Background. Self-Construal Diagram

Transcription

1 Insider and Outsider Perspective on the Self and Social World Dov Cohen and Etsuko Hoshino-Browne Background What is the problem of the phenomenological experience? How do we get outside our own head? Changes with human development (Piaget) Egocentrism and Three Mountain Task Despite developmental milestones, we can still be dominated by our own phenomenological experience. i.e., tendency to view the world from inside out. Implications for self-construal? Self-Construal Diagram 1

2 Is Phenomenology Causally Related to Ideology? Consider goals of independence and interdependence. Major task of an independent self-construal. To attend, elaborate and emphasize positive aspects of the self Major task of an interdependent self-construal To fit in and maintain harmony Hypothesis: These ideologies are casually related to phenomenology. Study 1 Projecting the Generalized Other Hypothesis: Asians are more likely than Euros to take a generalized other s perspective on themselves. Two types of projection Egocentric projection Relational or complementary projection Procedure Mood priming (fearful, angry, ashamed, contemptuous, sympathetic) Rate faces in photographs for how much of each type of emotion it displayed. Study 1: Results 2

3 Study 2 First and Third Person Memory Imagery Hypothesis: When remembering a situation where Ss would be at the center of other people s attention, Asians are more likely to have third person memories. Procedure: Recall times when you were Focus of other s attention (5 situations) Not focus of other s attention (5 situations) DV: Rate memories on a scale from 1 (completely first person) to 11 (completely third person) Study 2: Results Study 3: On-line Imagery Hypothesis: An on-line experience of taking a third person on oneself when social representations are made more salient. More true for Asians than Euros. Procedure (priming) Bring photos (self, with family, no photo) Write about your own special uniqueness (independent prime), being good son / daughter (interdependent prime), or control. Mental toughness Task DV: Degree to which I might attempt to imagine myself leaving my body and observing my pain in an impartial manner (subscale of the Cognitive Copying Strategy Inventory, Butler et al., 1989) 3

4 Study 3 Results Study 4 Confusing What s In My Head with What s Out There Ss were asked to tap out a song with their knuckles against a desk and then guess how likely it was that another person could figure out the song they were tapping. On average, tappers overestimated how frequently audience can figure out the song. Therefore, confusion between internal representation in one s head and perception of others. Hypothesis: For Asians, attention is more centered on the external world. Therefore, they are less likely to confuse what is inside or outside. However, distracting their attention can make them more likely to overestimate that others can figure out the song. Distraction will have the opposite effect for Euros. Procedure Cognitive load manipulation: distraction task or control Tap song (Happy B-Day or O Canada) and guess how likely another person can figure out. Study 4 Results 4

5 Study 5 Confusing What s in My Head With What s in Your Head Illusion of transparency (Gilovich, et al., 1998) People behave as if their own internal experience is on display and can be read by others (due to one s private phenomenological experience) Hypothesis: In cultures where people habitually take the outsider s perspective on themselves, the relationship between one s private selfconsciousness and feelings of transparency may not hold. If anything, if a person privately thinks or feels X, s/he may have to surpress this and publicly express Y for others sake. Therefore, attending to internal states leads to greater realization of the disjunction between feeling and appearing and less of the illusion of transparency. Procedure: Priming for self-consciousness Describe your favorite book and why you like it / Describe a place you most want to go on vacation and why or control 6 trials, with each round consisting of 2 statements. Partners (A and B) randomly told to tell the truth about one and lie about the other. DV: Listener had to guess which statement was a lie. Speaker had to guess how likely s/he will be caught in a lie. Additional measure: Empathy scale. Study 5 Results Study 5 Results (cont) 5

6 Study 6 Empathy and Projection in a Group Setting Following up on previous study, how is empathy construed for Euros and Asians in the interpersonal context? Hypothesis: Empathic Euros are more likely to project their feeling about other as feelings of other towards them (reciprocal projection) or towards a target (third party projection) Procedure: Ss came into lab and had 3-person discussion in order to come to a consensus about which of two hypothetical drugs to market. Measures: Rate how much they liked each Ss and how much they thought each Ss liked each other. Empathy Scale Study 6 Results Study 7 Characterizing the World: A Developmental Study How do children characterize the world? (In terms of observable behaviors or in terms of understanding what other people are thinking and feeling?) How do younger and older children characterize scenes as whether they are best described with respect to (a) the observable behaviors of a target person or (b) the internal, unobservable cognitive and emotional states of that target person? Hypothesis: For Asians (more than Euros), development should represent a transition from (a) to (b). Procedure Elementary school participants are asked to look at pictures, and for each one they are asked about the best way to describe this scene to a friend (e.g., the man is playing with the baby or the man is happy with the baby ). 6

7 Study 7 Results Conclusion Consistent with what the cultural models of the self would predict, Asian-Canadians and European- Canadians tend to have different phenomenological perspectives on the self. Interdependents (Asian-Canadians) have a greater tendency to get out of their own heads in imagery of their memories and their on-line experiences. Independents (European-Canadians) show less of a tendency to take an outsider s perspective on themselves. Ideologies associated with divergent self-construals are causally related to phenomenological experiences and mutually sustain each other. 7