Reflections on the Trials and Tribulations of Cross-Cultural Research

1. Reflections on the Trials and Tribulations of Cross-Cultural Research Michele J. Gelfand University of Maryland MSU October 12, 2009

2. The Cultural Revolution in Psychology • Proliferation of research on culture • Virtually no area left unaffected • From basic psychological and developmental processes to interpersonal and organizational processes • The self, attributions, cognitive processes; developmental processes • Conflict, communication • Groups, leadership, organizational culture, HR • Theoretical and applied value

3. Reflections on Doing Cross-Cultural Research • Project 1: • 35 nation study of situational constraint • Surveys and archival data • Project 2 • Analysis of subjective culture in the Middle East and US • Interviews and experiments

4. The Levels Problem: The Bifurcated Elephant • Macro emphasis in cultural/cross-cultural psychology • Explicate generalized dimensions of values and beliefs and their functional linkages to ecological and historical context; Critical cultural yardsticks • Linkages to the individual level? • People inhabit their everyday local worlds • Distal societal institutions and ecological factors are not likely strong influences on behavior

5. Introduction • Micro emphasis in cultural/cross-cultural psychology • Important body of work elucidating the cultural bases of cognition, motivation, and emotion • What creates such differences in cultural worldways? • Empirical linkages to macro/structural level often lacking. • Quasi-tautological reasoning (e.g, people are collectivistic because they live in a collectivistic culture). • Presumably cultural differences at the micro level are adaptive and attuned to the immediate environments in which people live.

6. Introduction • Missing in this macro-micro divide is a theoretical bridge • Propose the situational level as a fruitful mediator • Examined how concrete enduring situations afford and constrain behavior in culturally divergent ways • Examine how concrete and enduring situations are functionally linked to the macro level of analysis

7. Bridging Conceptual Levels • The structure of social situations is an important component of cultural systems • Macro level: Ecological, historical factors, and socio-political factors • Meso level: The structure of everyday social situations: Preponderance of strong versus weak situations • Individual level: Psychological processes

8. Cultural theorizing on situations • Triandis (1972) • Historical events influence social organization of a country, which affects characteristics of situations • Forgas & Bond (1985) • Cognitive representations of social episodes vary across cultures • Kitayama et al. (1997; 2002) • Ways in which social situations are collectively defined, maintained, and held in place varies across cultures • Oyserman et al. (2002) • Reorienting cultural psychology: Social-situation level of analysis

9. Culture and Situations • The structure of situations as an important aspect of cultural systems • Recurrent episodes in local worlds that “personalize” the core cultural ideas (Fiske et al., 1998) • Behavioral settings: • Bank, workplace, library, classroom, city sidewalk, restaurant, public park, movies, party, doctor’s office, bus

10. Situational Strength • Situations vary in the range of behavioral responses seen as appropriate • Strength of situations(Mischel, 1977) • Strong situations • Create predictability by limiting the number of behavioral patterns that are appropriate • Weak situations • Place few external constraints on individuals

11. Situational Strength • Goffman (1963) • Amount of situational regulation • Boldt (1978) • Situational expectations imposed and received or proposed and interpreted • Douglas (1982) • High versus low grid social systems • Price & Bouffard (1974) • Situational constraint

12. Price & Bouffard (1974), JPSP

13. Culture and Situational Strength • Cultural variation in the strength of situations • All cultures have strong and weak situations • Cultural systems vary on whether they have a preponderance of strong versus weak situations • Fewer behaviors appropriate across a wide range of recurring situations (e.g., Bank, workplace, library, restroom, city sidewalk, restaurant, park, movies, party, doctor’s office, classroom) • Adaptations to higher levels of analysis and reinforced through psychological processes

14. Macro-Meso Linkages Macro Societal Level Meso Situational Level • Ecocultural and Historical Factors • Distal forces creating the need for societal order and coordination • Population density • History of conflict • Resource scarcity • Natural disasters • Extreme temperatures Structure of Everyday Social Situations: Preponderance of Strong versus Weak Situations Socio-Political Context Societal institutions reinforcing order and coordination Government, Media, Religion, Legal

15. Culture and Situational Strength • Assumption 1: Strong situations help coordinate social action by reducing the range of permissible behavior and creating a shared reality • Assumption 2: Coordinated social action is more important in nations where there are strong threats for survival • A) Human made threats to survival (e.g.. a history of territorial threat; high population density) • B) Natural threats to survival (e.g., a dearth of natural resources, extreme temperatures, high degree of natural disasters) • Derivation 1: Nations with higher (vs. lower) degrees of A and B will have higher (vs. lower) situational constraint

16. Psychological Processes Adaptive to SocialSituations • Psychological processes are cultivated to reflect and support the strength of situations • Psychological attributes of individuals in cultural systems with a predominance of strong situations will vary from psychological attributes of individuals in cultural systems with a preponderance of weak situations

17. Meso-Micro Linkages Meso Situational Level MicroPsychological Level • Psychological Attributes • Psychological adaptations • to everyday recurring • situations • Felt Accountability • Self-guides: Prevention vs. promotion focus • Regulatory strength/ Impulse control • Need for order/structure • Self-monitoring ability • Socially shared cognition Structure of Everyday Social Situations: Preponderance of Strong versus Weak Situations

18. Meso-Micro Linkages • Assumption 3: Psychological processes are naturally attuned to strong (versus weak) situational requirements within nations • Assumption 4: Strong situations afford cognition and self-regulation processes which serve to maintain order and coordinate social action • A) Epistemic needs for order and consensus seeking • B) Ought self-guides for preventing mistakes • C) Self-monitoring ability to assess situational requirements • D) Impulse control to meet situational requirements • Derivation 2: Nations with higher (vs. lower) situational constraint have individuals with higher (lower) attributes a-d

19. Summary: A Multilevel Theory of Social Situations Macro SocietalLevel Meso Situational Level Micro Psychological Level • Ecocultural and Historical Factors • Distal forces creating the need for societal order and coordination • Population density • History of conflict • Resource scarcity • Natural disasters • Ethnic homogeneity • Psychological Attributes • Psychological adaptations • to everyday recurring • situations • Self-guides: Prevention vs. promotion focus • Regulatory strength/ Impulse control • Need for structure/order • Self-monitoring ability • Socially shared cognition Structure of Everyday Social Situations: Preponderance of Strong versus Weak Situations Socio-Political Context Societal institutions reinforcing order and coordination Government, Media, Religion, Legal

20. Method • Collaborative Multi-Nation Survey Study • 7109 respondents in 35 nations • Working adults and university students (51.4% Adults, 48.6% Students) • 58.2% Female, 41.7% Male • Mean age of 29.97 • 7.97 years of work experience • SES: 71.8% Middle, 14.7% Lower, 12.1% Upper • Theoretical sampling

21. Collaborators

22. Measures: Situational Constraint • Ratings of behavioral appropriateness across situations (Adapted from Price & Bouffard, JPSP, 1974) • 15 X 12 Situation-Behavior Matrices (= 180 ratings) • Situations(Wish & Bales, 1958); formal and informal • Bank, Doctor’s office, Job Interview, Library, Funeral, Classroom, Restaurant, Public Park, Bus, Bedroom, City Sidewalk, Party, Elevator, Workplace, Movies • Behaviors (Wish, 1976); associative and disassociative • Argue, Laugh, Curse/Swear, Kiss, Cry, Sing, Talk, Flirt, Listen to Music, Read Newspaper, Bargain, Eat • Multination focus groups

23. Example Items: Behavior X Situation Ratings

24. Measures: Situational Constraint • Country-level situational constraint (Price & Bouffard, 1974) • Situational Constraint computed for each setting and averaged across settings • Higher scores indicate more behaviors are seen as appropriate across situations; Lower situational constraint (Price & Bouffard, 1974) • Aggregation statistics • Rwg= .92; ICC = .32

25. Construct Validation of the SC Measure • Direct ratings of situational constraint • To what extent does the situation have clear rules regarding appropriate behavior? • To what extent does the situation call for or demand certain behaviors and not others? • To what extent does the situation require that people monitor their own behavior or “watch what they do”? • To what extent does the situation allow people to behave as they choose? (reverse) • Correlated .75 with country-level behavior X situation measures of situational constraint

27. Measures: Psychological Adaptations to Situations • Normative ought-guides/Prevention focus (Goldberg, 19 items) • Impulse control (Goldberg, 5 items) • Self-monitoring ability (Snyder and Gangestad, 1986, 6 items) • Epistemic needs: Desire for order and discomfort with ambiguity (Webster & Kruglanski, 1994, 12 items)

28. Macro Level: Archival Measures • Population density • World Bank Indicators (Kurian 1999) • Overall and rural population density • Population density in the year 1500 (McEvedy & Jones, 1978) • History of conflict,1900-2001 • International crisis behavior archives (Brecher & Wilkenfeld, 1997) • Total number of territorial and political conflicts, 1900-2001 • Percent central government expenditures on the military (Work Bank Indicators)

29. Macro level: Archival Measures • Natural resources • Amount of freshwater resources (Cubic Meters per Capita, World Bank Indicators, 2000) • Amount of arable land (Kurian, 1999) • Natural disasters,1900-2001 • World Health Organization, centre for research on the epidemiology of disasters, emergency events database (EM-DAT) • Total number, number killed, and number affected • Ethnic homogeneity(Kurian, 1999)

30. Analysis Strategy • Procrustes factor analysis(McCrae, Zonderman, Costa, Bond, & Paunonen, 1996, Van de Vijver & Leung, 2001) • Assessed scale equivalence across cultures • Mean standardization to control for response sets(Van de Vijver & Leung, 2001) • Regression • Macro ecological and historical predictors of situational constraint • Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) • Cross-level analysis of culture-level situational constraint and psychological attributes

31. Major Findings • Universal rank order of situational constraint and high degree of cultural variation in situational constraint (SC) • Population density, history of conflict, natural disasters, and ethnic homogeneity predict SC • Autocracy, openness of the media, crime and SC • SC has cross-level effects on psychological attributes

33. Summary: Project 1 • The central role of situations in human behavior • Interplay between ecological and historical factors, social situations, and psychological attributes • Culture as a multilevel system • Situations are functionally related to macro level factors and societal values • Situations are the local micro-structural worlds through which individual processes become naturally aligned and mutually reinforcing

34. Practical Implications • Intercultural education • Train individuals to understand cultural differences in the strength of specific situations that will be encountered • Understand how psychological attributes are aligned with situational requirements • Help to prevent cross-cultural conflicts that arise from different situational expectations

35. Project 2: Subjective Culture in the ME

36. THRUST 2 Negotiation Tasks: Deal-Making, Disputing, and Mediation Tasks THRUST 4 DYNAMICAL MODELING SOCIAL-CONTEXTUAL FACTORS & INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE MODERATORS Cultural Amplifiers Degree of Threat Level of Uncertainty Cultural Artifacts Structure of Social Networks Time Pressure/ Cognitive Load Cultural Suppressors Shared Experience Strong Team Identity Integration/Learning Perspective Global Identities Cultural Reversers Low Accountability Low Social Monitoring Individual Differences Nonconformity THRUST 1 CULTURAL FOCAL CONCERNS PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES Cognitive Frames, Goals, Emotional Experiences and Expressions DISTAL OUTCOMES Core Cultural Concerns Honor Fate Modesty Wasta Face Religion PROXIMAL OUTCOMES Task Performance Shared Reality Mission Objectives Shared Affect INTERPERSONAL PROCESSES Subjective Value Coordinated Social Action Relational Capital Sequence of Behavior, Rapport Management, Communication, Persuasion, Cooperation Within Culture Variation Gender Age SES Religion THRUST 3 Collaborative Tasks: Creativity, Planning, & Performance Tasks

37. SOCIAL-CONTEXTUAL FACTORS & INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE MODERATORS Cultural Amplifiers Degree of Threat Level of Uncertainty Cultural Artifacts Structure of Social Networks Time Pressure/ Cognitive Load Cultural Suppressors Shared Experience Strong Team Identity Integration/Learning Perspective Global Identities Cultural Reversers Low Accountability Low Social Monitoring Individual Differences Nonconformity PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES Cognitive Frames, Goals, Emotional Experiences and Expressions DISTAL OUTCOMES PROXIMAL OUTCOMES Task Performance Shared Reality Mission Objectives Shared Affect INTERPERSONAL PROCESSES Subjective Value Coordinated Social Action Relational Capital Sequence of Behavior, Rapport Management, Communication, Persuasion, Cooperation THRUST 2 Negotiation Tasks: Deal-Making, Disputing, and Mediation Tasks THRUST 3 Collaborative Tasks: Creativity, Planning, & Performance Tasks THRUST 4 DYNAMICAL MODELING THRUST 1 CULTURAL FOCAL CONCERNS Core Cultural Concerns Honor Fate Modesty Wasta Face Religion Within Culture Variation Gender Age SES Religion

38. SOCIAL-CONTEXTUAL FACTORS & INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE MODERATORS Cultural Amplifiers Degree of Threat Level of Uncertainty Cultural Artifacts Structure of Social Networks Time Pressure/ Cognitive Load Cultural Suppressors Shared Experience Strong Team Identity Integration/Learning Perspective Global Identities Cultural Reversers Low Accountability Low Social Monitoring Individual Differences Nonconformity PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES Cognitive Frames, Goals, Emotional Experiences and Expressions DISTAL OUTCOMES PROXIMAL OUTCOMES Task Performance Shared Reality Mission Objectives Shared Affect INTERPERSONAL PROCESSES Subjective Value Coordinated Social Action Relational Capital Sequence of Behavior, Rapport Management, Communication, Persuasion, Cooperation THRUST 2 Negotiation Tasks: Deal-Making, Disputing, and Mediation Tasks THRUST 3 Collaborative Tasks: Creativity, Planning, & Performance Tasks THRUST 4 DYNAMICAL MODELING THRUST 1 CULTURAL FOCAL CONCERNS Core Cultural Concerns Honor Fate Modesty Wasta Face Religion Within Culture Variation Gender Age SES Religion

39. SOCIAL-CONTEXTUAL FACTORS & INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE MODERATORS Cultural Amplifiers Degree of Threat Level of Uncertainty Cultural Artifacts Structure of Social Networks Time Pressure/ Cognitive Load Cultural Suppressors Shared Experience Strong Team Identity Integration/Learning Perspective Global Identities Cultural Reversers Low Accountability Low Social Monitoring Individual Differences Nonconformity PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES Cognitive Frames, Goals, Emotional Experiences and Expressions DISTAL OUTCOMES PROXIMAL OUTCOMES Task Performance Shared Reality Mission Objectives Shared Affect INTERPERSONAL PROCESSES Subjective Value Coordinated Social Action Relational Capital Sequence of Behavior, Rapport Management, Communication, Persuasion, Cooperation THRUST 2 Negotiation Tasks: Deal-Making, Disputing, and Mediation Tasks THRUST 3 Collaborative Tasks: Creativity, Planning, & Performance Tasks THRUST 4 DYNAMICAL MODELING THRUST 1 CULTURAL FOCAL CONCERNS Core Cultural Concerns Honor Fate Modesty Wasta Face Religion Within Culture Variation Gender Age SES Religion

40. Experimental Thrust IWhat are the relevant dimensions and cultural constructs in the Middle East that are critical for understanding culture and negotiation and collaboration processes? Be very skeptical of etics (imposed constructs and measures) Researchers simply export constructs and measures developed in the U.S. to other cultures 79% studies imposed etics (Schaffer & Riordan, 2003) Indigenous constructs e. g., honor (sharaf; irdh), shame (hashham), fate, connections (wasta), communication (mubalagha), among others Core cultural focal concerns in Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Turkey, UAE, others

41. Middle Eastern Collaborators Egypt Abdel Hamid Abdel Latif, Ph. D. Professor of Sociology American University in Cairo, Egypt    Iraq and Jordan Munqith M. Dagher, Ph.D. CEO IIACSS, Iraq and Jordan  Lebanon Hilal Khashan, Ph. D. Professor of Political Studies American University of Beirut, Lebanon  Pakistan Nazar Soomro Assistant Professor of Psychology University of Sindh, Pakistan   Turkey Zeynep Aycan, Ph. D. Professor of Psychology Koc University, Turkey  UAE and Saudi Arabia May Al-Dabbagh, Ph. D. Research Fellow and Lecturer Dubai School of Government, UAE

42. 400 In-Depth Interviews Conducted Interviews conducted in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Turkey, UAE, and the United States (awaiting Iran) Arabic, Urdu, Turkish Community samples Gender Age SES Urban/Rural

43. INTERVIEW PROTOCOLS Protocol I Wasta (الواسطة) Negotiation (التفاوض) Mediation (الوساطة) Conflict (النزاع) Forgiveness (التسامح) Apologies (الاعتذار) Revenge (الانتقام) • Protocol II • Fatalism (القدر) • Honor (الشرف) • Face (الوجه) • Dignity (عزةالنفس/ الكرامة) • Modesty (التواضع) • Values (القيم / الصفات) • Collaboration (التعاون)

44. INTERVIEW METHODOLOGY Methods developed by the leading cultural psychologist, Harry Triandis Analysis of subjective culture Word associations Antecedents Consequences Social context Obtained input from co-country collaborators Informed by numerous books and articles that focus specifically on the Middle East

45. Analysis of Subjective Culture Word associations What words come to mind when we say…. Fate? Wasta? Honor? Face? Modesty? Respect? Negotiation? Revenge? Apologies? Forgiveness? Collaboration?

46. Analysis of Subjective Culture Antecedents Causal features of the constructs If ___, then X • In what situations is Wasta needed? • What situations occur because of fate? • In what situations do you frequently negotiate? • What does a person have to have or do for you to trust/distrust them? • What causes honor to be violated? • What causes one to lose face (Wajh)? • Why did you ask someone else to help you resolve a conflict? • What motivates people to forgive? • What motivates people to apologize? • What motivates people to take revenge? • In what situations is collaboration needed?

47. Analysis of Subjective Culture Consequences Probing If X, then______ • What are the benefits of having Wasta? What might happen if Wasta is damaged? • What do you do when you trust or distrust the other person in negotiation? • What happens when face is lost? What kinds of feelings result? What do you do in response? • What happens when a person is immodest? • What happens when a person being disrespectful? • What happens when honor is violated? • When one apologizes, what typically occurs as a result? • What are the consequences of seeking revenge?

48. Analysis of Subjective Culture Emic Behavioral Indicators Probing How does one ……. What did a person do to show… • How does one acquire Wasta? • In negotiation, how does one show one is cooperating or competing? • In conflict, what are examples of conciliatory behaviors? What are examples of aggressive behaviors? • How does one demonstrate one’s honor in everyday contexts? • What did a mediator do to resolve a conflict? • What are the types of ways that one might seek revenge? • How does one demonstrate one is modest in everyday contexts? • What makes an apology good? Bad?

49. Analysis of Subjective Culture Social Context Moderators Probing when X then Y • Does it make a different if the person who causes your face to be lost is someone you know well or is a stranger? • Does it make a difference if the person who threatens your honor is someone you know well or a stranger? • When is Wasta good versus bad? • Would you negotiate differently with a total stranger? With a high or low status person? Are there issues you would not negotiate? • When is compromise good? Bad? • When is revenge acceptable or even expected? • Are there situations/people that make it easy versus difficult to forgive another?

50. Analysis of Subjective Culture Contagion Probing interdependence My X is related to others’ X • Is your honor related to the honor of other people? Does the loss of others’ honor affect your honor? • Does your face loss affect others? If so, who? Does others’ face loss affect you? If so, whose face? • How does others’ ability to act modestly reflect on you? • To what extent is it appropriate to involve others when seeking revenge? • To what extent do apologies involve others who are not the immediate perpetrator or victim?