Showing papers in "Asian Journal of Social Psychology in 2010"
TL;DR: In this experiment, Westernized bicultural Chinese were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing trait judgments that referenced the self, mother, or a non-identified person (NIP) after Western or Chinese culture priming.
Abstract: Where in the brain are the self and significant others (e.g. mother) represented? Neuroscientists have traced self-representation to the ventral medial prefrontal cortex for both Westerners and East Asians. However, significant others were represented alongside the self in the same brain area for East Asians but not for Westerners. In this experiment, Westernized bicultural Chinese were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing trait judgments that referenced the self, mother, or a non-identified person (NIP) after Western or Chinese culture priming. Consistent with Western independent self-construals and Chinese interdependent self-construals, Western priming increased, whereas Chinese priming decreased the neural differentiation of mother and NIP from self.
140 citations
TL;DR: Cultural neuroscience issues from the apparently incompatible combination of neuroscience and cultural psychology are discussed in this paper, with several preliminary topics that demonstrate proof of possibilities: cultural differences in both lower-level processes (e.g. perception, number representation) and higher-order processes such as inferring others' emotions, contemplating the self) are beginning to shed new light on both culture and cognition.
Abstract: Cultural neuroscience issues from the apparently incompatible combination of neuroscience and cultural psychology. A brief literature sampling suggests, instead, several preliminary topics that demonstrate proof of possibilities: cultural differences in both lower-level processes (e.g. perception, number representation) and higher-order processes (e.g. inferring others' emotions, contemplating the self) are beginning to shed new light on both culture and cognition. Candidates for future cultural neuroscience research include cultural variations in the default (resting) network, which may be social; regulation and inhibition of feelings, thoughts, and actions; prejudice and dehumanization; and neural signatures of fundamental warmth and competence judgments.
69 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the moderating effect of Zhong Yong on the relationship between perceived creativity and innovation behavior in Chinese companies and found that for people higher on Zhong-yong, their creativity was not correlated with innovation behavior; for people less immersed in Zhong yong, this correlation is significant.
Abstract: The present study examined the moderating effect of Zhong Yong on the relationship between perceived creativity and innovation behaviour in Chinese companies. A total of 273 paired questionnaires were collected with employee self-rated creativity and Zhong Yong and supervisor-rated innovation behaviour. The results show that for people higher on Zhong Yong, their creativity was not correlated with innovation behaviour; for people less immersed in Zhong Yong, this correlation is significant. This finding provides a new insight into the effects of Zhong Yong on the creativity-innovation behaviour transformation processes. The implications for future research are also discussed.
68 citations
TL;DR: This article identified the intergenerational parenting coalition as a culturally appropriate unit of analysis for understanding child rearing within the multigenerational family in China, and reviewed the social forces that have given rise to the contemporary multi-generational family.
Abstract: This article presents the important, but overlooked, role that is played by grandparents in contemporary China as joint caregivers with parents in raising only children. Grounded on empirical data, collected through ethnographic and survey methods in urban China, the article identifies the ‘intergenerational parenting coalition’ as a culturally appropriate unit of analysis for understanding child rearing within the multigenerational family in China. The social forces that have given rise to the contemporary multigenerational family in China are reviewed. Qualitative analyses of four such families are used to illustrate the unique family dynamics and patterns of influence particular to the intergenerational parenting coalition.
67 citations
TL;DR: For example, this article found that those who believed in a malleable social reality were relatively unsupportive of government policies that help the Asian American (vs African American) communities.
Abstract: Asian Americans are often perceived as a ‘model minority’– an ethnic minority that are high achieving, hardworking, self-reliant, law-abiding, as well as having few social and mental health problems. Although the impact of the model minority image on the US government's redistributive policies is a widely contested topic in public discourses, there has been little research on the association between the model minority image, people's worldviews, and attitudes towards the US government's redistributive policies. In an experiment that measured American participants' worldviews and manipulated the salience of the model minority image, we have demonstrated that those who believed in a malleable social reality were relatively unsupportive of government policies that help the Asian American (vs African American) communities. Theoretical and practical implications of this finding are discussed.
64 citations
TL;DR: This article examined three target articles included in the Asian Journal of Social Psychology special issue on cultural neuroscience and found that brain connectivity changes as a function of each person's active, repeated engagement in culture's scripted behavioural patterns (i.e. practices).
Abstract: In the present commentary, we first examine the three target articles included in the Asian Journal of Social Psychology special issue on cultural neuroscience. We spell out the contributions that the articles have offered to the field. We extend this examination with our own theoretical model of neuro-culture interaction, which proposes that brain connectivity changes as a function of each person's active, repeated engagement in culture's scripted behavioural patterns (i.e. practices). We then locate the current endeavour of cultural neuroscience within a broader framework, detailing empirical, theoretical, and meta-theoretical reasons why the approach of cultural neuroscience is important to both socio-behavioural and biological sciences. It is concluded that the scholarship demonstrated in the target articles will be an important collective asset for all of us who aspire to understand the human mind as fundamentally biocultural and to study it as such.
45 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a theory of the perception of hybrids, resulting from cross-breeding natural animals that pertain to different species and of children parented by couples with a mixed ethnic or racial background.
Abstract: This article presents a theory of the perception of hybrids, resulting from cross-breeding natural animals that pertain to different species and of children parented by couples with a mixed ethnic or racial background. The theory states that natural living beings, including humans, are perceived as possessing a deeply ingrained characteristic that is called ‘essence’ or ‘blood’ or ‘genes’ in everyday discourse and that uniquely determines their category membership. If, by whatever means, the genes or essences of two animals of different species are combined in a hybrid, the two incompatible essences collapse, leaving the hybrid in a state of non-identity and non-belonging. People despise this state and reject the hybrid (Study 1). This devaluation effect holds with cross-kind hybrids and with hybrids that arise from genetically combining animals from incompatible habitats across three cultures: Austria, India and Japan (Study 2). In the social world, groups and ethnic or racial categories frequently are essentialized in an analogue way. When people with an essentialist mindset judge ethnically or racially mixed offspring, they perceive a collapse of ethnic or racial essence and, consequently, denigrate these children, as compared to children from ‘pure’ in-group or out-group parents (Study 3). The findings are discussed in terms of the widespread ‘yuck factor’ against genetically modified animals, in terms of the cultural concepts of monstrosity and of racism and prejudice.
38 citations
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors examined personal control, personal support, and social support relative to marital satisfaction among 1749 participants in seven Chinese cities and found that life crises, rather than transitions, negatively predicted the marital satisfaction of Chinese.
Abstract: Stressful life events, personal control, and social support were examined relative to marital satisfaction among 1749 participants in seven Chinese cities. Stressful life events were categorized as life crises and life transitions. Life crises, rather than transitions, negatively predicted the marital satisfaction of Chinese. The moderating effects of personal control were found among women, but not men, and occurred only in the relationship between marital satisfaction and life crises, not life transitions. Social support buffers the negative effects of life crises on marital satisfaction. The results extend family stress-coping theory in specifying two coping resources for Chinese marriages under stress.
30 citations
TL;DR: In this article, three studies were designed to prove that while instrumentality and communality are mainly dimensions related to role identities, and thus determined by occupational status, masculinity and femininity are social identities linked to gender.
Abstract: Three studies were designed to prove that while instrumentality and communality are mainly dimensions related to role identities, and thus determined by occupational status, masculinity and femininity are social identities linked to gender. Some ideas are put forward as to the reasons that have led historically to the overlapping of role and gender identities. The studies showed that people differentiate communality/instrumentality and masculinity/femininity, perceiving the former as linked to professional status and the latter to gender membership. Finally, current representations of masculinity and femininity are explored.
30 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined whether the TMT worldview defencebuffering effect found in Western cultures could be generalized to Asians in Taiwan and found that no such effect was found in the present studies.
Abstract: Terror management theory (TMT) proposes that people who are reminded of their mortality should be motivated to defend their cultural worldview. Studies 1 and 2 examined whether the TMT worldview defence‐buffering effect found in Western cultures could be generalized to Asians in Taiwan. No such effect was found in the present studies. This non‐significant result was robust when either a stronger distraction task was used (study 1) or when a subliminal manipulation of mortality salience was utilized (study 2). A meta‐analysis, including 24 TMT experiments in East Asia, was also conducted (study 3). The average effect size (d = 0.11, r = 0.055) of worldview defence among these experiments was not significantly different from zero. Study 4 found that mortality salience manipulation also did not change Taiwanese participants' view of reincarnation; however, it did make them more inclined to resign to fate, suggesting that they might be using this symbolic means to defend their anxiety of death. The issue of the generality of TMT to Asians was discussed.
28 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined Mainland and Hong Kong Chinese' historical representations and future imaginations of China during the 2008 Beijing Olympics based on the stereotype content model and found that as the Olympics proceeded, the perceived compatibility of competence and warmth/morality increased and the good old days effect diminished.
Abstract: Based on the stereotype content model, we examined Mainland and Hong Kong Chinese' historical representations and future imaginations of China during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Among Mainland Chinese, China's unprecedented economic growth and the resulted value competition led to the expectation of a more competent China in the future (vs now; a ‘better tomorrow effect’) and a perception of a warmer and more moral China in the past (vs now; the ‘good old days effect’). As the Olympics proceeded, the perceived compatibility of competence and warmth/morality increased and the good old days effect diminished. Hong Kong Chinese, who also witnessed China's growth but did not directly experience the cultural implications of globalization in Mainland China, displayed the better tomorrow effect only.
TL;DR: It is illustrated how attention to the brain, as exemplified in functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging studies of sociocultural processes, contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the human mind.
Abstract: A major evolutionary advance of humans is a mind that is capable of constructing, perpetuating, adapting to, and exploiting culture. The birth of cultural neuroscience reflects the growing realization that a full account of the human mind requires understanding of the multiple and reciprocal influences between the biological and the sociocultural. In the present paper, we illustrate how attention to the brain, as exemplified in functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging (fMRI) studies of sociocultural processes, contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the human mind. We end by discussing a set of challenges facing researchers using fMRI and the possible means for dealing with these challenges.
TL;DR: The authors found that urban Chinese consistently attributed Chinese moral values (more than other types of values) to self-generated Chinese exemplary persons and Western moral values to selfgenerated Western exemplary persons, indicating that frequent exposure to foreign cultures can lead to enhanced perceptions of cultural differences.
Abstract: Chinese adolescents in urban cities (Beijing, Chengdu) and rural towns (Wei Shan Zhuang, Zheng Xing) generated Chinese and Western exemplary persons and rated the values these exemplary persons represent. The results showed that the tendency to differentiate Chinese culture from Western culture was greater among urban (vs rural) Chinese. Specifically, only urban Chinese consistently attributed Chinese moral values (more than other types of values) to self-generated Chinese exemplary persons and Western moral values (more than other types of values) to self-generated Western exemplary persons. Because urban Chinese have more frequent exposure to foreign cultures, our results suggest that frequent exposure to foreign cultures can lead to enhanced perceptions of cultural differences.
TL;DR: The authors found that people whose values and attitudes are similar to the collective representations of the political party that an election candidate belongs to would be more likely to vote for that candidate, and this relationship would be mediated by party identification.
Abstract: Research has shown that cultural identification is influenced by the congruence between people's personal values and intersubjectively represented cultural values. The current research extended this finding to voter choice and behaviour. We hypothesized that people whose values and attitudes are similar to the collective representations of the political party that an election candidate belongs to would be more likely to vote for that candidate. Also, this relationship would be mediated by party identification. We found support for our hypotheses in two studies, one on the Legislative Council election in Hong Kong and the other on the 2004 US presidential election.
TL;DR: The authors examined the growth of social psychology in Asia from 1970 to 2008 through a bibliometric analysis of articles in the ISI Web of Science database that listed Asian-based authors and found that Asian social psychology is increasingly more autonomous and distinctive.
Abstract: The growth of social psychology in Asia from 1970 to 2008 was examined through a bibliometric analysis of articles in the ISI Web of Science database that listed Asian-based authors. The 1866 articles have appeared at an accelerating rate, and represent a rapidly-growing share of global publications in the field. Publication trajectories of different Asian nations show the Indian first wave, Hong Kong and Japan's second wave, and China and Taiwan's third wave of growth. Trends in the rates of Asian first authorship, single-nation authorship, and cross-cultural research suggest that Asian social psychology is increasingly more autonomous and distinctive.
TL;DR: The authors found that exposure to the Beijing Olympic icon increased perceived cultural differences between cultures, compared with those unexposed to the icon, while Chinese participants who believe society is fixed saw similarly high levels of differentiation between the cultures, whether or not they were exposed to the Olympic icon.
Abstract: The Beijing Olympic Games, aspiring towards ‘One World, One Dream’, were intended to elicit feelings of international unity. As such, once reminded of the Beijing Games, people should perceive fewer differences between cultures. Alternatively, given its competitive nature, the Beijing Games may lead people to contrast cultures and see heightened intergroup differences. Findings supported the latter process. After being primed with the Beijing Olympic icon, Chinese and American participants high in nationalism and patriotism perceived greater differences between Chinese and American cultures, compared to those low in nationalism and patriotism. Among Chinese participants who believe society is malleable, exposure to the icon increased perceived cultural differences, compared with those unexposed to the icon. Chinese participants who believe society is fixed saw similarly high levels of differentiation between the cultures, whether or not they were exposed to the icon. Implications for Sino-American relations and globalization are discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, a dissociation between explicit and implicit intergroup evaluation in the reciprocal attitudes between indigenous (Mapuche) and non-indigenous Chileans was demonstrated, which indicated that the members of the low-status minority might explicitly express a moderate evaluative preference for their in-group but might implicitly devalue it.
Abstract: The present research demonstrates a dissociation between explicit and implicit intergroup evaluation in the reciprocal attitudes between indigenous (Mapuche) and non-indigenous Chileans. In both social groups, the explicit measures of attitudes towards the respective in-group and out-group were compared with the Implicit Association Test scores. The results indicate that the members of the low-status minority might explicitly express a moderate evaluative preference for their in-group but might implicitly devalue it. Conversely, the members of the high-status majority might implicitly devalue their out-group but might explicitly express no bias. These results are theoretically framed in terms of system justification, conventional stereotypes and motivated correction processes.
TL;DR: This paper investigated the effects of work-related norm violations (i.e., violations of interpersonal and work regulation norms) and individuals' general beliefs about the world on feelings of shame and guilt in Turkey and in the Netherlands.
Abstract: This paper aimed at investigating the effects of work-related norm violations (i.e., violations of interpersonal and work regulation norms) and individuals' general beliefs about the world (i.e., social axioms: reward for application, social cynicism) on feelings of shame and guilt in Turkey and in the Netherlands. An experimental study involving 103 Turkish and 111 Dutch participants showed that work norm violations elicited feelings of guilt and shame differently in Turkey and the Netherlands. Specifically, interpersonal norm violation in Turkey elicited feelings of shame and guilt more strongly than did violation of a work regulation norm, whereas no differential effects were found in the Netherlands. As expected, violation of a work regulation norm elicited feelings of shame and guilt more strongly in the Netherlands than in Turkey, whereas violation of an interpersonal norm elicited feelings of shame and guilt more strongly in Turkey than in the Netherlands. The findings provide further evidence for the moderating effects of social axioms: in both countries, participants high in social cynicism felt less ashamed when they violated a work regulation norm than did those low in social cynicism. Our findings are relevant for understanding the underlying mechanisms of norm violations at work, thereby offering a new avenue for investigating cultural differences in the workplace. The latter may be of particular relevance in times of globalization and diversity in the workplace.
TL;DR: This paper found that violence in same-sex intimate relationships is as severe and prevalent as in heterosexual relationships, and that violence occurred only after the initiator of violence had claimed innocence or blamelessness and attributed guilt or blame on the receiver of violence.
Abstract: This study focuses on same-sex intimate violence, recognizing that violence in gay and lesbian relationships is as severe and prevalent as in heterosexual relationships. Positioning theory as a relational approach is used as an alternative to the dominant individual and structural accounts. Intimate violence is seen as produced through the assignment of rights and duties or positioning in couples' conversations. Two gay and two lesbian couples were interviewed. A basic discursive pattern was found from 25 accounts of episodes involving physical violence. Violence ensued only after the initiator of violence had claimed innocence or blamelessness and attributed guilt or blame on the receiver of violence. The findings are discussed in relation to the discursive production of power and violence.
TL;DR: The authors conducted a three-wave longitudinal study and found that participants' competitiveness towards foreigners from five comparison target nations, particularly towards Japanese, South Koreans and Kenyans, was higher during the Games than before and/or after.
Abstract: To investigate whether and how the Beijing Olympic Games influenced the Chinese competitiveness towards foreigners, we conducted a three-wave longitudinal study and found that participants' competitiveness towards foreigners from five comparison target nations, particularly towards Japanese, South Koreans and Kenyans, was higher during the Games than before and/or after. We further found that nationalism predicted the competitiveness toward Japanese and South Koreans, but did not predict the competitiveness toward Americans, Russians and Kenyans. Additionally, we found that patriotism played little role in the effects of the Games on competitiveness towards foreigners. We herein discuss the relationship between national comparisons, nationalism and national conflict.
TL;DR: The authors examined the framing effect of two modes of idolatry among a sample of 1095 secondary school students in Hong Kong and Shenzhen and found that the achievement frame can heighten young people's adoration of an idol by emphasizing the idol's achievement processes.
Abstract: The present study examined the framing effect of two modes of idolatry among a sample of 1095 secondary school students in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Two experimental conditions were set up: in the glamour frame condition, subjects were exposed to frames that enhanced perfection and mystification of idols' personal or ideological characteristics; in the achievement frame condition, subjects were exposed to frames that enhanced emulation and identification of idols' pro-social behaviours or desirable dispositional traits. The experiment selected a prominent pop music and movie star well known in Chinese societies, Andy Lau, as the target idol. Subjects showed a consistently and significantly greater desire to glorify, idealize, identify with, emulate, and attach to Andy Lau in the achievement frame condition than in the glamour frame condition. The finding suggests that an achievement frame can heighten young people's adoration of an idol by emphasizing the idol's achievement processes. This suggestion is favourable to the possibility of transforming an idol into a role model for young people to learn to pursue career success.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the Japanese concept of "amae", or the state of expecting a close other's indulgence when one behaves inappropriately, within the day-to-day relationships of 30 Japanese undergraduate romantic couples.
Abstract: The cultural psychology of romantic relationships is relatively understudied. To redress this lacunae, the present study examined the Japanese concept of ‘amae’, or the state of expecting a close other's indulgence when one behaves inappropriately, within the day-to-day relationships of 30 Japanese undergraduate romantic couples. For 2 weeks, both partners completed daily diaries that assessed their amae behaviour (requesting, receiving, and providing amae), relationship quality, conflict, and motivation to enhance closeness. Results revealed that amae behaviour was associated with greater relationship quality and less conflict. The motivation to enhance closeness partially mediated the association of amae with relationship quality.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the moderating effect of the boundary-permeated self on Beijing residents' support and participation in the Beijing Olympic Games (BOG) and found that participants with a high permeability of the self boundary became more positive as their patriotism increased; for respondents with low permeability, their participation was high regardless of their patriotism level.
Abstract: Indigenous theories proposed that the self boundary of Chinese has permeability. The present study examines the moderating effect of the boundary-permeated self on Beijing residents' support and participation in the Beijing Olympic Games (BOG). In a survey after BOG, data about the boundary-permeated self, patriotism, BOG focus, and BOG participation were collected. The results indicate that the boundary-permeated self moderated the relationship between patriotism and participation in BOG. For respondents with a high permeability of the self boundary, their national focus and participation became more positive as their patriotism increased; for respondents with low permeability, their participation was high regardless of their patriotism level.
TL;DR: This paper investigated the relationship between current attachment to mother and attachment to romantic partners, and the role of current partner support and culture as moderators of that relationship, and found that maternal attachment anxiety was correlated with romantic attachment anxiety; maternal attachment avoidance was also associated with current partner avoidance, but this linkage was stronger for HK Chinese than for Americans.
Abstract: The current study investigated the relationships between current attachment to mother and attachment to romantic partners, and the role of current partner support and culture as moderators of that relationship. University students who were currently in a romantic relationship were recruited from Hong Kong and USA, and completed measures on attachment styles and partner support. Results showed that maternal attachment anxiety was correlated with romantic attachment anxiety; maternal attachment avoidance was correlated with romantic attachment avoidance, but this linkage varied by level of current partner support. Romantic attachment avoidance was also associated with current partner support, but this linkage was stronger for HK Chinese than for Americans. These results are discussed in terms of how interpersonal and personality factors promoted by culture can affect the developmental course of romantic relationships.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors looked at social representations of the 1986 People Power in the Philippines among Filipino civilians and the military using mixed qualitative-quantitative methods, collected military narratives, ran a survey of civilians and military personnel and reviewed newspaper accounts of People Power anniversary celebrations over 20 years.
Abstract: This research looked at social representations of the 1986 People Power in the Philippines among Filipino civilians and the military. Using mixed qualitative–quantitative methods, the research collected military narratives, ran a survey of civilians and military personnel and reviewed newspaper accounts of People Power anniversary celebrations over 20 years. Civilians saw People Power as a strong and positive power shift, while the military viewed it as an aborted coup led by military officers that was weak and bad. The findings about the social representations of transition are linked to civilian–military social identities after 1986 and illuminate the subjective landscape of State power contests in a new democracy.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the extent to which these were moderated by the acculturation patterns of Korean immigrants to New Zealand and found that negative perfectionism was associated with increased body satisfaction only among those who identified strongly as Korean.
Abstract: Korean society highly values personal appearance. Given the established links between perfectionism and eating disorders in Western countries, the present project investigated such links and the extent to which these were moderated by the acculturation patterns of the participants. Korean immigrants to New Zealand (N = 123) completed measures of perfectionism, ethnic identity, eating disorders, and social desirability. Positive and negative perfectionism were associated with eating-disorder symptoms. For males, but not females, negative perfectionism was more strongly associated with increased body satisfaction only among those who identified strongly as Korean.
TL;DR: This paper examined the pattern of attentional allocation in group situations using a memory task and found that memory performance among Americans was biased towards intergroup status difference over intragroup relationship information.
Abstract: A recent review of empirical evidence disconfirmed the widely-held view that North Americans are less collectivistic than East Asians. However, previous research has proposed that the motivations underlying group behaviours differ across cultures: North Americans are more strongly motivated to acquire and maintain higher in-group status relative to outgroups, whereas East Asians tend to emphasize maintenance of reciprocal relationships within in-groups. We tested this hypothesis by examining the pattern of attentional allocation in group situations using a memory task. As predicted, compared to Japanese, memory performance among Americans was biased towards intergroup status difference over intragroup relationship information.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors paid tribute to the social psychological significance of the Beijing Olympic Games to China and the world by using a wide range of methods, ranging from longitudinal tracking to priming, to examining self-construal and volunteering, representations of China's past and future, competition towards foreigners and perceived intercultural differences.
Abstract: The Beijing Olympic Games, one of the most significant social events for contemporary China, is a milestone for China's efforts for globalization. ‘One World, One Dream’, the motto of the Beijing Olympic Games, is an embodiment of the encounter between Chinese culture and Western civilization, and a symbol of integration between China and the rest of the world. This Special Section seeks to address the psychosocial ramifications of the Beijing Olympic Games and, thereby, to shed light on China's domestic situation and its international relations from a social psychological perspective. Moving beyond the psychology of athletic excellence, the four papers included use a wide range of methods, ranging from longitudinal tracking to priming, to examining self-construal and volunteering, to representations of China's past and future, competition towards foreigners, and perceived intercultural differences. Consistently found across the papers, patriotism was associated with ingroup cohesion, whereas nationalism was associated with competition and differentiation towards outgroups. This Special Section thereby pays tribute to the social psychological significance of the Beijing Olympic Games to China and the world.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the effects of cognitive style congruency on knowledge transfer in the mentor-protege dyadic relationship and the moderating effect of tacitness of knowledge in this relationship.
Abstract: This study explored the effects of cognitive-style congruency on knowledge transfer in the mentor–protege dyadic relationship and the moderating effect of tacitness of knowledge in this relationship. Using data from 148 sales personnel dyads, we found that the more congruent the cognitive style between a mentor and a protege, the more effective the knowledge transfer between them. Moreover, the tacitness of knowledge moderated this association as expected. When the knowledge to be transferred was organized, systematic, and clear, this positive relationship was weakened. This relationship was particularly strong when the knowledge to be transferred was tacit, ambiguous, and unclear.
TL;DR: According to the model of people as intuitive prosecutors, the severity effect is a deterrence message as discussed by the authors, and the authors tested this hypothesis in two studies in Singapore, where participants learnt about the severity of harm arising from an accidental or intentional act, and expressed anger, made attributions, assigned blame, recommended compensation by and imprisonment of the offender, and indicated the degree to which they were guided by the punishment goals of deterrence and retribution.
Abstract: Severe, compared to mild, harm results in harsher punishment. According to the model of people as intuitive prosecutors, the severity effect is a deterrence message. The authors tested this hypothesis in two studies in Singapore. In Study 1, participants learnt about the severity of harm arising from an accidental or intentional act, and expressed anger, made attributions, assigned blame, recommended compensation by and imprisonment of the offender, and indicated the degree to which they were guided by the punishment goals of deterrence and retribution. As hypothesized, the prosecutorial mindset was multidimensional, and the deterrence goal mediated the severity effect on punishment. In Study 2, the severity effect held when the punishment goal was unspecified but not when it was experimentally specified as deterrence.