Insult, aggression, and the southern culture of honor: an "experimental ethnography"

Shame and anger differentially predict disidentification between collectivistic and individualistic societies

In the present research we tested the differential effects of anger versus shame as emotional predictors of ingroup disidentification in one rather collectivistic (Japan) and two rather individualistic societies (Germany, Canada). We tested the idea that individuals cope with socially undesired emotions by disidentifying from their group. Specifically, we predicted that after a group conflict, anger, an undesired emotion in Japan, would elicit disidentification in Japan, whereas shame, an undesired emotion in Canada and Germany, would elicit disidentification in Germany and Canada. Study 1 (N = 378) found that anger, but not shame, was related to disidentification in Japan, whereas shame, but not anger, was related to disidentification in Canada and Germany. Study 2 (N = 171) shows that, after group conflict, Japanese disidentified more when imagining to feel angry, whereas Germans disidentified more when imagining to feel ashamed. Implications for these findings are discussed.

When culture and health collide: feminine honor endorsement and attitudes toward catch-up HPV vaccinations in college women

Sexual promiscuity stigma constitutes a significant barrier which prevents young women from receiving catch-up human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations. Our objective was to explore how this stigma may be particularly detrimental to women in cultures of honor, where women are expected to maintain a reputation of sexual purity.

Participants were a sample of 182 young women who had not previously received an HPV vaccination.

We measured feminine honor endorsement, HPV sexual promiscuity stigma, HPV vaccination shame, HPV vaccination intentions, and a set of covariates.

Analyses revealed that the significant association between feminine honor endorsement and HPV vaccination intentions is fully explained by HPV sexual purity stigma and HPV vaccination shame.

These findings indicate that honor-endorsing women are significantly impacted by sexual purity stigma, minimizing intentions to receive HPV vaccinations. These findings also highlight the need for the inclusion of cultural factors in the study of HPV vaccine uptake.

I belong, therefore I am: The role of economic culture in compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures

Cultural orientations in relation to individualism and collectivism produced by subsistence strategies can lead to a wide array of consequences for perception, cognition, and emotion. We predict that, as a result of different economic patterns, farmers with greater collectivism would show more compliance with COVID-19 precautionary behavior than herders with greater individualism. By adopting a "just minimal difference" approach, we compared Chinese farming and herding communities that share a national identity, ethnicity, and residential area but vary in their degree of individualism-collectivism. Consistent with our hypothesis, Study 1 found that farmers reported higher compliance with prevention initiatives than herders in self-report survey. Study 2 provided a behavioral choice confirmation of the observed relationship. The present research provides the empirical evidence that economic activities can have divergent effects on mitigation strategies in the COVID-19 fight, and these results have meaningful implications for socioecological psychology theory and for pandemic prevention and control.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Invincible honor: masculine honor, perceived invulnerability, and risky decision-making

Masculine honor ideology is characterized by the cultivation, maintenance, and defense of reputations for toughness, bravery, and strength. The link between masculine honor endorsement and increased risk-taking - especially an increased tolerance for and even expectation of violence - is well-established in the literature. However, little empirical research has examined what factors might explain this relationship. This study investigates perceived invulnerability, the cognitive bias that one is immune to threats, as a mediator in the relationship between masculine honor ideology and risky decision-making. Results show moderate support for this relationship's existence. These findings elaborate on previous research between honor and specific risky decisions by demonstrating honor to instill cognitive biases in its adherents that make them more tolerant of risk, and thus more likely to decide to engage in risky behaviors. The implications of these findings for interpreting previous research, guiding future research, and pursuing specific educational and policy-based efforts are discussed.

Men. Male-biased sex ratios and masculinity norms: evidence from Australia's colonial past

We document the historical roots and contemporary consequences of masculinity norms-beliefs about the proper conduct of men. We exploit a natural experiment in which convict transportation in the 18 th and 19 th centuries created a variegated spatial pattern of sex ratios across Australia. We show that in areas with heavily male-biased convict populations, relatively more men volunteered for World War I about a century later. Even at present these areas remain characterized by more violence, higher rates of male suicide and other forms of preventable male mortality, and more male-stereotypical occupational segregation. Moreover, in these historically male-biased areas, more Australians recently voted against same-sex marriage and boys-but not girls-are more likely to be bullied in school. We interpret these results as manifestations of masculinity norms that emerged due to intense local male-male competition. Once established, masculinity norms persisted over time through family socialization as well as peer socialization in schools.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10887-023-09223-x.

Conceptual and methodological issues in the study of the personality-and-culture relationship

Culture-and-personality studies were central to social science in the early 20th century and have recently been revived (as personality-and-culture studies) by trait and cross-cultural psychologists. In this article we comment on conceptual issues, including the nature of traits and the nature of the personality-and-culture relationship, and we describe methodological challenges in understanding associations between features of culture and aspects of personality. We give an overview of research hypothesizing the shaping of personality traits by culture, reviewing studies of indigenous traits, acculturation and sojourner effects, birth cohorts, social role changes, and ideological interventions. We also consider the possibility that aggregate traits affect culture, through psychological means and gene flow. In all these cases we highlight alternative explanations and the need for designs and analyses that strengthen the interpretation of observations. We offer a set of testable hypotheses based on the premises that personality is adequately described by Five-Factor Theory, and that observed differences in aggregate personality traits across cultures are veridical. It is clear that culture has dramatic effects on the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from which we infer traits, but it is not yet clear whether, how, and in what degree culture shapes traits themselves.

Boys Round Here: The Relationship Between Masculine Honor Ideology, Aggressive Behavior, Race, and Regional Affiliation

Masculine honor ideology (MHI) refers to a set of beliefs that dictate men must respond aggressively to threat or insult to maintain their ideal masculine reputation. The current study demonstrates the robust relationship between MHI and lifetime aggression outcomes in a national sample of men from the United States. It also details the regional prevalence of MHI and compares these rates across races and regions of the country. Participants included 896 adult United States men (M_age = 35.86, SD = 1.22) recruited on Amazon's Mechanical Turk. It was expected that the odds of endorsing past aggressive behavior and lifetime maladjustment would be increased by stronger adherence to MHI. This hypothesis was supported, and individuals who reported greater MHI adherence also had higher rates of lifetime aggression and maladjustment. Contrary to expectations, White, non-Hispanic men endorsed lower rates of MHI than did other men. Black men adhered more strongly to MHI than White and Hispanic men. It was also expected that men in the Southern and Western United States would endorse greater MHI in comparison to men in the Northeast United States. The hypothesis was only partially supported for White, non-Hispanic men, and it was associated with participant birthplace and their father's birthplace. There were no regional differences in MHI adherence related to the participants' mother's birthplace or where participants lived at survey completion. These findings suggest that MHI may spread more uniformly than prior research suggests and that MHI may have more nuanced cultural considerations that deserve continued empirical investigation.

Temporal dynamics of justice climate and team innovation

Team innovation-exploration and exploitation of useful and novel ideas by a team has been a topic of great importance for organizations in today's dynamic, complex, and competitive environment. Grounded in the social contagion theory of justice, we theorize a justice-to-innovation processual model based on within-team justice climate occurrences that change over time. We posit that collective and shared justice perceptions of team members construct dynamically based on justice-related work events. Within teams, state justice climate level and strength (represented by the Mean and the low-SD scores of individual team members in the moment or an episode) are important precursors of team innovation. The proposed theoretical model explicates an emotional contagion process arguing that positive and negative team affect states mediate the relationship between state justice climate and team innovation. Positive/negative team affect states result in collective actions and team interactions that foster/hinder team innovation. The present article significantly contributes to the development of the dynamical models of justice and innovation for teams where most research is confined to static models of justice climate.

Damaged Masculinity: How Honor Endorsement Can Influence Prostate Cancer Screening Decision-Making and Prostate Cancer Mortality Rates

Prior research has established factors that contribute to the likelihood that men seek out prostate cancer screenings. The current study addresses how endorsing the ideology found in cultures of honor may serve as a barrier to prostate cancer screenings. Two studies were conducted which analyzed the impact of stigma on men's decisions to seek out prostate cancer screenings (Study 1) as well as how prostate cancer deaths may be higher in the culture of honor regions due to men's reticence to seek out screenings (Study 2). Results suggest that older, honor-endorsing men are less likely to have ever sought out a prostate cancer screening due to screening stigma and that an honor-oriented region (southern and western United States) displays higher rates of prostate cancer death than a non-honor-oriented region (northern United States). These findings suggest that honor may be a cultural framework to consider when practitioners address patients' screening-related concerns.

The role of mentalizing capacity and ecological language diversity on irony comprehension in bilingual adults

Diverse bilingual experiences have implications for language comprehension, including pragmatic elements such as verbal irony. Irony comprehension is shaped by an interplay of linguistic, cognitive, and social factors, including individual differences in bilingual experience. We examined the relationship between individual differences related to bilingualism, specifically, the capacity to understand others' mental states and ambient exposure to language diversity, on irony comprehension. We tested 54 healthy bilingual adults, living in a linguistically diverse region-Montréal, Canada-on an irony comprehension task. This task involved reading positive and negative short stories that concluded with an ironic or literal statement, which were rated on appropriateness and perceived irony. While both irony forms were rated as less appropriate and more ironic than literal statements, ironic criticisms (following a negative context) were rated as more appropriate and higher in perceived irony than ironic compliments (following a positive context). As expected, these ratings varied as a function of individual differences in mentalizing and neighborhood language diversity. Greater mentalizing patterned with more appropriate ratings to ironic statements in high language diversity neighborhoods and with less appropriate ratings to ironic statements in low language diversity neighborhoods. Perceived irony ratings to ironic compliments increased with mentalizing as neighborhood language diversity increased. These results indicate that pragmatic language comprehension and its social cognitive underpinnings may be environmentally contextualized processes.

Assessing the dominance behavioral system in early childhood using observational methods

BACKGROUND

The dominance behavioral system (DBS) is a biologically based system that underpins individual differences in motivation for dominance and power. However, little is known about the DBS in childhood. In order to make strong claims about the DBS's trait-like properties and predictive validity, a clearer understanding of its early development is required.

PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE

In a pilot study aimed at developing a behavioral coding system for dominance, a key facet of the DBS, we collected and coded observational data from 58 children, assessed at ages 3 and 5-6. These data were examined in conjunction with measures of child temperament via observational measures, and symptoms of psychopathology.

RESULTS

Dominance was moderately stable in early childhood to a degree comparable to other early child temperament traits. Consistent with the study hypotheses, boys were more dominant than girls, and dominance was negatively associated with children's behavioral inhibition, effortful control, and internalizing symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

These results provide initial support for the validity and developmental sensitivity of an objective coding system for assessing facets of the DBS in early childhood. Ultimately, the use of this coding system will facilitate future studies of how early DBS predicts psychological adjustment later in life.

Diarrheal disease, sanitation, and culture in India

The health burden of childhood diarrhea in India has been a major public health concern. This study examines the role of the individualism-collectivism dichotomy in the prevalence of diarrhea in children under the age of five in India. Using subnational data on rice suitability to measure collectivism, we provide evidence that collectivism is negatively associated with the prevalence of childhood diarrhea across 618 Indian districts. We find that the mechanism works through improvements in water and sanitation. Collectivism propagates values of interdependence, cooperation and collective action which increases safe water and sanitation practices, thereby reducing the prevalence of diarrhea in children.

Goal Derailment and Goal Persistence in Response to Honor Threats

In honor cultures, maintaining a positive moral reputation (e.g., being known as an honest person) is highly important, whereas in dignity cultures, self-respect (e.g., competence and success) is strongly emphasized. Depending on their cultural background, people respond differently to threats to these two dimensions of honor. In two studies, we examined the effects of morality-focused and competence-focused threats on people’s goal pursuit in two honor cultures (Turkey, Southern United States, and Latinx) and in a dignity culture (Northern United States). In Study 1, Turkish participants were more likely to reject a highly qualified person as a partner in a future task if that person threatened their morality (vs. no-threat), even though this meant letting go of the goal of winning an award. Participants from the U.S. honor and dignity groups, however, were equally likely to choose the people who gave them threatening and neutral feedback. In Study 2, Turkish and U.S. honor participants were more likely to persist in a subsequent goal after receiving a morality threat (vs. no-threat), whereas U.S. dignity participants were more likely to persist in a subsequent goal after receiving a competence threat (vs. no-threat). These results show that people’s responses to honor threats are influenced by the dominant values of their culture and by the tools that are available to them to potentially restore their reputation (e.g., punishing the offender vs. working hard on a different task). This research can have implications for multicultural contexts in which people can have conflicting goals such as diverse work environments.

From virility to virtue: the psychology of apology in honor cultures

Conflict is widespread and can easily escalate in regions where honor is a central value. We find evidence that honor cultures' focus on virility impedes a key conflict deescalation strategy—apology—that can be successfully promoted through a shift in mindset. Building on the conceptualization of honor as both virility and virtue, we show that virility concerns of maintaining one's reputation underlie the reluctance to apologize. Conversely, shifting the focus of honor to virtue concerns promotes apologizing. Our findings suggest that honor is a double-edged sword with the potential to both escalate and de-escalate conflicts.

In honor cultures, relatively minor disputes can escalate, making numerous forms of aggression widespread. We find evidence that honor cultures’ focus on virility impedes a key conflict de-escalation strategy—apology—that can be successfully promoted through a shift in mindset. Across five studies using mixed methods (text analysis of congressional speeches, a cross-cultural comparison, surveys, and experiments), people from honor societies (e.g., Turkey and US honor states), people who endorse honor values, and people who imagine living in a society with strong honor norms are less willing to apologize for their transgressions (studies 1–4). This apology reluctance is driven by concerns about reputation in honor cultures. Notably, honor is achieved not only by upholding strength and reputation (virility) but also through moral integrity (virtue). The dual focus of honor suggests a potential mechanism for promoting apologies: shifting the focus of honor from reputation to moral integrity. Indeed, we find that such a shift led people in honor cultures to perceive apologizing more positively and apologize more (study 5). By identifying a barrier to apologizing in honor cultures and illustrating ways to overcome it, our research provides insights for deploying culturally intelligent conflict-management strategies in such contexts.

Restoring Honor by Slapping or Disowning the Daughter

The psychological processes underlying honor violence against kin are poorly understood. We assumed that honor violence against daughters who violate a gendered norm is designed to uphold family honor and nurture positive links to the community. Four studies with Indian men supported this formulation. As expected, endorsement of honor violence (i.e., slapping or disowning the daughter) increased insofar as perceived community awareness of the violation increased. Moreover, endorsement of honor violence was especially common among those whose identities were closely aligned ("fused") with their community. Finally, a desire to restore threatened family honor, rather than a motivation to prevent future dishonor, motivates honor violence against daughters; conversely, a desire to prevent future dishonor motivates constructive activities such as advising. Ironically, a benign, culturally universal desire to maintain positive ties to the community can encourage community members to endorse violence toward transgressive kin.

Dominant jerks: People infer dominance from the utterance of challenging and offensive statements