Multicultural minds. A dynamic constructivist approach to culture and cognition

Empower me or not? Influence of societal culture

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the relationships between societal culture value dimensions and employee preferences for empowerment behaviors by managerial leaders across societal cultures. To do this, the authors synthesize the extant literature to underpin this study and to set the research agenda for future empirical work.

Design/methodology/approach

Using field survey research method, the authors obtain and analyze data from ten samples in eight geographically and culturally diverse societies from a global longitudinal study of preferred managerial leader behavior.

Findings

Cultural value dimension predictor variables affect employee preferences for leader empowerment behaviors in the societies studied. Some significant effects of gender and organizational factors on these relationships were found.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should expand upon variations in the meaning of employee empowerment across cultures, consider other cultural models and theories, and a more extensive set of personal, organizational and relational factors.

Practical implications

Employee preferences for leader empowerment behaviors are more likely the result of the interplay, exchange and trade-offs between cultural, personal and organizational values. The effectiveness of employee empowerment is contingent upon well-designed training programs aligning management and worker values, goals and tasks.

Originality/value

The authors offer more realistic, objective and evidence-based insights into the cultural influences on the effectiveness of empowerment and employee cognitions towards it than the extant, conceptually and methodologically compromised, strategic cross-cultural studies.

Trait self-construal, inclusion of others in the self and self-control predict stay-at-home adherence during COVID-19

To combat the global COVID-19 crisis, governments and health organizations rely on collective cooperation among every ordinary individual to adhere to non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), such physical distancing which includes, as examined in our study, staying at home. Thus, we ask the question: do individual differences in how individuals see themselves as connected to or separated from others (i.e., independent vs. interdependent self-construal) predict their stay-at-home adherence? In an online study (N = 358; 47.1% female, M_age = 40.48; 74.02% White), we measured trait self-construal, inclusion of others in the self (IOS), self-control and likelihood to stay-at-home in various scenarios. Results revealed a significant indirect, sequential effect of self-construal on stay-at-home adherence via IOS and self-control. Specifically, participants with a more accessible interdependent (vs. independent) self-construal reported higher stay-at-home adherence intentions as a consequence of greater IOS and self-control. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Master Narratives, Expectations of Change, and Their Effect on Temporal Appraisals

People hold narrative expectations for how humans generally change over the course of their lives. In some areas, people expect growth (e.g., wisdom), while in others, people expect stability (e.g., extroversion). However, do people apply those same expectations to the self? In five studies (total N = 1,372), participants rated selves as improving modestly over time in domains where stability should be expected (e.g., extroversion, quick-wittedness). Reported improvement was significantly larger in domains where growth should be expected (e.g., wisdom, rationality) than domains where stability should be expected. Further, in domains where growth should be expected participants reported improvement for selves and others. However, in domains where stability should be expected, participants reported improvement for selves but not others. Hence, participants used narrative expectations to inform projections of change. We discuss implications for future temporal self-appraisal research, heterogeneity of effect sizes in self-appraisal research, and between-culture differences in narratives.

Acculturation and attitudes toward code-switching: A bidimensional framework

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Code-switching, the spontaneous switching from one language to another within a single speech event, is often performed by bilinguals who have mastered a communicative competence in two languages. It is also a social strategy - using linguistic cues as a means to index social categories and group solidarity. Code-switching is, therefore, linked to attitudes, seen as a reflection of the speaker and their values and identities. Traditionally perceived negatively, attitudes toward code-switching have been shown to be acceptable in certain cases, such as in multilingual contexts. However, it has yet to be determined empirically whether attitudes toward code-switching are associated with individual social characteristics, including cultural identity and identity negotiation. Adopting the bidimensional model of acculturation, the goal of the study was to investigate the relationships among cultural identity and code-switching attitudes. Specifically, we sought to examine whether the bidimensional framework can be used to characterize and distinguish biculturals and whether such distinctions result in differences in code-switching attitudes and other related factors.

DATA AND ANALYSIS

Cantonese-English bilinguals (n = 67) reported their language background and completed questionnaires relating to identity and code-switching.

FINDINGS

The findings suggest the bidimensional model was successful in classifying biculturals versus non-biculturals and, additionally, that biculturals could be differentiated according to their strength of cultural identification, which we designated as strong biculturals, Canadian-oriented biculturals, Chinese-oriented biculturals, and weak biculturals. Findings also revealed significant group differences in code-switching attitudes and other factors, such as code-switching comfort and preference, among the bicultural subgroups.

IMPLICATIONS

The study supports the hypothesis that code-switching is linked to bicultural identity. The results conclude that a more nuanced classification of biculturals is meaningful, as individual differences in cultural identification among biculturals are linked to significant differences in code-switching comfort, code-switching preference, code-switching attitudes, and multicultural attitudes.

Examining clinical training through a bicultural lens: Experiences of genetic counseling students who identify with a racial or ethnic minority group

Biculturals are individuals who have had significant exposure to more than one culture and who possess more than one cultural frame of reference. In the United States, this term has been used to describe both immigrants and members of racial or ethnic minority groups who live within the majority white culture. Biculturals develop a distinct repertoire of social and cognitive skills and have been shown to engage in a process of cultural frame switching in response to salient cultural cues. Through a conceptual lens offered by current research on biculturalism, this article examines transcripts of focus groups we collected for a study on the clinical training experiences of genetic counseling students who identify with a racial or ethnic minority group. We conducted a constructivist grounded theory study, collecting data via 13 videoconference focus groups with 32 recent graduates of genetic counseling training programs who identify with a racial or ethnic minority group. We focus here on two of the thematic categories identified in that study related to participants’ experiences interacting with patients during supervised clinical rotations. We find three ways in which being bicultural influenced these genetic counselors’ patient interactions. First, participants described interactions with both culturally concordant and culturally discordant patients that highlighted the salience of their racial, ethnic, or cultural identity in these encounters. Second, they reported sensitivity to social nuances between and within cultures, reflecting the findings of prior research about heightened cultural awareness in biculturals. Third, they described switching cultural frames in response to their patients’ identities which, at times, created conflict between their professional and culturally concordant frameworks. The results of this study suggest that the influence of a student's racial, ethnic, or cultural identity on interactions with patients should be discussed within the supervisory relationship, and that being bicultural confers advantages in learning to provide culturally responsive care.

Age Differences in Leadership Positions Across Cultures

In most countries around the world, the population is rapidly aging. A by-product of these demographic shifts is that older adults will likely occupy more positions of power and influence in our societies than ever before. Further, cultural differences might shape how these transitions unfold around the globe. Across two studies, we investigated whether business and political leaders differed in age across various cultures. Study 1 (N = 1,034) showed that business leaders were significantly older in Eastern (e.g., China, India, and Japan) cultures than Western (e.g., United States, Sweden, and United Kingdom) cultures, even while controlling for population structure (e.g., percentage of elderly in the society), gross domestic product (GDP), and wealth distribution across the population (GINI). Study 2 (N = 1,268) conceptually replicated these findings by showing that political leaders were once again older in Eastern vs. Western cultures. Furthermore, cultural tightness mediated the relationship between culture and older leadership. These findings highlight how cultural differences impact not only our preferences, but also important outcomes in consequential domains such as business and politics. Potential explanations for why cultural tightness may be related to differences in leader age across cultures are discussed. To build on these findings, future research should assess the potential causal mechanisms underlying the cultural effect on leader age, and explore the various practical implications of this effect.

Perceived loneliness and the role of cultural and intergenerational belonging: the case of Portuguese first-generation immigrants in Luxembourg

The risk of loneliness for migrants, particularly in older age, has been documented across multiple studies. Migration is a life-changing transition. While often retaining links to their country of origin, an important developmental task for migrants is the establishment of bonds in the receiving country. Drawing on recent studies, I will explore the role of cultural and intergenerational belonging in order to identify both protective and risk factors regarding loneliness in middle and older age in a sample of first-generation immigrants from Portugal living in Luxembourg. The sample comprises N = 131 participants (51.9% female) between the ages of 41 and 80 (M = 56.08; SD = 7.80) who have on average spent M = 31.71 years (SD = 8.81) in Luxembourg and raised children in Luxembourg. They took part in the IRMA project ('Intergenerational Relations in the Light of Migration and Ageing') which was funded by the Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg. A standardised questionnaire assessed socio-demographic data, aspects of cultural belonging (i.e. cultural attachment to both countries, bicultural identity orientation, acculturative stress), intergenerational belonging (i.e. family cohesion, family conflict, perceived intergenerational value consensus) and perceived loneliness. Results showed that while cultural and intergenerational belonging were protective factors, the strongest predictors for participants' perceived loneliness were cultural identity conflict and, even more so, intergenerational conflict. Our findings suggest that establishing roots and bonds in the host country is a protective factor against loneliness, whereas the feeling of not fitting in is a strong risk factor.

Culture, COVID-19, and collectivism: A paradox of American exceptionalism?

Do geographic differences in collectivism relate to COVID-19 case and death rates? And if so, would they also replicate across states within arguably the most individualistic country in the world-the United States? Further still, what role might the U.S.'s history of ethnic strife and race-based health disparities play in either reinforcing or undermining state-level relations between collectivism and COVID-19 rates? To answer these questions, we examined archival data from 98 countries (Study 1) and the 48 contiguous United States (Study 2) on country/state-level collectivism, COVID-19 case/death rates, relevant covariates (per-capita GDP, population density, spatial dependence), and in the U.S., percent of non-Whites. In Study 1, country-level collectivism negatively related to both cases (r = -0.28) and deaths (r = -0.40) in simple regressions; however, after controlling for covariates, the former became non-significant (r p = -0.07), but the latter remained significant (r p = -0.20). In Study 2, state-level collectivism positively related to both cases (r = 0.56) and deaths (r = 0.41) in simple regressions, and these relationships persisted after controlling for all covariates except race, where a state's non-White population dominated all other predictors of COVID-19 cases (r p = 0.35) and deaths (r p = 0.31). We discuss the strong link between race and collectivism in U.S. culture, and its implications for understanding COVID-19 responses.

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.

The Influence of Ethnic-Racial Identity Developmental Processes on Global Bicultural Competence Development

This study investigated ethnic-racial identity (ERI) developmental processes (i.e., exploration and resolution) as pathways for adolescents to develop global bicultural competence, or the ability to meet heritage and host cultural demands. The sample included 749 U.S. Mexican-origin youth (30% Mexico-born; 51% male) followed from early-to-late adolescence (M_age  = 12.79-17.38 years). Longitudinal structural equation analyses revealed that youth's sequential engagement in ERI exploration and resolution (from early-to-middle adolescence) promoted global bicultural competence in late adolescence. The findings highlight the benefits of achieving clarity about one's ERI via self-exploration efforts for adolescents' ability to respond effectively to bicultural demands. This study advances mechanisms via which ERI development may support youth adaptation to multiple cultural systems.

The divided brain: Functional brain asymmetry underlying self-construal

Self-construal (orientations of independence and interdependence) is a fundamental concept that guides human behaviour, and it is linked to a large number of brain regions. However, understanding the connectivity of these regions and the critical principles underlying these self-functions are lacking. Because brain activity linked to self-related processes are intrinsic, the resting-state method has received substantial attention. Here, we focused on resting-state functional connectivity matrices based on brain asymmetry as indexed by the differential partition of the connectivity located in mirrored positions of the two hemispheres, hemispheric specialization measured using the intra-hemispheric (left or right) connectivity, brain communication via inter-hemispheric interactions, and global connectivity as the sum of the two intra-hemispheric connectivity. Combining machine learning techniques with hypothesis-driven network mapping approaches, we demonstrated that orientations of independence and interdependence were best predicted by the asymmetric matrix compared to brain communication, hemispheric specialization, and global connectivity matrices. The network results revealed that there were distinct asymmetric connections between the default mode network, the salience network and the executive control network which characterise independence and interdependence. These analyses shed light on the importance of brain asymmetry in understanding how complex self-functions are optimally represented in the brain networks.

Biculturalism and adjustment among U.S. Latinos: A review of four decades of empirical findings

Incorporating both heritage (e.g., Latino) and national (e.g., American) cultural systems into our sense of self (i.e., bicultural identity) and developing the ability to successfully respond to demands associated with each of these systems (i.e., bicultural competence) have been theorized to be central to the development and positive adjustment of U.S. Latinos, a group that represents a large segment of the country's population. In this comprehensive review, we examined empirical research on biculturalism among U.S. Latinos spanning four decades (1980-2020), with a focus on synthesizing the field's understanding of antecedents and consequents associated with biculturalism and identifying directions for future research. Our review of 152 empirical articles revealed that this literature was characterized by multiple approaches to the conceptualization (i.e., dual-cultural adaptation, dual-cultural identity, bicultural identity integration, and bicultural competence) and subsequent operationalization of biculturalism. Although each conceptualization has different implications for the conclusions that can be drawn regarding an aspect or facet of biculturalism and potential influence on adjustment, a significant majority (78%) of studies, across conceptualizations, provided evidence supporting a positive association between biculturalism and Latinos' adjustment. In addition, a relatively small body of qualitative work was identified, and findings largely informed potential antecedents of biculturalism. We review this literature with attention to: the aspects of biculturalism that are associated with Latinos' adjustment (i.e., psychosocial and physical health), how sample characteristics may limit the generalizability of this work, and important directions for future research both in terms of conceptualization and study design.

Biculturalism and cross-cultural competence: examination of an attribution complexity theory-based model

Purpose

Based on attributional complexity (AC) theory, the authors empirically examine the impact of biculturalism on cross-cultural adjustment and the degree to which people make isomorphic attributions, critical for cross-cultural leadership effectiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

Using questionnaire surveys, the authors first validate measures in a validation sample and then empirically test the model in a second sample, using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The authors’ findings reveal an empirical connection between biculturalism and AC on the one hand, while also showing support for the relationship between biculturalism and attributional knowledge. Findings also demonstrate that biculturalism is related to attributional accuracy in cross-cultural contexts via an attributional mechanism, as suggested by AC theory.

Research limitations/implications

First, AC theory emerges as one with excellent prospects for explaining intercultural work in multicultural settings. Biculturalism's links to AC and attributional knowledge are critical for extensions to cross-cultural leadership effectiveness, and international knowledge transfer, interesting and high potential research avenues for the discipline.

Practical implications

The authors’ findings carry a host of managerial implications. AC training can provide all international assignees with the necessary foundational skills and learning abilities to successfully interact in the host country setting with local nationals. This study also suggests that managers on international assignments should focus their efforts on acquiring attributional knowledge because it can provide a solid boost to their understanding of the local culture.

Originality/value

One’s understanding of biculturals and their cross-cultural management competencies is very limited. The authors provide empirical support for the hypotheses, hitherto unexamined in extant literature.

A dynamic reframing of the social/personal identity dichotomy

For decades, scholars in organizational and social psychology have distinguished between two types of identity: social and personal. To what extent, though, is this dichotomy useful for understanding identities and their dynamics, and might a different approach facilitate deeper insight? Such are the guiding questions of this article. I begin by reviewing framings of the social/personal identity dichotomy in organizational psychology, and tracing its origins and evolution in social psychology. I then evaluate the strengths and limitations of this dichotomy as a tool for understanding identities. In an attempt to retain the dichotomy’s strengths and overcome its limitations, I present a modified conceptualization of the social and personal dimensions of identity, one that defines these dimensions based on psychological experience (not identity content), and treats them as two independent continua (not two levels of a dichotomy, or opposing ends of a continuum) that any given identity varies along across contexts.

Plain language summary

A single person can identify with lots of different aspects of their life: their family, community, job, and hobbies, to name but a few. In the same way it helps to group different items in a shop into sections, it can be helpful to group the different identities available to people into categories. And for a long time, this is what researchers have done: calling certain identities “social identities” if based on things like race and culture, and “personal identities” if based on things like traits and habits. In this paper, I explain that for various reasons, this might not be the most accurate way of mapping identities. Instead of categorizing them based on where they come from, I suggest it’s more helpful to focus on how identities actually make people feel, and how these feelings change from one moment to the next. I also point out that many identities can make someone feel like a unique person and part of a broader group at the same time. For this reason, it’s best to think of the “social” and “personal” parts of an identity not as opposites—but simply different aspects of the same thing.

Do Experiences Studying Abroad Promote Dialectical Thinking? Empirical Evidence From Chinese International Students

Our current work seeks to provide direct empirical evidence on whether Chinese international students’ experiences studying abroad promote dialectical thinking. We collected behavioral data from 258 Chinese international students studying in multiple regions. We found that there was a main effect among the four conditions (i.e., studying abroad, exposure to foreign culture, hometown, and typical day). More specifically, when primed with studying abroad or typical day (relative to hometown culture), participants were more likely to show tolerance for contradiction by deeming both sides of contradictory scientific statements as convincing and rating them more favorably. Therefore, it is plausible that Chinese international students’ experiences studying abroad promote their dialectical thinking. More work is needed to further this line of research by (1) extending these effects with other measures of dialectical thinking such as perception of interconnectedness and prediction of change, (2) adopting differing paradigms to provide more robust findings, and (3) probing the underlying processes as to why experiences studying abroad promote dialectical thinking.

The development of learning innovation to enhance higher order thinking skills for students in Thailand junior high schools

The research aims to design and develop learning innovation to enhance higher order thinking skills for students in Thailand junior high schools. The design development research model of Richey and Klien (2007) is used and divided into two phases: (1) to design and develop innovative learning and validate of its quality based on the interviews and survey from 13 experts, 10 teachers and 30 students, and (2) to test the tools' validity by three experts and 153 students from five junior high schools at five provinces in Thailand. The findings indicate that analytical thinking, creative thinking, problem-solving thinking and critical thinking skill are developed by researchers, and experienced and practiced by learners in their lessons. The higher order thinking skills of learners after experiencing the learning innovation have a higher average score than the previous one. Following the students' perspectives on the learning innovation, 1) The design of content is in line with students’ knowledge levels, easy to understand, and enable to connect science contents to their daily life. However, some contents cannot fully cover into all classroom lessons; 2) Multimedia. A navigation design is easy for students to find information and direct to their needs. The icon symbols could hint the meaning of various information sources and have links to these sources. Also, multimedia could considerably explain scientific processes and help students understand better; 3) The design of problem scenarios supports easier connection to the daily life. In addition, using videos as a learning resource could suitably illustrate scientific process, and improve communicative and collaborative skills in problem solving.

Contextual and Cultural Differences in Positive Thinking

Past research suggests that East Asians engage in less positive thinking than Westerners, but cultural differences in positive thinking may depend on context. The present research investigates how culture and context may interactively influence positive thinking. In Studies 1 ( N = 287) and 2 ( N = 245), participants read hypothetical positive or negative events, and indicated their endorsement of responses to each event that reflected positive versus negative thinking. Chinese more often than Euro-Canadians endorsed relatively negative thinking in response to positive events and relatively positive thinking in response to negative events. In Study 3 ( N = 573), Chinese (versus Euro-Canadians) generated more negative outcomes for positive events and more positive outcomes for negative events. These effects were mediated by lay theory of change, a belief that events change over time nonlinearly. The findings use diverse measurement approaches to highlight the importance of examining positive thinking in context across cultures.

The Role of Language and Cultural Engagement in Emotional Fit with Culture: an Experiment Comparing Chinese-English Bilinguals to British and Chinese Monolinguals

The current study investigated to what extent language and culture shape emotional experience. Specifically, we randomly assigned 178 Chinese English bilinguals to report on emotional situations, cultural exposure, engagement, and language proficiency in either English as a foreign language (LX) or Chinese (L1). We established their fit with both the typical patterns of emotions among British and Chinese monolinguals and predicted these fit indices from the survey language, cultural exposure, and engagement. Whereas monolinguals fitted their own culture's emotional patterns best, bilinguals fitted both the typical LX and L1 patterns equally well. The survey language affected bilinguals' emotional fit, but there was no evidence for true 'cultural frame switching'. Rather, bilinguals with low exposure to English-speaking contexts encountered a drop in emotional fit when using English. Yet, this negative effect of survey language was buffered when bilinguals had better quality interactions that are likely to foster conceptual restructuring in the LX.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-021-00037-x.

Sleep paralysis in Italy: Frequency, hallucinatory experiences, and other features

Previous research has found supernatural beliefs about sleep paralysis (SP) to be very prevalent in Italy, with over one third of SP sufferers believing that their SP might have been caused by a supernatural creature known locally as the Pandafeche. The current study further examined features of SP in Italy. All participants had experienced SP at least once in their lifetime. Participants were recruited from the general population (N =  67) in the region of Abruzzo. The Sleep Paralysis Experiences and Phenomenology Questionnaire (SP-EPQ) was orally administered to participants. As hypothesized, we found that Italians from the general population reported high lifetime rates of SP, prolonged duration of immobility during the event, and great fear of the experience (with as many as 42% of SP sufferers fearing that they could die from the experience), all of which were particularly elevated as compared to cultures where there are no such elaborate traditions of SP (e.g., Denmark). In addition, 78% of participants experienced some type of hallucination during their SP. The results we present here suggest that cultural beliefs about SP in Italy (e.g., as being caused by the Pandafeche, as reported elsewhere) potentially can profoundly shape certain aspects of the experience - a type of mind-body interaction.

Changing cultures, changing brains: A framework for integrating cultural neuroscience and cultural change research

Cultural neuroscience research has provided substantial evidence that culture shapes the brain by providing systematically different sets of experiences. However, cultures are ever-changing in response to the physical and social environment. In the present paper, we integrate theories and methods from cultural neuroscience with the emerging body of research on cultural change and suggest several ways in which the two fields can inform each other. First, we propose that the cultural change perspective helps us reexamine what is meant by culturally typical experiences, which are shaped by the dynamic interaction between cultural norms, values, meanings, and other environmental constraints on behavior. It also allows us to make predictions about the variability/stability of cultural neural differences over time. Then, we discuss how methods used in cultural change research may be applied to cultural neuroscience research and vice versa. We end with a "blue sky vision" for a neuroscience of cultural change.

Cultural Differences in the Hedonic Rewards of Recalling Kindness: Priming Cultural Identity with Language

Recent theory suggests that members of interdependent (collectivist) cultures prioritize in-group happiness, whereas members of independent (individualist) cultures prioritize personal happiness (Uchida et al. Journal of Happiness Studies, 5(3), 223–239 Uchida et al., 2004). Thus, the well-being of friends and family may contribute more to the emotional experience of individuals with collectivist rather than individualist identities. We tested this hypothesis by asking participants to recall a kind act they had done to benefit either close others (e.g., family members) or distant others (e.g., strangers). Study 1 primed collectivist and individualist cultural identities by asking bicultural undergraduates (N = 357) from Hong Kong to recall kindnesses towards close versus distant others in both English and Chinese, while Study 2 compared university students in the USA (n = 106) and Hong Kong (n = 93). In Study 1, after being primed with the Chinese language (but not after being primed with English), participants reported significantly improved affect valence after recalling kind acts towards friends and family than after recalling kind acts towards strangers. Extending this result, in Study 2, respondents from Hong Kong (but not the USA) who recalled kind acts towards friends and family showed higher positive affect than those who recalled kind acts towards strangers. These findings suggest that people with collectivist cultural identities may have relatively more positive and less negative emotional experiences when they focus on prosocial interactions with close rather than weak ties.

Does self-construal shape automatic social attention?

We examined whether activating independent or interdependent self-construal modulates attention shifting in response to group gaze cues. European Canadians (Study 1) and East Asian Canadians (Study 2) primed with independence vs. interdependence completed a multi-gaze cueing task with a central face gazing left or right, flanked by multiple background faces that either matched or mismatched the direction of the foreground gaze. Results showed that European Canadians (Study 1) mostly ignored background gaze cues and were uninfluenced by the self-construal primes. However, East Asian Canadians (Study 2), who have cultural backgrounds relevant to both independence and interdependence, showed different attention patterns by prime: those primed with interdependence were more distracted by mismatched (vs. matched) background gaze cues, whereas there was no change for those primed with independence. These findings suggest activating an interdependent self-construal modulates social attention mechanisms to attend broadly, but only for those who may find these representations meaningful.

The Cultural Psychology of Religiosity, Spirituality, and Secularism in Adolescence

Cultural psychology has raised awareness of religiosity, spirituality, and secularism in people's psychological lives. This article takes a cultural-developmental approach by examining the development of religiosity, spirituality, and secularism among culturally diverse adolescents. At the outset, an explanation is provided as to why the valid study of peoples' psychological lives necessitates taking culture into account, and of key implications for theory and methodology. Throughout research on adolescent religiosity, spirituality, and secularism is described, including studies on conceptions of God, afterlife beliefs, the development of an Ethic of Divinity in moral reasoning, recent increases in spirituality and secularism, and the impact of globalization on worldviews and religiously-based puberty rituals. While the focus is on adolescents, the article includes relevant research with children and emerging adults. Concrete future research directions are proposed, including a call to address the extent to which effects of religion on adolescents are dependent on culture and globalization.

Beyond the double-edged sword of cultural diversity in teams: Progress, critique, and next steps

Ten years ago, Stahl et al. (J Int Bus Stud 41:690-709, 2010) performed a meta-analysis of the literature on cultural diversity and team performance, aiming to improve our understanding of "the mechanisms and contextual conditions under which cultural diversity affects team processes" (p. 691). State-of-the-art studies still echo the article's conclusion about the 'double-edged sword' of cultural diversity, referring to the trade-off between process losses and gains. In this commentary, we assess progress within the past decade on our understanding of this double-edged sword. We argue that in terms of adding new insights, IB, as a field, has made substantial progress with respect to understanding diversity within teams, moderate progress with respect to input-process-output logic, and minimal progress with respect to definitions of cultural diversity. Our recommendations for moving beyond the double-edged sword metaphor in the next decade include shifting focus from cultural diversity per se to how it is managed, moving away from simplicity towards unfolding complexity, and expanding diversity categories beyond culture, and mechanisms beyond knowledge or information.

The Temporal Reciprocity of Values and Beliefs: A Longitudinal Study within a Major Life Transition

Values and beliefs (or social axioms) are important personality constructs, but little previous work has examined the relationship between the two, and none has examined their real–life longitudinal effects on one another. Major life transitions—such as moving to a new culture—can challenge existing values and beliefs and therefore provide a particularly useful context for the analysis of value and belief change. The main aim of this research was to examine whether values may predict theoretically meaningful belief change and vice versa. Polish migrants participated in the study shortly after their arrival in the UK and at two, subsequent, nine–month intervals ( N = 172). Cross–lagged effects suggested reciprocal effects of values and beliefs, depending on the value involved. Findings are discussed in light of current debates over personality change, as well as the broader impact of significant life transitions on personality. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Design for Breathtaking Experiences: An Exploration of Design Strategies to Evoke Awe in Human–Product Interactions

From looking up at a skyscraper to the Grand Canyon’s vastness, you may have experienced awe in one way or another. Awe is experienced when one encounters something greater or more powerful than themselves and is associated with prosocial behavior through a diminishment of self-importance. In design research, most studies on awe have been conducted in lab conditions by using technologies such as virtual reality because of its efficiency to simulate typical awe-stimulating conditions (e.g., nature scenes). While useful in inducing awe and assessing its effects on users, they give little guidance about how design can deliberately evoke awe. Most attempts focus on the response of awe instead of its eliciting conditions. With an aim to support designers to facilitate awe, this paper explores design strategies to evoke awe. Based on appraisal theory, the cause of awe was formulated, and its relevance to designing for awe was investigated. The conditions that underlie awe in design were explored through a survey in which participants reported 150 awe experiences, resulting in six design strategies. The paper describes these strategies and discusses how they can be used in a design process, giving attention to addressing the experiential value of awe.

Mapping the Cultural Identities of Youths in Hong Kong from a Social Capital Perspective

With its unique geopolitical status and multicultural setting, Hong Kong has harbored different youth groups generated from cross-border migration with mainland China who are tied to different cultural values and identifications. This study aims to investigate how social capital embedded in the family, school, and community influences the cultural identities across three groups of Chinese youths in the educational system: local students; cross-border students (born in Hong Kong, living in the neighbor city of mainland China but attending schools in Hong Kong on daily commute); and new immigrant students (born in mainland China but living in Hong Kong for less than seven years). Using data from a cross-sectional survey with 2180 fourth- to ninth-grade students in Hong Kong, the logistic regression results suggest that family and community social capital play significant roles in shaping the cultural identity of youths. Implications of the research findings are discussed.

Selection and Characterization of Cultural Priming Stimuli for the Activation of Spanish and English Cultural Mindsets among Hispanic/Latino Bilinguals in the United States

Cultural priming studies frequently employ non-validated, stereotypical images. Here, we select images to separately evoke two cultural mindsets: Hispanic and US-American. Spanish-English bilinguals identifying as Hispanic/Latino (N=149) rated 50 images online for their cultural and emotional evocation. Based on relative cultural identification, cultural "delegate" (strongly US-American, strongly Hispanic, balanced bicultural) subsamples' ratings were averaged to isolate particularly salient images. Image ratings were compared across respondents' national origins. Ratings of seven selected pairs of content-matched Hispanic and US-American primes were compared across the full sample. High discrimination across cultural mindsets and positive emotion ratings were maintained regardless of various demographic factors. Thus, we provide empirical justification for incorporating these stimuli, individually or as sets, within cultural priming studies among Hispanic/Latino samples.

Perceptual organization and attribution preferences: a glimpse of the Middle Eastern bicultural mind

Evidence exists that Westerners rely on similarities to organize their perceptual experiences (descriptive style) and on dispositions to explain human behavior, whereas Far East Asians rely on functional relationships (relational style) and situational details. The present research challenged this dichotomy by investigating perceptual organization and causal attribution in bicultural women of Middle Eastern descent. In Experiment 1, participants were given three items from which to pick two that would go together (e.g., shampoo, conditioner, hair). In Experiment 2, participants were asked to explain desirable and undesirable outcomes (i.e., grades). In both studies, cultural orientation was assessed. When participants were given three items from which to pick two that would go together, they emulated the Westerners' descriptive approach to perception, selecting choices based on similarities (e.g., shampoo and conditioner) rather than on functional relationships (e.g., shampoo and hair). When participants explained desirable outcomes, they preferred internal causes, whereas when they explained undesirable outcomes, they preferred external causes, thereby expressing the self-serving bias often attributed to people from the West. Yet, they also exhibited a hybrid cultural orientation, which included both collectivistic and individualistic inclinations. Although these findings support a polycultural viewpoint, according to which people can manage coherent lives informed by multiple legacies, they also indicate that cultural mindsets do not evenly influence information processing.

Culture influences how people divide continuous sensory experience into events

Everyday experience is divided into meaningful events as a part of human perception. Current accounts of this process, known as event segmentation, focus on how characteristics of the experience (e.g., situation changes) influence segmentation. However, characteristics of the viewers themselves have been largely neglected. We test whether one such viewer characteristic, their cultural background, impacts online event segmentation. Culture could impact event segmentation (1) by emphasizing different aspects of experiences as being important for comprehension, memory, and communication, and (2) by providing different exemplars of how everyday activities are performed, which objects are likely to be used, and how scenes are laid out. Indian and US viewers (N = 152) identified events in everyday activities (e.g., making coffee) recorded in Indian and US settings. Consistent with their cultural preference for analytical processing, US viewers segmented the activities into more events than did Indian viewers. Furthermore, event boundaries identified by US viewers were more strongly associated with visual changes, whereas boundaries identified by Indian viewers were more strongly associated with goal changes. There was no evidence that familiarity with an activity impacted segmentation. Thus, culture impacts event perception by altering the types of information people prioritize when dividing experience into meaningful events.

Cultural differences in performance on Eriksen's flanker task

Eriksen's zoom model of attention implies a trade-off between the breadth and resolution of representations of information. Following this perspective, we used Eriksen's flanker task to investigate culture's influence on attentional allocation and attentional resolution. In Experiment 1, the spatial distance of the flankers was varied to test whether people from Eastern cultures (here, Turks) experienced more interference than people from Western cultures (here, Americans) when flankers were further from the target. In Experiment 2, the contrast of the flankers was varied. The pattern of results shows that congruency of the flankers (Experiment 1) as well as the degree of contrast of the flankers compared with the target (Experiment 2) interact with participants' cultural background to differentially influence accuracy or reaction times. In addition, we used evidence accumulation modeling to jointly consider measures of speed and accuracy. Results indicate that to make decisions in the Eriksen flanker task, Turks both accumulate evidence faster and require more evidence than Americans do. These cultural differences in visual attention and decision-making have implications for a wide variety of cognitive processes.

The Role of Racial Microaggressions and Bicultural Self-Efficacy on Work Volition in Racially Diverse Adults

We investigated the relationship between racial microaggressions and work volition in a sample of racially diverse adults ( N = 171) in the United States for this online cross-sectional study. Correlation analyses revealed that higher levels of racial microaggressions across five of the six racial microaggression dimensions (i.e., criminality, environmental invalidations, foreigner, invisibility, and low-achieving/undesirable culture) related to lowered work volition. We explored how the relationship between dimensions of racial microaggressions and work volition varied by level of bicultural self-efficacy. Regression analyses indicated that bicultural self-efficacy significantly moderated the relationship between four dimensions of racial microaggressions (i.e., criminality, invisibility, low- achieving/undesirable culture, and sexualization) and work volition. More specifically, high levels of bicultural self-efficacy buffered some of the effects of these racial microaggressions on work volition. Implications for practice, limitations, and future directions for career research are discussed.