Explorations in Dynamics of Symbolic Meaning with Cultural Experiments

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pawel Boski
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural Psychology ◽  
Person Perception ◽  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Psychological Adaptation ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Symbolic Meaning ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
Cross Cultural Research ◽  
Religious Icons

To counterbalance the predominantly verbal measures and psychometric orientation in cross-cultural psychology, this chapter proposes the concept of cultural experiment. It is a method of sampling normative behavioral scripts, exploring their inner structures of meaning, and finally designing reversals, with the expectation of disconfirmation as their ultimate validity test. Pictorial materials (videos) are the preferred methods in this approach as contextualized models of existing cultural arrangements or their modifications. Empirical evidence comes from five cross-cultural research projects spanned over 30 years. These experiments illustrate contrasts in psychological adaptation to congruent and incongruent scenarios. They provide answers when new cultural ways meet with resistance and when novelty is appreciated or tolerated. Three experiments focus on dynamics of gender role prescriptions from Polish and Scandinavian perspectives. Another study investigates person perception of culturally familiar and remote African actors. The last study explores tolerance priming through religious icons from in-group and out-group cultures.

Replication and Reproducibility in Cross-Cultural Psychology

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 735-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taciano L. Milfont ◽  
Richard A. Klein
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural Psychology ◽  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Current Psychological Research ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Academic Misconduct ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
Cross Cultural Research ◽  
Research Populations ◽  
Current Psychological

Replication is the scientific gold standard that enables the confirmation of research findings. Concerns related to publication bias, flexibility in data analysis, and high-profile cases of academic misconduct have led to recent calls for more replication and systematic accumulation of scientific knowledge in psychological science. This renewed emphasis on replication may pose specific challenges to cross-cultural research due to inherent practical difficulties in emulating an original study in other cultural groups. The purpose of the present article is to discuss how the core concepts of this replication debate apply to cross-cultural psychology. Distinct to replications in cross-cultural research are examinations of bias and equivalence in manipulations and procedures, and that targeted research populations may differ in meaningful ways. We identify issues in current psychological research (analytic flexibility, low power) and possible solutions (preregistration, power analysis), and discuss ways to implement best practices in cross-cultural replication attempts.

scholarly journals Comparison Considered: Some Methodological Responses

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 495-508
Author(s):  
Oliver Freiberger
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Method ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Review Symposium ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
Cross Cultural Research

Abstract The present issue’s review symposium on comparison comprises six thoughtful and stimulating essays in which the authors, in conversation with Bruce Lincoln’s Apples and Oranges (2018) and my Considering Comparison (2019), reflect on the comparative method and on how it relates to their work. Their reflections are explorative, productive, thought-provoking, and they also criticize and challenge aspects of our books in constructive ways, each from the perspective of their own field of expertise. In this response I discuss the methodological questions that each essay raised for me and, at times, propose a potential way forward. The symposium shows that exploring the comparative method can be useful and rewarding not only for explicit cross-cultural research, but also for research projects that do not seem comparative at first glance. I argue that since studying religion—a highly comparative category—is inherently comparative, the methodology of comparison deserves proper attention.

scholarly journals Mobile Sensing Around the Globe: Considerations for Cross-Cultural Research

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Vy Phan ◽  
Nick Modersitzki ◽  
Kim Karen Gloystein ◽  
Sandrine Müller
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Mobile Sensing ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
Cross Cultural Research ◽  
Research Findings

The ubiquity of mobile devices allows researchers to assess people’s real-life behaviors objectively, unobtrusively, and with high temporal resolution. As a result, psychological mobile sensing research has grown rapidly. However, only very few cross-cultural mobile sensing studies have been conducted to date. In addition, existing multi-country studies often fail to acknowledge or examine possible cross-cultural differences. In this chapter, we illustrate biases that can occur when conducting cross-cultural mobile sensing studies. Such biases can relate to measurement, construct, sample, device type, user practices, and environmental factors. We also propose mitigation strategies to minimize these biases, such as the use of informants with expertise in local culture, the development of cross-culturally comparable instruments, the use of culture-specific recruiting strategies and incentives, and rigorous reporting standards regarding the generalizability of research findings. We hope to inspire rigorous comparative research to establish and refine mobile sensing methodologies for cross-cultural psychology.

Research Methods in Cross-Cultural Psychology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fons J.R. Van de Vijver ◽  
Jia He
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cross Cultural Comparison ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
Item Functioning ◽  
Generic Term ◽  
Cross Cultural Research ◽  
Differential Item Functioning Analysis ◽  
Methodological Aspects

Bias and equivalence provide a framework for methodological aspects of cross-cultural studies. Bias is a generic term for any systematic errors in the measurement that endanger the comparability of cross-cultural data; bias results in invalid comparative conclusions. The demonstration of equivalence (i.e., absence of bias) is a prerequisite for any cross-cultural comparison. Based on the source of incomparability, three types of bias, namely construct, method, and item bias, can be distinguished. Correspondingly, three levels of equivalence, namely, construct, metric, and scalar equivalence, can be distinguished. One of the goals in cross-cultural research is to minimize bias and enhance comparability. The definitions and manifestations of these types of bias and equivalence are described and remedies to minimize bias and enhance equivalence at the design, implementation, and statistical analysis phases of a cross-cultural study are provided. These strategies involve different research features (e.g., decentering and convergence), extensive pilot and pretesting, and various statistical procedures to demonstration of different levels of equivalence and detections of bias (e.g., factor analysis based approaches and differential item functioning analysis). The implications of bias and equivalence also extend to instrument adaptation and combining etic and emic approaches to maximize the ecological validity. Instrument choices in cross-cultural research and the categorization of adaptations stemming from considerations of the concept, culture, language, and measurement are outlined. Examples from cross-cultural research of personality are highlighted to illustrate the importance of combining etic and emic approaches. The professionalization and broadening of the field is expected to increase the validity of conclusions regarding cross-cultural similarities and differences.

scholarly journals A Giant of Cultural Research: Seeing Further from the Shoulders of Kwok Leung

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 703-711
Author(s):  
Michael W. Morris ◽  
Zhen Xiong (George) Chen ◽  
Lorna Doucet ◽  
Yaping Gong
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Cross Cultural Psychology ◽  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
International Management ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Untimely Death ◽  
Cultural Research

This is a special issue in honor of Kwok Leung, whose path-breaking career in social psychology, cross-cultural psychology, organizational behavior, and international management was cut short by his untimely death in 2015. Newton said, ‘If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants’. In cultural research, it's Kwok's shoulders that enable us to see further.

scholarly journals Initiation Plants and Their Role in Treatment in the Vaupes Region, South America

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 853-857
Author(s):  
Gabriel David Beltrán Zapata ◽  
Nohelia Andrea Castro Pineda
Keyword(s):  
Medicinal Plants ◽  
South America ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Initiation Rites ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
Cross Cultural Research ◽  
World Cultural Heritage

In this article, we focus on plants used during initiation rites in Colombia. The aim of this paper is to describe the initiation plants of Cubeo and Curripaco people living in the Vaupés region.and explain how their application changed to be therapeutical only with the loss of rich cultural and ritual uses because the rites were abandoned by ethnic groups, who originally performed them. There are described plants of Cubeo and Curripaco people living in the Vaupés region. These ethnic groups are recognized to have an extensive knowledge on medicinal plants, venoms and aphrodisiacs. Finally, we declare that conservation tools and cross cultural research projects are needed to be established to preserve initiation rites for future generations, because they are part of world cultural heritage.

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