Nonverbal Behavior in a Global Context Dialogue Questions and Responses

Abstract

Q1: Dr. Patterson, your research finds cultural differences in civil (in)attention in one particular context. What does this suggest about the need to consider the role of varied contexts in studying nonverbal behavior within a global context? The long history of research in social psychology clearly emphasizes the importance of situations or contexts in determining social behavior and social judgments. In fact, people from Asian and more collectivistic cultures seem to have a clearer appreciation of the role of situations in shaping behavior, compared to people from Western and more individualistic cultures. This is specifically reflected in Asians showing less of the correspondence bias in making attributions about the behavior of others. That is, Asians are typically less likely to make the automatic dispositional inference (internal attribution) for another person’s behavior and are more likely to make a situational inference (external attribution) than are Westerners. We did not specifically examine different types of contexts, such as the home or work, in studying the subtle behaviors of Japanese and American pedestrians. Thus, we do not have data on cultural differences across contexts. Nevertheless, the minimal responsiveness of Japanese pedestrians as they walked past our confederates was consistent with other research pointing to norms of reserve, caution, and saving face in relating to outgroup individuals. In contrast, this kind of behavioral or expressive restraint may be unnecessary, and even inappropriate, in interactions with other members of one’s own ingroup. Although we do not have direct evidence, it seems likely that comparable contrasting contexts would not have as large an effect on Americans. On a more general level, this suggests that the effects of culture on social behavior may well be qualified by context, that is, culture x context (situation) interactions might be common. Thus, we might find cultural differences in one kind of context, but not in another. As a result we should be cautious in assuming broad cultural differences on the basis of results from a single specific context.