Infusing Asian Studies into
Psychology Courses
Seraphine Shen-Miller
Belmont University
A question for you:
Which 2 of the following 3 should be
grouped together?
A question for you:
Which 2 of the following 3 should be
grouped together?
YUM!
Infusing Asian Studies into Psychology
Courses
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•
•
•
Social Psychology
Cognition
Perception
Developmental
Psychology
Infusing Asian Studies into Psychology
Courses
•
•
•
•
Social Psychology
Cognition
Perception
Developmental
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)
Infusing Asian Studies into Psychology
Courses
•
•
•
•
Social Psychology
Cognition
Perception
Developmental
Psychology
Example 2
Landscapes in the West
The 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)
The location of the horizon (%)
100
80
60
40
20
0
Western Pantings
Eastern Paintings
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’s
Portrait of Agnolo Doni
(Renaissance)
Rubens’s
Portrait of
Susanna
Fourment
(Baroque)
Flagonard’s
A 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'aitsung (reigned 627649 A.D.)
Emperor Hsüantsung on
Horseback,
Anonymous Ming
Dynasty (13681644)
Chou Fang
(Tang Dynasty)
Chou Fang,
(Tang
Dynasty)
Culture and Aesthetic Style:
(Masuda, Gonzales, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
Ratio of the face area to the frame
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Western Paintings
East Asian Paintings
Example 4
Comparison of drawings
(Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
Drawing by a European American Female
Comparison of drawings
(Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
Drawing by a European American Female
Comparison of drawings
(Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
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)
Ratio of the horizon to the frame
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Americans
East asians
Comparison of drawings
(Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
Number of additional objects
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Americans
East asians
Example 5
Comparison of Photos
(Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008)
16
The ratio of the face to the frame (100%)
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
laboratory sitting model
laboratory standing model
Americans
altrium sitting model
East Asians
altrium standing model
Infusing Asian Studies into Psychology
Courses
•
•
•
•
Social Psychology
Cognition
Perception
Developmental
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?
Eyes and Mouths as Cues to Recognize Emotions
in Japan & U.S.
(Yuki, Maddux, & Masuda,2007)
Happy Eyes
Neutral Mouth
Happy Mouth
Neutral Eyes
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?
^____^
Infusing Asian Studies into Psychology
Courses
•
•
•
•
Social Psychology
Cognition
Perception
Developmental
Psychology
Stages of Moral Development
Lawrence 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 Development
Moral 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 Development
Moral 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 Development
Level 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 Development
Level 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 Development
Level 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 Development
Is 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 Development
Is 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 Development
Is 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 Development
Is 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 Development
Is it Universal?
Kohlberg’s Moral Development
Is 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 Piety
A love and respect for one's parents and
ancestors
Some useful resources
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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.