Showing papers in "Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology in 2016"
TL;DR: This paper examined whether students' sense of belonging at school (SOBAS) differed across attributes of countries, families, schools, teachers, or students, and found that students in more egalitarian cultures often had higher SOBAS than those in more hierarchical cultures.
Abstract: This study examined whether students’ sense of belonging at school (SOBAS) differed across attributes of countries, families, schools, teachers, or students. Multilevel analyses of survey and test data from 193,073 15-year-old students in 41 countries yielded four main findings. First, students in more egalitarian cultures often had higher SOBAS than those in more hierarchical cultures. Second, the teacher–student relationship had the strongest link with SOBAS and mediated the link between egalitarianism and SOBAS. Third, collectivism was not significantly linked to SOBAS. Finally, family characteristics (immigrant status, language spoken at home, socio-economic status [SES], books at home, family wealth, and family communication), schoolmates’ characteristics (SES and social communication), teacher characteristics (teacher–student relationship, teacher support and disciplinary climate), and student characteristics (reading achievement, self-efficacy, and self-concept) were also linked to students’ SOBAS ...
84 citations
TL;DR: Gelfand et al. as mentioned in this paper found that cultural tightness is positively related to the endorsement of autonomous and team leadership, and negatively related to charismatic and team leaders, even controlling for in-group collectivism, power distance, and future orientation at societal and organizational level.
Abstract: Previous research has investigated the relationship between cultural values and leadership. This research expands on this tradition and examines how the strength of social norms—or tightness–looseness—influences perceptions of effective leadership. Data from Gelfand, Raver, et al. were integrated with GLOBE’s leadership research to examine the attributes of leaders seen as leading to effectiveness in tight and loose cultures. Analyses of data across 29 samples show that cultural tightness is positively related to the endorsement of autonomous leadership and negatively related to the endorsement of charismatic and team leadership, even controlling for in-group collectivism, power distance, and future orientation at the societal and organizational level of analysis. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
84 citations
TL;DR: This article reviewed studies on adaptation in various groups of cross-cultural travelers to identify the social and cultural contextual antecedents that have been overlooked in each of the specialized research areas, revealing three distinct literature fields: on expatriates and their spouses, on international students, and on first-generation migrants.
Abstract: Currently, international mobility is common. Living abroad requires adaptation to the new culture, and adaptation outcomes are influenced by various socio-cultural factors. The literature examining these factors is vast but highly specialized. This article reviews studies on adaptation in various groups of cross-cultural travelers to identify the social and cultural contextual antecedents that have been overlooked in each of the specialized research areas. Our review reveals three distinct literature fields: on expatriates and their spouses, on international students, and on first-generation migrants. Each of them conceptualizes adaptation in a different manner. The literature on expatriates is pragmatically oriented and centered on the work context, which translates into a preference for variables that can be easily linked to expatriate work outcomes (socio-cultural adaptation, work-related antecedents). In contrast, the literature on migrants focuses on psychological outcomes of adaptation and tends to ...
83 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the role of social support in mitigating the relationship between perceived stress and mental and physical health was examined in a survey of multiple U.S. cultural/ethnic groups.
Abstract: Cultural differences in the relations between perceived stress and mental and physical health, and the role of social support in buffering these relations, are examined in a survey of multiple U.S. cultural/ethnic groups. Findings from a health survey of N = 603 adults comprising approximately equal numbers of non-Hispanic Whites, Mexican Americans, Korean Americans, and African Americans show that perceived stress is negatively correlated with one’s perceived mental and physical health, in line with previous research. However, the role of social support in mitigating this relationship is culturally contingent. A buffering effect of social support on the relation between perceived stress and both mental and physical health was only observed for Mexican Americans, not for the other cultural/ethnic groups. These patterns are discussed in the context of research on differences in social help seeking among distinct types of collectivistic cultural groups. The findings are consistent with recent research on ho...
73 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a cross-cultural psychology of religion and culture is discussed, and it raises questions on how religions and cultures affect each other, how diverse cultural groups are, and how confounded country and religious identities are.
Abstract: Religion is an important topic to understand in cross-cultural psychology. More theorizing and empirical work has gone into Western religions than Eastern religions. We briefly review work on cultural differences among Western religious groups, using the framework of individualism and collectivism. Such work raises questions on how religions and cultures affect each other, how diverse cultural groups are, and how confounded country and religious identities are. We then ask some of the same questions about Eastern religions and propose new questions for a cross-cultural psychology of religion, such as what counts as a religion, and whether there are nonreligious parallels of religious constructs that serve similar functions (e.g., belief in a just world [BJW], or social axiom of reward for human application). In all, we propose that a greater attention to both Western and Eastern religions in cross-cultural psychology can be illuminating regarding religion and culture.
69 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a threat-benefit theoretical model to explain attitudes of local people toward immigrants based on the theory of human values and extending Integrative Threat Theory, which suggests that the local population perceives immigrants as both threatening and beneficial for the receiving society.
Abstract: The present study proposes a new threat–benefit theoretical model explaining attitudes of local people toward immigrants. Based on the theory of human values and extending Integrative Threat Theory, the threat–benefit model suggests that the local population perceives immigrants as both threatening and beneficial for the receiving society. The model assumes that appraisal of an immigrant group as threatening or beneficial for the receiving society influences opinions regarding immigration policy related to the immigrant group. The study assessed the new model investigating attitudes toward asylum seekers in a representative sample of 283 social workers in Israel. Results of the study support a conceptualization of immigrant appraisal involving four types of threats (economic, physical, social cohesion, and modernity) and four types of benefits (economic, physical, cultural diversity, and humanitarian), which represent different types of realistic and symbolic threats and benefits. Findings showed that app...
65 citations
TL;DR: Zhang et al. as discussed by the authors found that Zhongyong thinking was negatively associated with anxiety (r = −.23, p <.01) and depressive symptoms, but positively associated with self-esteem and life satisfaction.
Abstract: Zhongyong thinking (Doctrine of the Mean) is a traditional Confucius interpersonal style with emphasis on interpersonal harmony and connection. In contemporary society, is Zhongyong thinking beneficial to, or has Zhongyong thinking become an old-fashioned idea with trivial or even detrimental influence on mental health? The current study explored the relationship of Zhongyong thinking and mental health measures in two studies. Study 1 was a cross-sectional survey involving a large representative sample of 8,178 Chinese undergraduate students. We found that Zhongyong thinking was negatively associated with anxiety (r = −.23, p < .01) and depressive symptoms (r = −.32, p < .01), but positively associated with self-esteem (r = .28, p < .01). Compared with low-Zhongyong group, those who scored high on the Zhongyong Thinking Scale had substantially lower scores on anxiety and depressive symptoms, and had higher scores on self-esteem and life satisfaction. In Study 2, we experimentally intervened in Zhongyong t...
55 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated within-cultural and cross-cultural variability in narcissism, overconfidence, and risk taking between college students from comparable universities in the United States and China, and found that individuals from China were more overconfident and risk seeking.
Abstract: Narcissism, overconfidence, and risk seeking are all positively correlated in U.S. samples. Overconfidence and risk seeking show consistent cross-cultural variation with higher averages among Chinese samples than U.S. samples, whereas the prior literature is mixed with regard to narcissism. These variables have never been studied simultaneously across U.S. and Chinese cultures. In two studies, we investigated within-cultural and cross-cultural variability in narcissism, overconfidence, and risk taking between college students from comparable universities in the United States and China. In both studies and in both nations, all three variables correlated positively with each other when questions were asked about one’s own country. Individuals from China were more overconfident and risk seeking. Individuals from the United States displayed greater narcissism scores, but standard indexes of scale invariance were inadequate, rendering cross-cultural comparisons of narcissism itself infeasible. In Study 2, inde...
46 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the impact of discrimination on the acculturation strategies of international students in the United Kingdom and found that perceiving discrimination is associated with a perceived lack of permeability, which in turn results in avoiding the host society and simultaneously endorsing one's own cultural background.
Abstract: The current study investigated the impact of discrimination on the acculturation strategies of international students in the United Kingdom. In a longitudinal study that followed students (N = 113) for 1 year, the authors drew on social identity theory to understand the processes by which discrimination affects their acculturation strategies. Specifically, the study examined an indirect effect by which perceived discrimination affects acculturation strategies through perceived permeability of group boundaries. Results showed that perceiving discrimination is associated with a perceived lack of permeability, which in turn results in avoiding the host society and simultaneously endorsing one’s own cultural background. Implications for international students and other cultural groups are discussed.
43 citations
TL;DR: At the end of the 20th century, a survey of the metatheoretical landscape of culture and psychology noted an emerging consensus—physicalist ontology, gene–culture co-evolutionary phylogeny, gene-culture interactionist ontogeny, and a mutual constitutionist view of culture.
Abstract: At the end of the 20th century, a survey of the metatheoretical landscape of culture and psychology noted an emerging consensus—physicalist ontology, gene–culture co-evolutionary phylogeny, gene–culture interactionist ontogeny, and a mutual constitutionist view of culture and mind. Revisiting the terrain now, the then emerging consensus seems well established, but new challenges appear on the horizon, prompting us to expand our metatheoretical scope. Extending beyond phylogeny, we need to consider a geological timescale, and further naturalizing the culture concept, we need to consider culture and human activity within the planetary system. According to some, we have left the Holocene, and entered into the Anthropocene, a geological epoch in which human activities have such a disproportionate impact that it deserves to be prefaced by humanity. Psychology with interests in culture can play a critical role in human efforts to investigate the psychological processes involved in the cultural change and to rec...
41 citations
TL;DR: The authors compare individual dishonesty on a novel task across 10 participant samples from five countries varying in corruption and cultural values and find no meaningful relationships between dishonesty and macro-level indicators.
Abstract: Norms for dishonest behaviors vary across societies, but whether this variation is related to differences in individuals’ core tendencies toward dishonesty is unknown. We compare individual dishonesty on a novel task across 10 participant samples from five countries varying in corruption and cultural values. In each country, a die-rolling task was administered to students at major public universities and the general public in coffee shops. A separate group of participants in each country predicted that dishonesty would vary across countries and demonstrated a home country dishonesty bias. In contrast to predictions from independent samples, observed dishonesty was limited in magnitude and similar across countries. We found no meaningful relationships between dishonesty on our task and macro-level indicators, including corruption ratings and cultural values. These findings suggest that individuals around the world are similarly dishonest at their core.
TL;DR: The authors examined the degree to which different cultural values skewed toward individualism or collectivism over a span of 59 years and found that in eight of nine languages (British English being the exception), firstperson singular pronouns (vs. first-person plural pronouns) have become increasingly prevalent, which in turn points to a rising sense of individualism.
Abstract: By investigating the use of first-person pronouns in nine languages using the Google Ngram Database, we examined the degree to which different cultural values skewed toward individualism or collectivism over a span of 59 years. We found that in eight of nine languages (British English being the exception), first-person singular pronouns (vs. first-person plural pronouns) have become increasingly prevalent, which in turn points to a rising sense of individualism. British English showed a U-shaped curve trend in the use of first-person singular pronouns (vs. first-person plural pronouns). Although they initially decreased, British English’s first-person singular pronouns (vs. first-person plural pronouns) use was higher than most other languages throughout the whole period. Chinese displayed a fluctuating pattern wherein the use of first-person singular pronouns (vs. first-person plural pronouns) increased in recent periods. The dynamics of cultural change and culture diversity were discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose that humans possess evolved mechanisms to detect and reject contamination by potentially harmful foreign substances, and that these mechanisms may also function in the rejection of violations in the social order.
Abstract: Humans possess evolved mechanisms to detect and reject contamination by potentially harmful foreign substances. These mechanisms may also function in the rejection of violations in the social order...
TL;DR: The authors found that innate multiculturals (defined as individuals who have experienced early immersive culture mixing) are cognitively guided by a single hybrid cultural schema and have a hybrid cultural identity.
Abstract: Why some multicultural individuals think and identify differently to others is a question that is yet to be clearly answered. We suggest that a key antecedent to psychological differences among multiculturals is early immersive culture mixing, or experiencing multiple cultures simultaneously at home while growing up. We propose that innate multiculturals (defined as individuals who have experienced early immersive culture mixing) are cognitively guided by a single hybrid cultural schema and have a hybrid cultural identity. This would make them fundamentally different from achieved multiculturals (individuals who have become multicultural in other ways), who should possess multiple distinct cultural schemas and cultural identities. A quasi-experiment indicated that, as predicted, innate multiculturals were guided by a single cultural frame with respect to attribution and locus of attention, whereas achieved multiculturals switched between different cultural frames. Innate multiculturals also reported a mor...
TL;DR: In this article, culture mixing refers to the coexistence of representative symbols of different cultures in the same space at the same time, and is defined as the "coexistence of two cultures in a shared space".
Abstract: Globalization has rendered culture mixing a pervading and overwhelming phenomenon. Culture mixing refers to the coexistence of representative symbols of different cultures in the same space at the ...
Abstract: The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) focuses on the “pure” cognitive components of emotion regulation thought to help people to manage and control their emotions during or after the experience of a stressful event. The aim of this study was to explore the psychometric properties of an Arabic version of the CERQ (CERQ-Ar) across four Arabic-speaking countries in the Middle East (i.e., Egypt, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar; N = 1,470). The original nine-factor CERQ model was confirmed, and these factors had moderate-to-high internal reliabilities, modest-to-strong interrelations, and meaningful associations with positive and negative affect. Results were robust across the four Arabic countries, suggesting that the same cognitive emotion regulation strategies appear to be present across different cultures, but the relative preference to use one or more strategies may quantitatively vary across cultures.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the problem of differences in dimensionality perception between children in sub-Saharan Africa and those in Western countries and argue that assessments using two-dimensional stimuli, such as line drawings or patterns, may be inappropriate for capturing cognitive development in settings where...
Abstract: Over the past decade, researchers have shown increased interest in examining the cognitive development of children in non-Western countries, often in connection with evaluations of health and educational interventions. However, many studies have used Western-developed measures without proper consideration of contextual validity. Across domains—from language to cognition to non-cognitive skills—this results in varying degrees of bias that call into question the findings of these studies. In this article, we focus in particular on the problem of differences in dimensionality perception between children in sub-Saharan Africa and those in Western countries. Although most Western children are exposed to extensive two-dimensional materials during early childhood, such as picture books and photographs, most rural African children are not. We therefore argue that assessments using two-dimensional stimuli, such as line drawings or patterns, may be inappropriate for capturing cognitive development in settings where...
TL;DR: The authors found that Taiwanese participants were more likely than European Americans to choose to help their mothers instead of their spouses in a life-or-death situation, and that Taiwanese were also more likely to choose their mothers over their spouses.
Abstract: People in Western cultures tend to assume that the marriage relationship is the most important relationship in life. Does this assumption apply in other cultural contexts? Three studies compared Taiwanese and European American beliefs about the priority of family relationships, using hypothetical life-or-death and everyday situations. In all three studies and in both situations, Taiwanese participants were more likely than European Americans to choose to help their mothers instead of their spouses. Furthermore, Taiwanese were more likely than European Americans to choose to help their mothers instead of their sibling or their own child. Mediation analyses indicated that obligation and closeness accounted for the association between culture and certainty of saving the mother or the spouse in the life-or-death situation. In the everyday situation, obligation alone accounted for this association. These findings have implications for Western theories of close relationships, such as attachment theory.
TL;DR: This paper examined how affective and cognitive responses to culture fusion, a specific type of culture mixing that features the blending of different cultures or parts thereof into a new entity, were investigated.
Abstract: This research examined how affective and cognitive responses to culture fusion, a specific type of culture mixing that features the blending of different cultures or parts thereof into a new entity...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine theory and psychological research either discrediting or crediting religion per se, including fundamentalism, as being a cultural cause of intergroup conflict and violence.
Abstract: Kashima underlines the importance of considering religion as a major contemporary cultural source of intergroup conflict around the world. In this commentary, I first examine theory and psychological research either discrediting or crediting religion per se, including fundamentalism, as being a cultural cause of intergroup conflict and violence. The evidence is in favor of the latter. Second, I propose a model of cultural psychological diversity of religious fundamentalism, across monotheistic religions and denominations. I finally argue, following Kashima’s global perspective on the person-culture-nature interactions, that cultural differences in religious fundamentalism may be understood as reflections of longtime interactions between natural and cultural environments and human animals, which, by creating religious (sub)cultures, rebuild, even if frequently with negative consequences, their ecological niches.
TL;DR: The authors found that culture-level individualism positively moderated the relationship of self-efficacy to low depression, whereas culture level collectivism negatively moderated a linkage of relationship harmony to depression.
Abstract: Previous two-nation comparisons have provided evidence that self-efficacy may be a protective factor against depression in individualist cultures, whereas relationship harmony may be a stronger protective factor in collectivist cultures. However, wider sampling and more specific measures of cultural difference are required to test these conclusions. Student ratings of depression and life satisfaction were surveyed in 10 samples drawn from nine nations. Culture-level individualism positively moderated the relationship of self-efficacy to low depression. However, culture-level collectivism negatively moderated the linkage of relationship harmony to depression. To better understand these effects, four separate nation-level predictors derived from dimensions of self-construal were employed. Effects of self-efficacy were strongest where cultural models of selfhood emphasized self-direction (vs. receptiveness to influence); effects of relationship harmony were strongest where cultural models of selfhood emphasized dependence on others (vs. self-reliance). These results illustrate the value of unpackaging the diffusely defined concept of individualism-collectivism.
TL;DR: The authors examined the effect of making similarity or difference comparisons on perceptions after bicultural exposure and consumer reactions to culture mixing, and found that after biculescu exposure, consumers were more likely to compare similarities and differences.
Abstract: This research examines the effect of making similarity or difference comparisons on perceptions after bicultural exposure and consumer reactions to culture mixing. Results indicate that after bicul...
TL;DR: This article found that the main sources of cross-cultural differences are with respect to a broadly defined Conservatism/Liberalism and that three groups of societies appear to exist in the world today: liberal European countries plus Canada and Australia; conservative countries from South and South-east Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America; and all other countries, including the United States, Russia, and China, that are in between liberal and conservative groups.
Abstract: This article presents findings based on the outcomes of research conducted with 8,883 participants from 33 countries. It employs mixture modeling (latent profile analysis) to classify countries into latent classes. The country-level analyses are based on three social attitudes factor scores of Nastiness, Religiosity, and Morality. The results indicate that the main sources of cross-cultural differences are with respect to a broadly defined Conservatism/Liberalism. Three groups of societies—that is, “psychological continents”—appear to exist in the world today. They are as follows: (a) liberal European countries plus Canada and Australia; (b) conservative countries from South and South-East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America; and (c) all other countries, including the United States, Russia, and China, that are in between liberal and conservative groups. In addition, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, cognitive test performance, and governance indicators were found to be low in the most conservative group and high in the most liberal group.
TL;DR: In this paper, the relationship between specific religious dimensions and acculturation was assessed with a sample of 282 Muslim immigrants who were recruited in the northern part of Italy, and two regression models showed that religious identification drives the maintenance of Muslim culture but is unrelated to the acculture to Italian culture.
Abstract: The literature suggests that religion may play an important role in the acculturation process of immigrants by contributing to the maintenance of the heritage culture and preventing identification with the mainstream. With few exceptions, studies on this topic have focused on religion as a whole by assessing specific aspects or dimensions (such as religious identification, beliefs, and practices) and creating a composite measure without analyzing the contribution of each dimension to the acculturation process. In this study, the relationships between specific religious dimensions and acculturation were assessed with a sample of 282 Muslim immigrants who were recruited in the northern part of Italy. Two regression models show that religious identification drives the maintenance of Muslim culture but is unrelated to the acculturation to Italian culture, whereas beliefs and practices do not contribute to heritage acculturation but are negatively associated to acculturation to the host culture.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate a recently available four-factor conceptualization of justice beliefs in samples of university students from the United States, Canada, India, and China (total N = 922) and find that individuals from all four cultures could be characterized according to their beliefs about distributive and procedural justice for both self and others.
Abstract: Tendencies to believe in justice are multidimensional, and some justice beliefs enhance personal well-being. These features suggest a considerable but largely overlooked potential for similarities and differences in the structure, endorsement, and wellness-promoting functions of justice beliefs across cultures. In the current research, we evaluate a recently available four-factor conceptualization of justice beliefs in samples of university students from the United States, Canada, India, and China (total N = 922). Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the proposed four-factor model was structurally invariant, suggesting that individuals from all four cultures could be characterized according to their beliefs about distributive and procedural justice for both self and others. Cross-cultural comparisons revealed no mean differences in beliefs about distributive justice for self, whereas beliefs about procedural justice for self were higher in Canada and China than in the United States or...
TL;DR: This article examined the relationship between economic growth and a culture of either individualism or collectivism, and found high collectivist expression and economic growth rate followed by the correlated decline of both prior to the end of the Soviet system.
Abstract: Collectivism and individualism are commonly used to delineate societies that differ in their cultural values and patterns of social behavior, prioritizing the relative importance of the group and the individual, respectively. Collectivist and individualist expression is likely to be intricately linked with the political and economic history of a society. Scholars have proposed mechanisms for both positive and negative correlations between economic growth and a culture of either individualism or collectivism. Here, we consider these relationships across the dramatic history of 20th- and early 21st-century Russia (1901-2009), spanning the late Russian Empire, the communist state, and the growth of capitalism. We sample Russian speakers to identify common Russian words expressing individualism or collectivism, and examine the changing frequencies of these terms in Russian publications collected in Google’s Ngram corpus. We correlate normalized individualism and collectivism expression against published estimates of economic growth (GDP and net material product [NMP]) available between 1961 and 1995, finding high collectivist expression and economic growth rate followed by the correlated decline of both prior to the end of Soviet system. Temporal trends in the published expression of individualism and collectivism, in addition to their correlations with estimated economic growth rates, are examined in relation to the change in economic and political structures, ideology and public discourse. We also compare our sampled Russian-language terms for individualism and collectivism with Twenge et al.’s equivalent collection from American English speakers.
TL;DR: This article examined whether priming interdependent relative to independent self-knowledge would induce different thinking styles among Western participants, and whether this would, in turn, affect the speed of detecting changes in a change-blindness task.
Abstract: The current study examined whether priming interdependent relative to independent self-knowledge would induce different thinking styles among Western participants, and whether this would, in turn, affect the speed of detecting changes in a change-blindness task. Based on predictions from the semantic–procedural interface model, we predicted that participants would attend more to the context following an interdependent self-construal priming manipulation than following an independent self-construal priming manipulation. Sixty individuals were asked to circle the pronouns we/us/our or I/me/my in a paragraph of text. Following this, all participants were shown alternating images in a change-blindness task. Reaction times and accuracy rates at identifying focal and contextual changes were measured. Though our Western participants were faster at identifying changes in focal objects relative to contextual objects, this difference in reaction times was reduced in half for participants who were primed with interd...
TL;DR: In this article, the kernel structure common to three different value taxonomies in European languages (Dutch with 641 values and 634 participants, Austrian with 496 values and 456 participants, and Spanish with 566 values and 532 participants) was found.
Abstract: This study aimed at finding the kernel structure common to three different value taxonomies in European languages (Dutch with 641 values and 634 participants, Austrian with 496 values and 456 participants, and Spanish with 566 values and 532 participants). Values from those three taxonomies were translated into English, thus forming the basis for the connections between the taxonomies. Using the common values between the three pairs of languages, factor structures resulting from a principal components analysis (PCA) were pairwise compared based on congruence coefficients after Procrustes rotation. Moreover, PCA was applied to a set of 139 values that was common to the three taxonomies. Furthermore, a joint matrix of values was formed with 1,703 values and 1,622 participants. Using only the common values after translation into English, this matrix was compressed to a set with 413 values and 1,622 participants, which was subjected to simultaneous components analysis (SCA). The different procedures ultimatel...
TL;DR: The authors examined the effect of cultural threat and openness to experience on creative performance of Chinese and American participants in a creative generation task, and found that those with lower levels of openness were more likely to perform less creatively when the foreign icon was deemed highly symbolic of the foreign culture.
Abstract: Past research has examined independently how openness to experience, as a personality trait, and the situational threat triggered by a foreign cultural encounter affect the emergence of creative benefits from a culture-mixing experience. The present research provides the first evidence for the interactive effect of openness to experience and cultural threat following culturally mixed encounters on creative performance. In Study 1, under heightened perceptions of cultural threat, exposing to the mixing of Chinese and American cultures (vs. a non-mixed situation) made close-minded Chinese participants to perform more poorly in a creative generation task. In Study 2, inducing cultural threat by having a foreign cultural icon spatially intrude a sacred space of the local culture caused Chinese participants with lower levels of openness to perform less creatively when the foreign icon was deemed highly symbolic of the foreign culture. These patterns of effects did not emerge among open-minded participants. The...
TL;DR: In this paper, a new series of visual flicker tasks while making changes in focal figures more salient than those in the background was conducted, where participants searched for a change in a pair of quickly alternating still images.
Abstract: Previous findings in culture and attention reported mixed results. While some studies demonstrated systematic cultural variations in patterns of eye movement, other studies reported that the magnitude of the effects is minor. To further scrutinize when cultural variations in attention are attenuated or enhanced, we conducted a new series of visual flicker tasks while making changes in focal figures more salient than those in the background. European Canadian and Japanese participants searched for a change in a pair of quickly alternating still images. The task consisted of two parts: In the majority of trials, we set a change in part of either the focal object or the background (change trials), while in some trials, a pair of identical images was presented unbeknownst to participants (no-change trials), which resulted in forcing participants to search for a nonexistent change for 1 min. We then measured patterns of eye movement during each type of trial. The results of the change trials indicated that the...