Context Factors for Prosociality in Cross-national and Cross-cultural Interactions

Prosociality is fundamentally important for societies. As people from different nations and cultures become increasingly interconnected due to globalization and migration, it is vital to understand the drivers of cross-national and cross-cultural prosociality. Contributing to this endeavor, this dissertation presents empirical studies that examine contextual factors for prosociality in cross-national and cross-cultural interactions. After providing an overview of theoretical models and empirical evidence for prosociality (Chapter 2 and 3) as well as a critical reflection of the methodology (Chapter 4), the studies are presented (Chapter 5). The first study focuses on prosociality between individuals from five different nations (Chile, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, USA). The second study investigates host citizens’ prosociality towards refugees in Germany. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as an example, a further study analyzes potential changes in prosociality before vs. during a crisis. The studies yield the following results: I) People are more prosocial towards the national in-group vs. out-group; hence, prosociality is rooted in a common social identity. However, in-group favoritism is not fixed but rather can be redirected to local cultural out-groups by making a common living environment salient. II) Individuals also act prosocially towards national and cultural out-group members – the degree of prosociality depends on certain out-group characteristics (e.g., closeness, similarity). III) Prosociality increased significantly during vs. before the COVID-19 crisis in Germany; prosociality is thus sensitive to changes in the external context. The results are discussed regarding their significance for existing theories, methodological limitations, and political implications to promote cross-national and cross-cultural prosociality

Gender at Work Across Nations: Men and Women Working in Male-Dominated and Female-Dominated Occupations are Differentially Associated with Agency and Communion

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Froehlich, Olsson, Dorrough, Martiny. Gender at Work Across Nations: Men and Women Working in Male-Dominated and Female-Dominated Occupations are Differentially Associated with Agency and Communion. Journal of Social Issues (JSI). 2020;76(3):484-511, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12390. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.Occupational gender segregation is a worldwide phenomenon. Research from Western regions such as the United States and Europe shows that the observation of occupational gender segregation can perpetuate gender stereotypes (social role theory; men are ascribed agentic traits, whereas women are ascribed communal traits). However, predictions from social role theory have not been well‐tested in non‐Western nations. In a study with 1,918 participants from 10 nations systematically differing in gender inequality, we investigated the extent to which target men and women in gender‐segregated occupations are associated with stereotype‐relevant traits. Results showed that 12 preselected occupations were perceived as gender‐segregated in all nations. In line with social role theory, across nations, target men and women in male‐dominated occupations were associated with agentic traits, whereas targets in female‐dominated occupations were associated with communal traits. Targets’ gender, but not national‐level gender inequality, moderated these results. The relevance of cross‐national research for understanding gender stereotypes and pathways to reduce gender inequality are discussed

Perceptions of the appropriate response to norm violation in 57 societies

An Author Correction to this article: DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22955-x.Norm enforcement may be important for resolving conflicts and promoting cooperation. However, little is known about how preferred responses to norm violations vary across cultures and across domains. In a preregistered study of 57 countries (using convenience samples of 22,863 students and non-students), we measured perceptions of the appropriateness of various responses to a violation of a cooperative norm and to atypical social behaviors. Our findings highlight both cultural universals and cultural variation. We find a universal negative relation between appropriateness ratings of norm violations and appropriateness ratings of responses in the form of confrontation, social ostracism and gossip. Moreover, we find the country variation in the appropriateness of sanctions to be consistent across different norm violations but not across different sanctions. Specifically, in those countries where use of physical confrontation and social ostracism is rated as less appropriate, gossip is rated as more appropriate.Peer reviewe

Changes in social norms during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic across 43 countries

The emergence of COVID-19 dramatically changed social behavior across societies and contexts. Here we study whether social norms also changed. Specifically, we study this question for cultural tightness (the degree to which societies generally have strong norms), specific social norms (e.g. stealing, hand washing), and norms about enforcement, using survey data from 30,431 respondents in 43 countries recorded before and in the early stages following the emergence of COVID-19. Using variation in disease intensity, we shed light on the mechanisms predicting changes in social norm measures. We find evidence that, after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, hand washing norms increased while tightness and punishing frequency slightly decreased but observe no evidence for a robust change in most other norms. Thus, at least in the short term, our findings suggest that cultures are largely stable to pandemic threats except in those norms, hand washing in this case, that are perceived to be directly relevant to dealing with the collective threat

Anger and disgust shape judgments of social sanctions across cultures, especially in high individual autonomy societies

When someone violates a social norm, others may think that some sanction would be appropriate. We examine how the experience of emotions like anger and disgust relate to the judged appropriateness of sanctions, in a pre-registered analysis of data from a large-scale study in 56 societies. Across the world, we find that individuals who experience anger and disgust over a norm violation are more likely to endorse confrontation, ostracism and, to a smaller extent, gossip. Moreover, we find that the experience of anger is consistently the strongest predictor of judgments of confrontation, compared to other emotions. Although the link between state-based emotions and judgments may seem universal, its strength varies across countries. Aligned with theoretical predictions, this link is stronger in societies, and among individuals, that place higher value on individual autonomy. Thus, autonomy values may increase the role that emotions play in guiding judgments of social sanctions

Multinational investigation of cross-societal cooperation

In a globalized world, establishing successful cooperation between people from different nations is becoming increasingly important. We present results from a comprehensive investigation of cross-societal cooperation in one-shot prisoner’s dilemmas involving population-representative samples from six countries and identify crucial facilitators of and obstacles to cooperation. In interactions involving mutual knowledge about only the other players’ nationalities, we demonstrate that people hold strong and transnationally shared expectations (i.e., stereotypes) concerning the cooperation level of interaction partners from other countries. These expectations are the strongest determinants of participant cooperation. Paradoxically, however, they turn out to be incorrect stereotypes that even correlate negatively with reality. In addition to erroneous expectations, participants’ cooperation behavior is driven by (shared) social preferences that vary according to the interaction partner’s nationality. In the cross-societal context, these social preferences are influenced by differences in wealth and ingroup favoritism, as well as effects of specific country combinations but not by spatial distance between nations

Sex Differences Concerning Prosocial Behavior in Social Dilemmas Are (Partially) Mediated by Risk Preferences But Not Social Preferences An In-Depth Analysis Across 10 Countries

Previous results on the prosociality of men and women in social dilemmas are mixed. Studies find more prosocial behavior for men and women; and a meta-analysis (Balliet et al., 2011) reports an overall null effect. Including samples (N = 1,903) from 10 countries that vary concerning gender inequality (e.g., China, Colombia, Sweden), we investigated sex differences in social dilemmas and drivers of these potential differences. We found that men behaved more prosocially, in that they transferred more of their endowment to their interaction partner. This sex difference was descriptively observed for all countries and was partially mediated by differences in risk but not social preferences. Gender inequality did not predict the difference in magnitude of sex differences between countries

The development of ingroup favoritism in repeated social dilemmas

In two comprehensive and fully incentivized studies, we investigate the development of ingroup favoritism as one of two aspects of parochial altruism in repeated social dilemmas. Specifically, we test whether ingroup favoritism is a fixed phenomenon that can be observed from the very beginning and remains stable over time, or whether it develops (increases vs. decreases) during repeated contact. Ingroup favoritism is assessed through cooperation behavior in a repeated continuous prisoner’s dilemma where participants sequentially interact with ten members of the ingroup (own city and university) and subsequently with ten members of the outgroup (other city and university), or vice versa. In none of the experiments do we observe initial differences in cooperation behavior for interaction partners from the ingroup, as compared to outgroup, and we only observe small differences in expectations regarding the interaction partners’ cooperation behavior. After repeated interaction, however, including a change of groups, clear ingroup favoritism can be observed. Instead of being due to gradual and potentially biased updating of expectations, we found that these emerging differences were mainly driven by the change of interaction partners’ group membership that occurred after round 10. This indicates that in social dilemma settings ingroup favoritism is to some degree dynamic in that it is enhanced and sometimes only observable if group membership is activated by thinking about both the interaction with the ingroup and the outgroup

What are the positive and negative side effects of gender quotas?

To decrease inequality between men and women in the workplace, multiple European countries have introduced legislated quota regulations in favor of women. Since 2016, a gender quota has been entrenched in German law followed by a significant rise in the representation of women in target positions. But do quota regulations have additional effects on everyday work life? This article presents empirical research on positive and negative side effects of gender quota regulations. We discuss for instance effects on women’s interest in leadership positions, the performance evaluation of “quota women“, as well as group work in quota-based created teams

Cooperation in the cross-national context

In this article, we outline the current state of research concerning cooperation in the cross-national context. We present several theoretical approaches and empirical findings regarding national differences in cooperation, as well as how cooperation may depend on the national background of the interaction partner. In addition, we discuss the influence of (national) group norms, cultural similarity, and ingroup membership. This review concludes with a call for research on cooperation to include more non-WEIRD nations and more systematically cover national background as one important social category determining the willingness to cooperate