Post on 30-Dec-2015
Infusing Asian Studies into Psychology Courses
Seraphine Shen-MillerBelmont University
A question for you: Which 2 of the following 3 should be grouped together?
YUM!
A question for you: Which 2 of the following 3 should be
grouped together?
Infusing Asian Studies into Psychology Courses
• Social Psychology• Cognition • Perception• Developmental
Psychology
• Social Psychology• Cognition • Perception• Developmental
Psychology
Infusing Asian Studies into Psychology Courses
Fundamental Attribution Error
When trying to explain the behavior of others, we tend to…
• attribute their behavior to personal factors• underestimate the impact from situations
How fundamental is the fundamental attribution error?
Example 1
One fish is swimming ahead of a group of fish. What’s happening?(Morris & Peng, 1994)
• Social Psychology• Cognition • Perception• Developmental
Psychology
Infusing Asian Studies into Psychology Courses
Example 2
Landscapes in the WestThe technique of Perspective
• Devised in the 16th century• One of the most notable developments during the
Renaissance• Two major functions: (a) Represents space by providing the illusion of depth
(b) Fixes the viewer’s standpoint, usually forcing the viewer to occupy the same level as the subject of the work
Landscapes in the East
Various ways of emphasizing field info:• scroll form: a panoramic view of landscape • The bird’s eye view: unlike Western perspective, the
artist’s standpoint is higher than the objects depicted• The “tactile” perspective: Artists draw each object as if
the viewer can go to the place where they can touch it • Artists did not normally paint cast shadows- implying
multiple viewpoints (fields are depicted in their entirety)• Horizon is much higher, so to include a great deal of
interesting material in the field
Along the River During the Qingming Festival, Zhang Zeduan, 1085-1145
Culture and Aesthetic Style: (Masuda, Gonzales, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
Western Pantings Eastern Paintings0
102030405060708090
100
The location of the horizon (%)
Portraiture in the West
• Western artists seek to make the subject salient—the intention, in other words, is to distinguish the figure from the ground
• For this reason, the model occupies a major fraction of the space
Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa,
(Renaissance)
Raphael’sPortrait of Agnolo Doni
(Renaissance)
Rubens’sPortrait of Susanna Fourment
(Baroque)
Flagonard’sA Young Girl Reading
(Rococo)
What about Portraiture in the East?
Children at Play in an Autumn Garden, Su Han-ch'en(early 12th century)
The Emperor T'ai-tsung (reigned 627-649 A.D.)
Emperor Hsüan-tsung on Horseback, Anonymous Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
Chou Fang (Tang Dynasty)
Culture and Aesthetic Style: (Masuda, Gonzales, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
Western Paintings East Asian Paintings 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Ratio of the face area to the frame
Example 4
Drawing by a European American Female
Comparison of drawings(Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
Comparison of drawings(Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
Drawing by a European American Female
Drawing by an East Asian Female
Comparison of drawings(Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
Drawing by an East Asian Female
Comparison of drawings(Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
Americans East asians 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Ratio of the horizon to the frame
Comparison of drawings(Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
Americans East asians 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Number of additional objects
Comparison of drawings(Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
Example 5
laboratory sitting model laboratory standing model altrium sitting model altrium standing model0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Americans East Asians
Comparison of Photos(Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
The ratio of the face to the frame (100%)
• Social Psychology• Cognition • Perception• Developmental
Psychology
Infusing Asian Studies into Psychology Courses
Example 6
Do both of these photos look happy to you? Thatcher illusion
(Thompson, 1980)
….Do cultures vary in the parts of the face that they most consider when judging another’s emotion?
Which face appears happier to you?
Happy EyesNeutral Mouth
Happy MouthNeutral Eyes
Eyes and Mouths as Cues to Recognize Emotions in Japan & U.S.
(Yuki, Maddux, & Masuda,2007)
When writing an email, which emoticon do you use to denote a happy face?
: ) :-) :o)
A emoticon used by a Taiwanese student…
Does this emoticon makes sense to you? What does it mean?
^____^
• Social Psychology• Cognition • Perception• Developmental
Psychology
Infusing Asian Studies into Psychology Courses
Stages of Moral DevelopmentLawrence Kohlberg
(1927-1987)
• Major question: “How do we explain why something is
right or wrong?”• Developed Stages of Moral
Development theory based on interviews of 72 boys (ages 10, 13 and 16)
Kohlberg’s Moral DevelopmentMoral Reasoning for Dilemma
Most famous one: the Heinz dilemma.• Heinz’s wife is dying from cancer• Medicine too expensive
Question: Should he break into the drugstore and steal the medicine?
Reasons then categorized into stages (not interested in whether the participants say “yes” or “no” to the dilemma)
Kohlberg’s Moral DevelopmentMoral Reasoning for Dilemma
Most famous one: the Heinz dilemma.• Heinz’s wife is dying from cancer• Medicine too expensive
Question: Should he break into the drugstore and steal the medicine?
Reasons then categorized into stages (not interested in whether the participants say “yes” or “no” to the dilemma)
Kohlberg’s Moral DevelopmentLevel 1: Preconventional Morality
Focus of justification: the punishment (or reward) associated with the action.
“I will do what I am supposed to do In order to avoid punishment.”
Kohlberg’s Moral DevelopmentLevel 2: Conventional Morality
Focus of justification: follow the rules!
“I will do what I am supposed to do as things work out better when everyone follows the rules.”
Kohlberg’s Moral DevelopmentLevel 3: Postconventional
Focus of justification: individuals’ abstract ethical principles
“I will do (or won’t do) what I am supposed to do because I think (or don’t think) it is the right thing to do.”
Kohlberg’s Moral DevelopmentIs it Universal?
Lei and Cheng (1984) studied Chinese children and adults living in Taiwan and found infrequency in postconventional reasoning (based on Kohlberg’s scoring manual).
Does that mean that Taiwanese are usually missing the higher levels of moral maturity?
Kohlberg’s Moral DevelopmentIs it Universal?
Lei and Cheng (1984) studied Chinese children and adults living in Taiwan and found infrequency in postconventional reasoning (based on Kohlberg’s scoring manual).
WHAT DO YOU THINK:Does that mean that Taiwanese are usually
missing the higher levels of moral maturity? Why or Why not?
Kohlberg’s Moral DevelopmentIs it Universal?
Is it possible that the methods for scoring moral stages according to verbal reasoning do not recognize higher levels of morality as defined in other cultures?
Kohlberg’s Moral DevelopmentIs it Universal?
• For example: Taiwan: “Joe” story Joe is a 14-year-old boy who wanted to go to camp very much. His father
promised him he could go if he saved up the money for it himself. So Joe worked hard at his paper route and saved up the $100 it cost to go to camp and a little more besides. But just before camp was going to start, his father changed his mind. Some of his friends decided to go on a fishing trip, and Joe's father was short of the money it would cost. So he told Joe to give him the money he had saved from the paper route. Joe didn't want to give up going to camp, so he thinks of refusing to give his father the money.
• Questions: Should Joe refuse to give his father money? Why or why not?
Kohlberg’s Moral DevelopmentIs it Universal?
Kohlberg’s Moral DevelopmentIs it Universal?
Is it possible that the methods for scoring moral stages according to verbal reasoning maybe do not recognize higher levels of morality as defined in other cultures?
In the Taiwanese sample, the most frequently referred judgments were those related to “filial piety,” which based on Kohlberg’s scoring manual are often categorized as conventional level.
Kohlberg’s Moral Development: Is it Universal?Other Post Conventional Principles
The first virtue in Chinese culture: Filial PietyA love and respect for one's parents and
ancestors
Some useful resources• Fundamental Attribution Errors • Miller, J. G. (1984). Culture and the development of everyday social explanation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 961-
978.*• Morris, M. & Peng, K. (1994). Culture and cause: American and Chinese attributions for social and physical events. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 67, 949-971.*• Cognition• Ishii, K., Reyes, J. A., Kitayama, S. (2003). Spontaneous attention to word content versus emotional tone. Psychological Science, 14, 39-
46.• Masuda, T., Ellsworth, P., Mesquita, B., Leu, J., Tanida, S., & de Veerdonk, E. V. (2008). Placing the face in context: Cultural differences in
the perception of facial emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 365-381. • Masuda, T., Gonzalez, R. Kwan, L., & Nisbett, R. E. (2008). Culture and aesthetic preference: Comparing the attention to context of East
Asians and European Americans. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1260-1275.*• Perception• Yuki, M., Maddux, W., & Masuda, T. (2007). Are the windows to the soul the same in the East and West? Cultural differences in using the
eyes and mouth as cues to recognize emotions in Japan and the United States. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 303-311.*• Personality• Kuhn, M. H. & McPartland, T. S. (1954). An empirical investigation of self-attitudes. American Sociological Review, 19, 67-76.* • Ma, V. & Schoeneman, T. J. (1997). Individualism versus collectivism: A comparison of Kenyan and American Self-concepts. Basic and
Applied Social Psychology, 19, 261-273.*• Triandis, H. C. (1989). The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts. Psychological Review, 96, 506-520. • Textbooks in Cross-cultural Psychology:• Heine, S. J. (2008). Cultural Psychology. New York, NY: Norton. • Matsumoto, D., & Juang, L. (2007). Culture and psychology (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.• Goldstein, S. (2008). Cross-cultural explorations: Activities in culture and psychology (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Boston Allyn and Bacon.•