when examining well-being across cultures, we must consider equivalence. briefly define the 4 types of equivalence.
Conceptual: equivalence in the meaning of theoretical frameworks (ex. what happiness is).
Methodological: aspects of the research method must be similar (ex. procedural, sampling)
Measurement: measures used to collect data in are equally valid and reliable (ex. linguistic, psychometric)
Interpretational: extent to which inferences made reflect actual differences across cultures (ex. research designs, response bias)
any source of non-equivalence introduces ____
measurement error
what did Suh et al’s study about LS and affect reveal?
correlations bw LS + affect stronger in individualistic cultures and lower in collectivist cultures
(emotion plays a greater role in LS for individualistic nations than collectivistic nations)
what did Suh et al’s Study 2 reveal about LS and affect?
for individualist/neutral groups, emotions explained more of LS
for collectivist groups, emotions & norms both explained LS
describe Schimmack et al’s Culture As A Moderator model
- extraversion positively correlated w hedonic balance
- neuroticism negatively correlated w hedonic balance
- culture moderated relationship bw hedonic balance and life satisfaction
describe the two studies that investigated cultural differences in goals
Oishi & Diener:
European American: fun and enjoyment goal achievement
Asian americans & Japanese: other’s happiness goal achievement
Mesquita & Karasawa:
Japanese: relational concerns
European Americans: self-concerns
is self-enhancement universal?
yes, but only in culturally valued domains
are self-serving attributions universal?
yes, but size varies across collectivistic cultures
difference bw dialectical and synthetic thinking
dialectical:
- eastern
- based on: principle of contradiction (opposites can coexist), change (universe constantly changing), and holism (everything connected)
synthetic:
- western
- based on: law of identity (if A is true, A is always true), noncontradiction (A cannot = B), excluded middle (no middle-grounds)
Spencer-rodgers et al found that dialectical thinking may lead to (5)
- greater tendency to accept both positive and negative self-aspects
- greater recognition of positive experiences as relatively brief and intermittent
- greater experience of affective balance
- greater expectation and acceptance of negative experiences
- greater ambivalence
describe Spencer-rodgers et al’s study
Study 1 & Study 2: measured positive and negative self-evaluations, attitudinal ambivalence. found greater ambivalence at both group and individual levels among dialectical cultures than synthesis-oriented cultures
Study 3: measured naïve dialecticism, self-evaluations, self-concept stability, attitudinal ambivalence, PA, NA, LS and replicated findings from studies 1 & 2
Study 4: manipulated dialecticism and measured self-esteem, ambivalence, life satisfaction, naïve dialecticism and replicated findings from studies 1 & 2.
chinese scored higher on naïve dialecticism and ambivalence, lower on self-esteem and life satisfaction
how did Spencer-Rodgers et al unpackage culture?
- ensure equivalence & demonstrated that cultural differences are really there
(previous research; convergent validity across 4 studies– cultural differences in ambivalence, self-esteem, subjective well-being (SWB), and relation between self-esteem and SWB) - isolate, based on theory, what is the cultural construct that explains the differences observed in #1
(naïve dialecticism: dialectical vs. synthetic thinking explains the cultural differences + ambivalence: greater ambivalence leads to lower self-esteem & swb) - Establish that the cultures really do differ on the theoretical cultural construct (determined that there are cultural differences in Naïve dialecticism which leads to differences in thinking & ambivalence)
- Empirically demonstrate that the reason why you observed the difference #1 is because of #2 (naïve dialecticism explains cultural differences in ambivalence, which explains the cultural differences in self-esteem, swb, and the relation between self-esteem & swb)
