Culture and Cognition

Lisa AllisonAronya

Harper Menjivar Waller

Outline

• Introduction• Background research• Social and business implications• Design considerations (mock-up)• Take-aways

Introduction

Culture

• Culture: A dominant symbolic meaning system (e.g., worldview) sustained and transmitted over generations by members of a given society, which then shape the members psychological processes.

Masuda, 2005

Analytic vs Holistic Cognition

• “Cognitive practices may be highly stable because of their embeddedness in larger systems of beliefs and social practices”

Nisbett, Peng, Choi, & Norenzayan, 2001

Worldview: Things exist by themselves and can be defined by their attributes (context independent, object-oriented).

Worldview: Things are inter-related. Various factors are involved in an event (context dependent, context-sensitive

Father

Self

Mother

SiblingFriend

Co-workerFriend

Self

Mother

SiblingFriend

Co-workerFriend

Father

Coca-Cola

United States Japan

Systematic Cultural Variability?

Graphic from: http://martinrohwedder.fastpage.name/highandlowcontextculture/

LOW HIGH

GermanyScandinavia

Latin AmericaAsiaAfrica

United States

GreeceFranceItalySpainMiddle East

Importance

• Perception / Attention• Semantic and pragmatic meaning• Trust and credibility• Esthetics

Background Research

Hall’s Theory of “Contexting”

Hofstede’s Cultural Framework

1. Power Distance2. Individualism vs.

Collectivism3. Masculinity vs.

Femininity4. Uncertainty Avoidance5. Long Term Orientation

Cultural Variation in Socio-Cognitive Processes

North Americans East Asians

Concept of SelfMarkus & Kitayama,

1991

Independent – self is detached from others

and context

Interdependent – relational and

contextual existence

Thinking Style & Emotion

Nisbett, Choi, Peng, Norenzayan, 2001;

Nisbett 2003

Analytic – centric Holistic – influenced by changes in context and background

EstheticsMasuda, Gonzalez,

Kwan, Nisbett, 2008

Object-Oriented(Western

Perspectives,Portraits)

Context-Oriented(East Asian

Perspectives,Portraits with

context)

Causal Attribution

Nisbett & Masuda, 2003

Focus on internal factors

Focus on both internal and external

factors

We “think” differently across cultures

Hall “contexting”

Hofstede values

Hall “contexting”

Kitayama & Park, 2010

Social and Business Implications

Our Study

• Web site homepage for a multi-national corporation

• Three localized versions– North American– Latin American (Mexican)– East Asian (Chinese)

Cultural Characteristics

North America Latin America Asia

Communication • Direct • Eye contact• Organized/Analytical

• Indirect• May avoid eye contact• Holistic view, context important• Harmonious, non-confrontational

• Holistic view• Harmonious, non-confrontational

Motivation • Individualistic• Independent• Comfortable with uncertainty• Respect is earned

• Family/group oriented• Teamwork• Uncomfortable with uncertainty• Respect very important

• Minimize social friction• Desire to maintain harmonious relations

Cultural Characteristics (cont.)

North America Latin America Asia

View of Authority • Equal • Unequal• Expected to be knowledgeable

• Collectivist; complex, hierarchical

View of Time • Deadline-driven (monochronic)

• Things happen when they are supposed to (polychronic)

• Cyclic (polychronic)

Imagery & Color • Less important to the message• Often considered decorative

• Integral part of the context• Some preference to imagery over text.

• Background context important to meaning

Costs of Localization• Translation by “someone who speaks the language” is not enough• Need native speaker with knowledge of cultural nuances• Research local users

• Test with local users

• Training delivered by a local or native-speaker• Sun saved money by hiring local trainers

Bottom line: Localization is not cheap, but doing it properly saves money by making employees more productive and loyal to the company.

Is Online Training Alone Enough? Who is your audience?

• Family/Group oriented cultures are not motivated by directives to “go online and take training”• Message should be delivered in how training benefits the group.• Include social or interactive elements in the training.

Design Considerations

Take-Aways