[xmca] The Role of Affect and Flynn Effect Article

[Mike Cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>]

Emily-- That article is not accessible by clicking on the link. Your or I
can haul it down and distribute if others want to discuss......
after they go to the polls and vote!!  :-))


David-- Piagetian tasks show no effect of schooling using school-cut off
strategy which obviates problems of usual cross-cultural
research. Seems like one needs to show, simultaneously, Flynn effect on some
tasks along with lack of effects on Piagetian tasks in
order to say much about Flynn effect. Or did I miss something?

mike


On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 10:33 AM, Duvall, Emily <emily@uidaho.edu> wrote:

>
> Dear xmca-ers,
>
>
> Identity is one of the recurring topics on the list serve (and in my
> work) and I thought this might be of interest. What I found particularly
> interesting is the relationship between affect and apparent willingness
> to try things outside of one's 'cultural identity'. As an educator, it
> doesn't surprise me...positive affect and openness generally equals an
> opportunity to learn... on the other hand, I wonder about the
> 'legitimacy' of the work with regard to culture.  Thoughts?
>
>
> ~emily
>
>
>
>
>
> [I've included the abstract and the ScienceDaily  announcement.]
>
>
> Research Article
>
> Who I Am Depends on How I Feel: The Role of Affect in the Expression of
> Culture
>
> Claire E. Ashton-James 1 , William W. Maddux 2 , Adam D. Galinsky 3 ,
> and Tanya L. Chartrand 4
>
>  1 University of British Columbia,   2 INSEAD,   3 Northwestern
> University, and   4 Duke University
>
>  Address correspondence to Claire E. Ashton-James, University of British
> Columbia, School of Psychology, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, British
> Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z4, e-mail: cajames@psych.ubc.ca
> <mailto:cajames@psych.ubc.ca> .
>
> ABSTRACT-We present a novel role of affect in the expression of culture.
> Four experiments tested whether individuals' affective states moderate
> the expression of culturally normative cognitions and behaviors. We
> consistently found that value expressions, self-construals, and
> behaviors were less consistent with cultural norms when individuals were
> experiencing positive rather than negative affect. Positive affect
> allowed individuals to explore novel thoughts and behaviors that
> departed from cultural constraints, whereas negative affect bound people
> to cultural norms. As a result, when Westerners experienced positive
> rather than negative affect, they valued self-expression less, showed a
> greater preference for objects that reflected conformity, viewed the
> self in more interdependent terms, and sat closer to other people. East
> Asians showed the reverse pattern for each of these measures, valuing
> and expressing individuality and independence more when experiencing
> positive than when experiencing negative affect. The results suggest
> that affect serves an important functional purpose of attuning
> individuals more or less closely to their cultural heritage.
>
>
> How We Feel Linked To Both Our Culture And How We Behave
>
>
> ScienceDaily (Apr. 19, 2009) - Scientists have long been interested in
> the interplay of emotions and identity, and some have recently focused
> on cultural identity. One's heritage would seem to be especially stable
> and impervious to change, simply because it's been passed down
> generation after generation and is deeply ingrained in the collective
> psyche. But how deeply, exactly?
>
> Psychologists Claire Ashton-James of the University of British Columbia,
> William W. Maddux from INSEAD, Adam Galinsky of Northwestern University,
> and Tanya Chartrand from Duke University decided to explore this
> intriguing question in the laboratory, to see if even something as
> potent as culture might be tied to normal mood swings. European cultures
> are known to value independence and individuality, whereas Asian
> cultures prize community and harmony. This fundamental East-West
> cultural difference is well established, and so offered the researchers
> an ideal test.
>
> The volunteers consisted of students hailing from a number of different
> countries and the researchers unconsciously raised or lowered their
> moods via two different methods. In one study, the volunteers listened
> to some upbeat Mozart on the stereo to lift their moods, or some
> Rachmaninov to bring them down. In another study, the volunteers held
> pens in their mouths: Some held the pen with their teeth, which
> basically forces the face into a smile, which improves mood. Others held
> the pen with their lips, forcing a frown. Then the volunteers completed
> a variety of tests, each designed to measure the strength of their
> values. In one test, the volunteers were offered a choice of five pens,
> four blue and one red. In keeping with cultural values, Asians typically
> pick from the more common blue pens in this test - to be part of the
> group - while Westerners usually take the one red pen. In another test,
> the volunteers thought about the questions "Who am I?" and listed 20
> answers. The lists were analyzed to see if they reflected predominantly
> individualistic or predominantly group values.
>
> The results, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the
> Association for Psychological Science, were consistent for all of the
> tests: Feeling good did indeed encourage the volunteers - both European
> and Asian - to explore values that are inconsistent with their cultural
> norms. And elevated mood even shaped behavior, allowing volunteers to
> act "out of character." These findings suggest that people in an upbeat
> mood are more exploratory and daring in attitude - and therefore more
> apt to break from cultural stereotype. That is, Asians act more
> independently than usual, and Europeans are more cooperative. Feeling
> bad did the opposite: It reinforced traditional cultural stereotypes and
> constrained both Western and Eastern thinking about the world.
>
> The researchers note these results suggest that emotions may serve an
> important social purpose. They surmise that positive feelings may send a
> signal that it's safe to broaden one's view of the world - and to
> explore novel notions of one's self. The researchers go on to indicate
> that negative feelings may do the opposite: They may send a signal that
> it's time to circle the wagons and stick with the "tried and true." They
> conclude that the findings also suggest that the "self" may not be as
> robust and static as we like to believe and that the self may be
> dynamic, constructed again and again from one's situation, heritage and
> mood.
>
> ________________________________
>
> Journal reference:
>
> 1.       Ashton-James et al. Who I Am Depends on How I Feel: The Role of
> Affect in the Expression of Culture. Psychological Science, 2009; 20
> (3): 340 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02299.x
> <http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02299.x>
>
> Adapted from materials provided by Association for Psychological Science
> <http://www.psychologicalscience.org> , via EurekAlert!
> <http://www.eurekalert.org> , a service of AAAS
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Emily Duvall, PhD
>
> Assistant Professor Curriculum & Instruction
> University of Idaho, Coeur d'Alene
> 1000 W. Hubbard Suite 242 | Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814
> T 208 292 2512 | F 208 667 5275 emily@uidaho.edu
> <mailto:barbm@uidaho.edu>  | www.cda.uidaho.edu
> <blocked::http://www.cda.uidaho.edu>
>
>
>
> He only earns his freedom and his life, who takes them every day by
> storm.
> -- Johann Wolfgang Goethe
>
>
>
>
>
>
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