Cultural Dimensions of Behavior

Cultural Dimensions of Behavior

• Power distance index shows very high scores for Latin and Asian countries, African areas and the Arab world. On the other hand Anglo and Germanic countries have a lower power distance (only 11 for Austria and 18 for Denmark).

For example, the United States has a 40 on the cultural scale of Hofstede’s analysis. Compared to Guatemala where the power distance is very high (95) and Israel where it is very low (13), the United States is in the middle.

In Europe, power distance tends to be lower in northern countries and higher in southern and eastern parts: for example, 90 for Romania, 57 for Spain vs. 31 for Sweden and 35 for the United Kingdom.

• Regarding the individualism index, there is a clear gap between developed and Western countries on one hand, and less developed and eastern countries on the other. North America and Europe can be considered as individualistic with relatively high scores: for example, 80 for Canada and Hungary. In contrast, Asia, Africa and Latin America have strong collectivistic values: Colombia scores only 13 points on the IDV scale, and Indonesia 14. The greatest contrast can be drawn comparing two extreme countries on this dimension: 6 points for Guatemala vs. 91 points score for the United States. Japan and the Arab world have middle values on this dimension.

• Uncertainty avoidance scores are the highest in Latin American countries, Southern and Eastern Europe countries including German speaking countries, and Japan. They are lower for Anglo, Nordic, and Chinese culture countries. However few countries have very low UAI. For example, Germany has a high UAI (65) and Belgium even more (94) compared to Sweden (29) or Denmark (23) despite their geographical proximity.

• Masculinity is extremely low in Nordic countries: Norway scores 8 and Sweden only 5. In contrast, Masculinity is very high in Japan (95), and in Europ  ean countries like Hungary, Austria and Switzerland influenced by German culture. In the Anglo world, masculinity scores are relatively high with 66 for the United Kingdom for example. Latin countries present contrasting scores: for example Venezuela has a 73 point score whereas Chile’s is only 28.

• High long term orientation scores are typically found in East Asia, with China having 118, Hong Kong 96 and Japan 88. They are moderate in Eastern and Western Europe, and low in the Anglo countries, the Muslim world, Africa and in Latin America. However there is less data about this dimension.

• There is even less data about the sixth dimension. Indulgence scores are highest in Latin America, parts of Africa, the Anglo world and Nordic Europe; restraint is mostly found in East Asia, Eastern Europe and the Muslim world.

How Stereotypes Defeat the Stereotyped.

STEREOTYPE THREAT

When some members of stigmatized are faced with stressful situations, expect themselves to do worse. And through these expectations it produces stress and threaten cognitive function, which is called the 'stereotype threat.'

This effect usually occurs in a variety of aged difference, and it dampens their performance. The purpose of the stereotype threat was to examine the aging effects on memory. From the experiment, we have known that people who have just entered their seventh decade are more sensitive to stereotype threat than those who have already been considered old for a decade. We can also notify that the power of stereotype is so strong that it can overwhelm many of our other traits, and your only as good as you expect to be. 

However, the good news is that research has shown that positive stereotype reinforcement may be just as powerful as any negative threat. 

From this we can impact this question. Are these lies? sure. They are psychological equivalent of political spun. The cold facts are that as you age, you will begin to lose your capacity for working memory, just as you will lose muscle mass, eye strength and balance. We call this aging, and none of us will escape it. But the new study reminds us of the power of belief; people can be persuaded to believe either positive or negative stereotypes, and it can have a real impact on their performance in life. 

For example, Women perform worse on math tests when they think the test will produce gender differences. (Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, 1999)

Analyzing Culture

Five Dimensions of Culture, and South Korea

1.)    Power Distance (PDI): It is the extent to which the powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. All societies in the individual are not equal. In South Korea, at a score of 60 PDI, it is a hierarchy society.

2.)    Individualism (IDV): It is the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members. In individualist societies people are supposed to look after themselves and their direct family one, but in collectivist societies people belong to ‘in groups’ that take care of them in exchange for loyalty. South Korea with a score of 18, it is considered a collectivist society. It is where societies fosters a strong relationships where everyone takes responsibility for fellow members of their group.

3.)    Masculinity / Femininity (MAS): In the high score it indicates that the society will be driven by competition, achievement, and success, however, a low score will show caring for others and quality at life. A score of 39 in South Korea show that we are a feminist country and we work in order to live.

4.)    Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI):  This is the way the society deals with the fact that the future can never be known. It is when the cultures feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and creates ritual beliefs to avoid these situations. As a score of 85 UAI score, South Korea is one of the most uncertainty avoiding countries in the world. Theses kinds of countries contain a rigid code of beliefs.

5.)    Long Term Orientation (LTO): The long-term orientation dimension is closely related with the teachings of Confucius and can be interpreted as dealing with society’s search for virtue. It is basically, where the society shows the sensible future perspective. South Korea obtaining a score of 75, it is considered as one of the long-term oriented societies. Usually, people live their lives guided by virtues and practical good examples.