Infusing Asian Studies into Psychology Courses Seraphine Shen-Miller Belmont University.

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?


• Social Psychology• Cognition • Perception• Developmental

Psychology


Psychology


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)


Psychology


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)

Chou Fang, (Tang Dynasty)

http://catalog.ndap.org.tw/dacs5/System/Exhibition/Detail.jsp?OID=1084910

Culture and Aesthetic Style: (Masuda, Gonzales, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)

Western Paintings East Asian Paintings 0

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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)


Drawing by a European American Female

Drawing by an East Asian Female


Americans East asians 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Ratio of the horizon to the frame


Americans East asians 0

2

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8

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14

Number of additional objects


Example 5

laboratory sitting model laboratory standing model altrium sitting model altrium standing model0

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Americans East Asians

Comparison of Photos(Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)

The ratio of the face to the frame (100%)


Psychology


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?

^____^


Psychology


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 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?


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?


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?


• 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?


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.•

Infusing Asian Studies into Psychology Courses Seraphine Shen-Miller Belmont University.

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