Why do people from different cultures think differently? Explaining cultural variation in psychological traits

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Until recently, psychologists assumed that people from different societies all think in the same way as we do in the West - that there is a universal human psychology shared by everyone on the planet. However, when psychologists started testing non-Western people, rather than the American and British undergraduates who typically do psychology experiments, they found intriguing cultural differences. For example, there are differences in perception: Westerners focus on single objects, whereas non-Westerners focus on the relationships between objects. If you show a British and a Japanese person a scene containing lots of objects, the British person is subsequently better at recognising the objects if they are presented on their own, whereas the Japanese person has better memory if the object is presented in the original scene. Or differences in explaining other people's behaviour: Westerners explain behaviour of others in terms of fixed personality traits, whereas non-Westerners explain actions in terms of social contexts. A British teacher might explain a student's poor exam performance in terms of their laziness or lack of intelligence, whereas a Korean teacher might appeal instead to the overbearing pressure to succeed academically.But why do people from different cultures think differently? This is the central question addressed by this project. Several explanations are possible: it could be that psychological variation is caused by genetic differences between populations, and cognitive style is inherited genetically from parents. Alternatively, parents could have a non-genetic influence, through direct teaching or passive observation. Or psychological traits could be transmitted non-parentally, via peers, formal schooling, or the mass media.We will take advantage of a unique natural experiment to tease apart these factors: immigration. If the UK-born children of non-Western immigrants resemble their parents in their psychological traits, we can infer that those traits are transmitted from parents either genetically or culturally. If, on the other hand, they resemble local non-immigrants, then non-parental influence must be at work. We will then see whether this shift is associated with specific factors, such as years of schooling, exposure to mass media, or bilingualism.Another way of explaining psychological variation is in terms of history. For example, it has been suggested that Western individualism arose in ancient Greece as a response to solitary herding, whereas Eastern collectivism arose in ancient China as a response to collective rice farming. We will test this by simulating these conditions in the lab, as an experimental "microcosm" of cultural history, to see whether solitary action stimulates individualism and collective action stimulates collectivism.Finally, we will develop a web app that will let us test these ideas in multiple countries, beyond the UK, and specifically targeting immigrant groups. If these relationships hold across several regions, we can be more confident that they are valid. On the other hand, differences between regions might also be valuable. If immigrants acculturate faster in London than elsewhere, as suggested by pilot data, we can identify why this is, such as differences in mass media influence, bilingualism or family size.This project has major potential benefits for the successful integration of immigrants to the UK. Psychological differences can constitute a barrier to successful social and economic integration. For example, non-Western students can find it difficult to cope in Western educational systems that favour autonomy and creative thinking. Knowing the origin of these differences can help to overcome them better, for example by targeting parents (if parents have an influence) or the media (if the media plays a role).