The Impact of Culture and Social Distance on Humor Appreciation, Sharing, and Production

2021 ◽  
pp. 194855062110659
Author(s):  
Yi Cao ◽  
Yubo Hou ◽  
Zhiwen Dong ◽  
Li-Jun Ji

Building on the benign violation theory and self-construal theory, we conducted four studies to examine how culture and social distance would influence humor appreciation, sharing, and production. Study 1 found that Chinese participants appreciated and intended to share a joke involving distant others more than that involving close others. They also generated funnier titles for a joke involving distant others than close others. Studies 2a and 2b compared Chinese and Americans using various types of jokes, replicating the social distance effect among Chinese but finding little effect of social distance among Americans. In Study 3, interdependence-primed participants generated more humorous titles for a joke involving distant than close others, whereas independence-primed participants showed no effect of social distance. The research provides further support to the benign violation theory from a cultural perspective and has important implications for cross-cultural communications.

Author(s):  
Simon Haddad

A principal goal of this study has been to assess the impact of social distance on attitudes towards Palestinian resettlement using comprehensive cross-cultural survey research. The results are clear and consistent for all Lebanese sub-groups. Social distance is a significant predictor of attitudes toward resettlement for all six sub-groups examined. Specifically, social distance is inversely and consistently associated with unfavorable attitudes toward the prospect of the permanent settlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. These findings indicate on one hand, that the majority of Sunnis and Druze respondents endorse communal ties with Palestinians and approve their permanent economic, social and political integration. However, social distance influence political attitudes toward Palestinian resettlement, namely in the case of Christian and Shii groups. Hence, for most Lebanese the question is about their own political survival not Palestinian resettlement If the actual perceptions stand, resettlement will create a potential for communal conflict and will affect the social cohesion of the society.


Author(s):  
Simin Zou ◽  
Xuhui He

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has caused a traffic tie-up across the world. In addition to home quarantine orders and travel bans, the social distance guideline of about six feet was enacted to reduce the risk of contagion. However, with recent life gradually returning to normal, the crisis is not over. In this research, a moving train test and a Gaussian puff model were employed to investigate the impact of wind raised by a train running on the transmission and dispersion of SARS-CoV-2 from infected individuals. Our findings suggest that the 2 m social distance guideline may not be enough; under train-induced wind action, human respiratory disease-carrier droplets may travel to unexpected places. However, there are deficiencies in passenger safety guidelines and it is necessary to improve the quantitative research in the relationship between train-induced wind and virus transmission. All these findings could provide a fresh insight to contain the spread of COVID-19 and provide a basis for preventing and controlling the pandemic virus, and probe into strategies for control of the disease in the future.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carole Woolford-Hunt ◽  
Marlene Murray ◽  
Tevni Guerra ◽  
Kristina Beenken-Johnson

We live in a world where awareness of ethnic and cultural diversity is an ever increasing reality. Business and education turn to the social sciences to inform them about how to manage and optimize cross-cultural interactions. Although much research has been done on the impact of cross-cultural interactions on a wide range of variables, one less researched area is the endocrine response to cross-cultural interactions. In this study we set out to investigate the endocrine response to cross cultural interactions and the impact of these interactions on perceived differences. To do so we measured the pre and post levels of the stress hormone cortisol of individuals communicating in dyads for 15 minutes. Results showed a significant impact of ethnic interaction on perceived differences and cortisol levels. Practical implications of these findings could have application in the areas of education, psychology, business and human relations in general. Implications for further research are discussed.


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Lu ◽  
Zhencong Sang ◽  
Kun Song ◽  
Kazuo Kikuchi ◽  
Ippei Machida

PurposeBased on the theory of social identity mechanism, this study aimed to investigate the associations with millennial consumers' need for uniqueness (NFU), susceptibility to peer influence (SPI) and attitudes towards luxury brands (ALB) under the cross-cultural context. The mediating effect of fashion innovativeness (FI) and the moderating effect of culture were examined.Design/methodology/approachThe data for this study were collected through a survey from 217 millennials in Shanghai and 268 millennials in Tokyo. Moderation analysis and mediation analysis using Hayes PROCESS macro were applied to test proposed hypotheses.FindingsResults show that NFU and SPI have a significantly positive effect on millennials' ALB, and fashion innovativeness plays a mediating role in this process. Furthermore, the positive impact of NFU on millennials' ALB for relatively individualistic cities (Shanghai) is stronger than for relatively collectivist cities (Tokyo). The positive impact of susceptibility to informative influence (SII) on millennials' ALB for Tokyo is stronger than for Shanghai.Practical implicationsThe research results suggest how different cultures can support marketers in effectively carrying out their business strategy.Originality/valueUnder the cross-cultural background, the social identity mechanism behind the attitudes of millennials towards luxury brands has been widely recognised. However, little is known about how culture could moderate the social identity mechanism behind millennials' ALB. By analysing these mechanisms, this study compares the cultures of Shanghai and Tokyo and expands the previous research achievements.


1998 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan Gallie ◽  
Helen Russell

The paper addresses the issue of the nature and determinants of variations between countries in the severity of the implications of unemployment for psychological well-being. It focuses on ten countries in the European Union over the period 1983 to 1994. It establishes that there are consistent differences between countries over time. It then examines a number of potential explanations, in particular relating to the level of unemployment, the social composition of unemployment, the strength of the work ethic in the society and the characteristics of welfare institutions. It concludes that such differences cannot be accounted for in terms of the level of unemployment or its composition in terms of age and sex. They are also unrelated to measures of employment commitment. Rather the severity of the impact of unemployment has to be understood in terms of the interaction between the characteristics of the welfare regime and the composition of the unemployed with respect to household position.


2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 44-55
Author(s):  
Enric Serradell-López ◽  
Pablo Lara-Navarra ◽  
Cristina Casado-Lumbreras

Higher education institutions are crucial in the present. Universities play a role that varies with time and evolves with society. Globalization is changing the world and affecting higher education institutions in all their intrinsic characteristics: personnel, programs, infrastructures and students. Analyzed is the relevant research on cultural dimensions and applies it to higher education institutions focusing the analysis of the impact on eLearning setups. To do so, variables related to organizational strategy, design of curricula and teaching tools are proposed and analyzed from a set of cultural dimensions. Results show that higher education institutions are facing big challenges in their adaptation to multi-cultural arrangements.


2019 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
pp. 482-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Brunner ◽  
Krittinee Nuttavuthisit

Purpose Edible insects might be the meat of the future. However, promoting insects as food, at least in western countries, is not an easy task. Segmenting consumers into various similarly behaving groups and targeting them separately is the first step to more successfully promoting insect cuisine. By taking a cross-cultural perspective on the topic of entomophagy and investigating the impact of different cultural settings, additional insights may be revealed that can be used to develop marketing strategies. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Using survey data from Switzerland (N=542) and Thailand (N=500), a hierarchical cluster analysis yielded four consumer segments in each country. Findings Interestingly, in both countries, the segments themselves can be named identically and accordingly to Roger’s diffusion of innovation theory: early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. However, the size of the segments and the people within these corresponding segments are quite different sociodemographically and in some of the investigated psychographic scales, such as food neophobia. The authors conclude that consumers in countries with an entomophagy tradition behave quite differently from those without one. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first cross-cultural consumer segmentation study on the topic of entomophagy. Based on these results, initial conclusions can be drawn on how to successfully target the specific segments.


2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaly de Oliveira Bosoni ◽  
Geraldo Busatto Filho ◽  
Daniel Martins de Barros

Background: Stigma is a major problem in schizophrenia, and the most effective way to reduce it is to provide information. But literature lacks studies evaluating long-term efficacy of mass communication. Aims: This is a pilot study to assess if a brief intervention (TV report) may have long-term effects. Method: Assessing stigma scores from subjects before and after seeing a vignette. Results: We found that the social distance and restriction to patients not only fell after a brief intervention but also kept lower after 1 and 3 months. Conclusion: We conclude that even brief intervention may create persistent impact in reducing discrimination.


2010 ◽  
Vol 06 (02) ◽  
pp. 167-176
Author(s):  
YUMIKO NARA

In this paper, the author aims to examine the differences in perception concerning the anxiety toward the risk among three countries — Japan, the United States of America and China. The anxiety, in this case, is triggered by uncertainty. This paper also intends to clarify the effect of information to improve people's risk management targeted on the respondents of the Chinese population focusing on earthquake disasters. The social survey using questionnaire has been carried out in order to obtain the needed quantitative data for my research project. It is interesting to conclude that both respondents in China and in the United States tend to accept the impact of uncertainty better. They have shown somewhat lower level of anxiety toward nineteen items of the risks as compared with that of the Japanese respondents. The significant effects on information designed as a part of the risk management action plan as well as the living sufficiency safeguard are clearly observed.


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