Cultural Diversity
The diversity of our language, customs, and expressive behaviors confirms that much of our behavior is socially
programmed, not hardwired (The genetic leash is long)
If we all lived as homogeneous ethnic groups in separate regions of the world, cultural diversity would be less
relevant to our daily living
o Japan – 125/127 million are Japanese Internal cultural differences are minimal
o These differences are encountered many times a day in New York City, where more than 1/3 of the 8M
residents are foreign-born and where no ethnic group constitutes more than 37% of the population
Cultural diversity surrounds us
o Global village We are connected to our fellow villagers by e-mail, jumbo jets, and international trade
The intermingling of cultures is nothing new
“American” jeans were invented by German immigrant Levi Strauss by combining Genes,
with denim cloth from a French town
Arts and literature have combined a fascinating interplay of cultures
Nothing typifies globalization like the death of Princess Diana
Confronting another culture is sometimes a startling experience
o American males may feel uncomfortable when Middle Eastern heads of state greet the U.S. president with a
kiss on the cheek
Migration and refugee evacuations are mixing cultures more than ever
o Result is both friendship and conflict
1/5 Canadians and 1/10 Americans is an immigrant
Cultural Similarity
Thanks to human adaptability, cultures differ
o Yet beneath the veneer of cultural differences, cross-cultural psychologists see an essential universality
The processes that underlie our differing behaviors are much the same everywhere
At ages 4-5, children across the world begin to exhibit a “theory of mind” that enables them to
infer what others are thinking
If they witness a toy being moved while another child isn’t looking, they become able—no
matter what their culture—to infer that the other child will think it still is where it was
Norms of War
Humans even have cross-cultural norms for conducting war
o In the midst of killing one’s enemy, there are agreed-upon rules that have been honored for centuries:
Wear identifiable uniforms, surrender with a gesture of submission, treat prisoners humanely (If you
can’t kill them before they surrender, you should feed them thereafter)
o These norms, while cross-cultural, are not universal
When Iraqi forces violated them by showing surrender flags and then attacking, and by dressing
soldiers as liberated civilians to set up ambushes, a U.S. military spokesperson complained that
both of these actions are among the most serious violations of the laws of war
Social Dominance
People rate men as more dominant, driven, and aggressive
o Men more than women rate power and achievement as important
Essentially, in every society, men are socially more dominant
Gender differences vary greatly per culture, and gender differences are shrinking in many industrialized societies as
women assume more managerial and leadership positions
o Women in 2008: 18% of the world’s legislators
o Men > women in terms of concern for social dominance and are more likely to favor conservative political
candidates and programs that preserve group inequality
Men > women: Support of capital punishment and Iraq war
o Men more likely to be leaders in legal and medical settings
o Women in industrial countries have lower wages than men: 1/5 of this wage gap is attributable to gender
differences in education, work experience or job characteristics
Men initiate most of the inviting for first dates, do most of the driving, and pick up most of the tabs
Men’s style of communicating undergirds their social power
o When roles aren’t rigidly scripted Men tend to be more autocratic, women more democratic
o Leadership roles Men: Directive, task-focused leaders; Women “Transformational” leadership that is
favored by more and more organizations (inspirational and social skills that build team spirit)
o Men > women: Priority on winning, getting ahead and dominating others
This may be why people prefer male leaders for competition between groups, than when conflicts
occur within a group (women preferred, perhaps)
Men take more risks
o Men more overconfident than women: Make 45% more stock trades
o Because men’s trades proved no more successful, their results underperformed the stock market by 2.65%,
compared with women’s 1.72%
The men’s trades were riskier The men were poorer for it
Writing: Women: more communal prepositions (with), fewer quantitative words, and more present tense
Conversation: Men’s style reflects their concern for independence, women’s for connectedness
o Men’s style: More direct
o Women’s style of influence: More indirect—less interruptive, more sensitive, more polite, less cocky
o Men and women’s conversational styles vary with social context
Men: Typical of people in positions of status and power
Students nod more when speaking with professors rather than peers
Women nod more than men
Individuals vary:
Some men are characteristically hesitant and deferential
Some women direct and assertive
o To suggest that men and women are from different planets greatly oversimplifies
Some gender difference do not correlate with status and power
o Women at all status levels tend to smile more
Aggression
Aggression – Physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone
o In laboratory experiments, this might men delivering electric shocks or saying something likely to hurt
another’s feelings
Hunting, fighting and warring Primarily male activities
Gender difference fluctuates with context
o When there’s provocation, the gender gap shrinks
o Within less assaultive forms of aggression—slapping a family member, throwing something, verbally
attacking someone—women are no less aggressive than men
Women may be slightly more likely to commit indirect aggressive acts such as spreading
malicious gossip
But across the world, men much more than women, injure other with physical aggression
Sexuality
Gender gap in sexual attitudes and assertiveness
o True: Women and men are more similar than different in their physiological and psychological responses to
sexual stimuli, but there are some statistics that highlight certain differences.
Casual sex: Men > Women
Women > Men: Cited affection for partner as reason for first intercourse
Thinking about sex: Men > Women
Gender difference in sexual attitudes carries over to behavior: Males > Females: Initiating sexual activity
Compared with lesbians, gay men also report more interest in uncommitted sex, more frequent sex, more
responsiveness to visual stimuli, and more concern with partner attractiveness
o Coupled American homosexuals: Lesbians > Gay men
Cultures attribute greater value to female rather than male sexuality
o Seen in gender asymmetries in prostitution and courtship Men generally offer money, gifts, praise or
commitment in implicit exchange for women’s sexual engagement
o In human sexual economics, women rarely pay for sex
The more scarce are available men, the higher is the teen pregnancy rate
o Because when men are scarce, women compete against each other by offering sex at a lower price in terms
of commitment
When women are scarce, as is increasingly the case in China and India, the market value of sexuality rises and
they are able to command greater commitment
Sexual fantasies express the gender driven
o In male-driven erotica, women are unattached and lust driven
o In romance novels, whose primary audience is women, a tender male is emotionally consumed by his
devoted passion to the heroine
Psychological detectives are more interested in differences rather than similarities
o Individual differences far exceed gender differences
Females and males are hardly opposite (altogether different) sexes
Rather, they differ like two folded hands—similar but not the same, fitting together but differing
as they grasp each other
Peer-Transmitted Culture
Cultures come in many flavors
How are traditions preserved across generations?
o The Nurture Assumption: Parental nurture, the way parents bring their children up, governs who their
children become
Freudian and behaviorists agree with this
Comparing the extremes of loved children and abused children, results suggest that parenting
does matter
Moreover, children acquire many of their values, including political affiliations and religious
faith, at home
The Nurture Presumption is refuted by developmental psychology
o Two children in the same family are on average as different from one another as are pairs of children
selected randomly from the population
Genetic influences explain roughly 50% of the individual variations in personality traits
Shared environmental influences—shard home—accounts for 0 to 10% of their personality
differences
The rest are largely peer influence
What children and teens care most is not what their parents thing but what their
friends/peers think
Children and youth learn their culture mostly from peers
Consider:
o Preschoolers will often try to refuse a certain food despite parents’ urging, until they are put in a table with a
group of children who like
o Although children of smokers have an elevated smoking rate, the effect seems largely peer-mediated
Such children more often have friends who model smoking, who suggest its pleasure, and who offer
cigarettes
o Young immigrant children whose families are transplanted into foreign cultures usually grow up preferring
the language and norms of their new peer culture
They may “code-switch” when they step back into their homes, but their hearts and minds are with
their peer groups
Deaf children of hearing parents who attend schools for the deaf usually leave their parents’ culture
and assimilate into a deaf culture
Leave a group of children in the same schools, neighborhood, and peers, but switched the parents around They
would develop into the same set of adults
o Parents have an important influence, but it’s substantially indirect
Parents help define schools, neighborhood and peers that directly influence who their children
become
o Children take their cues from slightly older youth, who take theirs from young adults in the parents’
generation
Links between parental and child groups are loose enough that the cultural transmission is never perfect
o Human and primate cultures Change comes from the young
When one monkey discovers a better way of washing food/people develop a new idea about
fashion/gender roles Innovations come from the young and are more readily embraced by
younger adults
Cultural traditions continue, yet cultures change