Cultural variations in sentiments

1. Cultural variations in sentiments David R. Heise  International Academy for Intercultural Research Reno, Nevada June 25, 2013

2. Roots of this research Charles Egerton Osgood (1916 – 1991) • The Academy is seeking to recognize and celebrate early contributors to intercultural research. • University of Illinois psychologist Charles Osgood was one of the most illustrious. • A biography is in Osgood & Tzeng, Language, Meaning, and Culture: the Selected Papers of C. E. Osgood (Praeger: 1990). • Here I want only to observe that Osgood organized and managed the largest in-depth cross-cultural study of the 20th Century. • That monumental study proved beyond any doubt that • affective meaning varies along three dimensions, • within all 30 cultures considered in the project, • for individuals responding in more than 21 indigenous languages.

3. The nature of the three affective dimensions—Evaluation, Potency, Activity (EPA) • Verified in each of 21 communities as follows: → get indigens’ adjective associations to 100 universal concepts → have indigens pair the adjectives with opposites to form 60 scales → have indigenous teen males rate the 100 concepts on the 60 scalesand average the ratings for each concept → factor analyze the averaged ratings pan-culturally – 60 scales X 21 cultures – to see if • the first three factors are recognizably EPA • all cultures have scales loading on all three EPA factors • More details in • Osgood, Charles E., W. H. May, and M. S. Miron. 1975. Cross-Cultural Universals of Affective Meaning. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. • Summary in Heise, D. R. 2010. Surveying Cultures: Discovering Shared Conceptions and Sentiments. Hoboken, NJ, Wiley Interscience.

4. The Osgood corpus • Osgood’s research program was conducted in 30 cultures, but the data archived at Illinois have been lost. • I purchased a print-out of results for 17 cultures in 1978 at the U-of-Illinois bookstore, kept it in my files, and scanned the sheets in 2001. The mean ratings of 620 concepts by indigenous male teenagers in the 17 cultures are the data I analyze in this talk. • Please download photo-copies of the print-outs and electronic files of the mean ratings at http://www.indiana.edu/~socpsy/Atlas/

5. On using the remnants of the Osgood atlas Cons Pros Analyses show cultures in the pre-globalized world. Data cover a variety of communities worldwide (U.S. Whites and Blacks in Illinois, Münster Germany, Netherlands, Belgrade Yugoslavia, Istanbul Turkey, Teheran Iran, Beirut Lebanon, Israel, New Delhi, Calcutta, Bangkok Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico City, Yucatan, Costa Rica, Brazil). The diverse concepts relate to time, kinship, abstract symbolisms, concrete symbolisms, environmentals, carnalities, human activity, interpersonal relations, society, communications, philosophy, and things and stuff. No missing data for 532 concepts. • 50 year old data so findings may be out-of-date about specific cultures. • Data were lost on key European cultures (Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Sweden, Hungary) and key Asian cultures(Afghanistan, China, Japan). • Fewer concepts were rated than in contemporary EPA surveys (about 600 as opposed to 1500-2500). • Some concepts (e.g., homosexual) were dropped from surveys in some cultures.

6. Distances between EPA profiles EPA of concept in culture Q: E=-2.0, P=0.5, A=1.0. EPA of concept in culture R: E=1.0, P=2.0, A=-1.0.

7. Distances between cultures • The concept distances between two cultures were squared and summed over 620 concepts. • These distance scores were put together into a 17X17 distance matrix. • The matrix provided the data for a non-metric multi-dimensional scaling analysis.

8. Stress for MDS solutions of varying dimensions, when distances are computed over three EPA measures times 620 concepts.

9. MDS two-dimension solution. Biggest difference from 3-D solution is Brazil moving away from center because 3rd dimension largely contrasts Brazil with all others. Two-dimensional solution is used for subsequent analyses.

10. Intra-national cultures Cultures within a nation can be as different as the cultures of separate nations.

11. Geography andculture • European cultures occupy a specific region. • US white culture may belong in the European group. • New World cultures are spread out. • Middle Eastern cultures diverge horizontally. • South Asian culturesalso are fairly divergent. • Geography not very predictive. • Though diasporas and other aspects of history may be relevant.

12. Religion and culture Christian • Christian cultures are widely spread. • Muslim cultures also are spread. • The two Hindu cultures are apart. • The sample has only one instance of Judaism, Buddhism, and communism. • Not much support for a religion connection, though upper-right societies may be more secular. Communist Christian Christian Muslim Muslim Jewish Christian Buddhist Hindu Christian Hindu Christian Christian Muslim Muslim Christian

13. Secular History of colonization, slavery? Ecclesiastical

14. E difference > 2.5: Prophet, Capitalism, God, Growing, Blood, Religion, King, Law, Prayer, Hospital, Tooth, Homosexual. Iran more positive for all these concepts (including Homosexual). • All other differences greater than 2.5 occur on A, with Iran more active in every case except illegitimate child. • No P differences are greater than 2.5. • The dimension predominately relates to religious topics. Most distant concepts for Yugoslavia vs. Iran

15. E difference > 2.5: Debt, Fighting, Baldness, Being Aggressive, Envy, Wine, Graft, Lying, Competition, Anger, November, Hunger, Bride, Defeat, Caste, Fear, Sickness. U.S. Blacks more positive, except for Wine and Bride. • A difference > 2.5: Fighting, Being aggressive, Earthquake, Machine, Gramophone, Thunder, City, Youth, Jazz music, Adolescence, Play, Boy. Germany always more active. • Pdifferences > 2.5: Baby, Flower, Rose. U.S. Blacks more potent. • The dimension mostly relates to reactions and predicaments of the oppressed. Most distant concepts for U.S. Blacks vs. Germany

16. Cultural differences in sentiments about specific concepts • Concepts with large inter-cultural distances (largest first): • creature, army, wine, miniskirt, atomic bomb, fighting, colonialism, God, revolution, school, funeral, dog, pride, patriot, soldier, competition, leisure, examination, prayer, hunger, earthquake, summer, whiskey, capitalism. • Concepts with small inter-cultural distances (smallest last): • rug, Tuesday, window, widower, today, cheese, left hand, tomorrow, wealth, map, middle class, four, thing, answer, room, the past, yesterday, March, stranger, place, a square, twenty-nine, neutrality, twenty-eight.

17. Average inter-cultural distance 1.6 or more. Concepts with large inter-cultural distances

18. Creature

19. Army

20. Wine

21. Average inter-cultural distance 1.0 or less. Concepts with smallest inter-cultural distances

22. Person

23. Stranger

24. Neutrality

25. Average inter-cultural distance less than 1.6 and more than 1.0. concepts with intermediate inter-cultural distances

26. War

27. Mother Activity ratings vary from -0.8 (Yugoslavia) to 2.2 (Iran).

28. Child Activity ratings vary from -0.3 (US Blacks) to 2.3 (Iran).

29. Generalizing… • Inter-cultural differences are large for a few concepts. • Inter-cultural differences are moderate and meaningful for most concepts. • Inter-cultural differences are insignificant for a few concepts.

30. Proposition: expressive orders of cultures are largely similar. • Then inter-cultural feelings about diverse concepts should form a single factor within each EPA dimension when concept means are Q-factored. • Eigenvalues from correlations of 17 cultures over ratings of 535 concepts:

31. Using simulation analyses to determine the Emotional entailments of cross-cultural differences in sentiments

32. Affect control theory • Basic principle: Humans try to experience what they already know. • On the cognitive side, this means that you try to fit any experience into culturally-available categories. • On the affective side, the principle means that you try to match the feelings that the experience gives you with your cultural sentiments. • Especially, you design your own actions so that the feelings they produce will affirm your sentiments. • Complete details are provided in: D. Heise, 2007, Expressive Order: Confirming Sentiments in Social Actions. New York, Springer.

33. Affect control theory uses the three dimensions and a mathematized theory to predict people’s behaviors. “ACT is one of the most encompassing and precise social-psychological theories, translating … qualitative, phenomenological approaches … into an exact quantitative system with point predictions that deliver astonishing plausible results” (Scholl, 2013: 21) Setting up program Interact. Predicting behaviors. Interact is at http://www.indiana.edu/~socpsy/ACT/interact/JavaInteract.html

34. With three dimensions and a mathematized theory that people maintain their sentiments about self and other, we can predict behaviors, emotions, attributions, and labelings.

35. Interact simulations of Proprietor-Patron interactions in different cultures

36. Emotion EPAs in simulated commercial actions, when Proprietor performs optimal act toward Patron

37. Emotions co-occurring with expected acts of 1960-70s Storekeeper and “Most people”(or 2002 Merchant and Customer among IU students).Picture is from Interact analysis of first-named culture in each cluster. U.S. Blacks, New Delhi, Thailand Yucatan, IU Males, IU Females Germany, Calcutta, Lebanon, Turkey Netherlands, Israel, Yugoslavia Brazil, Costa Rica, Iran, Malaysia, Mexico City, U.S. Whites.

38. This simulation shows (as all of you know) that you can conduct a commercial transaction almost anywhere. • But in some places the interaction may seem a bit strange. • The expressive order in sundry social encounters is largely shared cross-culturally. • The (usually) small divergences in expressive order give foreign flavor to intercultural interactions. • However, certain topics—especially involving religion and circumstances of oppressed groups—have such diverse affective meanings cross-culturally that cross-cultural understanding and empathy may break down.

39. Muslim-Prophet-Dutchman • I used Iranian and Dutch sentiments to ask how a Dutchman might treat the Prophet, and how a Muslim might react to the Dutchman’s action. (Inspired by the 2005 controversy regarding Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.) • Iranian EPA for Prophet 2.8 0.6 2.3; Dutch Prophet 0.5 0.0 0.2. • Muslim views Dutchman as “atheist,” Dutchman views self as “most people.” Both view Muslim as “Moslem” and Prophet as “Prophet.” • Action of Dutchman to Prophet: EPA: 0.2 0.8 0.0, which could be an action like question, dress down, jail, lecture, smirk at, rebuff, disagree with, rebuke, reproach, kid, oppose. • Reaction of Muslim to Dutchman: 0.8 0.9 0.9, which could be an action like rebuke, disagree with, stop, arrest, discipline, caution, reform, reproach. • The attacks resulting in more than 200 deaths in response to the Danish cartoons suggests that inter-cultural differences in sentiments may be even more extreme, that the cartoonist’s actions were seen as worse than intended, and that deadly violence itself has different meanings cross-culturally. Muslimemotion Dutchman emotion

40. Conclusions • Nationality, geography, and religious creed do not predict similarities and differences in cultures of affective meaning. • Cultures do vary along two major dimensions: • Secular vs. ecclesiastical. • Colonialism/slavery: controllers vs. controlled. • Inter-cultural differences in affective meaning are large for a few concepts, tiny for a few concepts, and moderate for most concepts. • The similarity of affective meanings across cultures allows us to apprehend happenings in other cultures reasonably well, even though foreign emotions and behavioral responses may seem a bit “off.” • Occasionally—with regard to the few concepts where affective meanings differ greatly—foreign responses can be baffling or even frightening. • These are the topics where inter-cultural relations and communications most need advancement.

41. The End This presentation may be downloaded at:http://www.indiana.edu/~socpsy/public_files/IAIR.pptx