically from parents. Alternatively, parents could have a non-genetic influence, through direct teaching or passive observation. Or psychological traits could be transmitted non-parentally, via peers, formal schooling, or the mass media.We will take advantage of a unique natural experiment to tease apart these factors: immigration. If the UK-born children of non-Western immigrants resemble their parents in their psychological traits, we can infer that those traits are transmitted from parents either genetically or culturally. If, on the other hand, they resemble local non-immigrants, then non-parental influence must be at work. We will then see whether this shift is associated with specific factors, such as years of schooling, exposure to mass media, or bilingualism.Another way of explaining psychological variation is in terms of history. For example, it has been suggested that Western individualism arose in ancient Greece as a response to solitary herding, whereas Eastern collectivism arose in ancient China as a response to collective rice farming. We will test this by simulating these conditions in the lab, as an experimental "microcosm" of cultural history, to see whether solitary action stimulates individualism and collective action stimulates collectivism.Finally, we will develop a web app that will let us test these ideas in multiple countries, beyond the UK, and specifically targeting immigrant groups. If these relationships hold across several regions, we can be more confident that they are valid. On the other hand, differences between regions might also be valuable. If immigrants acculturate faster in London than elsewhere, as suggested by pilot data, we can identify why this is, such as differences in mass media influence, bilingualism or family size.This project has major potential benefits for the successful integration of immigrants to the UK. Psychological differences can constitute a barrier to successful social and economic integration. For example, non-Western students can find it difficult to cope in Western educational systems that favour autonomy and creative thinking. Knowing the origin of these differences can help to overcome them better, for example by targeting parents (if parents have an influence) or the media (if the media plays a role).

直到最近，心理学家认为，来自不同社会的人们都以与我们在西方相同的方式思考 - 地球上每个人都有一种普遍的人类心理学。但是，当心理学家开始测试非西方人，而不是通常从事心理学实验的美国和英国大学生时，他们发现了有趣的文化差异。例如，感知存在差异：西方人专注于单个对象，而非西方人则将重点放在对象之间的关系上。如果您向英国人和一个日本人展示一个装有许多物体的场景，那么英国人随后会更好地识别物体，如果它们是单独呈现的，那么如果物体在原始场景中呈现，日本人会有更好的记忆。或解释他人行为的差异：西方人以固定人格特征来解释他人的行为，而非西方人则在社会环境中解释了行为。英国老师可能会从懒惰或缺乏智慧的角度来解释学生的考试不良表现，而韩国老师可能会吸引霸道的压力以在学术上取得成功。但是，不同文化的人们为什么会有所不同？这是该项目提出的核心问题。几种解释是可以的：心理变化可能是由人群之间的遗传差异引起的，而认知方式是从父母那里遗传的。另外，父母可以通过直接的教学或被动观察产生非遗传影响。或者可以通过同龄人，正规教育或大众媒体进行心理特征，可以非传播。我们将利用独特的自然实验来嘲笑这些因素：移民。如果英国出生的非西方移民的孩子在心理特征上类似于父母，我们可以推断出这些特征是从遗传或文化上传播的。另一方面，如果它们类似于当地的非移民，那么非父母的影响就必须发挥作用。然后，我们将看到这种转变是否与特定因素有关，例如多年的教育，接触大众媒体或双语性。解释心理差异的另一种方法是历史上。例如，有人提出，西方个人主义在古希腊出现是对孤立放牧的一种回应，而东方集体主义在古代中国出现，以回应集体的水稻养殖。我们将通过在实验室中模拟这些条件，作为文化历史的实验“缩影”来测试这一点，以查看单独的行动是否刺激个人主义并集体行动刺激集体主义。我们将开发一个Web应用程序，使我们可以在英国以外的多个国家（超越英国），特别是针对移民群体来测试这些思想。如果这些关系在几个地区之间存在，我们可以更有信心它们是有效的。另一方面，区域之间的差异也可能很有价值。如果正如试点数据所建议的那样，如果伦敦的移民在伦敦更快，我们可以确定为什么这样做，例如大众媒体影响力，双语或家庭规模的差异。该项目为成功整合到英国的移民而言具有重大潜在的好处。心理差异可能构成成功的社会和经济融合的障碍。例如，非西方学生很难在西方教育系统中应对，这些教育系统有利于自主和创造性的思维。了解这些差异的起源可以帮助更好地克服它们，例如，针对父母（如果父母有影响力）或媒体（如果媒体发挥作用）。