Appreciating diversity – cultural and gender issues

Appreciating diversity – cultural and gender issues

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Appreciating diversity – cultural and gender issues

edited by

Aneta Chybicka and Maria Kaźmierczak

Oficyna Wydawnicza „Impuls” Cracow 2007

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© Copyright by Oficyna Wydawnicza „Impuls”, Cracow 2007

Review: prof. Márta Fülöp

Editors: Aneta Chybicka Maria Kaźmierczak

Proofread: Agnieszka Gajewska

Cover design: Andrzej Augustyński

Photos on the cover: Aneta Chybicka

ISBN 978-83-7308-888-7

Oficyna Wydawnicza „Impuls” 30-619 Cracow, ul. Turniejowa 59/5 phone (012) 422-41-80, fax (012) 422-59-47 www.impulsoficyna.com.pl, e-mail: impuls@impulsoficyna.com.pl First edition, Cracow 2007

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Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................

7

Part 1 Cultural Diversity John W. Berry, Saba Safdar Psychology of Diversity: Managing Acculturation and Multiculturalism in Plural Societies ........... 19 Kealee Playford, Saba Safdar A Comparison of Various Conceptualizations of Acculturation and the Prediction of Adaptation of International Students ..................... 37 Aneta Chybicka Assimilation and Integration as Dierent Acculturation Strategies Related to the Level of Well-being of Tibetan Refugees in India ............. 67 Saba Safdar, Anthony M. Fuller, John Rees Lewis Beyond the City Limits: An Examination of Adjustment among Immigrants in Rural Canada ...... 87 Karolina Mazurowska Developing Intercultural Sensitivity: The Case of German Expatriates in China ............................................... 107

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 Contents Hermann-Günter Hesse Dealing with Diversity: Culture Specific Intercultural Competence in the Classroom .................. 127 Paulina Petrus, Katarzyna Chojnacka, Anna Konopacka-Rzepiak Rime and Onset Productivity by Polish Elementary School Children Obtaining Mono- and Bilingual Reading Acquisition ............................. 147

Part 2 Gender, Culture and Relations Sowan Wong, Robin Goodwin Predicting Marital Satisfaction across Cultures ........................................ 171 Maria Kaźmierczak Gendered Personality – Cultural Influences ............................................ 211 Urmila Pillay, Robin Goodwin Culture as a Moderator in the Relationship between Values and Social Support ......................................................... 235 Anna Kwiatkowska, Joanna Roszak Cultural Factors in Perception of Conflicts in Close Relationships: A Cross-cultural Study ............................................................................ 251 Aneta Chybicka, Smita Sinha Do We Really Differ or We Just Assume So? Female Gender Role in Close Relation in Poland and India .................... 281 About the reviewer .................................................................................. 311 Information of authors ............................................................................ 313

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Introduction

It is enough to pay attention to a human being for him to become appealing and somehow beautiful.

Zofia Nałkowska1

We present this book to you with the aim of concentrating on the variety of human existence in two aspects: culture and gender – on human needs, relations and the values they profess. People the whole world over are connected by some universal elements regardless of the culture they were born in and the society they live in. The beauty of human nature lies in the fact that it is still not entirely discovered. Of course, the individuals living in one culture, or one society become similar to a certain extent as a result of the constant influence of social impact, for instance displaying a similar code of values, professing a certain religion. On the other hand, however, they remain individuals who make various choices and present different attitudes with their own history of life experience, with certain plans or goals in their lives. This is exactly what this book is about – about the pancultural and cultural diversity of the human being, mainly considering gender as the leitmotif of the conducted analysis.

One should ask: how this diversity is perceived by psychology as science?

Strelau (2002) emphasises that it is the genotype and also the environment that are responsible for individual differences between people. It seems that environmental impact may even influence those of our psychological resources which in the past had been considered to be permanently given. An example can be an effect known as the Flynn Effect (1987; Strelau, 2002) talking about the systematic growth in terms of intelligence quotient in different ethnic 1

Cit. after: Głuch, 2005, p. 8.

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 Introduction groups which is explained by such factors as culture, nutrition, health care development or the increasing average level of education. Also temperamental qualities seem to undergo some modifications under the influence of systematic stimulus from the environment (see: Strelau, 2006). Here, staying within the subject of this book, ethnic temperaments can be mentioned – representatives of some cultures are considered to be more vivacious, expressive or energetic as compared to other societies where the behaviour of its members is rather restrained, i.e. they react to stimuli from the environment in a less expressive manner.

Within the environmental factors it is necessary to distinguish shared and specific environments. However, it seems that first and foremost the specific environment is responsible for individual differences: that which differentiates the family members from each other (see: Strelau, 2002, 2006). Two siblings growing up in one home have one shared environment (similar atmosphere at home, economic status of the family, etc.), however, after crossing their home threshold, going out to their other peer groups and following their own unique interests, the siblings become different (specific environment) – each of them develops different qualities and abilities – some part of their individual potential. However, if we add the gender factor to this situation and assume that each of the siblings has different biological gender we can wonder to what extent, if at all, they exist in a shared environment. Many authors stipulate that from the moment of birth each of us is perceived through the prism of our biological gender. Our closest environment provides appropriate stimuli which stimulate our development in a certain direction. A girl excelling in mathematics is considered an exception which may discourage her from further development in this direction. A man who wants to work in a nursery school may arouse suspicion or ridicule. Therefore it seems that environmental influence may be diverse with regard to the gender factor. The direction in which the development of a girl/woman and a boy/man will be stimulated depends on the culture they exist in. Cultural transfers regarding gender are even seen in gender stereotypes.

Gender stereotypes are beliefs related to psychic characteristics of men and women as well as activities typical of both genders (Brannon, 2002; Wojciszke, 2004). The gender roles which relate to behaviour specific to men or women lie at the root of stereotypes. It is important to bear in mind that gender pattern is one of the prime social categorisations (see: Brannon, 2002; Wojciszke, 2004).

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Introduction



A woman is usually determined through family roles or the process of preparation for them and a man is determined through the prism of career success.

Why does this happen? Evolutionism requires that we look back at the history of the human species and follow the process of the creation of gender roles.

Different authors (among others Adamski, 1984; Buss, 2002, 2003) claim that in every society a similar process of development of romantic relationships occurred: at the beginning of creation of a given society there always existed a gender disorder (complete lack of an institution of marriage) and the ultimate form of such relationships is a monogamous marriage built by one woman and one man. A man and a woman become attracted to each other as a result of the coded preferences inherited from their forefathers. Darwin (1994) noticed that the selection of a partner consists of two processes: competition for a partner with other representatives of the same gender and preference for individuals with a set of specific qualities. Buss (2002) claims that the quality pattern desired in both genders is relatively constant in all cultures. Female representatives of different ethnic groups have similar expectations as regards a potential partner and value ambition, intelligence and responsibility – qualities which will ensure a woman and her children security and good life prospects. For men, however, qualities that indicate fertility are important, such as youth, good health and physical attractiveness – they enable the effective passing on of genes.

It seems that social roles developed in evolution under the influence of social relations may also influence the shape of the symbolic Self of a man. Sedikides and Skowronski (2004) emphasise that the symbolic Self should be differentiated from the subjective Self [based on the ability of simple differentiation of one’s own self (organism) from the environment – the ability given to all living species making appropriate reaction to stimuli (from the environment) easier] and the objective Self (assuming the necessity for adequate development of cognitive abilities, this is the self-consciousness of one’s own emotional states, knowledge etc.). Reviewing the literature, authors postulate that the symbolic Self of a grown man, besides the two above mentioned types of Self, consists of such aspects as consciousness of one’s own goals or values, roles and social relations, making choices and reacting to information from the environment or an ability for introspection. Therefore one can claim that the symbolic Self is a set of flexible and cognitively complex representations of qualities of an individual, it is

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 Introduction a system of cognitive representations, i.e. the representation of personality and its qualities in a memory system (Sedikides, Skowronski, 2004, p. 91).

The symbolic Self ensures the individual acceptance of the environment.

Sedikides and Skowronski think that development of the symbolic Self in the human species is connected with development of the intellectual-cognitive abilities of human beings as well as with habitual social interactions. Alongside the expansion of social organisation complexity a given group, adequate principles and behaviour models desired in its individual members develop. Authors consider the gender factor as one that could have played an important role in the division of labour in societies which in consequence modified group relations and distinctively directed the development of the symbolic Self of a woman and a man. Diverse social roles played by both genders could have made it easier to articulate mutual expectations and goals, improved communication in a group etc. Owing to the developed symbolic Self an individual gained the ability to foresee the consequences of his actions – he knew if a specific behaviour would receive a social reward or would be subject to social ostracism. Of course, the symbolic Self is one of many constructs used to describe different areas of self-comprehension. Mądrzycki (1996) emphasises that owing to selfcomprehension individuals distinguish themselves from others, gain abilities to control their emotional reactions or formulate plans and goals. According to Sedikides and Skowronski because of the symbolic Self, human behaviour became flexible and focused on the realisation of specific goals. Through the perspective of the subject taken up in this book one should ask oneself about the gender differences in formulating these goals and about the scope of flexibility of one’s behaviour which may be displayed by men and women in different cultures. It is noted, for instance, that women more frequently than men define themselves in terms of close interpersonal relations, they have a more relational Self (Cross, Bacon, Morris, 2000). The following research conducted in the wide field of research on masculinity and femininity proves that gender stereotypes significantly influence the process of adaptation of an individual to their environment.

The research shows that most of all small children become very strict in their criticism of other women and men (see: Brannon, 2002). According to them the behaviour of each gender should precisely correspond with the gender patterns, which they internalise during the process of socialisation. It seems that cultural stereotypes are very important carriers of culture as they make the process of adaptation to the environment easier. Brannon (2002) recapitulates

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Introduction



that for the child to reach an awareness of gender identity it has to acquire knowledge about the stability of gender-awareness, that once given, gender remains unchangeable and knowledge about the constancy of gender-awareness that the individual still has the same gender regardless of behaviour which is non-stereotypical for their biological gender or atypical appearance (for example style of dress) characteristic to the other gender. Research conducted by M. Kaźmierczak and A. Chybicka (research in progress) showed, for example, that children already a few years old described a happy woman almost always in the context of a family. The strictness in holding on to social principles defining desirable sets of behaviour and social roles for each gender evolves during a lifetime towards more flexibility in criticism of men and women, their qualities, behaviour, life choices they make, etc. (see: Brannon, 2002). However, each society still determines the desirable life choices for both genders as well as their typical qualities and the preferred set of behaviour. Abnormal social behaviour in terms of standards for men and women set by society are labelled as non-stereotypical – it is clear that gender patterns will also be in this case, the benchmark for criticism of behaviour or qualities of both genders.

The developing western civilisation seems to differentiate the content of gender patterns enabling men and women to take up different social roles without feeling guilty or experiencing other negative emotions. As the mentioned Flynn Effect described the phenomenon of the increase of society’s intelligence, we are currently observing the effect of a more and more frequent decline of gender differences in many aspects of social life. Furthermore the researchers systematically collect data to prove that there are no significant differences in the aspect of specific psychological resources between both genders, for example in intellectual abilities (three-dimensional, mathematically-logical or verbal – see: Brannon, 2002). Such an overturning of myths on differences between genders cultivated in many societies eventually leads to differentiation of behaviour designated as masculine or feminine which give both genders a greater chance for development.

Appreciation of such diversity will therefore be considered as an essential element of personal development as well as an element of enrichment of tradition of societies through, for example, their members avoiding stigmatism of different behaviour of individuals having a specific gender or belonging to specific ethnic minorities. For it seems that we do not have to view ourselves in other people who surround us as in a mirror, detect our own qualities in others, but we should rather positively value such diversity, admire this amazing mo-

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 Introduction saic of qualities displayed by other people and enrich our picture as a result of such experience, “s o t h a t w e b e c o m e a p p e a l i n g a n d s o m e h o w b e a u t i f u l”. As Johann Wolfgang Goethe once said: Everyone has something in their nature, that, if revealed to the public, must awake discontent (Głuch, 2005, p. 6).

The object of the book we present is to show in what conditions certain dissimilarity or diversity related to ethnical origin or gender may awaken such discontent and how to remedy this. At the same time we want to emphasise that such apprehension does not assume approval of all behaviour which is revealed in relations between people – it is an undeniable fact that any violence against another human being deserves the greatest condemnation. Speaking of diversity we have in mind specific qualities that are attributed to both genders or representatives of different ethic groups only because they were born this way and which impede the everyday existence of those people because they are perceived in a schematic, stereotypical way.

In the present book we decided to gather publications dealing with aspects of cultural and gender diversity. Schwartz (2006, p. 138) writes that: I view culture as the rich complex of meanings, beliefs, practices, symbols, norms and values prevalent among people in a society.

In this work cultural standards and values will be discussed in terms of social relations with consideration of the influence of ethnic diversity and the gender factor. Authors deal with issues related to important process between ethnically different social groups such as process of acculturation. In the next part the authors focus on the social perception of biological gender, on the influence of gender stereotypes on the everyday existence of human beings in different aspects of their lives, for example in the aspect of developing romantic relationships or the phenomenon of violence. In this book the authors also deal with issues related to important processes occurring between individual ethnically different social groups such as the process of acculturation.

Within the broad definition of culture this book concentrates only on some aspects of its interaction on the life of men and women or, in general, different social groups.

The book is divided into two volumes covering five parts. In the first volume – Appreciating diversity – cultural and gender issues – two main issues are discussed: cultural diversity and the influence of culture on gender roles and

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Introduction



relationships. Each part begins with the theoretical chapters followed by studies verifying the main subject ot the particular part from different perspectives.

In the first part of the book entitled Cultural diversity authors concentrate on issues related to cultures in interaction. The process of acculturation is discussed in terms of many aspects – it is shown in light of theory as well as empirical analysis. It seems that a particularly valuable element of this part is the research of authors which were conducted on ethnically diverse groups, in different countries of the world, for example China, Poland and Canada. In the second part of volume one entitled Gender, culture and relations the authors combine issues of the cultural roles of gender and cross-cultural differences in creating and maintaining social relations of different quality and character. The authors rise issues such as the quality of romantic relationships created by men and women in different countries, intercultural comparison of value systems or received support as well as the process of developing personal characteristics under the influence of gender stereotypes and culture.

In the second volume – Appreciating diversity – gender and cultural issues – the reader will find three more parts: Social construction of sex, The role of gender and culture in social processes and Violence – gender and cultural aspects. The first part of the second volume covers problems related to the process of social construcion of gender. The authors discuss the importance of gender differences in empirical studies as well as they explore issues related to the definition of biological and cultural sex and gender roles in society, including their historical context. In the next part of second volume authors discuss problems connected with the role of gender and culture in social processes. Gender differences in such social behaviour as reaction to temptation, issues related to the self-presentation of men and women in different cultures (among others by means of internet) or the consequences of individualistic and collectivistic orientations are explored. In the last part the authors analyze the problem of violence from many perspectives. They raise the issues such as violence towards females in a cross-cultural perspective, the problem of aggression towards women in families as well as they discuss the concept of psychopathy as related to violence. It is vividly shown that acts of violence have different forms and consequences for its victims.

An introduction is a good place for anecdotes related to the subject of the book. Therefore we would like to finish the introduction on such a note.

Do you know the gender of God? Now, would you believe 100 uneducated people taking part in a poll conducted in Gdańsk in Poland, said that God was

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 Introduction a man. God is a man also according to 9-year-old children and 80-year-old women. Neither the Bible nor the Catholic church in Poland teach that God has masculine qualities. On the contrary, the religious view says that God is merciful, caring, helping, supporting – many of his qualities are elements of stereotypes that determine what a woman should be like. And somehow to the representatives of both genders he seems to be a man. Of course we do realise that asking about God’s gender contains a presupposition and in this sense the question is not asked appropriately because it presupposes that God has gender. However, it is striking how everyone out of 100 uneducated people answered this question. If we asked what metal the sky is made of, most of people would deny it and say that the sky is not made of metal. Therefore for the researched people the question was not inappropriately asked. People taking part in this research tried to give an accurate answer, in their opinion. One of the respondents even said that he did not know the gender of God but surely he was not a woman. Educated people answered differently. Here, the majority said that God did not have gender or that he was simultaneously a man and a woman. It seems that with education, stereotypes weaken. We hope that this book contributes to a further weakening of stereotypes in terms of gender and intercultural differences.

We are handing over a book that is not ideological in any sense. It is a scientific discussion along many different perspectives, regarding aspects of gender, culture and nature. We hope that after reading it the question about God’s gender will awaken at least hesitation, that stereotypes surrounding the problems raised will soften a little and that it will be possible to see, after Paulo Coelho, in another human being, frequently different from us, just a human being.

In conclusion, we would like to thank the Board of Directors of the Institute of Psychology of the University of Gdańsk: Professor Dr hab. Marta Bogdanowicz, Dr hab. Beata Pastwa-Wojciechowska, Professor of UG and Dr Małgorzata Lipowska, as well as the Dean of the Faculty of Social Science at University of Gdańsk, Professor Dr hab. Henryk Machel, for their support in our work on this book due to which it has been a pleasant challenge for us.

In particular, we would like to thank our dear colleagues and co-workers from the Institute of Psychology at the University of Gdańsk – Natasza Kosakowska and Paulina Petrus who always pay attention to another human being and see the beauty in them. Aneta Chybicka would like to thank the two most important people who, thanks to the fact that they see, appreciate and support

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Introduction

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her “diversity”, help her create and fulfil her scientific and personal aspirations, one of which is this book. Therefore she thanks Janusz Fabrowski and Łukasz Chybicki. Maria Kaźmierczak thanks her parents for their support in her personal and scientific development which motivates her to further work and thanks to which her subsequent projects, such as this book, have become particularly precious to her.

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Darwin, C. (1994). The origin of species by means of natural selection: The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Głuch, W. (ed.) (2005). Skarbiec aforyzmów. Mądrość świata. Wrocław: Europa.

Mądrzycki, T. (1996). Osobowość jako system tworzący i realizujący plany. Gdańsk: GWP. Sedikides, C., & Skowroński, J. J. (2004). O ewolucyjnych funkcjach Ja symbolicznego: motyw samowartościowania. In: A. Tester, R. B. Felson, J. M. Suls (eds.). Ja i tożsamość. Perspektywa psychologiczna (pp. 90−113). Gdańsk: GWP. Strelau, J. (2002). Różnice indywidualne: opis, determinanty i aspekt społeczny. In: J. Strelau (ed.). Psychologia. Podstawy psychologii (pp. 653−681). Gdańsk: GWP. Strelau, J. (2006). Temperament jako regulator zachowania. Gdańsk: GWP. Schwartz, Sh. H. (2006). A Theory of Cultural Value Orientations: Explication and Applications. Comparative Sociology, 5, 2/3, 137−182.

Wojciszke, B. (ed.) (2004). Kobiety i mężczyźni. Odmienne spojrzenia na różnice.

Gdańsk: GWP.

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