scholarly journals Social context and culture influence judgments of non-Duchenne smiles

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-321
Author(s):  
Shushi Namba ◽  
Magdalena Rychlowska ◽  
Anna Orlowska ◽  
Hillel Aviezer ◽  
Eva G. Krumhuber

Abstract Extant evidence points toward the role of contextual information and related cross-cultural variations in emotion perception, but most of the work to date has focused on judgments of basic emotions. The current research examines how culture and situational context affect the interpretation of emotion displays, i.e. judgments of the extent to which ambiguous smiles communicate happiness versus polite intentions. We hypothesized that smiles associated with contexts implying happiness would be judged as conveying more positive feelings compared to smiles paired with contexts implying politeness or smiles presented without context. In line with existing research on cross-cultural variation in contextual influences, we also expected these effects to be larger in Japan than in the UK. In Study 1, British participants viewed non-Duchenne smiles presented on their own or paired with background scenes implying happiness or the need to be polite. Compared to face-only stimuli, happy contexts made smiles appear more genuine, whereas polite contexts led smiles to be seen as less genuine. Study 2 replicated this result using verbal vignettes, showing a similar pattern of contextual effects among British and Japanese participants. However, while the effects of vignettes describing happy situations was comparable in both cultures, the influence of vignettes describing polite situations was stronger in Japan than the UK. Together, the findings document the importance of context information in judging smile expressions and highlight the need to investigate how culture moderates such influences.

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 749-766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petia Paramova ◽  
Herbert Blumberg

Guided by gaps in the literature with regard to the study of politicians the aim of the research is to explore cross-cultural differences in political leaders’ style. It compares the MLQ (Avolio & Bass, 2004) scores of elected political leaders (N = 140) in Bulgaria and the UK. The statistical exploration of the data relied on multivariate analyses of covariance. The findings of comparisons across the two groups reveal that compared to British political leaders, Bulgarian leaders were more likely to frequently use both transactional and passive/avoidant behaviours. The study tests Bass’s (1997) strong assertion about the universality of transformational leadership. It contributes to the leadership literature by providing directly measured data relating to the behaviours of political leaders. Such information on the characteristics of politicians could allow for more directional hypotheses in subsequent research, exploring the contextual influences within transformational leadership theory. The outcomes might also aid applied fields. Knowledge gained of culturally different leaders could be welcomed by multicultural political and economic unions, wherein understanding and allowances might aid communication.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 957-991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Pérez-Sobrino ◽  
Jeannette Littlemore ◽  
David Houghton

Abstract To date, research in advertising has focussed almost exclusively on metaphor, with linguists and marketing scholars paying very little attention to alternative types of figurative expression. Beyond the finding that metaphor leads to an increased appreciation of advertisements, there has been surprisingly little research into how consumer response is affected by metonymy, or by metaphor–metonymy interactions. In this article, we present findings from a study that investigated the depth to which participants (n = 90) from a range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds (the UK, Spain, and China) were found to process 30 real-world adverts featuring creative metaphor and metonymy in multimodal format. We focus on the cross-cultural variation in terms of time taken to process, appreciation and perceived effectiveness of adverts, and on individual differences explained by different levels of need for cognition. We found significant variation in the understanding of advertisements containing metaphor, metonymy, and combinations of the two, between subjects and across nationalities in terms of (i) processing time, (ii) overall appeal, and (iii) the way in which participants interpreted the advertisements.


2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 955-971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tieyuan Guo ◽  
Roy Spina

Previous research has discussed cultural differences in moderacy vs extremity response styles. The present research found that cultural differences in response styles were more complex than previously speculated. We investigated cross-cultural variations in extreme rejecting versus affirming response biases. Although research has indicated that overall Chinese have less extreme responses than Westerners, the difference may be mainly driven by extreme rejecting responses because respondents consider answering survey questions as a way of interacting with researchers, and extreme rejecting responses may disrupt harmony in relationships, which is valued more in Chinese collectivistic culture than in Western individualistic cultures. Studies 1 and 2 revealed that Chinese had less extreme rejecting response style than did British, whereas they did not differ in extreme affirming response style. Study 2 further revealed that the cross-cultural asymmetry in extreme rejecting versus affirming response styles was partially accounted for by individualism orientation at the individual level. Consistently, Study 3 revealed that at the country level, individualism was positively associated with extreme rejecting response style, but was not associated with extreme affirming response style, suggesting that individualism accounted for the asymmetric cultural variation in extreme rejecting versus affirming response styles.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gul Deniz Salali ◽  
Mete Sefa Uysal

Background: Countries differ in their levels of vaccine hesitancy (a delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines), trust in vaccines, and acceptance of new vaccines. In this paper, we examine the factors contributing to the cross-cultural variation in vaccine attitudes, measured by levels of 1) general vaccine hesitancy, 2) trust in vaccines, and 3) COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Methods: We examined the relative effect of conspiracy mentality, belief in COVID-19 conspiracies, and belief in science on the above-mentioned vaccine attitudes in the UK (n= 1533), US (n= 1550), and Turkey (n= 1567) through a quota-sampled online survey to match the population for age, gender, ethnicity, and education level. Results: We found that belief in COVID-19 conspiracies and conspiracy mentality were the strongest predictors of general vaccine hesitancy across all three countries. Belief in science had the largest positive effect on general vaccine trust and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Although participants in Turkey demonstrated the lowest level of vaccine trust, their belief in science score was significantly higher than participants in the US, suggesting that belief in science cannot explain the cross-cultural variation in vaccine trust. The mean levels of conspiracy mentality and agreement with COVID-19 conspiracies were consistent with the country-level differences in general and COVID-19 vaccine attitudes. Demographic variables did not predict vaccine attitudes as much as belief in conspiracies and science. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that cross-cultural variation in vaccine hesitancy, vaccine trust, and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rates are mainly driven by differences in the prevalence of conspiratorial thinking across countries.


Author(s):  
Athanasios Chasiotis

How children obtain an understanding of mental states in others—“mindreading” or “theory of mind” (ToM)—during their cognitive development is a major concern in developmental psychology. There is also much debate about and empirical research on the developmental relationship between ToM and the set of processes that monitor and control thoughts and actions, i.e., executive functioning (EF). Until recently, little was known about the cross-cultural variation of both concepts. This chapter presents empirical findings on these concepts and takes a metacognitive perspective to clarify their relationship. A series of cross-cultural studies have been undertaken to specify the relationship between EF and ToM by verifying assumptions about the quality of conflict inhibition necessary for the development of ToM’s key aspect, false-belief understanding. The main argument is that an experience-based view of the metacognitive mechanisms involved might give a more parsimonious explanation of their relationship and their cultural variations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (8) ◽  
pp. 1960-1975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Velikova ◽  
Steve Charters ◽  
Joanna Fountain ◽  
Caroline Ritchie ◽  
Nicola Fish ◽  
...  

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test Luna and Gupta’s (2001) investigative framework on the interaction of cultural values and consumer behaviour by conducting a cross-cultural comparison of young wine consumers’ interpretation of images of champagne and sparkling wine. The research examined consumer responses to the images through the prism of the relationship between symbolism, ritual and myth, as well as other related values. Design/methodology/approach – In a series of focus groups with consumers from four anglophone countries (the USA, New Zealand, Australia and the UK), six images of champagne and sparkling wine were used as stimuli to encourage affective and cognitive perspectives on the topic. Findings – Overall, the UK market showed distinct differences from the other markets, due very much to its cultural context. The UK consumers valued traditional advertising; focused mainly on the product itself; and did not associate champagne with fun. Respondents from the New World focused on the general impression of the image and on enjoyment and fun associated with consumption of champagne and sparkling wine. Practical implications – The most crucial implication of this research is the cultural variation in consumer perceptions of champagne and sparkling wine and the impact that it has upon marketing strategies on how to market this product category to younger consumers in different markets. Originality/value – This research contributes to the study of cultural values and consumption behaviour, as well as image effectiveness in forming perceptions of the product category.


2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaimie Arona Krems ◽  
Michael E. W. Varnum

AbstractVan Lange et al. argue that variations in climate explain cross-societal variations in violence. We suggest that any approach seeking to understand cross-cultural variation in human behavior via an ecological framework must consider a wider array of ecological variables, and we find that income inequality and sex ratio are better predictors than climate of cross-societal variations in violence.


Author(s):  
Vanessa Lawrence ◽  
Joanna Murray ◽  
Anthony Klugman ◽  
Sube Banerjee

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 221-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie R. Cebula ◽  
Ai Keow Lim ◽  
Joanne M. Williams ◽  
Dagmara Annaz

AbstractChildren’s understanding of naïve psychology is the main focus of this study. Research evidence suggests that 2- and 3-year-olds understand some aspects of naïve psychology. By 4 years, they develop internal representations of mental states. Previous studies have also reported cross-cultural variations in naïve psychology development. The majority of this research has focused on Western individualistic societies such as Australia, Europe and North America, and Eastern collectivism societies such as China and Japan. Singapore with its blend of Eastern and Western values represents a unique case for comparison with Western societies. This paper reports a cross-cultural study of young children’s developing understanding of naïve psychology in Edinburgh, UK and Singapore. It addresses three main questions: (a) Are there cross-cultural differences in the development of naïve psychology?; (b) What are children’s performance sequences on naïve psychology tasks?; and (c) Are naïve psychology concepts coherent? The participants were 87 children from the UK (n=43, mean age 2 years 4 months) and Singapore (n=44, mean age 2 years 5 months). This study incorporated several established tasks of pretence, desires, emotions, perceptions, appearance-reality and false-beliefs to investigate children’s understanding of non-representational and representational mental states. The results showed no gross cross-cultural differences. However, significant cultural differences in performance on two tasks and differences in the coherence of naïve psychology concepts were identified. The results highlight the importance of considering subtle cultural influences on children’s developing understanding of various aspects of naïve psychology.


Author(s):  
Awang Rozaimie

Cross-cultural adaptation is a challenging process while sojourning abroad. The inability to understand cultural variation triggers psychological, physical or behavioral difficulties and maladjustment or misunderstanding. Socio-ecocultural underestimation is the root of intercultural resistance, stereotyping, ethnocentrism and racist sentiments among sojourners. Most of the cross-cultural adjustment studies have quantitatively demonstrated factors and predictors of adaptation success. However, the specific forms of cultural variation that impacted sojourning adaptability is blindly explained. Hence, this phenomenological paper autoethnographically observed the socio-ecocultural environment while sojourning in New Zealand. The findings highlighted that cultural awareness and sensitivity assist sojourner’s cross-cultural adaptability due to the socio-ecocultural variation.


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