The Perceptual Context
Culture and Cognition
People from different cultures think about
different things…
… but do higher mental processes, such as
perception and remembering, differ across
cultures?
The Geography of Thought
Peoples from the East and West think differently because
of the influence of philosophies from the ancient Greeks
and Chinese
– The ancient Greeks focused on:
• linear methods of understanding without much regard to
context
– Confucian-driven Chinese philosophies emphasized:
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Fluctuation
Holism
Interdependence
harmony
Model of Human Information
Processing
1
•Input/sensation
2
•Storage/memory
3
•Recall/retrieval
Stage 1—Input/sensation
• Perception—the mental interpretation of
external stimuli via sensation.
• Perceptual filters:
– Physiological—the senses
– Sociological—demographic information and
group memberships
– Psychological—attitudes, beliefs, and
dispositions
4 Explanations for Cross-Cultural
Differences
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Conditions of the physical environment
Indirect environmental conditions
Genetic differences
Cultural differences in the interaction
with the environment
–Carpentered-world hypothesis
Stage 2—Storage/memory
• Short-term memory
– 7 plus or minus 2
– Lost to decay
• Long-term memory
– Episodic—unique experiences
– Semantic—conceptual information and
knowledge
Stage 3—Recall/retrieval
• Long-term memory may not be recalled
due to:
–Interference
–Negative arousal (anxiety)
–Age
–Improper categorization
Cross-Cultural Differences in
Sensation and Perception
• Culture affects one’s ability to sense and
perceive incoming information
• Once information has passed through the
perceptual filters, it is processed into memory
• Once information has been stored, it is
relatively useless unless it can be retrieved
Categorization & Stereotyping
• Categorization—grouping, sorting, or
classifying objects, events, or living things into
identifiable groups or compartments.
• Stereotypes—membership in social categories
that are believed to be associated with certain
traits and behaviors.
Cross-Cultural Differences in
Memory and Retrieval
• Effects on information retrieval
– Culture
– Age
– Education
– Literacy
• Other factors
– Socialization
– Education
Categorization and Mental Economy
• To manage enormous quantities of
information, we categorize.
– People in all cultures do this.
– Categorization involves classifying, sorting, or
arranging information by similarities
• Categorization reduces uncertainty and
increases accuracy of predictions about others
• In intercultural communication we face high
levels of uncertainty and unfamiliar stimuli.
Stereotypes
• Categories that :
– often carry a positive or negative evaluation
– typically refer to membership in social categories
– are part of a natural and universal informationprocessing strategy
• The difficulty arises when stereotypes carry a
negative valence and are used to overgeneralize negative traits
• Stereotyping is automatic whereas prejudice
is a controlled process
Stereotypes: Cultivation Theory
• Cultivation Theory
– long-term exposure to media, especially TV,
“cultivates” in viewers a perception of social reality
that is reflective of the content on screen
– The situations on TV become the social reality that
viewers believe is correct, whether or not it is.
The Stereotype Content Model (SCM)
– individuals’ social perceptions are based on the two
judgments of (a) warmth and (b) competence
– Proposes that warmth and competence judgments
elicit one of four unique emotional responses:
• admiration, envy, contempt, or pity
– These judgments stem from larger social structures,
specifically competition and status
– Root in competition for resources
Stereotypes
• Stereotype Outcomes
–Out-group homogeneity effect
–Illusory correlation principle
–Self-fulfilling prophecies
–Stereotype threat
Ethnocentrism
• The tendency to put one’s in-group in a
position of centrality and worth while
creating and reinforcing negative attitudes
and behaviors toward out-groups.
• Ethnocentric attributional bias
– “The ultimate attribution error” - Thomas Pettigrew
• Ethnocentrism negatively influences
intercultural communication.
Ethnocentrism Continuum
• Ethnocentrism is negatively and significantly
correlated with perceptions of social attraction,
competence, character, and hiring recommendations.
Relationship of Ethnocentrism
and Racism
• Racism and ethnocentrism are not
synonymous, but they are related
• Unlikely to be racist and not ethnocentric.
• Possible to be ethnocentric and not racist.
• Ethnocentrism is considered innate.
• Racism is considered learned.