Towards a New Approach to Cross-Cultural Distinctiveness and Typicality of Human Faces: The Cross-Group Typicality/Distinctiveness Metric

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karel Kleisner ◽  
Šimon Pokorný ◽  
Selahattin Adil Saribay

In present research, we took advantage of geometric morphometrics to propose a data-driven method for estimating the individual degree of facial typicality/distinctiveness for cross-cultural (and other cross-group) comparisons. Looking like a stranger in one’s home culture may be somewhat stressful. The same facial appearance, however, might become advantageous within an outgroup population. To address this fit between facial appearance and cultural setting, we propose a simple measure of distinctiveness/typicality based on position of an individual along the axis connecting the facial averages of two populations under comparison. The more distant a face is from its ingroup population mean towards the outgroup mean the more distinct it is (vis-à-vis the ingroup) and the more it resembles the outgroup standards. We compared this new measure with an alternative measure based on distance from outgroup mean. The new measure showed stronger association with rated facial distinctiveness than distance from outgroup mean. Subsequently, we manipulated facial stimuli to reflect different levels of ingroup-outgroup distinctiveness and tested them in one of the target cultures. Perceivers were able to successfully distinguish outgroup from ingroup faces in a two-alternative forced-choice task. There was also some evidence that this task was harder when the two faces were closer along the axis connecting the facial averages from the two cultures. Future directions and potential applications of our proposed approach are discussed.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0245998
Author(s):  
Rainer Voegeli ◽  
Rotraut Schoop ◽  
Elodie Prestat-Marquis ◽  
Anthony V. Rawlings ◽  
Todd K. Shackelford ◽  
...  

Humans extract and use information from the face in assessments of physical appearance. Previous research indicates high agreement about facial attractiveness within and between cultures. However, the use of a narrow age range for facial stimuli, limitations due to unidirectional cross-cultural comparisons, and technical challenges have prevented definitive conclusions about the universality of face perception. In the present study, we imaged the faces of women aged 20 to 69 years in five locations (China, France, India, Japan, and South Africa) and secured age, attractiveness, and health assessments on continuous scales (0–100) from female and male raters (20–66 years) within and across ethnicity. In total, 180 images (36 of each ethnicity) were assessed by 600 raters (120 of each ethnicity), recruited in study centres in the five locations. Linear mixed model analysis revealed main and interaction effects of assessor ethnicity, assessor gender, and photographed participant (“face”) ethnicity on age, attractiveness, and health assessments. Thus, differences in judgments of female facial appearance depend on the ethnicity of the photographed person, the ethnicity of the assessor, and whether the assessor is female or male. Facial age assessments correlated negatively with attractiveness and health assessments. Collectively, these findings provide evidence of cross-cultural variation in assessments of age, and even more of attractiveness, and health, indicating plasticity in perception of female facial appearance across cultures, although the decline in attractiveness and health assessments with age is universally found.


2021 ◽  
pp. 097133362199045
Author(s):  
Dharm P. S. Bhawuk

Employing one of the established theories from cross-cultural psychology and sociology, first it is shown that both China and India are collectivist cultures. Then the Chinese and Indian worldviews are compared to highlight fundamental similarities between the two cultures. Finally, it is shown how self-cultivation is emphasised in both China and India. Effort is made to show how ideas presented by Confucius and Lao Tsu are captured in the Indian culture and social behaviours. A number of issues are raised for the development of indigenous knowledge from multiple perspectives using various paradigms and methodology. It is hoped that the special issue and this article will stimulate researchers to bridge Chinese and Indian psychologies which may pave the path towards peaceful prosperity.


2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 385-403
Author(s):  
HANNAH DURKIN

A Study in Choreography for Camera (1945) is a collaborative enterprise between avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren and African American ballet dancer Talley Beatty. Study is significant in experimental film history – it was one of three films by Deren that shaped the emergence of the postwar avant-garde cinema movement in the US. The film represents a pioneering cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary dialogue between Beatty's ballet dancing and Deren's experimental cinematic technique. The film explores complex emotional experiences through a cinematic re-creation of Deren's understanding of ritual (which she borrowed from Katherine Dunham's Haitian experiences after spending many years documenting vodou) while allowing a leading black male dancer to display his artistry on-screen. I show that cultures and artistic forms widely dismissed as incompatible are rendered equivocal. Study adopts a stylized and rhythmic technique borrowed from dance in its attempt to establish cinema as “art,” and I foreground Beatty's contribution to the film, arguing that his technically complex movements situate him as joint author of its artistic vision. The essay also explores tensions between the artistic intentions of Deren, who sought to deprivilege the individual performer in favour of the filmic “ritual,” and Beatty, who sought to display his individual skills as a technically accomplished dancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (516) ◽  
pp. 58-64
Author(s):  
Z. A. Atamanchuk ◽  

The scientific publication is aimed at exploring the communicative aspects of tourism, its value impact on humans, substantiating the peculiarities of the development of international tourism as a way to formation of cross-cultural tolerance. The article accentuates on the cultural values and value characterizations of international tourism, the role of the communicative culture of the individual as the main link in the concept of the theoretical model of universal human values, the importance of adherence to the principles of tolerance, which are becoming increasingly important in the modern world in the context of globalization of the economy, development of communications, growth of mobility, integration, interdependence and transformation of social cultures. The approaches to analyzing tourism as a social and cultural phenomenon are systematized, the stages of the communication process are distinguished. The author analyzes the content of the most significant documents in the sphere of international tourism adopted with the participation of the World Tourist Organization, which emphasizes the need to adhere to tolerant forms of communication. The focus is placed on the role of international organizations in strengthening cultural ties between peoples, mutual enrichment of cultures as a result of tourist exchange, observance of the principles of tolerance. On the way to the application in practice of establishing intercultural communications in international tourism, the article substantiates effectiveness of such methods as: introduction of an adequate system of acculturation, which involves such types of communication ties as integration, assimilation, division, marginalization at the levels of emotions, actions and cognition; creation of such conditions by the host party, which would contribute to increasing the level of satisfaction of tourists by establishing a constant exchange of information, maintaining feedback, disseminating content among visitors regarding the prospects for the development of tourist infrastructure of the host country.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Aaron Z. Johnson

Extra-Lethal Violence, a form of physical aggression that goes beyond the necessity to kill someone, presents a conundrum: it is inefficient and dangerous to produce, especially during warfare. Extra-Lethal Violence, particularly when it manifests in warfare, does not contribute to the immediate survival of individuals; the time, effort, and lack of awareness of surroundings or other attack suggests that Extra-Lethal Violence could be maladaptive at the individual level or in the short term. Yet this individually risky behavior that seems to have no direct benefit to the aggressor is both common and persistent across time and space. We utilized the electronic Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) to conduct a cross cultural analysis of the prevalence and potential predictors of Extra-Lethal Violence. Our research indicates that Extra-Lethal Violence is present across all populated regions of the world, for the entire timespan of the ethnographic record up to the ethnographic present, across subsistence, marriage, and social complexity levels. Our research suggests that Costly Signaling Theory (CST) is currently the best explanation for this behavior. Extra-Lethal Violence can be characterized as a difficult to fake, clear indicator of martial skill and physical fitness that has a high broadcast efficiency, both within and between groups. Rather than allowing behaviors such as Extra-Lethal Violence to be labeled as 'abhorrent' or 'disgusting,' we must view Extra-Lethal Violence in the same light as the cavalry, the ironclads, or nuclear weapons: societies seeking a decisive advantage over their enemies, utilizing available resources, be they material or behavioral.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Ding ◽  
Laipeng Luo ◽  
Ruixiang Han ◽  
Meiling Zhang ◽  
Tingting Li ◽  
...  

An efficient bioflocculant-producing strain, Raoultella ornithinolytica 160-1, was identified by 16S rRNA and mass spectrometry analyses. Rapid production of bioflocculant EPS-160 was obtained with 10.01 g/(L⋅d) after optimized by response surface methodology. With the aid of Al(III), more than 90% flocculation activity of EPS-160 at 8 mg/L dosage was achieved in 5 min. Thus, this novel Al(III) dependent bioflocculant was used in combined with chemical coagulants AlCl3 to remove kaolin suspensions and wastewater treatment. The results indicated that the addition of EPS-160 in aggregation system not only largely improved the flocculation ability than the individual use of chemical flocculant (over 30 percent), but also overcome the decrease of flocculation activity due to the overdose of AlCl3 and maintained the optimum dosage of AlCl3 in a wide range (11–23 mg/L). The zeta potentials and EPS-160 structure indicated that both charge neutralization and bridging were the flocculation mechanism with kaolin. During the wastewater treatment, this composite flocculants consisted of EPS-160 and AlCl3 also had great performance for turbidity elimination. Moreover, with the properties of high flocculation activity, hyperthermal stability, pH tolerance and non-toxicity, EPS-160 shows great potential applications.


Food Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 557-562
Author(s):  
M.D. Lieu ◽  
T.T.H. Hoang ◽  
H.N.T. Nguyen ◽  
T.K.T. Dang

Anthocyanin is a water-soluble color compound of the flavonoid which was successfully encapsulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by plasmolysis, ethanol, and ultrasound treatments using alone or in combination in the first time. Treatment agents significantly enhanced the encapsulation efficiency of anthocyanin fluid. The encapsulation yield (EY) of the combined factors was higher than the individual impact factors. Ethanol 10% (v/v) and ultrasound 180 seconds for the highest EY 40.22±0.67%, then ethanol 10% (v/v) and NaCl 10% (w/v) for EY 36.45±0.35%, NaCl 10% and ultrasound for EY 32.14±0.98% lowest. The color stability evaluation of the capsules was carried out at 80°C for 30 minutes. The color lost rate was determined by the spectrometer. The color loss of samples with the un-treatment yeast was 20.45±1.21%, higher than the treated sample. This suggests that anthocyanin encapsulation by yeast cell is efficient in overcoming the effects of high temperatures and having potential applications in food processing.


Author(s):  
Alexandra Shiller

This article is dedicated to examination of the role of guilt and shame, namely to prevalence one of these emotions in a particular culture as the leading mechanism of social control. The prevalence of guilt or shame as a cultural “dimension” has become one of the first criteria for the division of cultures into Western and Eastern, and was used by the researchers as a basic postulate for cross-cultural r. Over time, the perception of emotions as the criterion for the division of cultures has been revised. The article traces the history of research on emotions in general, namely the emotions of guilt and shame as social emotions, as well as describes guilt and shame as collective and individual experiences. Analysis is conducted on the role of guilt and shame in methodology of research on social emotions, cross-cultural studies. The author outlines certain methodological problems and contradictions, and assesses the current state of scientific research dedicated to social emotions. The conclusion is made that the research on collective sense of guilt and shame is more advanced from the perspective of cross-cultural psychology and philosophy, as well as the overall methodology of science; it allows shifting from the study of the role of individual emotions in interpersonal (conditioned by collective ties), intergroup and intragroup communication towards the integrated study of emotions associated with interaction of the individual and society, i.e. social experiences.


Author(s):  
Lorri J. Santamaría

This chapter provides a model for thinking about educational leadership responsive to dynamic multicultural and global societies. Leadership conditions and behaviours associated with the author's experiences in five cross-cultural international research projects across 6 countries (United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, and Canada) are presented as a comparative case-study. A definition for culturally responsive educational leadership is proposed with examples of circumstances under which this type of leadership might occur. This contribution is framed by empirical findings and characteristics identified in previous research. Current findings suggest leadership in cross-cultural international contexts is culturally responsive when grounded in (1) the kaupapa or ethos of participating cultures; (2) shared and distributed power; (3) the collective being more highly regarded than the individual; (4) collective knowledge generation based on strengths individual members bring to ‘the table;' (5) reciprocity; and (6) a prevailing spirit of pro-activism.


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