Uniqueness has positive connotations of freedom and independence in American culture, whereas conformity has positive connotations of connectedness and harmony in East Asian culture. The present research examined how these cultural values and individual preferences for uniqueness and conformity influence each other. In Studies 1 and 2, East Asian and European American preferences for uniqueness were measured using abstract figures. In Study 3, the choice of pens by East Asians and European Americans was examined as a function of whether the pen appeared unique. In Study 4, Korean and American magazine ads were analyzed with a focus on themes of conformity and uniqueness. In all studies, East Asians preferred targets that represented conformity, whereas European Americans preferred targets that represented uniqueness. The results highlight the relationship between individual preference and the adoption and perpetuation of cultural values. If a person orders a decaffeinated cappuccino with nonfat milk in a cafe in San Francisco, he or she can feel good about having a preference that is not exactly regular. That person can feel right about being able to get the drink exactly the way he or she wants it and will be vindicated as the waiter brings the precise drink ordered without comment or question. In the United States, drinking a decaffeinated cappuccino with nonfat milk feels as good as drinking a regular cup of coffee, perhaps even better. The best taste is one's individualized taste, and being sure of one's own particular taste contributes to being an appropriate person in this cultural context. If a person orders the same drink—a decaffeinated cappuccino with nonfat milk—in a caf6 in Seoul, however, he or she may feel strange about being the only person who is getting this specialized beverage. That person will face others who are likely to be forming the impression that he or she is a person who does not get along with the group very well, and, moreover, that person will have to confront a waiter who may be annoyed at the request. Eventually, the person may even be humbled by the verdict that the cafe cannot make this idiosyncratic drink just for her. In this Korean cultural context, it does not feel right or good to drink a cup of decaffeinated cappuccino with nonfat milk. In Korea, the normal, regular, and traditional are usually the best tastes for the individual, and a

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Deviance or uniqueness, harmony or conformity? A cultural analysis.

This article summarizes expertise gleaned from the first years of Internet-based experimental research and presents recommendations on: (1) ideal circumstances for conducting a study on the Internet; (2) what precautions have to be undertaken in Web experimental design; (3) which techniques have proven useful in Web experimenting; (4) which frequent errors and misconceptions need to be avoided; and (5) what should be reported. Procedures and solutions for typical challenges in Web experimenting are discussed. Topics covered include randomization, recruitment of samples, generalizability, dropout, experimental control, identity checks, multiple submissions, configuration errors, control of moti- vational confounding, and pre-testing. Several techniques are explained, including "warm-up," "high hurdle," password methods, "multiple site entry," randomization, and the use of incentives. The article concludes by proposing sixteen stan- dards for Internet-based experimenting.

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Standards for Internet-based experimenting.

Based on Moscovici’s (1961) classical study on the cultivation of psychoanalytic ideas in France in the 1950’s and our own research on modern biotechnology, we propose a paradigm for researching social representations. Following a consideration of the nature of representations and of the ‘iconoclastic suspicion’ that haunts them, we propose a model of the emergence of meaning relating three elements: subjects, objects, and projects. The basic unit of analysis is the elongated triangle of mediation (SOPS): subject 1, object, project, and subject 2, captured in the image of a ‘Toblerone’. Such social units cultivate, that is produce, circulate and receive representation which may be embodied in four modes–habitual behaviour, individual cognition, informal communication and formal communication–and in three mediums–words, visual images or non-linguistic sounds. We propose an operational definition of a ‘social representation’ as the comparison of four characteristics of communication systems: the content structures (anchorings and objectifications; core and peripheral elements), the typified processes (diffusion, propagation, propaganda etc.), and their functions (identity, attitude, opinion, resistance, ideology etc.), within the context of segmented social milieus. Seven implications for research on social representations are outlined: (1) content and process; (2) segmentation by social milieus rather than taxonomies; (3) cultivation studies within social milieus; (4) multi-method (mode and medium) analysis; (5) time structures and longitudinal data; (6) the crossover of cultural projects and trajectories; (7) the disinterested research attitude. This ideal type paradigm leads to an operational clarification to identify new research questions, and to guide the design and evaluation of studies on social representations.

Towards a Paradigm for Research on Social Representations

People do not always take action to promote health, engaging instead in unhealthy habits and reporting fatalism about health. One important mechanism underlying these patterns involves identity-based motivation (D. Oyserman, 2007), the process by which content of social identities influences beliefs about in-group goals and strategies. Seven studies show the effect of identity-based motivation on health. Racial-ethnic minority participants view health promotion behaviors as White middle class and unhealthy behaviors as in-group defining (Studies 1 and 2). Priming race-ethnicity (and low socioeconomic status) increases health fatalism and reduces access to health knowledge (Studies 3 and 4). Perceived efficacy of health-promoting activities is undermined when racial-ethnic minority participants who identify unhealthy behavior as in-group defining are asked to consider their similarities to (middle-class) Whites (Studies 5-7).

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Identity-based motivation and health.

Social dominance theory (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999) contends that institutional-level mechanisms exist that reinforce and perpetuate existing group-based inequalities, but very few such mechanisms have been empirically demonstrated. We propose that gendered wording (i.e., masculine- and feminine-themed words, such as those associated with gender stereotypes) may be a heretofore unacknowledged, institutional-level mechanism of inequality maintenance. Employing both archival and experimental analyses, the present research demonstrates that gendered wording commonly employed in job recruitment materials can maintain gender inequality in traditionally male-dominated occupations. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated the existence of subtle but systematic wording differences within a randomly sampled set of job advertisements. Results indicated that job advertisements for male-dominated areas employed greater masculine wording (i.e., words associated with male stereotypes, such as leader, competitive, dominant) than advertisements within female-dominated areas. No difference in the presence of feminine wording (i.e., words associated with female stereotypes, such as support, understand, interpersonal) emerged across male- and female-dominated areas. Next, the consequences of highly masculine wording were tested across 3 experimental studies. When job advertisements were constructed to include more masculine than feminine wording, participants perceived more men within these occupations (Study 3), and importantly, women found these jobs less appealing (Studies 4 and 5). Results confirmed that perceptions of belongingness (but not perceived skills) mediated the effect of gendered wording on job appeal (Study 5). The function of gendered wording in maintaining traditional gender divisions, implications for gender parity, and theoretical models of inequality are discussed.

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Evidence That Gendered Wording in Job Advertisements Exists and Sustains Gender Inequality

Foreword R. M. Farr 1. Social representations in knowledge and language as approaches to a psychology of the social Uwe Flick Part I. Social Knowledge as an Issue in Social Psychology: 2. The knowledge of social systems Mario von Cranach 3. Everyday knowledge in social psychology Uwe Flick 4. Social attributions and social representations Miles Hewstone and Martha Augoustinos 5. The social construction of knowledge: social marking and socio-cognitive conflict Willem Doise, Gabriel Mugny and Juan A. Perez 6. Social memory: macrospyschological aspects Augustin Echebarria Echabe and Jose Luis Gonzalez Castro 7. Self as social representation Daphna Oyserman and Hazel Rose Markus Part II. Language and Discourse as Media for Social Psychology: 8. The epistemology of social representations Rom Harre 9. Social representations discourse analysis, and racism Jonathan Potter and Margaret Wetherell 10. Social representations and ideology: towards the study of ideological representations Martha Augoustinos 11. Social representations and development: experts' and parents' discourses about a puzzling issue Felice F. Carugati and Patrizia Selleri 12. Social representations and media communications Carlo Michael Sommer 13. The social representation of 'man' in everyday speech Lenelis Kruse Part III. Social Representations: History and Development of a Field of Research: 14. The history and actuality of social representations Serge Moscovici.

Uwe Flick

Papers

The psychology of the social