Activating Culture Through Persuasion Appeals: An Examination of the Bicultural Consumer

In this research, I examined how biculturals, or individuals who have been equally influenced by an East Asian and Western cultural orientation, respond to various types of persuasion appeals that promote values unique to a particular culture. In the first experiment, I found that biculturals, relative to monoculturals, tend to react favorably toward both individually and interpersonally focused appeals due to their having 2 equally developed and accessible cultural dispositions. In the second experiment, I identified boundary conditions under which having relatively equal access to both cultural dispositions leads to favorable responses. Results indicate that biculturals who tend to compartmentalize each culture react less favorably toward appeals that are both individually and interpersonally focused than biculturals who tend to integrate the 2 cultures. In other words, the former type of bicultural prefers appeals that activate one cultural disposition, whereas the latter type of bicultural favors appeals that activate both cultural dispositions. These findings are discussed in light of the growing trend toward multiculturalism and the increasing need for researchers to understand the impact of this trend on various consumer behavior issues.     

Cultural chameleons and iconoclasts: Assimilation and reactance to cultural cues in biculturals’ expressed personalities as a function of identity conflict

Bicultural individuals vary in the degree to which their two cultural identities are integrated versus conflicting—Bicultural Identity Integration (BII). Past research on attribution biases finds that BII influences the way that biculturals shift in response to cultural primes: integrated biculturals shift assimilatively, whereas conflicted biculturals shift contrastively. Proposing that this reflects assimilation versus reactance responses, we tested whether it extends to shifts in self-perceived personality. In two experiments with Asian-American participants, we found that BII influences the direction of cultural priming effects (assimilation versus contrast) on the personality dimensions of need for uniqueness (Experiment 1) and extraversion (Experiment 2). As hypothesized, high BIIs shifted in a culturally assimilative direction, perceiving the self as more uniqueness-seeking and extraverted following American versus Asian priming, whereas low BIIs shifted in the reverse direction. Implications for research on bicultural identity, priming, personality, organizational and consumer behavior are discussed.     

Ambivalence, discomfort, and motivated information processing

In two studies we examined the nature and consequence of ambivalent attitudes. In the first study, we assessed whether holding ambivalent attitudes was aversive, and tested whether this aversion was resolved through biased information processing. To do this we manipulated participants’ attributions of the discomfort associated with an ambivalent message through a pill manipulation (tense vs. relaxed). Participants who attributed their discomfort to their ambivalence reported more negative emotions and generated more one-sided thoughts than participants who attributed their discomfort to the pill. In the second study, we examined the conditions necessary for ambivalence reduction. Results suggest that people spontaneously engage in biased information processing in order to resolve their ambivalence.     

Ambivalence Over Emotional Expression and Psychological Weil-Being Among Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients and Their Spouses1

Associations between ambivalence over emotional expression and psychological well-being among rheumatoid arthritis patients and their spouses were investigated. Sixty-nine couples completed questionnaires assessing ambivalence over emotional expression, emotional expressiveness, psychological well-being, and strategies used in coping with arthritis. Associations between the patient's ambivalence and psychological well-being were stronger for those married to a highly ambivalent spouse, although this pattern of results was not found for spouses. Lower psychological well-being among more ambivalent spouses, and to a lesser extent patients, could be partially explained by their greater use of passive and distancing coping strategies. Results emphasize the importance of taking a dyadic approach to the study of psychological functioning among chronically ill patients and their spouses.     

Bicultural identities: The interface of cultural, personality, and socio-cognitive processes

This paper presents recent work examining the meaning and impact of individual variations in the way bicultural individuals organize their two cultural identities, a construct that we call Bicultural Identity Integration (BII). While biculturals high on BII describe their two cultural identities as ‘compatible’ (fluid and complementary), biculturals low on BII experience them as largely ‘oppositional’ (i.e., conflicting and disparate). We first report experimental evidence for how variations in BII moderate biculturals’ socio-cognitive behavior, specifically, the way in which bicultural individuals process cultural knowledge and use it to interpret social behavior. We then report structural equation modeling findings that elucidate some important personality, contextual, and performance predictors of BII. Finally, we conclude with a brief discussion of how the study of bicultural identities provides an ideal ground for the integration of cultural and personality psychology.     

Cultural variation in the motivational standards of self-enhancement and self-criticism among bicultural Asian American and Anglo American students

Recent work on biculturalism has made theoretical and methodological inroads into our understanding of the relation of cultural processes with psychological functioning. Through the use of cultural priming methodologies, investigators have demonstrated that biculturals, or individuals who have experienced and identify with more than one culture, can switch between various "cultural frames of reference" in response to corresponding social cues (Hong, Morris, Chiu, & Benet-Martinez, 2000). Drawing on this work on the cognitive implications of biculturalism, the purpose of the present study was to examine the assumption that independent and interdependent self-construals are associated with the motivational standards of self-enhancement and self-criticism, respectively. More specifically, the effects of differential primes of self on ratings of self-enhancement were investigated in a sample of bicultural Asian American (N = 42) and Anglo American (N = 60) college students; overall, more similarities than differences were noted between the two groups. It was hypothesized that Anglo American students would display marked tendencies toward self-enhancement. However, this hypothesis was not supported. Nevertheless, consistent prime effects were observed for a selected number of ratings related to academic virtues, with those who received an independent-self prime often exhibiting greater self-enhancing tendencies than those who received an interdependent-self prime. For example, participants in the independent-self condition reported on average significantly higher ratings for self-discipline and initiative, as well as the degree to which they perceived themselves to be hard working. Implications for the work on self-representations, motivation, and acculturation are discussed.     

Racism-related stress, Africultural coping, and religious problem-solving among African Americans

This study explored the extent to which three types of racism-related stress (i.e., individual, institutional, and cultural) would predict the use of specific Africultural coping strategies (i.e., cognitive/emotional debriefing, spiritual-centered, collective, and ritual-centered coping) and religious problem-solving styles (i.e., self-directing, deferring, and collaborative) in a sample of 284 African American men and women. The authors found that higher institutional racism-related stress was associated with greater use of cognitive/emotional debriefing, spiritual-centered, and collective coping in African American women. Findings also indicated that higher cultural racism-related stress was predictive of lower use of self-directing religious problem-solving in African American women. Moreover, higher perceived cultural racism-related stress was related to greater use of collective coping strategies in African American men. Individual racism-related stress was not predictive of any forms of Africultural coping strategies or religious problem-solving. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Getting the most out of living abroad: Biculturalism and integrative complexity as key drivers of creative and professional success

The current research investigated how patterns of home and host cultural identification can explain which individuals who have lived abroad achieve the greatest creative and professional success. We hypothesized that individuals who identified with both their home and host cultures (i.e., biculturals) would show enhanced creativity and professional success compared with individuals who identified with only a single culture (i.e., assimilated and separated individuals). Further, we expected that these effects would be driven by biculturals' greater levels of integrative complexity, an information processing capacity that involves considering and combining multiple perspectives. Two studies demonstrated that biculturals exhibited more fluency, flexibility, and novelty on a creative uses task (Study 1) and produced more innovations at work (Study 2) than did assimilated or separated individuals. Study 3 extended these findings to general professional outcomes: Bicultural professionals achieved higher promotion rates and more positive reputations compared with assimilated or separated individuals. Importantly, in all 3 studies, integrative complexity mediated the relationship between home/host identification and performance. Overall, the current results demonstrate who is most likely to achieve professional and creative success following experiences abroad and why. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Relative effectiveness of differently framed health messages: the influence of ambivalence

The present studies test the hypothesis that the degree of experienced ambivalence toward health behaviors moderates the impact of differently framed messages. In line with prospect theory, it is argued that positive frames can either involve attaining desirable outcomes or avoiding undesirable outcomes, and negative frames can either emphasize the presence of undesirable outcomes or the absence of desirable outcomes. The results of three studies are supportive of the hypothesis that highly ambivalent individuals are more persuaded by negatively framed messages whereas individuals low in ambivalence are more persuaded by positively framed messages. The greater persuasiveness of negatively framed messages at higher levels of ambivalence can be explained by a negativity bias involved in ambivalence. Several preventive behaviors such as eating a low‐fat diet or using condoms were addressed. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in light of current theories on health behavior. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Profiles of Racial Socialization Among African American Parents: Correlates,Context, and Outcome

Self report and observational data on racial socialization practices in a sample of 218 African American parents of young children were used to determine whether or not parents could be characterized in terms of their pattern of racial socialization practices. Parents fell into four groups: silence about race, emphasis on cultural socialization, emphasis on cultural socialization and coping strategies, or a balanced approach. Silence about race was more common among parents of boys, whereas an emphasis on cultural socialization was more common among parents of girls. Silence about race was less common in neighborhoods with high levels of negative social climate, and a combination of cultural socialization with coping strategies for discrimination was more common in neighborhoods with high neighborhood potential for community involvement with children. The coping emphasis/cultural socialization approach was associated with significantly lower child problem behavior, although some gender differences were evident. A cultural socialization emphasis was associated with higher cognitive scores among girls, and a combination of cultural socialization, coping with discrimination, and promotion of mistrust was associated with higher cognitive scores among boys. Implications of this profile approach for the study of racial socialization practices in ethnic minority families are discussed.     

矛盾的消费者是如何解读多元化口碑信息的?

以消费者态度的矛盾性为基础前提, 来探究消费者自身的矛盾态度与外界的多元化口碑信息之间的交互机制。通过两个现场实验发现, 消费者态度的矛盾性程度稳健地调节着消费者对外界信息的选择和处理。具体而言, 高矛盾性的消费者由于具有显著的减少矛盾的动机, 会选择性注意外界的正面信息和态度, 而低矛盾性的消费者减少矛盾的动机并不显著, 更倾向于选择性注意外界的负面信息和态度; 另一方面, 矛盾消费者的选择性注意效应受从众压力和群体共识的影响很小, 也即那些不处于消费者选择性关注范围内的信息和态度, 即使是多数人形成的共识, 对消费者仍然不会有显著影响。     

Is subjective ambivalence toward gays a modern form of bias?

Theoretically, modern racism and sexism are characterized by ambivalence. We directly examined the consequence of being higher in subjective ambivalence toward gays (i.e. attitudes that feel “torn”) with regard to gay rights support. In Study 1, greater subjective ambivalence was associated with more negative attitudes (and not more positive attitudes), more ideological opposition to gays, more negative intergroup emotions, and less gay rights support. In Study 2, less opposition to gay bullying was predicted by: (a) greater subjective ambivalence (through lower intergroup empathy); and (b) experimentally-salient bullying justification norms (through lower collective guilt). These effects held controlling for Attitudes toward Lesbians and Gay Men (i.e., traditional negative attitudes). Although not overtly negative, individual differences in subjective ambivalence tap a unique, subtle, and less objectionable form of bias, consistent with aversive racism and justification–suppression frameworks of explaining modern biases.     

The Relation of Emotion Knowledge to Coping in European American and Chinese Immigrant Children

Emotion knowledge contributes to emotion regulation and coping among adults, but few studies have investigated its role in children’s coping development, especially in a cross-cultural context. We examine relations between children’s emotion knowledge and coping in European American and Chinese immigrant families. One hundred and three 7- to 10-year-old children and their mothers from European American and Chinese cultural background participated in this study. Children's emotion knowledge was assessed using emotion-situation knowledge production task. This task examines their understanding of situational antecedents o discrete emotions. Children’s use of coping strategies was reported by mothers using the Children’s Coping Strategies Checklist. Results showed that Chinese immigrant children had greater emotion knowledge of fear and pride but were reported using less variety of coping strategies than European American children. The relationship between children’s knowledge of self-conscious emotions and their use of distraction coping strategies was moderated by culture, whereby knowledge of self-conscious emotions was negatively associated with the parent-reported distraction strategies only for European American children but not for Chinese immigrant children. The importance of culture in both theory and practice related to emotion knowledge and coping is discussed. Findings in this study suggest that family intervention and children’s emotion training programs may need to consider children’s cultural background.     

An upside to bicultural identity conflict: Resisting groupthink in cultural ingroups

Bicultural individuals differ in the degree to which their cultural identities are integrated versus conflicting—Bicultural Identity Integration (BII). Studies of judgment find that biculturals with less integrated identities (low BIIs) tend to defy salient cultural norms, whereas those with highly integrated identities (high BIIs) conform. This study examined biculturals' judgment in a group decision-making context, focusing on individuals' reactions to consensus in cultural ingroups. Results showed that low (vs. high) BIIs are more likely to resist the group consensus when it is incorrect, but not when it is correct. These findings suggest that contrarian impulses of low BIIs can be channeled towards facilitating constructive conflict—resisting groupthink that results from cultural homogeneity. Implications for bicultural identity, motives, and organizational behavior are discussed.     

Attitudinal ambivalence, rumination, and forgiveness of partner transgressions in marriage

Although positive and negative attitudes toward a transgressor are related to increased and decreased forgiveness, respectively, prior research has failed to investigate forgiveness among those who feel both positively and negatively toward a transgressor. Therefore, the authors examined such ambivalence and its relationship to forgiveness. It was hypothesized that spouses with ambivalent attitudes toward their partner will be less forgiving of a partner transgression because such an event is likely to prime the negative component of their ambivalence. Because ruminating about a transgression also has the potential to prime the negative component of one's ambivalence, an interaction between rumination and ambivalence was predicted. Data from 87 married couples showed that greater attitudinal ambivalence toward the partner was associated with decreased forgiveness only when husbands and wives thought about the transgression frequently; ambivalence was not related to forgiveness in the absence of rumination. The implications of these findings for understanding forgiveness in marriage and for increasing forgiveness among married couples are discussed.     

Hearing Impairment, Coping Strategies, and Anxiety Sensitivity

The aim was to study coping strategies among hearing-impaired individuals by using a validated coping instrument—The Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WOCQ; S. Folkman & R. Lazarus, 1988)—and to relate the use of coping with anxiety sensitivity and experience of hearing impairment. A questionnaire booklet was sent out to the members of the local branch of the Swedish Hard of Hearing Association. Ninety-four members responded to the questionnaire, yielding a 53% response rate. Primary outcome measures were the WOCQ, the Anxiety Sensitivity Index, and visual analogue scale rating of discomfort from hearing impairment. Repeated measures analysis of WOCQ subscales showed that the participants used planful problem solving and self-controlling coping strategies whereas escape/avoidance responses were less frequently used than the other coping strategies. Anxiety sensitivity was associated with escape/avoidance coping (r = .63, p < .0001). In conclusion, hearing-impaired individuals do not use escape/avoidance coping more than other coping strategies. However, escape/avoidance coping is associated with anxiety sensitivity, suggesting that sensitivity to anxiety sensations is an important associated factor. Coping strategies were not associated with discomfort from hearing impairment in any meaningful way.     

Forbearance coping, identification with heritage culture, acculturative stress, and psychological distress among Chinese international students

Based on Berry's (1997) theoretical framework for acculturation, our goal in this study was to examine whether the use of a culturally relevant coping strategy (i.e., forbearance coping, a predictor) would be associated with a lower level of psychological distress (a psychological outcome), for whom (i.e., those with weaker vs. stronger identification with heritage culture, a moderator), and under what situations (i.e., lower vs. higher acculturative stress, a moderator). A total of 188 Chinese international students completed an online survey. Results from a hierarchical regression indicated a significant 3-way interaction of forbearance coping, identification with heritage culture, and acculturative stress on psychological distress. For those with a weaker identification with their heritage culture, when acculturative stress was higher, the use of forbearance coping was positively associated with psychological distress. However, this was not the case when acculturative stress was lower. In other words, the use of forbearance coping was not significantly associated with psychological distress when acculturative stress was lower. Moreover, for those with a stronger cultural heritage identification, the use of forbearance coping was not significantly associated with psychological distress regardless of whether acculturative stress was high or low. Future research and implications are discussed.