Chinese Regional Differences and Commonality in Field-Independence and Field-Dependence: An Implicit Biculturalism Model

Comparative studies of cultural-cognitive systems in China have stressed differences between northern and southern regions, with less attention paid to inter-regional commonality. This study proposes an implicit biculturalism model to rectify the diversity bias. The model posits that Chinese in both regions have internalized the same two cultural-cognitive systems but have organized them differently. For northerners, the individualist/analytical system (indicated by field-independence) is more dominant and chronically accessible than the collectivist/holistic system (indicated by field-dependence); for southerners the hierarchical order is reversed. The more dominant system would normally manifest in everyday life as the default situation, but the less dominant system could be activated through cultural priming. Both field-independent northerners (N = 46) and field-dependent southerners (N = 46) were assigned randomly into individualistic and collectivistic priming conditions and then tested with the Embedded Figure Test (EFT). The results indicated field-independent northern Chinese changed their EFT performance to be field-dependent under collectivism priming, and field-dependent southern Chinese changed their EFT performance in the field-independent direction, albeit to a less extent, under individualism priming. Generally, these results supported the implicit biculturalism model, which provides a more nuanced understanding of the question of "Who are the Chinese in Chinese psychology?"

Work Volition Scale for Chinese Working Adults: A Cross-Cultural Validation Study

The present study aims to validate the Chinese version of the Work Volition Scales (WVS), an instrument that assesses three components of work volition: volition, financial constraint, and construct constraint. In Study 1 ( N = 498), the WVS was translated into Chinese, and an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted resulting in that three factors were consistent with the original scale. In Study 2 ( N = 442), the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the bifactor model provided the most parsimonious fit to the data. The measurement invariance test then revealed that the WVS is equivalent across gender, age, education level, and job tenure. In addition, convergent and concurrent validity supported the finding that the WVS and three subscales are linked with related variables. The results support significant incremental validity in predicting career satisfaction, meaningful work, and life well-being. The findings suggest that the WVS is a valuable instrument for researchers and career counselors who seek to explore work volition among Chinese working adults.

Beyond Susceptibility: Openness to Peer Influence is Predicted by Adaptive Social Relationships

This study examined the hypothesis, derived from theories highlighting the importance of group harmony and sense of belonging in human relationships, that the adolescents who are most likely to be influenced by their close friends are those who have the highest quality social relationships. Potential moderators of close friend influence on adolescent substance use were examined in a sample of 157 adolescents followed across a one-year period in mid-adolescence using a combination of observational, sociometric, and self- and peer-report measures. As hypothesized, the degree to which adolescents changed their levels of substance use in accord with a close friend's levels of use at baseline was predicted by multiple, independent markers of higher quality social relationships including: having a higher quality maternal relationship, being identified as a socially desirable companion within the broader peer group, and having a close friend who handled disagreements with warmth and autonomy. Notably, influence processes were neutral in valence: Teens displayed relative reductions in substance use when their close friends had low levels of use and the opposite when their friends had high levels of use. Results are discussed as suggesting the need to distinguish overall normative and adaptive peer influence processes from the sometimes maladaptive effects that can occur when teens associate with specific deviant peers or with a problematic adolescent subculture.

Assembly of root-associated bacterial community in cadmium contaminated soil following five-year consecutive application of soil amendments: Evidences for improved soil health

Soil amendments have been extensively used to remediate heavy metal contaminated soils by immobilizing or altering edaphic properties to reduce the bioavailability of heavy metals. However, the potential influences of long-term soil amendments applications on microbial communities and polluted soil health are still in its infancy despite that have been applied for decades. We used amplicon sequencing and q-PCR array to characterize the root-associated microbial community compositions and rhizosphere functional genes in a five-year field experiment with consecutive application of four amendments (lime, biochar, pig manure, and a commercial Mg-Ca-Si conditioner). Compared with the control, soil amendments reduced the available Cd (CaCl₂ extractable Cd) in soils and strongly affected bacterial community compositions in four root-associated niches. Five rare keystone bacterial species were found belonging to the family Gallionellaceae (1), Haliangiaceae (1), Anaerolineaceae (2), and Xanthobacteraceae (1), which significantly correlated with soil pH and the functional genes nifH and phoD. Random forest analysis showed that rhizosphere soil pH and microbial functions, and root-associated keystone bacterial community compositions mainly influenced the Cd concentrations in rice grains. Altogether, our field data revealed five-year consecutive application of soil amendments regulated root-associated microbial community assembly and enhanced microbial functions, thereby improved rhizosphere health of Cd-contaminated soils.

Does housing liquidity matter? Housing property rights and labour market participation of older migrants in China

This paper adds to the literature by identifying the effect of home ownership on rural-to-urban older migrants’ labour market participation in China. Using the 2016 wave of the China Migrants Dynamic Survey, we find that older migrants who do not own houses are more likely to participate in the labour market than home owners. To alleviate endogeneity caused by the potential sample selection problem, the propensity score matching method is employed. Our results imply that home ownership can be used as a type of precautionary/retirement savings for older migrants, especially for the ones lacking in financial security. We also show that older migrants owning houses with a higher level of liquidity are less likely to participate in the labour market. It indicates that liquidity may significantly affect the effectiveness for older migrants to use home ownership as precautionary/retirement savings.

Dialectical Thinking Is Linked With Smaller Left Nucleus Accumbens and Right Amygdala

Our current work examined the interface between thinking style and emotional experience at both the behavioral and neuropsychological levels. Thirty-nine Chinese participants completed the triad task, and we calculated the rate of individually selected relationship pairings to overall selections to represent their holistic thinking tendencies. In addition, participants in the top one-third of the ratio score were classified into the high holistic thinking group, while those in the bottom one-third of the ratio score were classified into the low holistic thinking group. We used the sensitivity to punishment and sensitivity to reward questionnaire (SPSRQ) to examine how people elicit positive and negative affective behaviors. Additionally, we examined the volume of the amygdala and nucleus accumbens and their functional connectivity in the resting-state. We found that high holistic thinkers were much less sensitive to rewards than low holistic thinkers. In other words, individuals with high holistic thinking are less likely to pursue behaviors that have positive emotional outcomes. Furthermore, their bilateral nucleus accumbens and right amygdala volumes were smaller than those of low holistic thinkers. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that holistic thinking tendency can negatively predict the volume of the left nucleus accumbens and right amygdala. Finally, resting-state functional connectivity results showed increased functional connectivity FC between left nucleus accumbens and bilateral amygdala in high holistic thinkers. These findings provide emotion-related manifestations of thinking styles at the behavioral and neural levels.

Are the Slimmer More Wasteful? The Correlation between Body Mass Index and Food Wastage among Chinese Youth

With the economic growth and living standard improvement, food waste has become increasingly common among Chinese youth. To test whether body size affects the food waste performance of youth, we examined university students as representative of the Chinese youth and conducted a large-sample survey in 29 universities across 29 provinces. Based on 9192 questionnaires collected from Chinese college canteens, we found that body size was correlated with food waste. The smaller the body mass index (BMI) value, the higher the likelihood of plate waste, the higher the amount of waste, and the higher the ratio of food waste. Heterogeneity analyses revealed that BMI exerted a more significant impact on males than females, as well as a more substantial impact on northerners than southerners. Robust tests using other proxies to measure body size, robust regressions based on the new adjusted samples, and robust tests with an instrumental variable to overcome the endogenous issue suggested that the slimmer participants tended to be more wasteful. Hence, this study confirms that the slimmer youth tend to leave plate waste and waste more food per capita per meal. This study is the first attempt to analyze food wastage from the perspective of BMI in China to our best knowledge, and it provides a unique viewpoint for understanding young people’s food wastage.

Exploring gene-culture coevolution in humans by inferring neuroendophenotypes: A case study of the oxytocin receptor gene and cultural tightness

The gene-culture coevolution (GCC) framework has gained increasing prominence in the social and biological sciences. While most studies on human GCC concern the evolution of low-level physiological traits, attempts have also been made to apply GCC to complex human traits, including social behavior and cognition. One major methodological challenge in this endeavor is to reconstruct a specific biological pathway between the implicated genes and their distal phenotypes. Here, we introduce a novel approach that combines data on population genetics and expression quantitative trait loci to infer the specific intermediate phenotypes of genes in the brain. We suggest that such "neuroendophenotypes" will provide more detailed mechanistic insights into the GCC process. We present a case study where we explored a GCC dynamics between the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) and cultural tightness-looseness. By combining data from the 1000 Genomes project and the Gene-Tissue-Expression project (GTEx), we estimated and compared OXTR expression in 10 brain regions across five human superpopulations. We found that OXTR expression in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was highly variable across populations, and this variation correlated with cultural tightness and socio-ecological threats worldwide. The mediation models also suggested possible GCC dynamics where the increased OXTR expression in the ACC mediates or emerges from the tight culture and higher socio-ecological threats. Formal selection scans further confirmed that OXTR alleles linked to enhanced receptor expression in the ACC underwent positive selection in East Asian countries with tighter social norms. We discuss the implications of our method in human GCC research.

Middle School Students From China's Rice Area Show More Adaptive Creativity but Less Innovative and Boundary-Breaking Creativity

The present study aimed to conduct a cross-cultural comparison of creative thinking among Chinese middle school students from the rice- and wheat-growing areas in China through the lens of the rice theory, which postulates that there are major psychological differences among the individuals in these agricultural regions. Differences in cultural mindsets and creativity between the rice group (n = 336) and the wheat group (n = 347) were identified using the Chinese version of (1) the Auckland Individualism and Collectivism Scale (AICS) and (2) the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP), respectively. Interesting findings were obtained. The results of latent mean analyses indicate that the rice group showed significantly more collectivism and adaptive creativity than the wheat group but less individualism and innovative and boundary-breaking creativity. However, the two groups showed no significant differences in their overall creative performance, as reflected in the TCT-DP composite score. Moreover, results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that collectivism was positively related to adaptive creativity but negatively related to innovative and boundary-breaking creativity; however, a reverse pattern was found for individualism. These findings enrich the discourse regarding the rice theory and shed important light on the effect of culture on creativity.

Historical rice farming explains faster mask use during early days of China's COVID-19 outbreak

In the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, we observed mask use in public among 1,330 people across China. People in regions with a history of farming rice wore masks more often than people in wheat regions. Cultural differences persisted after taking into account objective risk factors such as local COVID cases. The differences fit with the emerging theory that rice farming's labor and irrigation demands made societies more interdependent, with tighter social norms. Cultural differences were strongest in the ambiguous, early days of the pandemic, then shrank as masks became nearly universal (94%). Separate survey and internet search data replicated this pattern. Although strong cultural differences lasted only a few days, research suggests that acting just a few days earlier can reduce deaths substantially.

Individualism-collectivism during the COVID-19 pandemic: A field study testing the pathogen stress hypothesis of individualism-collectivism in Korea

The pathogen stress hypothesis posits that pathogen-related threats influence regional and individual differences in collectivism since behavioral practices associated with collectivism limit the spread of infectious diseases. In support of the hypothesis, previous research demonstrates the association between individualism/collectivism and pathogen stress based on historical records or experimental manipulation. However, it is still unclear whether individuals would indeed value collectivism during the outbreak of infectious diseases. Thus, we investigated the concurrent effects of pathogen-related stress on the endorsement of individualism/collectivism by examining 9322 Koreans for 14 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed that the level of collectivism among respondents were higher after than before the COVID-19 outbreak. Moreover, the average level of collectivism on a given day showed a significant association with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the same day during the outbreak. Interestingly, individualism did not significantly change for the same period.

Games and enculturation: A cross-cultural analysis of cooperative goal structures in Austronesian games

While most animals play, only humans play games. As animal play serves to teach offspring important life-skills in a safe scenario, human games might, in similar ways, teach important culturally relevant skills. Humans in all cultures play games; however, it is not clear whether variation in the characteristics of games across cultural groups is related to group-level attributes. Here we investigate specifically whether the cooperativeness of games covaries with socio-ecological differences across cultural groups. We hypothesize that cultural groups that engage in frequent inter-group conflict, cooperative sustenance acquisition, or that have less stratified social structures, might more frequently play cooperative games as compared to groups that do not share these characteristics. To test these hypotheses, we gathered data from the ethnographic record on 25 ethnolinguistic groups in the Austronesian language family. We show that cultural groups with higher levels of inter-group conflict and cooperative land-based hunting play cooperative games more frequently than other groups. Additionally, cultural groups with higher levels of intra-group conflict play competitive games more frequently than other groups. These findings indicate that games are not randomly distributed among cultures, but rather relate to the socio-ecological settings of the cultural groups that practice them. We argue that games serve as training grounds for group-specific norms and values and thereby have an important function in enculturation during childhood. Moreover, games might server an important role in the maintenance of cultural diversity.

Reputation and socio-ecology in humans

Reputation is a fundamental feature of human sociality as it sustains cooperative relationships among unrelated individuals. Research from various disciplines provides insights on how individuals form impressions of others, condition their behaviours based on the reputation of their interacting partners and spread or learn such reputations. However, past research has often neglected the socio-ecological conditions that can shape reputation systems and their effect on cooperation. Here, we outline how social environments, cultural values and institutions come to play a crucial role in how people navigate reputation systems. Moreover, we illustrate how these socio-ecological dimensions affect the interdependence underlying social interactions (e.g. potential recipients of reputational benefits, degree of dependence) and the extent to which reputation systems promote cooperation. To do so, we review the interdisciplinary literature that illustrates how reputation systems are shaped by the variation of prominent ecological features. Finally, we discuss the implications of a socio-ecological approach to the study of reputation and outline potential avenues for future research. This article is part of the theme issue 'The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling'.

Demographic and Geographic Differences in Facial Masculinity Preferences Among Gay and Bisexual Men in China

This study examined demographic and geographic differences in facial masculinity preferences among gay and bisexual men in China. The final sample included 2595 participants whose data were obtained from four published data sets and one unpublished data set. Demographic variables included sexual self-label, sexual orientation, age, educational level, and occupational status. Geographic variables were classified based on the IP addresses of respondents including North-South division, administrative division, economic regional division, and modernization division. There were significant differences in facial masculinity preferences in demographic variables. Gay men preferred more masculinized faces than did bisexual men. "Tops" preferred feminized faces, whereas "bottoms" and "versatiles" preferred masculinized faces. Participants aged 20-29 years preferred more masculinized faces than did those aged 16-19 years and older than 30. Also, the results indicated significant differences in facial masculinity preferences in geographic variables. Participants living in South China preferred more masculinized faces than did those living in North China. Concerning administrative division, individuals living in South China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Jiangxi) preferred more masculinized faces than did those living in other regions. Participants living in first-tier cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen) preferred more masculinized faces than did those living in other cities. The findings implicated context-dependent variability in facial masculinity preferences among gay and bisexual men; facial trait-attribution processes may contribute to these individual differences.

Elements of Neuroanthropology

Neuroanthropology is the integration of neuroscience into anthropology and aims to understand “brains in the wild.” This interdisciplinary field examines patterns of human variation in field settings and provides empirical research that complements work done in clinical and laboratory settings. Neuroanthropology often uses ethnography in combination with theories and methods from cognitive science as a way to capture how culture, mind, and brain interact. This article describes nine elements that outline how to do neuroanthropology research: (1) integrating biology and culture through neuroscience and biocultural anthropology; (2) extending focus of anthropology on what people say and do to include what people process; (3) sizing culture appropriately, from broad patterns of culture to culture in small-scale settings; (4) understanding patterns of cultural variation, in particular how culture produces patterns of shared variation; (5) considering individuals in interaction with culture, with levels of analysis that can go from biology to social structures; (6) focusing on interactive elements that bring together biological and cultural processes; (7) conceptual triangulation, which draws on anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience in conjunction with field, clinic, and laboratory; (8) critical complementarity as a way to integrate the strengths of critical scholarship with interdisciplinary work; and (9) using methodological triangulation as a way to advance interdisciplinary research. These elements are illustrated through three case studies: research on US combat veterans and how they use Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as a way to manage the transition to becoming civilians, work on human-raptor interactions to understand how and why these interactions can prove beneficial for human handlers, and adapting cue reactivity research on addiction to a field-based approach to understand how people interact with cues in naturalistic settings.

Regional differences in the effect of interpersonal relationship on trust and trustworthiness in China

Guanxi, which literally means interpersonal relationship or social connections, plays an important role in achieving business success in China. This study investigates the effect of interpersonal relationship on trust and trustworthiness in four regions in China. Eighty pairs of close friends participated in the experiment: 20 pairs from Beijing, 20 pairs from Guangdong, 20 pairs from Shanghai, and 20 pairs from Chongqing. A cooperation experiment based on a two-tier simulated supply chain was conducted, in which the participant who played as a supplier solicited demand forecast information from the participant who played as a retailer to plan production. Participants were instructed to perform two tasks: one with a "friend" counterpart and one with a "stranger" counterpart. The results demonstrated regional differences in the effects of interpersonal relationship on trust and trustworthiness: the effect of interpersonal relationship was greater in Guangdong than in the other regions. Additionally, a quantified classification of trustworthiness-trust was proposed by clustering analysis. The type of self-protective trustworthiness and altruistic trust occupied an overwhelming majority in each region, followed by the type of altruistic trustworthiness and self-protective trust, the type of altruistic trustworthiness and altruistic trust, and the type of self-protective trustworthiness and self-protective trust. Regional differences in the distribution proportions in the four types were discovered.

From Text to Thought: How Analyzing Language Can Advance Psychological Science

Humans have been using language for millennia but have only just begun to scratch the surface of what natural language can reveal about the mind. Here we propose that language offers a unique window into psychology. After briefly summarizing the legacy of language analyses in psychological science, we show how methodological advances have made these analyses more feasible and insightful than ever before. In particular, we describe how two forms of language analysis—natural-language processing and comparative linguistics—are contributing to how we understand topics as diverse as emotion, creativity, and religion and overcoming obstacles related to statistical power and culturally diverse samples. We summarize resources for learning both of these methods and highlight the best way to combine language analysis with more traditional psychological paradigms. Applying language analysis to large-scale and cross-cultural datasets promises to provide major breakthroughs in psychological science.

Culture and contagion: Individualism and compliance with COVID-19 policy

In the first wave of the pandemic, places where geographic mobility declined more rapidly saw fewer cases of COVID-19. And yet, there is significant variation in people's compliance with the lockdown measures introduced by governments in order to curb the spread of the virus. In this paper, we show that much of this variation can be explained by different cultural traits. Specifically, we advance the hypothesis that individualism, which puts greater value on personal freedom, makes government intervention harder, whereas collectivism, which emphasises the wellbeing of the group, makes collective action easier. We find support for these ideas across 111 countries, but also when exploiting within country variation in the two largest economies in the world: China and the United States. Across a host of specifications, people were less abiding by the lockdown rules in places with greater prevalence of individualistic cultural traits. We conclude that cultural factors play a critical role in successful policy implementation.

Differences in depressive symptoms by rurality in Japan: a cross-sectional multilevel study using different aggregation units of municipalities and neighborhoods (JAGES)

Background

Rurality can reflect many aspects of the community, including community characteristics that may be associated with mental health. In this study, we focused on geographical units to address multiple layers of a rural environment. By evaluating rurality at both the municipality and neighborhood (i.e., a smaller unit within a municipality) levels in Japan, we aimed to elucidate the relationship between depression and rurality. To explore the mechanisms linking rurality and depression, we examined how the association between rurality and depression can be explained by community social capital according to geographical units.

Methods

We used cross-sectional data from the 2016 wave of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study involving 144,822 respondents aged 65 years or older residing in 937 neighborhoods across 39 municipalities. The population density quintile for municipality-level rurality and the quintile for the time required to reach densely inhabited districts for neighborhood-level rurality were used. We calculated the prevalence ratios of depressive symptoms by gender using a three-level (individual, neighborhood, and municipality) Poisson regression. Community social capital was assessed using three components: civic participation, social cohesion, and reciprocity.

Results

The prevalence of depressive symptoms was higher in municipalities with lower population density than those with the highest population density; the ratios were 1.22 (95% confidence intervals: 1.15, 1.30) for men and 1.22 (1.13, 1.31) for women. In contrast, when evaluating rurality at the neighborhood level, the prevalence of depressive symptoms was 0.9 times lower for men in rural areas; no such association was observed for women. In rural municipalities, community civic participation was associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms. In rural neighborhoods, community social cohesion and reciprocity were linked to a lower risk of depressive symptoms.

Conclusions

The association between rurality and depression varied according to geographical unit. In rural municipalities, the risk of depression may be higher for both men and women, and the presence of an environment conducive to civic participation may contribute to a higher risk of depression, as observed in this study. The risk of depression in men may be lower in rural neighborhoods in Japan, which may be related to high social cohesion and reciprocity.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12942-021-00296-8.

A Data-Driven Analysis of Sociocultural, Ecological, and Economic Correlates of Depression Across Nations

The prevalence of depression varies widely across nations, but we do not yet understand what underlies this variation. Here we use estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study to analyze the correlates of depression across 195 countries and territories. We begin by identifying potential cross-correlates of depression using past clinical and cultural psychology literature. We then take a data-driven approach to modeling which factors correlate with depression in zero-order analyses, and in a multiple regression model that controls for covariation between factors. Our findings reveal several potential correlates of depression, including cultural individualism, daylight hours, divorce rate, and GDP per capita. Cultural individualism is the only factor that remains significant across all our models, even when adjusting for spatial autocorrelation, mental healthcare workers per capita, multicollinearity, and outliers. These findings shed light on how depression varies around the world, the sociocultural and environmental factors that underlie this variation, and potential future directions for the study of culture and mental illness.

The Cognitive Science of Technology

Technology is central to human life but hard to define and study. This review synthesizes advances in fields from anthropology to evolutionary biology and neuroscience to propose an interdisciplinary cognitive science of technology. The foundation of this effort is an evolutionarily motivated definition of technology that highlights three key features: material production, social collaboration, and cultural reproduction. This broad scope respects the complexity of the subject but poses a challenge for theoretical unification. Addressing this challenge requires a comparative approach to reduce the diversity of real-world technological cognition to a smaller number of recurring processes and relationships. To this end, a synthetic perceptual-motor hypothesis (PMH) for the evolutionary-developmental-cultural construction of technological cognition is advanced as an initial target for investigation.

Relationship between rice farming and polygenic scores potentially linked to agriculture in China

Following domestication in the lower Yangtze River valley 9400 years ago, rice farming spread throughout China and changed lifestyle patterns among Neolithic populations. Here, we report evidence that the advent of rice domestication and cultivation may have shaped humans not only culturally but also genetically. Leveraging recent findings from molecular genetics, we construct a number of polygenic scores (PGSs) of behavioural traits and examine their associations with rice cultivation based on a sample of 4101 individuals recently collected from mainland China. A total of nine polygenic traits and genotypes are investigated in this study, including PGSs of height, body mass index, depression, time discounting, reproduction, educational attainment, risk preference, ADH1B rs1229984 and ALDH2 rs671. Two-stage least-squares estimates of the county-level percentage of cultivated land devoted to paddy rice on the PGS of age at first birth (b = -0.029, p = 0.021) and ALDH2 rs671 (b = 0.182, p < 0.001) are both statistically significant and robust to a wide range of potential confounds and alternative explanations. These findings imply that rice farming may influence human evolution in relatively recent human history.

Subjective interdependence and prosocial behaviour

Interdependence describes the mutual control different individuals have over their own and others' outcomes. Recent research suggests that interdependence is mentally represented along dimensions of mutual dependence, conflict (vs correspondence) of interests, and relative power. People construe interdependence from cues in their social environment, but subjective perceptions are also influenced by stable individual differences. Importantly, perceptions of interdependence are associated with prosocial behaviour. Perceived conflict of interests, in particular, is detrimental to prosociality, whereas mutual dependence can foster prosocial behaviour. Further, perceived conflict of interests and power may together shape cooperative outcomes. Future research may help elucidate the roots of cross-cultural differences in subjective interdependence and examine how formal and informal institutions promote prosocial behaviour by shifting our perceptions of interdependence.

The salience of choice fuels independence: Implications for self-perception, cognition, and behavior

More than ever before, people across the world are exposed to ideas of choice and have opportunities to make choices. What are the consequences of this rapidly expanding exposure to the ideas and practice of choice? The current research investigated an unexamined and potentially powerful consequence of this salience of choice: an awareness and experience of independence. Four studies (n = 1,288) across three cultural contexts known to differ in both the salience of choice and the cultural emphasis on independence (the United States, Singapore, and India) provided converging evidence of a link between the salience of choice and independence. Singaporean students who recalled choices rather than actions represented themselves as larger than their peers (study 1). Conceptually replicating this finding, study 2 found that Americans who recalled choices rather than actions rated themselves as physically stronger. In a word/nonword lexical decision task (study 3), Singaporean students who recalled choices rather than actions were quicker at identifying independence-related words, but not neutral or interdependence-related words. Americans, Singaporeans, and Indians all indicated that when working in an organization that emphasized choice, they would be more likely to express their opinions. Similarly, Americans, Singaporeans, and Indians reported a preference for working in such an organization (studies 4a and 4b). The findings suggest that the salience of personal choice may drive an awareness and experience of independence even in contexts where, unlike in the United States, independence has not been the predominant ethos. Choice may be an unmarked and proximate mechanism of cultural change and growing global individualism.

Economic Development and Modernization in Africa Homogenize National Cultures

The nation-building literature of the early 1960s argued that decolonized countries need to overcome pre-colonial ethnic identities and generate national cultures. Africa is the most critical test case of this aspect of modernization theory as it has by far the largest ethnolinguistic fractionalization. We use data from the Afrobarometer to compare the cultures of 85 ethnolinguistic groups, each represented by at least 100 respondents, from 25 African countries. We compared these groups and their nations on items that address cultural modernization and emancipation: ideologies concerning inclusive-exclusive society (gender egalitarianism, homophobia, and xenophobia), submissiveness to authority, and the societal role of religion. Previous research has shown that these are some of the most important markers of cultural differences in the modern world. Hierarchical cluster analysis yielded very homogeneous national clusters and not a single ethnolinguistic cluster cutting across national borders (such as Yoruba of Benin and Yoruba of Nigeria, Ewe of Ghana, and Ewe of Togo, etc.). Only three ethnolinguistic groups (3.5%) remained unattached to their national cluster, regardless of the clustering method. The variation between nations ( F values) was often considerably greater than the variation between ethnolinguistic groups. Medial distances between the groups of each country correlated highly with GDP per person ( r = −.54), percentage men employed in agriculture ( r = .64), percentage men employed in services ( r = −.63), and phone subscriptions per person ( r = −.61). In conclusion, economic development and modernization diminish cultural differences between ethnolinguistic groups within nations, highlighting those between them.

Cultural dyes: Cultural norms color person perception

People from different cultures may perceive the same behavior in contrasting ways, thereby reaching very different conclusions. We argue that cultural norms not only guide our own behaviors but also color the way we perceive others. Here, we overview research on the different cultural norms people may use when judging others. Specifically, we discuss work on norms pertaining to how people describe, evaluate, and support others. Additionally, we also highlight some important implications of the reviewed research and underscore some key environmental factors that motivate stronger adherence to cultural norms. We conclude that the study of interpersonal perception is incomplete without taking into account the influence cultural norms have on the way we perceive others.

Small Effects: The Indispensable Foundation for a Cumulative Psychological Science

We draw on genetics research to argue that complex psychological phenomena are most likely determined by a multitude of causes and that any individual cause is likely to have only a small effect. Building on this, we highlight the dangers of a publication culture that continues to demand large effects. First, it rewards inflated effects that are unlikely to be real and encourages practices likely to yield such effects. Second, it overlooks the small effects that are most likely to be real, hindering attempts to identify and understand the actual determinants of complex psychological phenomena. We then explain the theoretical and practical relevance of small effects, which can have substantial consequences, especially when considered at scale and over time. Finally, we suggest ways in which scholars can harness these insights to advance research and practices in psychology (i.e., leveraging the power of big data, machine learning, and crowdsourcing science; promoting rigorous preregistration, including prespecifying the smallest effect size of interest; contextualizing effects; changing cultural norms to reward accurate and meaningful effects rather than exaggerated and unreliable effects). Only once small effects are accepted as the norm, rather than the exception, can a reliable and reproducible cumulative psychological science be built.

Agricultural Roots and Subnational Cultural Heterogeneity in Domestic Acquisitions

Drawing on the novel-to-the-field rice theory, we study how subnational cultural heterogeneity impacts target performance improvement following an acquisition. Data from domestic acquisitions in the Chinese beer industry show performance is significantly impacted by cultural characteristics formulated through agricultural subsistence activities. We find that both cultural similarity and dissimilarity influence performance: (1) in transactions in which both the acquirer and target are located in rice culture regions, targets achieve greater performance improvement than in those in which both firms are located in a wheat culture region, and (2) targets located in wheat culture areas bought by acquirers from a rice culture area gain greater performance improvement than rice culture targets acquired by firms from a wheat culture area. We also find that acquirers’ experience with rice targets is less beneficial than their experience with wheat targets.

Climato-Economic Origins of Variations in Uniqueness of Nickname on Sina Weibo

In the world of social media, people are free to choose names based on their preferences, which may potentially reflect certain levels of uniqueness. In this study, we have attempted to explore the possibility of applying the ecological theory of individualism/collectivism in the context of social media. We, thus, examined provincial variations in the uniqueness of nicknames among more than 13 million Sina Weibo users. Initially, the nickname uniqueness indicator was set at the provincial level. It was found that the uniqueness of nicknames was the highest in provinces with temperate climates, for example Guangdong, and the lowest in provinces with demanding climate, such as Ningxia. Regression analysis results partially supported that inhabitants in provinces with temperate climate were more likely to use unique nicknames on social media compared to those from harsh climate. This finding is significant in terms of ecology.

Cultural Evolution of Genetic Heritability

Behavioral genetics and cultural evolution have both revolutionized our understanding of human behavior-largely independent of each other. Here we reconcile these two fields under a dual inheritance framework, offering a more nuanced understanding of the interaction between genes and culture. Going beyond typical analyses of gene-environment interactions, we describe the cultural dynamics that shape these interactions by shaping the environment and population structure. A cultural evolutionary approach can explain, for example, how factors such as rates of innovation and diffusion, density of cultural sub-groups, and tolerance for behavioral diversity impact heritability estimates, thus yielding predictions for different social contexts. Moreover, when cumulative culture functionally overlaps with genes, genetic effects become masked, unmasked, or even reversed, and the causal effects of an identified gene become confounded with features of the cultural environment. The manner of confounding is specific to a particular society at a particular time, but a WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic) sampling problem obscures this boundedness. Cultural evolutionary dynamics are typically missing from models of gene-to-phenotype causality, hindering generalizability of genetic effects across societies and across time. We lay out a reconciled framework and use it to predict the ways in which heritability should differ between societies, between socioeconomic levels and other groupings within some societies but not others, and over the life course. An integrated cultural evolutionary behavioral genetic approach cuts through the nature-nurture debate and helps resolve controversies in topics such as IQ.

Honor, face, and dignity norm endorsement among diverse North American adolescents: Development of a Social Norms Survey

This article examined the psychometric properties and validity of a new self-report instrument for assessing the social norms that coordinate social relations and define self-worth within three normative systems. A survey that assesses endorsement of honor, face, and dignity norms was evaluated in ethnically diverse adolescent samples in the U.S. (Study 1a) and Canada (Study 2). The internal structure of the survey was consistent with the conceptual framework, but only the honor and face scales were reliable. Honor endorsement was linked to self-reported retaliation, less conciliatory behavior, and high perceived threat. Face endorsement was related to anger suppression, more conciliatory behavior, and, in the U.S., low perceived threat. Study 1b examined identity-relevant emotions and appraisals experienced after retaliation and after calming a victimized peer. Honor norm endorsement predicted pride following revenge, while face endorsement predicted high shame. Adolescents who endorsed honor norms thought that only avenging their peer had been helpful and consistent with the role of good friend, while those who endorsed face norms thought only calming a victimized peer was helpful and indicative of a good friend. Implications for adolescent welfare are discussed.

The "One Mind, Two Aspects" Model of the Self: The Self Model and Self-Cultivation Theory of Chinese Buddhism

Constructing a self model with universal cultural adaptability is a common concern of cultural psychologists. These models can be divided into two types: one is the self model based on Western culture, represented by the self theory of Marsh, Cooley, Fitts, etc.; the other is the non-self model based on Eastern culture, represented by the Mandela model of Hwang Kwang Kuo and the Taiji model of Zhen Dong Wang. However, these models do not fully explain the self structure and development of Chinese people in the context of Chinese Buddhist culture. Based on the self theory of Chinese Buddhism and inspired by the famous Buddhist work Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna, this article constructs the "one mind, two aspects" self model. This model not only can properly represent the self structure of Chinese people in the context of Chinese Buddhism but also can explain the self-cultivation process and the realm of practice of Chinese Buddhist believers and thus has satisfactory cultural validity.

The Big Five Inventory-2 in China: A Comprehensive Psychometric Evaluation in Four Diverse Samples

The Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2) has received wide recognition since its publication because it strikes a good balance between content coverage and brevity. The current study translated the BFI-2 into Chinese, evaluated its psychometric properties in four diverse Chinese samples (college students, adult employees, adults treated for substance use, and adolescents), and compared its factor structure with those obtained from two U.S. samples. Across two studies, the Chinese BFI-2 demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach's α and test-retest reliability), structural validity, convergent/discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity at the domain level. At lower levels of analyses, some facets and negatively worded items functioned better among participants with higher than those with lower education levels. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Protect Others to Protect Myself: A Weakness of Western Countries in the Face of Current and Future Pandemics? Psychological and Neuroscientific Perspectives

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a large number of publications in the medical and biological fields concerning the virus and its treatments, as well as in psychology, social sciences, and data sciences with regard to the spread of the virus. Surprisingly, far fewer neuroscientific articles have been published in this field of research and one might well ask whether the cognitive neurosciences have anything to say at all about this vital topic. In this article, we highlight a research perspective relating to differences in the individual perception of the pandemic in Western compared to Eastern countries. Although this problem is complex, multifaceted and subsumes many other social variables, we suggest that the cognitive neurosciences do have important and fundamental insights to contribute concerning the collective response observed within these populations. More precisely, we propose the hypothesis that differences in the propensity to adopt a holistic perception of contamination processes at the group level, involving brain structures that are also associated with perspective-taking and empathy such as, in particular, the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), could help explain the differences in the perception of the pandemic observed between Western and Eastern countries.

Concerns Discussed on Chinese and French Social Media During the COVID-19 Lockdown: Comparative Infodemiology Study Based on Topic Modeling

Background

During the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous countries, including China and France, have implemented lockdown measures that have been effective in controlling the epidemic. However, little is known about the impact of these measures on the population as expressed on social media from different cultural contexts.

Objective

This study aims to assess and compare the evolution of the topics discussed on Chinese and French social media during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Methods

We extracted posts containing COVID-19–related or lockdown-related keywords in the most commonly used microblogging social media platforms (ie, Weibo in China and Twitter in France) from 1 week before lockdown to the lifting of the lockdown. A topic model was applied independently for three periods (prelockdown, early lockdown, and mid to late lockdown) to assess the evolution of the topics discussed on Chinese and French social media.

Results

A total of 6395; 23,422; and 141,643 Chinese Weibo messages, and 34,327; 119,919; and 282,965 French tweets were extracted in the prelockdown, early lockdown, and mid to late lockdown periods, respectively, in China and France. Four categories of topics were discussed in a continuously evolving way in all three periods: epidemic news and everyday life, scientific information, public measures, and solidarity and encouragement. The most represented category over all periods in both countries was epidemic news and everyday life. Scientific information was far more discussed on Weibo than in French tweets. Misinformation circulated through social media in both countries; however, it was more concerned with the virus and epidemic in China, whereas it was more concerned with the lockdown measures in France. Regarding public measures, more criticisms were identified in French tweets than on Weibo. Advantages and data privacy concerns regarding tracing apps were also addressed in French tweets. All these differences were explained by the different uses of social media, the different timelines of the epidemic, and the different cultural contexts in these two countries.

Conclusions

This study is the first to compare the social media content in eastern and western countries during the unprecedented COVID-19 lockdown. Using general COVID-19–related social media data, our results describe common and different public reactions, behaviors, and concerns in China and France, even covering the topics identified in prior studies focusing on specific interests. We believe our study can help characterize country-specific public needs and appropriately address them during an outbreak.

Assessing Engagement in Chinese Upper Secondary School Students Using the Chinese Version of the Schoolwork Engagement Inventory: Energy, Dedication, and Absorption (CEDA)

The schoolwork engagement inventory: Energy, Dedication, and Absorption (EDA) is a measure of students' engagement in schoolwork and has been demonstrated valid in Western student populations. In this study, we adapted this inventory to and tested its psychometric appropriates in Chinese upper secondary school students (CEDA). Participants were 1,527 general high school students and 850 vocational high school students. The mean age of the total sample was 16.21 years (54.4% females, age span: 15–19 years). The results of confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) showed that a modified one-factor model fitted the data best. The results of the multigroup CFA showed that the factor structure was metrically invariant across school tracks (i.e., general or vocational high school) and scalarly invariant across gender and school types (i.e., ordinary or key school). Moreover, schoolwork engagement was negatively related to emotional exhaustion and positively related to self-efficacy, perseverance of effort, teacher–student relationships, and life satisfaction. Overall, the CEDA can be regarded as a valid measure for the assessment of student engagement in the Chinese upper secondary school context.

An Integrated Ecological Approach to Mapping Variations in Collectivism Within China: Introducing the Triple-Line Framework

Measurable regional variations in collectivism have been found across the Chinese mainland, challenging the simple classification of China as a “collectivistic society” in cross-national studies. In previous studies, a small number of distal or proximal ecological factors have been used to explain these regional variations of collectivism. However, there has been little consensus on which ecological factors best predict regional collectivism. In this article, the authors propose the “triple-line framework,” an integrated perspective on regional variations in collectivism. This framework divides China into four regions using three lines—the Hu Huanyong Line, the Great Wall Line, and the Qinling–Huaihe Line—according to their ecological, historical, and social characteristics. A growing body of empirical research is largely consistent with this framework. The authors conclude by discussing the potential for this framework to generate new, testable hypotheses and consider some ways in which this approach to intranational variation could be used by cultural psychologists working in other parts of the world.

Grounded procedures in mind and society

Our commentators explore the operation of grounded procedures across all levels of analysis in the behavioral sciences, from mental to social, developmental, and evolutionary/functional. Building on them, we offer two integrative principles for systematic effects of grounded procedures to occur. We discuss theoretical topics at each level of analysis, address methodological recommendations, and highlight further extensions of grounded procedures.

Coping With Uprooting Stress During Domestic Educational Migration in China

For many youth, attending university is their first extended time away from home, and uprooting stress can often lead to distress. The present research examines the impact of uprooting stress on educational Chinese migrants and how students cope with the unanticipated pressure of leaving home. Using a sample of recent first-year students, we employed a longitudinal design that allowed us to examine the interaction effect of coping strategies (primary and secondary coping) and stress at time 1 and their impact on anxiety at time 2. Results indicated primary coping exerted an interaction effect on stress, exacerbating the negative effects and leading to more anxiety at time 2, but secondary coping did not. Females also reported lower stress and anxiety. In conclusion, the impact of uprooting stress and coping on psychological symptoms suggests further research on internal Chinese migration should consider the impact of within-culture variation in Mainland China.

The Lineage Theory of the Regional Variation of Individualism/Collectivism in China

China has undergone a rapid process of modernization since 1949. The modernization process has accelerated with the development of the market economy and rural-to-urban migration after the 1980s. Nevertheless, Chinese regions still exhibit substantial differences in terms of individualist/collectivist cultural orientations. The rice theory and the climato-economic theory have attempted to explain this variation by analyzing provincial-level data. Based on a quantitative analysis of more granular, county-level variables spanning from the early 1990s until 2010, we offer an alternative account of this cultural variety based on lineage development in different Chinese regions. Using the ArcGIS geographic information system, we first present the regional distribution of individualism/collectivism indicators at the county level through descriptive statistics and spatial analysis. We also run a regression model to analyze county-level data on individualism/collectivism that includes three periods (1990, 2000, and 2010). Our multi-level analysis shows that lineage development is a critical variable that explains more regional variation of culture in China when compared to other variables. While rice farming, the key variable of the rice theory, is a significant variable, its explanatory power is less than the lineage variable. Finally, our analysis shows that the climato-economic theory fails to explain the regional variation of culture.