Showing papers by "Chi-Yue Chiu published in 2004"

Psychology and Culture

Abstract: Psychological processes influence culture. Culture influences psychological processes. Individual thoughts and actions influence cultural norms and practices as they evolve over time, and these cultural norms and practices influence the thoughts and actions of individuals. Large bodies of literature support these conclusions within the context of research on evolutionary processes, epistemic needs, interpersonal communication, attention, perception, attributional thinking, self-regulation, human agency, self-worth, and contextual activation of cultural paradigms. Cross-cultural research has greatly enriched psychology, and key issues for continued growth and maturation of the field of cultural psychology are articulated.

Predicting Intergroup Bias: The Interactive Effects of Implicit Theory and Social Identity

Abstract: This research sought to integrate the implicit theory approach and the social identity approach to understanding biases in intergroup judgment. The authors hypothesized that a belief in fixed human character would be associated with negative bias and prejudice against a maligned group regardless of the perceiver's social identity. By contrast, a belief in malleable human character would allow the perceiver's social identity to guide intergroup perception, such that a common ingroup identity that includes the maligned group would be associated with less negative bias and prejudice against the maligned group than would an exclusive identity. To test these hypotheses, a correlational study was conducted in the context of the Hong Kong 1997 political transition to examine Hong Kong Chinese's perceptions of Chinese Mainlanders, and an experimental study was conducted in the United States to examine Asian Americans' perception of African Americans. Results from both studies supported the authors' predictions.

Language, Cognition, and Reality: Constructing Shared Meanings Through Communication

Abstract: The relation of language and thought has occupied the center stage in many theoretical discussions on the psychological foundation of culture. One of the most controversial views is embodied in the Whorfian hypothesis, which holds that the grammatical structures of markedly different languages cause their speakers to develop markedly different cultural representations of the reality. Reviews of the Whorfian hypothesis (e.g., Brown, 1976; Glucksberg, 1988; Pinker, 1994; Rosch, 1987) find little support for linguistic determinism. However, recent advances in cognitive psychology and cultural studies reveal that the use of language in human interaction may play an important role in the evolution and maintenance of cultural representations. In this chapter, we propose a model to describe the relationships between culture, language, communication, and shared cognitions. Figure 4.1 illustrates the cyclical relation among the four variables in the model. It assumes that:Language is a carrier of cultural meanings. Cultural meanings are evoked when language is used in interpersonalcommunication. The use of language in communication will increase the accessibility ofexisting shared representations in the culture. In addition, through communication, private, idiosyncratic representations will be transformedE RChi-yue Chiu University of Hong Konginto public, shared representations, which in turn form the cognitive foundation of culture.

Biases in the perceived prevalence and motives of severe acute respiratory syndrome prevention behaviors among Chinese high school students in Hong Kong.

Abstract: In two studies conducted in Hong Kong during and immediately after the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), participants displayed several social cognitive biases when they estimated the prevalence of and inferred the motives underlying SARS preventive behaviors. First, participants who practiced preventive behaviors (practicers) consistently estimated that more people practiced such behaviors than did non-practicers (false consensus bias). Second, for some preventive behaviors, participants believed that their own behaviors were more motivated by prosocial concerns (relative to self-interest) than were other practicers (pluralistic ignorance). Finally, non-practicers underestimated the importance of prosocial concerns underlying some preventive behaviors (actor-observer bias). We discussed the relevance of these social cognitive biases to health education and to Hong Kong people's psychological reactions to SARS.

Language matters : communication, identity, and culture

Abstract: Neurally and culturally humans are powerfully equipped to acquire language and use it for a variety of cognitive and social purposes. While the stress of this volume is more on the social purpose of language use, its cognitive development will also be discussed. This book comprises 20 chapters which are an extension of the interflow of ideas at the 8th International Conference on Language and Social Psychology held in Hong Kong, 2003. Most of the chapters herein are selected from the 110 Conference presentations that have been screened by reviewers. Key issues are explored in four areas: Communication; Cultural Processes; Social Identity; and, Communicating Culture and Identity in Natural Social Settings. Many real-life illustrations of the interaction of culture, identity and communication could be found. They include gender and intergenerational communication; language and ethnic identity; social identity within a multigenerational community of women; language, tourism and globalization; and, communicating in mentoring programs and family conflicts.