Psychology as a Historical Science

2021 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 717-749
Author(s):  
Michael Muthukrishna ◽  
Joseph Henrich ◽  
Edward Slingerland
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Historical Science ◽  
Historical Texts ◽  
Subject Pool ◽  
Work Psychology ◽  
And Behavior

Psychology has traditionally seen itself as the science of universal human cognition, but it has only recently begun seriously grappling with cross-cultural variation. Here we argue that the roots of cross-cultural variation often lie in the past. Therefore, to understand not only how but also why psychology varies, we need to grapple with cross-temporal variation. The traces of past human cognition accessible through historical texts and artifacts can serve as a valuable, and almost completely unutilized, source of psychological data. These data from dead minds open up an untapped and highly diverse subject pool. We review examples of research that may be classified as historical psychology, introduce sources of historical data and methods for analyzing them, explain the critical role of theory, and discuss how psychologists can add historical depth and nuance to their work. Psychology needs to become a historical science if it wants to be a genuinely universal science of human cognition and behavior.

scholarly journals Extended parenting and the evolution of cognition

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1803) ◽  
pp. 20190495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Uomini ◽  
Joanna Fairlie ◽  
Russell D. Gray ◽  
Michael Griesser
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cultural Learning

Traditional attempts to understand the evolution of human cognition compare humans with other primates. This research showed that relative brain size covaries with cognitive skills, while adaptations that buffer the developmental and energetic costs of large brains (e.g. allomaternal care), and ecological or social benefits of cognitive abilities, are critical for their evolution. To understand the drivers of cognitive adaptations, it is profitable to consider distant lineages with convergently evolved cognitions. Here, we examine the facilitators of cognitive evolution in corvid birds, where some species display cultural learning, with an emphasis on family life. We propose that extended parenting (protracted parent–offspring association) is pivotal in the evolution of cognition: it combines critical life-history, social and ecological conditions allowing for the development and maintenance of cognitive skillsets that confer fitness benefits to individuals. This novel hypothesis complements the extended childhood idea by considering the parents' role in juvenile development. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses, we show that corvids have larger body sizes, longer development times, extended parenting and larger relative brain sizes than other passerines. Case studies from two corvid species with different ecologies and social systems highlight the critical role of life-history features on juveniles’ cognitive development: extended parenting provides a safe haven, access to tolerant role models, reliable learning opportunities and food, resulting in higher survival. The benefits of extended juvenile learning periods, over evolutionary time, lead to selection for expanded cognitive skillsets. Similarly, in our ancestors, cooperative breeding and increased group sizes facilitated learning and teaching. Our analyses highlight the critical role of life-history, ecological and social factors that underlie both extended parenting and expanded cognitive skillsets. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals’.

scholarly journals Small-scale societies exhibit fundamental variation in the role of intentions in moral judgment

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (17) ◽  
pp. 4688-4693 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Clark Barrett ◽  
Alexander Bolyanatz ◽  
Alyssa N. Crittenden ◽  
Daniel M. T. Fessler ◽  
Simon Fitzpatrick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Moral Judgment ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Narrow Range ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Moral Assessment ◽  
Mitigating Circumstances

Intent and mitigating circumstances play a central role in moral and legal assessments in large-scale industrialized societies. Although these features of moral assessment are widely assumed to be universal, to date, they have only been studied in a narrow range of societies. We show that there is substantial cross-cultural variation among eight traditional small-scale societies (ranging from hunter-gatherer to pastoralist to horticulturalist) and two Western societies (one urban, one rural) in the extent to which intent and mitigating circumstances influence moral judgments. Although participants in all societies took such factors into account to some degree, they did so to very different extents, varying in both the types of considerations taken into account and the types of violations to which such considerations were applied. The particular patterns of assessment characteristic of large-scale industrialized societies may thus reflect relatively recently culturally evolved norms rather than inherent features of human moral judgment.

scholarly journals The Role of Figurative Complexity in the Comprehension and Appreciation of Advertisements

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 957-991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Pérez-Sobrino ◽  
Jeannette Littlemore ◽  
David Houghton
Keyword(s):  
Significant Variation ◽  
Processing Time ◽  
Consumer Response ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Perceived Effectiveness ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Linguistic Backgrounds ◽  
Different Levels

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.

scholarly journals An essential role of acetylcholine-glutamate synergy at habenular synapses in nicotine dependence

eLife ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silke Frahm ◽  
Beatriz Antolin-Fontes ◽  
Andreas Görlich ◽  
Johannes-Friedrich Zander ◽  
Gudrun Ahnert-Hilger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Synaptic Vesicles ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Conditioned Reward ◽  
Quantal Size ◽  
Medial Habenula ◽  
Vesicular Transporters ◽  
Circuit Function ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Presynaptic Facilitation

A great deal of interest has been focused recently on the habenula and its critical role in aversion, negative-reward and drug dependence. Using a conditional mouse model of the ACh-synthesizing enzyme choline acetyltransferase (Chat), we report that local elimination of acetylcholine (ACh) in medial habenula (MHb) neurons alters glutamate corelease and presynaptic facilitation. Electron microscopy and immuno-isolation analyses revealed colocalization of ACh and glutamate vesicular transporters in synaptic vesicles (SVs) in the central IPN. Glutamate reuptake in SVs prepared from the IPN was increased by ACh, indicating vesicular synergy. Mice lacking CHAT in habenular neurons were insensitive to nicotine-conditioned reward and withdrawal. These data demonstrate that ACh controls the quantal size and release frequency of glutamate at habenular synapses, and suggest that the synergistic functions of ACh and glutamate may be generally important for modulation of cholinergic circuit function and behavior.

The Distinctiveness Principle: Identity, Meaning, and the Bounds of Cultural Relativity

2000 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 337-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian L. Vignoles ◽  
Xenia Chryssochoou ◽  
Glynis M. Breakwell
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Relativity ◽  
Identity Processes ◽  
Cultural Systems ◽  
Construction Of Meaning ◽  
The Cross ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Precise Role

Extending theories of distinctiveness motivation in identity (Breakwell, 1987; Brewer, 1991; Snyder & Fromkin, 1980), we discuss the precise role of distinctiveness in identity processes and the cross-cultural generality of the distinctiveness principle. We argue that (a) within Western cultures, distinctiveness is necessaryfor the construction of meaning within identity, and (b) the distinctiveness principle is not incompatible with non-Western cultural systems. We propose a distinction among three sources of distinctiveness: position, difference, and separateness, with different implications for identity and behavior. These sources coexist within cultures, on both individual and group levels of selfrepresentation, but they may be emphasized differently according to culture and context.

The systematic study of how subtle forms of bias related to prosocial behavior operate in racial and gender relations

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-121
Author(s):  
Silvia Abad-Merino ◽  
John F. Dovidio ◽  
Carmen Tabernero ◽  
Ignacio González
Keyword(s):  
Gender Relations ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
The Status ◽  
And Gender ◽  
And Behavior

Psychological research and theory have traditionally focused on bias and conflict between separate groups. Our central thesis is that the processes that shape hierarchical group relations within a society are distinctive and typically operate in ways that are frequently subtle rather than blatant. The challenges of detecting new subtle forms of bias are receiving considerable attention in the field of social psychology, internationally. Although explicit hostility toward minority groups seems to have faded in modern societies, cross-cultural data show that the status, resources, and the power of women and ethnic/racial minorities remain unequal. The present literature review integrates the findings of cross-cultural research showing the role of paternalistic legitimizing ideas and behavior for establishing, maintaining, and reinforcing group hierarchy and the disadvantage of members of traditionally underrepresented groups. Specifically, we explain how intergroup helping relations can be used as a mechanism to maintain social advantage in racial and gender relations. These theoretical and experimental insights help illuminate the dynamics of relations between socially linked groups and the nature of contemporary bias. We also highlight how this perspective suggests novel and productive directions for future research.

“Big data” versus “small data” in social sciences

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 98-119
Author(s):  
Wenjie Duan ◽  
Wenlong Mu ◽  
He Bu
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Character Strengths ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Small Data ◽  
Sampling Studies ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
Important Approach ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Emic And Etic

Culture significantly influences human cognition and behavior, which has become a major obstacle in cross-cultural studies. Comparing traditional sampling studies (i.e., small data research) with the novelty of millions of samples studies (i.e., big data research), we suggest that the results of the finely controlled, precisely sampled, and accurately analyzed theory-driven small-data research can be replicated by big data studies. This conclusion has been illustrated by recent studies on structures of character strengths that were conducted in both western and eastern countries. Therefore, big data studies that take into account both emic and etic components will be an important approach to conduct cross-cultural research. It facilitates the construction of theories and measures with cross-cultural consistency. Nevertheless, it should be noted that “small data” and “big data” studies are complementary and should not be treated as substitutes for one another.

scholarly journals Multicultural Personality and Cross-Cultural Adjustment among Sojourners in New Zealand

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Awang Rozaimie ◽  
Siti Huzaimah ◽  
Affidah Morni
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Cultural Adjustment ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Multicultural Personality ◽  
Behavioural Difficulties ◽  
Cultural Experiences

Different parts of the world are offering sojourners with a variety of socio-cultural experiences. The inability to understand the variation triggers psychological, physical or behavioural difficulties, and maladjustment or misunderstanding. It is discovered that cross-cultural underestimation is the root of intercultural resistance, stereotyping, ethnocentrism and racism sentiments among sojourners. The online survey was conducted in the present study to comprehend the role of multicultural personality traits on sojourners’ cross-cultural adjustment. With snowball method and a purposive sampling, 55.5% of response rate was obtained among Malaysian sojourners in the New Zealand. Basically, the manifestation of self and other’s affection, behavioural and contextual variations amplify the rationalisation and contradictory nature of cultural variation. Highlighted, social initiative is a sole important multicultural personality trait which perceived as vital to the success of sojourners’ cross-cultural adjustment abroad. The implication of the study is discussed.

The developmental role of experience-based metacognition for cultural diversity in executive function, motivation, and mindreading

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Athanasios Chasiotis
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Cultural Variations ◽  
Developmental Relationship ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Relationship

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.

The role of social eye-gaze in children’s and adults’ ownership attributions to robotic agents in three cultures

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Kanngiesser ◽  
Shoji Itakura ◽  
Yue Zhou ◽  
Takayuki Kanda ◽  
Hiroshi Ishiguro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Social Agents ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Social Gaze ◽  
Social Attributions ◽  
Human Participants

Young children often treat robots as social agents after they have witnessed interactions that can be interpreted as social. We studied in three experiments whether four-year-olds from three cultures (China, Japan, UK) and adults from two cultures (Japan, UK) will attribute ownership of objects to a robot that engages in social gaze with a human. Participants watched videos of robot-human interactions, in which objects were possessed or new objects were created. Children and adults applied the same ownership rules to humans and robots – irrespective of whether the robot engaged in social gaze or not. However, there was cultural variation in the types of ownership rules used. In Experiment 3, we removed further social cues, finding that just showing a pair of self-propelled robot-arms elicited ownership attributions. The role of social gaze in social attributions to robots and cross-cultural differences in ownership understanding are discussed.

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