The Role of Contempt in Intercultural Cooperation

Abstract

Little is known about the proximal variables linked to the fact that intercultural interactions produce less cooperation and more competition than intracultural interactions. A recent study demonstrated that comparatively poorer performances in intercultural dyads were linked to differences in the dyad’s home country scores on Hofstede’s dimension Power Distance. This finding suggested a potential role for the emotion of contempt because Power Distance refers to the distribution of power and status in a hierarchy, and contempt is an emotion related to perceptions of hierarchical status violations. We propose that intercultural interactions make status and hierarchical differences among individuals salient, thereby eliciting contempt; elicited contempt, in turn, has detrimental effects on cooperative behaviors. We tested this idea by reanalyzing the emotion data from the recent study described above. Non-U.S. interactants, who were from relatively higher Power Distance cultures compared with their U.S. counterparts, reported more contempt than did the U.S. interactants at the start of game play. Higher presession contempt, in turn, was associated with less cooperative and more competitive behaviors initially and at the end of game play. The findings provided support for the possible asymmetrical function of contempt in intercultural interactions.