Causality among Cross-Cultural Correlations: A Psychological Interpretation

Abstract

& o m i c r o n ; Janet Reis received the Ph.D. degree in Psychology at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and is now studying at Northwestern University on a post-doctoral fellowship. Her interests are mainly in crosscultural research and sex differences.Cross-cultural research has produced a number of problematical correlations between personality and cultural variables Efforts to explain these correlational relationships have been hampered by the old causality difficulty—that association does not yield knowledge of cause. Interpretation of these statistical relationships requires access to other kinds of information. Evidence is gathered here from psychological research to support certain explanations of perceptual illusions, infant growth, and initiation ceremonies. The cross-disciplinary analyses provide a broader empirical base for acceptance or rejection of cross-cultural theories. IntrodcrctionThe purpose of this paper is to gather evidence from outside anthropology to support causal interpretations of some crosscultural correlations, including the Nfueller-Lyer illusion, infant growth and initiation ceremonies. Researchers hardly need to be reminded that knowledge of correlation does not yield knowledge of cause. The fact that a strong statistical relationship between two variables does not permit correct inference of cause and effect continues to plague users of correlational statistics. A common phenomenon illustrates the problem clearly. We observe that trees move in the presence of wind. The causal question has to do with the initiation of movement. Does the wind cause the trees to move, does tree movement create the wind,

Cross-Cultural Surveys Today

“…Whiting's (132) theory of cross-sex identification, originally formulated to explain male puberty rites, stimulated a large number of cross-cultural studies on the importance of the father in child development, recently reviewed by Reis (98): "Identification with males is an essential component of young boys' psychological identity formation. Denied this opportunity ... boys are left with a primary feminine identification which may prove to be troublesome.…”