In the lead article, Kashima (2014, this issue) has provided a parsimonious and elegant model of cultural transmission to account for the dynamics of cultural maintenance and cultural change. This model is thought provoking as it moves beyond the traditional cross-cultural research approach that has focused on describing how individuals are influenced, somewhat passively, by such constructs as individualism-collectivism or independent-interdependent self-construal. Taking a dynamic approach, Kashima (2014, this issue) conceptualizes culture as a collection of ideas (e.g. stereotypes, values, beliefs, behavioural scripts) that are widely shared among people within a group. Culture is not a homogenous, internally consistent, and stable system; it is dynamic with marked diversity. More importantly, the model highlights the active roles individuals play in constructing and co-constructing their own culture through meaning making. It explicates the social psychological processes through which certain cultural ideas are selected for transmission. In this commentary, we will focus on the meaning-making feature of the model. Specifically, we will discuss how the meaning-making process can be extended to understand the cultural dynamics embedded in our everyday sense-making experiences and its implications for future research.
Propagation of culture as a meaning-making processThe grounding model (Kashima, 2014, this issue) suggests that meaning making plays a central role in the cultural transmission process. One of the basic premises of the model is that only information that is deemed 'meaningful' would be transmitted within a collective. According to this model, a given piece of information can impart individuals with a sense of meaning if it can satisfy the basic human need for epistemic security (see Fu et al., 2007;Kruglanski & Webster, 1996) or the need to belong (see Baumeister & Leary, 1995;Gardner, Pickett & Brewer, 2000). The need for epistemic security can be met by information that is informative -such as knowledge that can help individuals to structure, organize, and, presumably, simplify their complex social reality. The need to belong can be fulfilled by information that is socially connective -such as messages that can strengthen social bonds and group identity. Thus, information that serves the goals of informativeness and social connectiveness would be seen as meaningful, and is likely to be transmitted within a collective of individuals.The grounding model (Kashima, 2014, this issue) further states that common ground consistent information is widely shared in the community. Thus, it is more likely to be transmitted than common ground inconsistent information because it is generally informative to newcomers and it fulfils the fundamental human need to be socially connected within a collective. Propagation of common ground consistent information leads to cultural maintenance. However, if the consistent information is perceived to be not widely shared, or if common ground inconsistent information is perce...
