Cultural Dimensions & Group Behaviour (DP IB Psychology): Revision Note

Cultural dimensions & group behaviour

• Between 1971 and 1973 Geert Hofstede, a professor from Maastricht University conducted a huge, global survey of IBM employees focused on cultural attitudes and behaviours

• The survey was in the form of a questionnaire to which over 60,000 people from over 50 countries responded

• Hofstede concluded that cultural dimensions could be used universally to describe the norms for behaviour within cultures

• From the results of the survey Hofstede was able to categorise cultural dimensions

  • One of the most researched cultural dimensions is individualism/collectivism

Individualism vs collectivism

Cultural dimensions & conformity

• Conformity is the act of putting aside true beliefs, attitudes and values for the sake of group harmony

  • This aligns more with collectivist cultural values

  • Individualistic cultures value the individual over the group

• Researchers have focused on conformity as a variable by which to measure cultural differences because each culture may be easily seen in attitudes towards conformity

  • Are collectivist cultures more conformist than individual cultures?

  • Is there a standard method for assessing conformity across cultures?

Research support for cultural dimensions & group behaviour

Smith & Bond (1993)

Aim:

• To investigate conformity as a product of culture

Participants:

• The study was a meta-analysis comprising of 133 studies, from 17 countries which represented both collectivist and individualistic cultures

• The countries included France, Fiji, Ghana, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK, and the USA

Procedure:

• The meta-analysis used statistics to analyse the findings of cross-cultural replications of Asch’s original study (which in itself had nothing to do with culture)

• Smith & Bond combined the findings of these studies to draw an overall conclusion about rates of conformity in collectivist cultures compared to individualistic cultures

• The findings are expressed as an effect size; in the case of this study, this was linked to overall rate of conformity per country

Results:

• The highest rates of conformity were seen in more collectivist countries:

  • The effect size from studies in Fiji was the highest at 2.48

  • Hong Kong scored 1.93

  • Japan scored 1.42

• The lowest rates of conformity were found in individualist countries:

  • The effect size from studies in France was 0.56

  • The Netherlands scored 0.74

  • The USA scored 0.90

Conclusion:

• Conformity may be affected by culture, with collectivist cultures showing more conformity than individualistic cultures.

Evaluation of cultural dimensions & group behaviour

Strengths

• A meta-analysis provides a large amount of quantitative data taken from research across the world, which is a time-saving method which can highlight patterns and trends instantly

• Using replications of Asch’s conformity research means that the researchers had access to the results of studies which used a standardised procedure, which should ensure that there is in-built reliability

Limitations

• The reliability of the findings is compromised, as there was no consistency in the numbers of Asch replications per country

  • The meta-analysis used only two studies from France and Fiji but used 79 from the USA

• A meta-analysis is a rather ‘cold’ method to use for investigating human behaviour, as it is purely statistical and cannot provide any explanation as to why conformity might occur more in collectivist cultures

Link to concepts

Measurement

• One of the problems with trying to define and measure culture is that it is a multi-layered and nuanced variable, subject to fluctuation and anomalies

• An etic approach assumes some values are universal, but this risks bias and oversimplification.

• An emic approach provides culture-specific insights, but it is time-consuming and may lead to misinterpretation

• Smith & Bond (1993) measured conformity across countries, but a country is not the same as a culture, which limits the validity of their conclusions

Change

• Globalisation brings cultural change, often replacing traditional values with those of a dominant culture

• This process can merge values in ways that reduce cultural distinctiveness, affecting both dominant and indigenous groups

• As a result, it becomes increasingly difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about the differences between individualistic and collectivist cultures