Cultural conditioning: Understanding interpersonal accommodation in India and the United States in terms of the modal characteristics of interpersonal influence situations.

Abstract

We argue that differences between the landscapes of influence situations in Indian and American societies induce Indians to accommodate to others more often than Americans. To investigate cultural differences in situation-scapes, we sampled interpersonal influence situations occurring in India and the United States from both the influencee's (Study 1) and the influencer's (Study 2) perspectives. We found that Indian influence situations were dramatically more likely than U.S. situations to feature other-serving motives and to result in positive consequences for the relationship. Yet Study 3 found that targets of influence felt no less free to decide whether to accommodate in India than the United States, but felt more concerned about the influencer. To investigate the effects of situation-scapes on people's expectations and decisions, we exposed Indian and American participants to descriptions of situations from both societies (with their origins obscured). Study 4 found that both groups of participants expected more positive consequences from accommodation in Indian situations than in American situations. Finally, Study 5 found that both groups decided to accommodate more often in Indian situations than in American situations. At the same time, Indian participants were more likely than Americans to accommodate across all situations, but both groups converged over 100 trials as they were exposed to more and more situations drawn from each other's cultures. We interpret these effects in terms of the default decisions or biases conditioned by people's recently encountered situations.

Mere exposure affects perceived descriptive norms: Implications for personal preferences and trust

“…Past studies found that people acquire knowledge of descriptive norms through vicarious learning (Savani et al, 2011). Extending these findings, our results indicate that descriptive norms can be formed through implicit learning: The perceivers absorb information about the frequency of occurrence of a certain stimulus event in the environment as they go about their daily business without giving conscious attention to memorizing and learning per se (Seger, 1994), and infer from their idiosyncratic experiences with the stimulus event how well known it is to others.…”

“…For example, one can consult statistics to learn the percentage of business leaders who are women. Aside from explicit learning, people also acquire knowledge of the descriptive norms in a culture through observational learning (Savani, Morris, Naidu, Kumar, & Berlia, 2011). In interpersonal situations that call for decisions, other people's responses provide rewards or punishments.…”

Cross Cultural Variation in Emotion Regulation: A Systematic Review

“…It is evident in the study conducted by. 37 In this study, Indian and European students were shown a large no of interpersonal situations relevant to their culture. Results indicated that both types of situation and individual tendencies together played a crucial role in students" reactions pertaining to cultural differences.…”

When Should Advice Be Given? Assessing the Role of Sequential Placement of Advice in Supportive Interactions in Two Cultures

“…Relatedly, accommodating to others' influence attempts, especially when the influencer is believed to have an other-serving motive (e.g., helping the target solve a problem), is normative in collectivist cultures (Savani, Morris, Naidu, Kumar, & Berlia, 2011). Therefore, in a collectivisit context, people may be more receptive to advice and are less likely to expect an advice giver to prepare the ground for advice with problem inquiry and analysis.…”