Blackwell Reference Online

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This field of research is concerned with establishing the effects of culture upon social behavior and social cognition . It became well-established during the 1980s, as researchers sought to test how general was theapplicability of social psychological theories and findings which had mostly originated in North America ( see Berry et al., 1992 ; Bond, 1988 ; Smith & Bond, 1993 ). Its growth reflects the increasing importance of cross-cultural communication, both within multicultural societies and for those who live in, work in, study in, or visit cultures other than their own. The first stage in the development of the field involved attempts to replicate classic North American studies in other countries. These rather frequently showed that the effects obtained were not the same as in the original studies. This gave way to a second stage in which studies were mounted concurrently in two or more countries and increasingly to a third stage in which the locations of the populations selected for study are determined by reasons based on relevant theory, rather than by convenience. A prerequisite for worthwhile cross-cultural studies in social psychology is an adequate definition of culture, and a means of classifying different national cultures. The most influential attempt to provide these has been that of Hofstede (1980) . He defined culture as “the collective programming ... log in or subscribe to read full text