Cross-Cultural Studies Into Gambling Consumption Behavior: Eyeing Eye-Tracking Measures

“Every man's ability may be strengthened or increased by culture”—John Abbot (Textappeal, 2017). While data aggregated from gambling operators have shown cross-cultural differences in the behavior of their customers (CasinoBeats, 2020), in recent years research into gambling consumption has been strengthened and enriched by studies uncovering the roles of culture in shaping gambling relevant phenomena (Oei et al., 2019). These studies were commonly based on data collected through survey questionnaires (e.g., Rinker et al., 2016; Calado et al., 2020) or interviews (e.g., Radermacher et al., 2016; Egerer and Marionneau, 2019). In the present opinion paper, it is argued that eye-tracking measurements should also be adopted in cross-cultural gambling research, particularly given the systematic differences in visual attentional patterns that potentially exist among gambling product consumers from different cultures

Culture, education and cognition : a review and discussion of Chinese versus American cognitive styles

We propose that differences in the education practices prevalent in China and America are an important source of cognitive differentiation, and suggest that future research could benefit from greater exploration of 'experienced educational style'. Drawing on the literature in developmental psychology, we present an integrated model of cognitive development that appreciates both the influence of the individual's maturation process and the influence of society, as manifested particularly within the educational system. An important implication of the model is that school systems provide a natural arena for studying cross-cultural differences in cognition. We then present a comparative analysis of Chinese and North American school systems, focusing on three key elements: memorization versus abstraction as a key learning strategy, centralized/authoritarian versus decentralized/participatory classroom structures, and emphasis on mathematical versus verbal skills. We map these differences in school practices onto reported differences in Chinese and American thinking and decision styles including the use of holistic versus analytic reasoning, the tendency for information elaboration, and the assessment of risk. We draw implications of our analysis for cross-cultural differences in consumer behavior

Transitory determinants of values and decisions : the utility (or nonutility) of individualism and collectivism in understanding cultural differences

The determinants and effects of cultural differences in the values described by individualism-collectivism were examined in a series of four experiments. Confirmatory factor analyses of a traditional measure of this construct yielded five independent factors rather than a bi-polar structure. Moreover, differences between Hong Kong Chinese and European Americans in the values defined by these factors did not consistently coincide with traditional assumptions about the collectivistic vs. individualistic orientations. Observed differences in values were often increased when situational primes were used to activate 1) concepts associated with a participant's own culture and 2) thoughts reflecting a self-orientation (i.e., self- vs. group-focus) that is typical in this culture. While the values we identified are helpful in clarifying the structure of the individualism-collectivism construct, they did not account for cultural differences in participants' tendency to compromise in a behavioral decision task. In combination, these results raise questions about the utility of individualism and collectivism in characterizing cultural differences in norms and values and in predicting cultural differences in decision making and other behaviors

Reasons as Carriers of Culture: Dynamic vs. Dispositional Models of Cultural Influence on Decision Making

We argue that a way culture influences decisions is through the reasons that individuals recruit when required to explain their choices. Specifically, we propose that cultures endow individuals with different rules or principles that provide guidance for making decisions, and a need to provide reasons activates such cultural knowledge. This proposition, representing a dynamic rather than dispositional view of cultural influence, is investigated in studies of consumer decisions that involve a tradeoff between diverging attributes, such as low price and high quality. Principles enjoining compromise are more salient in East-Asian cultures than in North American culture, and accordingly, we predict that cultural differences in the tendency to choose compromise options will be greater when the decision test requires that participants provide reasons. In Study 1, a difference between Hong Kong Chinese and North American participants in the tendency to select compromise products emerged only when they were asked to explain their decisions, with the Hong Kong decisions makers more likely and Americans less likely to compromise. Content analysis of participants' reasons confirmed that cultural differences in the frequency of generating particular types of reasons mediated the difference in choices. Studies 2 and 3 replicate the interactive effect of culture and the need to provide reasons in a comparison of North American versus Japanese participants and in a comparison on European-American and Asian-American participants, respectively. Study 4 and 5 found that Hong Kong Chinese participants, compared with Americans, evaluate proverbs and the reasons of others more positively when these favor compromise. We discuss the value of conceptualizing cultural influences in terms of dynamic strategies rather than as dispositional tendencies

Reasons as Carriers of Culture: Dynamic vs. Dispositional Models of Cultural Influence on Decision Making

We argue that a way culture influences decisions is through the reasons that individuals recruit when required to explain their choices. Specifically, we propose that cultures endow individuals with different rules or principles that provide guidance for making decisions, and a need to provide reasons activates such cultural knowledge. This proposition, representing a dynamic rather than dispositional view of cultural influence, is investigated in studies of consumer decisions that involve a tradeoff between diverging attributes, such as low price and high quality. Principles enjoining compromise are more salient in East-Asian cultures than in North American culture, and accordingly, we predict that cultural differences in the tendency to choose compromise options will be greater when the decision test requires that participants provide reasons. In Study 1, a difference between Hong Kong Chinese and North American participants in the tendency to select compromise products emerged only when they were asked to explain their decisions, with the Hong Kong decisions makers more likely and Americans less likely to compromise. Content analysis of participants' reasons confirmed that cultural differences in the frequency of generating particular types of reasons mediated the difference in choices. Studies 2 and 3 replicate the interactive effect of culture and the need to provide reasons in a comparison of North American versus Japanese participants and in a comparison on European-American and Asian-American participants, respectively. Study 4 and 5 found that Hong Kong Chinese participants, compared with Americans, evaluate proverbs and the reasons of others more positively when these favor compromise. We discuss the value of conceptualizing cultural influences in terms of dynamic strategies rather than as dispositional tendencies.

Subjective impressions of minority group representation in the media: A comparison of majority and minority viewers' judgments and underlying processes

Consumers' judgments of the frequency with which members of an ethnic minority are represented in advertisements can depend on the processing strategies they employ both at the time the ads are first encountered and at the time the judgments are reported. These strategies, in turn, can depend on whether the consumers personally belong to the minority group in question. European American and African American participants received a series of advertisements that varied in terms of the relative numbers of Black and White models that were portrayed. European Americans overestimated the number of Black models that appeared in the ads when the actual incidence of these models was low, but this overestimation decreased (and thus they became more accurate) as the number of ads containing these models increased. In contrast, African Americans were accurate when only a small number of Black models were presented, but became less accurate as the actual incidence of the models became greater. European Americans apparently based their estimates on the ease of recalling individual instances at the time of judgment, whereas African Americans appeared to perform an online tally of the number of Black models shown at the time they encountered them

Cross-cultural studies Into gambling consumption behavior: Eyeing eye-tracking measures

“Every man's ability may be strengthened or increased by culture”—John Abbot (Textappeal, 2017). While data aggregated from gambling operators have shown cross-cultural differences in the behavior of their customers (CasinoBeats, 2020), in recent years research into gambling consumption has been strengthened and enriched by studies uncovering the roles of culture in shaping gambling relevant phenomena (Oei et al., 2019). These studies were commonly based on data collected through survey questionnaires (e.g., Rinker et al., 2016; Calado et al., 2020) or interviews (e.g., Radermacher et al., 2016; Egerer and Marionneau, 2019). In the present opinion paper, it is argued that eye-tracking measurements should also be adopted in cross-cultural gambling research, particularly given the systematic differences in visual attentional patterns that potentially exist among gambling product consumers from different cultures