Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T10:27:39.973Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cultural congruence between investigators and participants masks the unknown unknowns: Shame research as an example

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2010

Daniel M. T. Fessler
Daniel M. T. Fessler
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553. dfessler@anthro.ucla.eduhttp://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/fessler/
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In addition to questions of the representativeness of Western, educated samples vis-à-vis the rest of humanity, the prevailing practice of studying individuals who are culturally similar to the investigator entails the problem that key features of the phenomena under investigation may often go unrecognized. This will occur when investigators implicitly rely on folk models that they share with their participants.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 33 , Issue 2-3 , June 2010 , pp. 92
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Darwin, C. (1872) The expression of the emotions in man and animals. J. Murray.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekman, P. & Friesen, W. V. (1971) Constants across cultures in the face and emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 17(2):124–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fessler, D. M. T. (2004) Shame in two cultures: Implications for evolutionary approaches. Journal of Cognition and Culture 4(2):207–62.Google Scholar
Fessler, D. M. T. (2007) From appeasement to conformity: Evolutionary and cultural perspectives on shame, competition, and cooperation. In: The self-conscious emotions: Theory and research, ed. Tracy, J. L., Robins, R. W. & Tangney, J. P., pp. 174–93. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Kitayama, S. & Markus, H. R., eds. (1994) Emotion and culture: Empirical studies of mutual influence. American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, R. I. (1973) Tahitians: Mind and experience in the Society Islands. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lutz, C. (1988) Unnatural emotions: Everyday sentiments on a Micronesian atoll and their challenge to Western theory. University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mesquita, B. & Frijda, N. H. (1992) Cultural variations in emotions: A review. Psychological Bulletin 112(2):179–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tangney, J. P. & Dearing, R. L. (2002) Shame and guilt. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Tracy, J. L. & Robins, R. W. (2008) The nonverbal expression of pride: Evidence for cross-cultural recognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 94(3):516–30.Google Scholar
Wallbott, H. G. & Scherer, K. R. (1986) How universal and specific is emotional experience? Evidence from 27 countries on five continents. Social Science Information 25(4):763–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar