Culture & Psychology Mini Conference University of Kent 16 September 2016 KLT4, Keynes College Talks will be 20 min + 10 min for Q&A

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Claude Morrison
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1 Culture & Psychology Mini Conference University of Kent 16 September 2016 KLT4, Keynes College Talks will be 20 min + 10 min for Q&A 09:30 10:00 Arrival + Coffee/Tea 10:00 11:00 Anat Bardi Biculturals value change across life contexts 11:00 11:30 Break Hina Zahid - Cross-cultural differences in illness representation 11:30-13:00 Matthias S. Gobel - Social hierarchies change across cultures: Active versus passive ways to attaining high social status 13:00-14:00 Lunch Courtney K. Allen - Predicting out-group dating preferences: A cross-cultural comparison between the United States, United Kingdom, and India Heyla Selim - Beyond the wall: An investigation of cultural influence on online behaviour in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom 14:00-15:00 Vivian L. Vignoles - Deconstructing the cultural binary : A multidimensional approach to cultural models of selfhood 15:00-15:30 Break Shengyu Yang - Mediation effects of explicit self-construal on Chinese-English differences in cognition, emotion and motivation 15:30-17:00 Giovanni A. Travaglino - The solitary bandit: Individualism, collectivism and political action 17:00 17:15 Round up Yasin Koc - Coping with threats to cultural identity among internally displaced Kurdish minority group members Matthew J. Easterbrook - National identification, friendships, and stress among sojourners and international students: Two longitudinal studies 17:15 - Drinks and Dinner in Canterbury

2 2 Abstracts Session 1 (10:00 11:00) Anat Bardi & Jessica Rea (Royal Holloway, University of London) Biculturals Value Change Across Life Contexts Biculturals have been shown to assimilate to each of their cultures following cultural primes. But these effects have only been shown in the lab. Would biculturals show assimilation to cultural values also in real life? And would they show awareness that their values might be changing across contexts? In an interview, biculturals mainly expressed an opinion that their values are stable across cultural contexts. Yet, in two quazi experiments, biculturals showed that their values do change to assimilate to the cultural context. In contrast, mono-culturals values remained stable across life contexts. It is possible that biculturals have a flexible value system. Hina Zahid, Sheina Orbell & Nicolas Geeraert (University of Essex) Cross-cultural differences in illness representation Little is known about the processes underlying cultural differences in health behaviour. Leventhal s (2011) CSM was adopted as a theoretical framework to investigate differences in illness perceptions between the UK (individualistic culture) and Pakistan (collectivistic culture). Participants were recruited in Pakistan and the UK. A 2 (culture) x 5 (illnesses) mixed design was used with culture as a between group and illness as a repeated measure factor. Five illnesses were included, two with higher prevalence in Pakistan (malaria, tuberculosis), two with higher prevalence in the UK (diabetes, lung cancer) and one with equal prevalence (flu), to control for relative prevalence across the two countries. Participants completed a booklet in their native language. Analysis confirmed significant cultural differences such as Pakistani participants anticipated more functional consequences and were less likely to seek medical treatment. Session 2 (11:30 13:00) Matthias S. Gobel (University of Exeter & University of California, Santa Barbara) & Yukiko Uchida (Kyoto University) Social hierarchies change across cultures: Active versus passive ways to attaining high social status Hierarchies control many aspects of human life across families, companies, and entire societies. People learn from early ages how they can attain high social status within particular contexts. In this talk, we propose that culturally shared beliefs and practices influence how

3 3 people attain high social status within different cultures. Because many Western cultures value highly autonomous and independent individuals, in these cultures, individuals are more likely to experience high social status based on their personal traits and the display of their own achievements. In contrast, because many East-Asian cultures, including Japan, value interpersonal connectedness and social harmony, in these cultures, individuals are more likely to experience high social status based on other people s evaluation of their actions and as a result of them serving their group. Moreover, we argue that because cultures differ in the social incentives that they provide for actively seeking versus passively selecting high social status individuals, leaders psychology can differ, too. To substantiate these claims, we will integrate results from both cultural psychology and the social hierarchy literature and show new data in support of this model comparing British/American with Japanese samples. Courtney K. Allen (University of Kent) Predicting Out-Group Dating Preferences: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Between the United States, United Kingdom, and India Today s diverse environments make contact with out-group members inevitable. One outcome of these environments is the development of cross-group romantic relationships. The present study sought to further understand the emergence of cross -group romantic relationships by examining out-group dating preferences across three different cultural contexts (United States, United Kingdom, India) and three different targeted out-group backgrounds (racial/cultural/ethnic, religious, socio-economic status). In addition, the aim of this study was to explore factors (social identity, social approval, dating experience, and disgust sensitivity) that might predict out-group dating preferences. Findings revealed both similarities and differences among the cultural groups pertaining to dating preferences for each out-group and their predicting factors. These will be discussed in relation to different cultural dimensions. Heyla Selim, Karen Long, & Vivian Vignoles (University of Sussex) Beyond the wall: An investigation of cultural influence on online behaviour in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. Psychological research into cultural differences in the use of Online Social Networks (OSNs) is a growing field. Here, we investigate whether cultural differences in values and relational mobility account for cultural differences in online motivations and behaviour. More specifically, we test whether cultural differences in OSNs activity with respect to motivations for use, targeted audience and self-presentation strategies, are mediated by Basic Human Values or Relational Mobility, in a survey with samples from Saudi Arabia (N = 410) and the UK (N = 284). In terms of motivations, both groups used OSNs for relationship maintenance and to fulfill a self-focus motive, but with British participants significantly higher on relations maintenance and Saudis significantly higher on self-focus. With regard to online behaviour,

4 4 British participants had a stronger preference for strong ties and scored significantly higher than Saudis on positive impression management. Saudi participants were more likely to target weak ties than UK respondents, and scored significantly higher than British users on selfpromotion, self-disclosure life streaming, and acceptance seeking motives. Mediation analyses revealed that these differences were partially explained by a greater focus on selfenhancement (vs. self-transcendence) values among Saudi participants and by higher relational mobility amoung UK participants. A greater focus on openness to change (vs. conservation) values amoung UK participants, reflecting cultural individualism, did not explain the pattern of differences observed in online motivations and behaviour. Session 3 (14:00-15:00) Vivian L. Vignoles (University of Sussex) and members of the Culture and Identity Research Network Deconstructing the cultural binary : A multidimensional approach to cultural models of selfhood Markus and Kitayama s (1991) highly influential theory of independent and interdependent self-construals has been criticized for overreliance on East-West comparisons, and commonly used self-report measures frequently fail to show predicted cultural differences. We revisited the conceptualization and measurement of self-construals, developing (Study 1: N = 2924 students from 16 nations) and replicating (Study 2: N = 7,279 adults from 55 cultural groups) a new, seven-dimensional model of self-reported ways of being independent or interdependent. Our findings indicate that a contrast between independent and interdependent does not capture adequately the diverse models of selfhood that prevail in different world regions. We conclude that societies promote different ways of being independent and interdependent depending on prevailing values, beliefs, economic development, and religious heritage. Shengyu Yang & Vivian L. Vignoles (University of Sussex) Mediation Effects of Explicit Self-Construal on Chinese-English Differences in Cognition, Emotion and Motivation Previous research has rarely supported predicted mediation effects of independent and interdependent self-construals on cultural variations in cognition, emotion and motivation. However, this may be due to using the conventional but poorly validated two-dimensional measurement model for explicit self-construal. We applied an eight-dimensional model of self-construal to explain Chinese-English differences in aspects of cognition, emotion and motivation. Chinese participants (N=108) were more interdependent (vs independent) than British participants (N=97) in six dimensions of explicit self-construal. Self-construal dimensions partially mediated cultural differences in closeness to ingroup/outgroup targets,

5 5 socially engaged/disengaged emotions and individual/social-oriented achievement motivation. Mediation pathways involved different combinations of self-construal dimensions, showing the importance of distinguishing different ways of being independent and interdependent in cross-cultural research. Session 4 (15:30-17:00) Giovanni A. Travaglino (University of Kent) The Solitary Bandit: Individualism, Collectivism and Political Action In contemporary societies, direct participation in political and collective action is crucial to the disadvantaged s pursuit of social change. However, relatively little is known about circumstances in which individuals cannot reject the status quo by means of direct participation. In this talk, I use the concept of social banditry and contend that support for actors that disrupt the functioning of the political system (legally or illegally) represent an alternative way to express dissent from the status quo. A modern expression of social banditry is the group of hacker and activists known as Anonymous. In a study (N = 400), I test the idea that individuals who perceive the system as unjust, but feel they lack political voice, are more likely to express support for Anonymous and less likely to express the intentions of engaging in direct forms of political action. The role of individualism and collectivism in predicting these different forms of political engagement is discussed and tested. Yasin Koc (University of Sussex) & Vivian L. Vignoles (University of Sussex) Coping with threats to cultural identity among internally displaced Kurdish minority group members As well as facing societal prejudice and state-level discrimination, many Kurds were forced by armed conflict to migrate from Eastern Turkey into large cities in Western Turkey. We studied experiences of Kurdish people, focusing on identity threat and coping strategies. Interpretative phenomenological analysis of semi-structured interviews with eight Kurds living in Istanbul identified key sources of identity threat destruction of homeland, migration, and experiences of current stigma and coping strategies hiding, isolation (separation and marginalisation), yearning for homeland, and endorsing political or religious identity positions. Overall, suffering was core to the meaning of Kurdish identity. We discuss resonances of our findings with Berry s model of acculturation. Matthew J. Easterbrook (University of Sussex) & Nicolas Geeraert (University of Essex) National identification, friendships, and stress among sojourners and international students: Two longitudinal studies In two large longitudinal studies with samples of students living abroad, we investigated the relationship between national identification, relationships with members of the host nation,

6 6 and self-reported stress. In Study 1, with a sample of >2000 sojourners, we found that identification with the host nation positively and prospectively predicted the quality of the relationship with the host family, which in turn was negatively associated with stress. In Study 2, with a sample of >300 international students in Britain, we found that British identification positively and prospectively predicted the number British friendships, which in turn was negatively related to intergroup anxiety and stress. In contrast, identifying with the home nation predicted fewer British friendships and greater intergroup anxiety. Our studies suggest contextually relevant identities are an important foundation for forming relationships whilst studying abroad.

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