Psych 355 exam 2 UPDATED ACTUAL Questions and
CORRECT Answers
If you knew that a culture tended to be individualistic Individualistic cultures may have more deeper and more penetrating influences
(or collectivistic), would you be able to identify the of our culture on our self descriptions, which are harder to detect. These
types of self-descriptions members of that culture cultures focus more on people who focus on their enduring inner attributes,
might use on the Twenty-Statements Test (TST; Kuhn & such as personality traits, attitudes, or abilities as a means to understand
McPartland, 1954)? themselves. If you are more collectivistic, you are more likely to have a rather
superficial identity, having self-descriptions that might include some culturally
shaped statements. These only reveal a superficial influence of culture,
because the culture is merely providing the content about the ways we think of
ourselves.
Know the characteristics of independent and Independent self-construals deal with person's attitudes, personality traits,
interdependent self-construals preferences, opinions, abilities, and individual qualities. Interdependent are
focused on how they are connected with others.
How do these self-construals differ across cultures? Independent experiences are stable and do not change much from situation to
How do these differ across situations? situation. They can move between the ingroup and outgroup, they still feel
closer to the ingroup than outgroup members; however, they do not view them
in fundamentally distinct ways. Interdependent construals are fluid in different
situations, meaning depending on the situation, and the role the person
occupies in that situation—the experience of self—will vary accordingly. People
don't closely become ingroup members, not do close relationships easily
dissipate into outgroup relations.
3) How do cultures influence people's views of gender One variable is the percentage of people in the country who embraced a
equality? particular religion. Geographical location is also another factor. For example,
the more urbanized a country is, the more likely people were to have
egalitarian views. Lastly, the country's individualism score relates to their views
of gender equality. Cultural history also is taken into a account because cultural
norms can often persist for long periods because new cultural developments
must be fit in with the older norms. Gender norms have persisted across some
cultures for centuries.
Review the material on the William & Best (1990) study Ester Boserup (1970) proposed that a seemingly simple cultural innovation in
as well as Boserup's (1970) theory and related research agriculture had far-reaching implications for gender norms. He states that there
(Alesina et al., 2011) about agricultural innovation and are two key ways that agricultural cultivation is conducted. One is term "shifting
gender equality. cultivation, " which, among other things, is characterized by the earth being
dug up with a tool similar to a contemporary hoe. The other major cultivation
method is "plough cultivation," in which a large animal is used to pull the plow
to turn over the soil. (Pg 213)
4) What is cognitive dissonance? How does it relate to Cognitive dissonance is the distressing feeling we have when we observe
self-consistency? ourselves acting consistently. This relates to self-consistency because we as
people hold most importance to viewing ourselves as consistent. We have a
powerful motivation to be consistent.
What is the free-choice paradigm? A paradigm that see's the reactions that we make after making a free choice,
comparing dissonance reduction tendencies between cultures.
, What was the study of free-choice paradigm that was Study (Heine & Lehman, 1997b)
conducted? - Given list of top 10 albums, rank order
- Choose between 5th and 6th ranked albums
- 10 minute interval (complete questionnaires)
- Given the actual albums to view (i.e., more detail) rate desirability of each and
rank order
- Results?
• Rank/rate chosen album more highly 2nd time;
How does culture influence how people react to No dissonance if there is no compensatory change in ranking. North American
cognitive dissonance? are more likely to engage in post-decision reduction. Japanese however, show
no tendency to rationalize their decisions. They were not motivated to be
consistent. Japanese rationalize when they make decisions for others, with
suggest a motivation to have their behaviors be consistent with other
expectations. Americans rationalize after we make our decisions because that is
when the potential inconsistencies emerge. Americans are affected by
information about their past performance, and Poles are affect by information
about what their classmates had done.
How does the free-choice paradigm assess reactions to Asses dissonance by comparing dissonance reduction tendencies between
cognitive dissonance? cultures like Japanese and Canadians. It looks at if people rationalized their
decisions. The paradigm demonstrates how people engage in post-decision
dissonance reduction (rationalization). The bigger the change in preferences,
the more people are rationalizing their decisions. The less people rationalized,
the less motivation they had to ensure consistency. The more rationalization the
more people were motivated to ensure consistency.
• Dissonance reduction = Spread of alternatives, rationalizing.
- But consider the type of choice that is being made
Why do people from different cultures differ in their Because of the marked effects on their behavior. Not all humans behaviors are
need to be consistent? (HINT: Pay attention to thesis rational or necessarily function within their cultures. In the US there are rewards
sentences when reading!) for being consistent, in Korea there are few benefits for being consistent (pg.
222).
What is the difference between subjective and Subjective self-awareness is when we consider ourselves from the perspective
objective self-awareness? of the subject—that is, the "I" that observes and interacts with the world. Our
concerns are with the world outside of ourselves, and we are largely unaware
of ourselves. Attention is directed away from ourselves from the inside out. We
evaluate ourselves in the inside-out perspective, in which we evaluate based
on our own subjective standards.
Objective self-awareness is when we consider ourselves from the perspective
of an object, the same way that we perceive the rest of the world. That is, the
self can be experience as the "me" that is observed and interacted by others. In
this state, we are directed specifically at ourselves from the outside in. We are
conscious of how we are being seen and evaluated by others.
Why does the experience of objective self-awareness Because we tend to see ourselves in ways that we would like to see ourselves,
tend to be aversive (at least in the U.S.)? whereas we see others in a more detached objective way. And if we view
ourselves as the object, we will be more critical when adopting this
perspective of an audience, because we take on the role of the judge. This
criticalness comes from always being able to conjure up standards to compare
ourselves with that are higher than our current levels of performance.
CORRECT Answers
If you knew that a culture tended to be individualistic Individualistic cultures may have more deeper and more penetrating influences
(or collectivistic), would you be able to identify the of our culture on our self descriptions, which are harder to detect. These
types of self-descriptions members of that culture cultures focus more on people who focus on their enduring inner attributes,
might use on the Twenty-Statements Test (TST; Kuhn & such as personality traits, attitudes, or abilities as a means to understand
McPartland, 1954)? themselves. If you are more collectivistic, you are more likely to have a rather
superficial identity, having self-descriptions that might include some culturally
shaped statements. These only reveal a superficial influence of culture,
because the culture is merely providing the content about the ways we think of
ourselves.
Know the characteristics of independent and Independent self-construals deal with person's attitudes, personality traits,
interdependent self-construals preferences, opinions, abilities, and individual qualities. Interdependent are
focused on how they are connected with others.
How do these self-construals differ across cultures? Independent experiences are stable and do not change much from situation to
How do these differ across situations? situation. They can move between the ingroup and outgroup, they still feel
closer to the ingroup than outgroup members; however, they do not view them
in fundamentally distinct ways. Interdependent construals are fluid in different
situations, meaning depending on the situation, and the role the person
occupies in that situation—the experience of self—will vary accordingly. People
don't closely become ingroup members, not do close relationships easily
dissipate into outgroup relations.
3) How do cultures influence people's views of gender One variable is the percentage of people in the country who embraced a
equality? particular religion. Geographical location is also another factor. For example,
the more urbanized a country is, the more likely people were to have
egalitarian views. Lastly, the country's individualism score relates to their views
of gender equality. Cultural history also is taken into a account because cultural
norms can often persist for long periods because new cultural developments
must be fit in with the older norms. Gender norms have persisted across some
cultures for centuries.
Review the material on the William & Best (1990) study Ester Boserup (1970) proposed that a seemingly simple cultural innovation in
as well as Boserup's (1970) theory and related research agriculture had far-reaching implications for gender norms. He states that there
(Alesina et al., 2011) about agricultural innovation and are two key ways that agricultural cultivation is conducted. One is term "shifting
gender equality. cultivation, " which, among other things, is characterized by the earth being
dug up with a tool similar to a contemporary hoe. The other major cultivation
method is "plough cultivation," in which a large animal is used to pull the plow
to turn over the soil. (Pg 213)
4) What is cognitive dissonance? How does it relate to Cognitive dissonance is the distressing feeling we have when we observe
self-consistency? ourselves acting consistently. This relates to self-consistency because we as
people hold most importance to viewing ourselves as consistent. We have a
powerful motivation to be consistent.
What is the free-choice paradigm? A paradigm that see's the reactions that we make after making a free choice,
comparing dissonance reduction tendencies between cultures.
, What was the study of free-choice paradigm that was Study (Heine & Lehman, 1997b)
conducted? - Given list of top 10 albums, rank order
- Choose between 5th and 6th ranked albums
- 10 minute interval (complete questionnaires)
- Given the actual albums to view (i.e., more detail) rate desirability of each and
rank order
- Results?
• Rank/rate chosen album more highly 2nd time;
How does culture influence how people react to No dissonance if there is no compensatory change in ranking. North American
cognitive dissonance? are more likely to engage in post-decision reduction. Japanese however, show
no tendency to rationalize their decisions. They were not motivated to be
consistent. Japanese rationalize when they make decisions for others, with
suggest a motivation to have their behaviors be consistent with other
expectations. Americans rationalize after we make our decisions because that is
when the potential inconsistencies emerge. Americans are affected by
information about their past performance, and Poles are affect by information
about what their classmates had done.
How does the free-choice paradigm assess reactions to Asses dissonance by comparing dissonance reduction tendencies between
cognitive dissonance? cultures like Japanese and Canadians. It looks at if people rationalized their
decisions. The paradigm demonstrates how people engage in post-decision
dissonance reduction (rationalization). The bigger the change in preferences,
the more people are rationalizing their decisions. The less people rationalized,
the less motivation they had to ensure consistency. The more rationalization the
more people were motivated to ensure consistency.
• Dissonance reduction = Spread of alternatives, rationalizing.
- But consider the type of choice that is being made
Why do people from different cultures differ in their Because of the marked effects on their behavior. Not all humans behaviors are
need to be consistent? (HINT: Pay attention to thesis rational or necessarily function within their cultures. In the US there are rewards
sentences when reading!) for being consistent, in Korea there are few benefits for being consistent (pg.
222).
What is the difference between subjective and Subjective self-awareness is when we consider ourselves from the perspective
objective self-awareness? of the subject—that is, the "I" that observes and interacts with the world. Our
concerns are with the world outside of ourselves, and we are largely unaware
of ourselves. Attention is directed away from ourselves from the inside out. We
evaluate ourselves in the inside-out perspective, in which we evaluate based
on our own subjective standards.
Objective self-awareness is when we consider ourselves from the perspective
of an object, the same way that we perceive the rest of the world. That is, the
self can be experience as the "me" that is observed and interacted by others. In
this state, we are directed specifically at ourselves from the outside in. We are
conscious of how we are being seen and evaluated by others.
Why does the experience of objective self-awareness Because we tend to see ourselves in ways that we would like to see ourselves,
tend to be aversive (at least in the U.S.)? whereas we see others in a more detached objective way. And if we view
ourselves as the object, we will be more critical when adopting this
perspective of an audience, because we take on the role of the judge. This
criticalness comes from always being able to conjure up standards to compare
ourselves with that are higher than our current levels of performance.
