Transcript document

Socio-psychological approaches
attribution of meaning, re-explanation, revaluation and change of perspective
Seminar: The training of cross-cultural competence and skills
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Beneke
Students: Claudia Herr, Angela Kutilek
1. Introduction
2. Social Identity Theory
3. Intergroup Attribution: Attribution Theory in
cross-cultural perspective
4. Mindsets: Affective and cognitive filters
5. Improvement of attributions; re-attribution;
change of perspective
6. Goals
7. Bibliography
8. Questions / discussion
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Inference steps
behaviour
observed
1
categorisation
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2
event / perception(s)
3
inferring meaning
• 3: attribution theory
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Introduction: Social
Psychology
• wants to explain human behaviour
• is interested in feelings, thoughts, beliefs,
attitudes, goals, and so forth
• these are not directly observable but can be
inferred from behaviour
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Social Psychology
Social
1. deals with how people are affected by other
people (present / imagined)
Psychology
• is concerned with cognitive processes in the
human mind
• focus on people‘s reactions to stimuli
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Social Psychology
• People make inferences about the causes of their
own and other people’s behaviours.
• Social psychological theories of causal inference
are called attribution theories
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Social Identity Theory
The Social Identity theory informs us that people
practice in-group favouritism and out-group
differentiation for the purpose of enhancing their
social and personal identities.
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Social Identity Theory
• people can approve their membership self-image
in two ways:
• - by enhancing their in-group identity or
• - by bolstering their personal identity.
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Social Identity Theory
• In-group identity refers to the emotional
attachments and shared fate that we attach to our
selective cultural, ethnic, or social group
categories.
• Out-groups are groups to which we remain
emotionally detached and that are cognitively
distrusted by us.
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Social Identity Theory
• The essential characteristics of the self and ingroup relationship appear to be loyalty and
preference.
• Loyalty: loyal to (in-group) norms and members.
• Preference: in-group members are preferred over
members of out-groups
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Social Identity Theory
• The in-group favouritism principle states that
there is positive attachment to and predisposition
for norms and behaviours that are related to ingroup categories more than to out-group
categories.
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Social Identity Theory
In-group favouritism and out-group
differentiation
• Attachment to in-groups and preference of ingroups over out-groups is a universal
characteristic of human life.
• People in all cultures desire positive identities in
their everyday interaction with others.
• Similar others – similar values & outlooks.
• Dissimilar others – identity threat & emotional
vulnerability.
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Social Identity Theory
• People in all cultures tend to behave with
in-group favouritism and out-group prejudice.
• Social Identity theory = Inter group boundary
regulation
= social categorisation
= social comparison
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Social Identity Theory
Social categorisation
• is a fundamental quality of cognition. It helps to
manage our environment.
• As a categorical organising system reflecting our
highly abstract thoughts, it is also a function of
human language.
• The consequences of social categorisation lead to
certain expectation states of how others should
or should not behave in a certain way.
• These expectancy states are closely related to our
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stereotypes of dissimilar others.
Intergroup Attribution
The intergroup attribution process helps us to
make sense of our intergroup encounters. It helps
us to interpret and evaluate our in-group
membership status and out-group membership
role in our interactions.
Together with the social identity process, the
attribution process influences the formation of
our in-group/out-group attitudes in crosscultural perspective.
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Attribution theory
• helps to explain what happens
• and is applicable to cross-cultural management
situations for the following reasons:
• a) All behaviour is rational and logical from the
perspective of the behaver
• b) Persons from different cultures perceive and
organise their environment in different ways, so
that it becomes meaningful to them
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example:
American and Greek
a dialogue
(quoted from Harry C. Triandis)
Background information: remember that Greeks
perceive supervisory roles as more authoritarian
than Americans who prefer participatory decisionmaking.
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Mindsets: Affective and
cognitive filters:
Intergroup Perception
“Our expectations influence the way we perceive and
interpret cultural strangers’ behaviour, and
likewise their reactions to us are based on their
expectations and preconceptions“ (Ting-Toomey,
1999)
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Perception is:
•
•
•
•
•
(1) subjective (what we want to perceive)
(2) selective (information-loaded environment)
(3) categorial
(4) consistent (need for stability)
(5) a learned process (cultural socialisation;
culturally influenced programmes)
• (6) intergroup perception accentuates differences
between identity groups
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Distinctions between the four
concepts
•
•
•
•
ethnocentrism
stereotypes
prejudice
ingroup-outgroup distinction
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Ethnocentrism- definitions
• people hold views / standards that are “own groupcentric“ and make judgements about others / other
groups based on their own group’s values and
beliefs
• people view values and norms of their culture
(which are perceived as universally valid) as
superior to those of other cultures
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Ethnocentrism
• ... ethnorelativism
• solution: perception checking
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Stereotypes- definitions
• stereotyping: assuming that a person has certain
qualities (good or bad) just because the person is a
member of a specific group (Jandt)
• overgeneralisation about an identity group without
any attempt to perceive individual variations
within the identity category
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Stereotypes
• the content can convey both positive and negative
information (e.g. “Chinese are good in math“ or
“Koreans are too aggressive“)
• Stereotypes can have a negative effect when
people use them to interpret behaviour.
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Example: »Mexicans are lazy.«
• If people from colder climates who are visiting
Mexico notice only that shops are closed at
midday, they might make the attribution of
laziness. When this attribution becomes shared by
a number of outsiders, it can become part of a
stereotype. One of the cognitive processes behind
this attribution is that people frequently make
conclusions based on their firsthand experiences
(shops are closed at midday) and rarely consider
the possibility that there are other behaviours that
are outside their personal observations.
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Stereotypes
•
•
•
•
Mindless and Mindful stereotyping
As with other learned behaviours, a person can
change, expand, develop, and adapt the ways
he/she categorises / stereotypes others, IF he/she
is aware of them.
stereotypes are relative from each culture’s point
of view; better: see individuals!
generalisations; danger: overgeneralisation and
negative evaluations (attitudes, prejudices)
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Prejudice
• Prejudice is a form of prejudgment, or judging
based on no particular knowledge, without any
previous thougt or concern.
• People make judgments that are harsh, unkind, or
discriminatory towards out-group members.
• Part of socialisation into a culture involves
treating others who are noticeably different with
reserve. People may discover that their previously
held beliefs about certain groups may not be
accurate or useful once they find themselves
interacting with other cultures.
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In-group/out-group distinction
• all people divide others into in-groups and outgroups, it is an aspect of human behaviour found
in every culture
• an in-group consist of people who seek each other
out , who have close and warm relationships, and
who share their experiece with others.
• Out-group members are held at a distance and are
often the targets of rejection especially in
intercultural context.
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Improvement of attributions;
re-attribution; change of
perspective
Example: USA-Japan
shoe-shining
(quoted from Triandis)
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Question
• What attributions does the cleaning person make
concerning Mr. Kato’s request?
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Possible answers
1. he or she could say Mr. Kato is ignorant
of American customs and in this case
the person would not be too disturbed;
cultural ignorance is usually forgiven
2. telling the Japanese guest of the custom
3. ignoring the request
4. speaking to his or her employer
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• However, if the cleaning person attributes Mr.
Kato’s request to a personal consideration (he is
arrogant) then there will be a serious problem in
their interpersonal relationship.
• When each one’s expectations are not realised one
attributes motives to the “offender“ based on one’s
cultural construct.
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Isomorphic attributions
• try to cognitively interpret the behaviours (verbal
or nonverbal) of members of the other group from
that group’s cultural frame of reference (Triandis
1994)
• result in a positive evaluation of the other person
(Harris)
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Goals
become culturally sensitive:
• be able to infer / attribute the same meaning to
the verbal conversation or behaviour that the
other person does
• take into account situational factors and cultural
differences
• refrain from rushing into negative evaluation /
judgements based on one’s own ethnocentric
frames (Ting-Toomey 1999)
• search for alternative explanations; change your
conclusions about an event: re-attribution
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Questions / discussion
• See handout
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