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 Critical for theoretical and applied reasons Theoretical value Testing the universality of theories Expanding the range of variation Unconfounding variables Practical value Globalization Education and training Critical for theoretical and applied reasons Theoretical value Testing the universality of theories Expanding the range of variation Unconfounding variables Practical value Globalization Education and training

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 Last decade alone, construct has been applied to a wide range of topics including TRAIT INFERENCES FOR EMOTIONS, BEHAVIORAL CONSISTENCY, TEAM DECISION-MAKING, COPING, PERFORMANCE, AMONG OTHER TOPICS. Last decade alone, construct has been applied to a wide range of topics including TRAIT INFERENCES FOR EMOTIONS, BEHAVIORAL CONSISTENCY, TEAM DECISION-MAKING, COPING, PERFORMANCE, AMONG OTHER TOPICS.