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"Cognition and culture Economic aspects."
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Rational ritual
Why do Internet, financial service, and beer commercials dominate Super Bowl advertising? How do political ceremonies establish authority? Why does repetition characterize anthems and ritual speech? Why were circular forms favored for public festivals during the French Revolution? This book answers these questions using a single concept: common knowledge.
Game theory shows that in order to coordinate its actions, a group of people must form \"common knowledge.\" Each person wants to participate only if others also participate. Members must have knowledge of each other, knowledge of that knowledge, knowledge of the knowledge of that knowledge, and so on. Michael Chwe applies this insight, with striking erudition, to analyze a range of rituals across history and cultures. He shows that public ceremonies are powerful not simply because they transmit meaning from a central source to each audience member but because they let audience members know what other members know. For instance, people watching the Super Bowl know that many others are seeing precisely what they see and that those people know in turn that many others are also watching. This creates common knowledge, and advertisers selling products that depend on consensus are willing to pay large sums to gain access to it. Remarkably, a great variety of rituals and ceremonies, such as formal inaugurations, work in much the same way.
By using a rational-choice argument to explain diverse cultural practices, Chwe argues for a close reciprocal relationship between the perspectives of rationality and culture. He illustrates how game theory can be applied to an unexpectedly broad spectrum of problems, while showing in an admirably clear way what game theory might hold for scholars in the social sciences and humanities who are not yet acquainted with it.
In a new afterword, Chwe delves into new applications of common knowledge, both in the real world and in experiments, and considers how generating common knowledge has become easier in the digital age.
eBook
Blind spots
When confronted with an ethical dilemma, most of us like to think we would stand up for our principles. But we are not as ethical as we think we are. In Blind Spots, leading business ethicists Max Bazerman and Ann Tenbrunsel examine the ways we overestimate our ability to do what is right and how we act unethically without meaning to. From the collapse of Enron and corruption in the tobacco industry, to sales of the defective Ford Pinto and the downfall of Bernard Madoff, the authors investigate the nature of ethical failures in the business world and beyond, and illustrate how we can become more ethical, bridging the gap between who we are and who we want to be.
eBook
Entrepreneurial Storytelling, Future Expectations, and the Paradox of Legitimacy
Prior research highlights storytelling as a means for entrepreneurs to establish venture legitimacy and gain stakeholder support. We extend this line of research by examining the role that projective stories play in setting expectations and the dynamics that ensue. Such attention highlights a paradox—the very expectations that are set through projective stories to gain venture legitimacy can also serve as the source of future disappointments. Because of inherent uncertainties that projective stories mask, ventures will likely deviate from their early projections, thereby disappointing stakeholders. This, in turn, can result in a loss of legitimacy. Recognizing that entrepreneurship is an ongoing process, we examine the constraints and possibilities of maintaining or regaining legitimacy through revised storytelling. We conclude the paper with implications for research on entrepreneurial storytelling as an ongoing process.
Journal Article
Organizational Learning: From Experience to Knowledge
Organizational learning has been an important topic for the journal
Organization Science
and for the field. We provide a theoretical framework for analyzing organizational learning. According to the framework, organizational experience interacts with the context to create knowledge. The context is conceived as having both a latent component and an active component through which learning occurs. We also discuss current and emerging research themes related to components of our framework. Promising future research directions are identified. We hope that our perspective will stimulate future work on organizational learning and knowledge.
Journal Article
Mind matters: a comparative study of self-reported severity of depression and cognitive symptoms in China and the USA
Background
Individuals’ interpretations of health are inherently subjective, influenced by diverse cultural background and upbringing. This study aimed to examine differences in self- reported severity of depression and cognitive symptoms among middle-aged and older adults from China and the United States.
Methods
With data on middle-aged and older adults from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), Health and Retirement Study (HRS), and the Disability Vignette Survey (DVS), we conducted estimations utilizing generalized ordered probit models. These models captured respondents’ ratings of each vignette character’s health problem. To account for reporting heterogeneity in depression and cognitive severity, we subsequently applied a hierarchical ordered probit model for adjustment.
Results
Compared to US respondents, Chinese respondents exhibited lower mean scores in self-rated depression and cognitive severity for both themselves and the vignette characters. Upon adjusting the results for reporting heterogeneity, it became evident that Chinese respondents experienced more pronounced depression (β = 0.202,
p
< 0.001) yet displayed better cognitive status (β = -0.239,
p
< 0.001) compared to their US counterparts. Notably, the thresholds employed by respondents to assess depression and cognitive status displayed systematic variations between the two countries, often showing non-parallel shifts (
p
< 0.05). Middle-aged and older adults in China maintained lower health assessment standards or expectations when compared to their US counterparts. Additionally, higher levels of education exerted a positive and protective influence on depression and cognitive status for individuals in both China and the United States. It’s important to note that the effects of urban-rural areas and living arrangements varied across these populations.
Conclusions
Significant disparities were observed in self-rated levels of depression and cognitive severity between middle-aged and older adults in China and the United States. Moreover, these disparities extended to the criteria utilized in their assessments. Addressing mental health interventions and management for this demographic in both countries should be prioritized and bolstered.
Journal Article
Interventions to improve health literacy among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples: a systematic review
Background
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to experience poorer health outcomes than other population groups. While data specific to Indigenous Australians are scarce, a known social health literacy gradient exists linking low health literacy and poor health outcomes within many minority populations. Improving health literacy among Indigenous Australians is an important way to support self-determination and autonomy in both individuals and communities, by enhancing knowledge and improving health outcomes. This review aims to rigorously examine the effectiveness of health literacy interventions targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Methods
A systematic review across six databases (The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, SCOPUS, ProQuest Dissertation and Thesis and Web of Science) was performed for publications evaluating interventions to improve health literacy among Indigenous Australian adults using search terms identifying a range of related outcomes.
Results
Of 824 articles retrieved, a total of five studies met the eligibility criteria and were included in this review. The included studies evaluated the implementation of workshops, structured exercise classes and the provision of discounted fruit and vegetables to improve nutrition, modify risk factors for chronic diseases, and improve oral health literacy. All interventions reported statistically significant improvement in at least one measured outcome. However, there was limited involvement of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members in the research process and participant retention rates were sub-optimal.
Conclusion
There is limited evidence on interventions to improve health literacy in Indigenous Australian adults. Participation in interventions was often suboptimal and loss to follow-up was high. Future studies co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members are needed to improve health literacy in this population.
Journal Article
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: How Negative External Evaluations Can Shorten Organizational Time Horizons
Researchers have endeavored to explain the causes of short organizational time horizons because of the organizational and societal costs of corporate short-termism. These explanations, however, tend to confound cognitive with behavioral explanations, which masks the importance of cognitive biases. We address this oversight by situating our work in prospect theory and organizational search, which underscores the importance of external evaluations on organizational time horizons and the asymmetry of positive and negative evaluations. Specifically, we argue that negative evaluations will shorten organizational time horizons more than positive evaluations will lengthen them. In our research context of financial analysts, this means that “sell” recommendations will shorten time horizons more than “buy” recommendations will lengthen them. Our main thesis can help to explain rising short-termism among some publicly traded companies. We operationalize organizational time horizons by the language managers use during 3,136 quarterly earnings conference calls. We test our main hypothesis and other timing-related moderating effects on 98 extractives firms from 2006 to 2013.
Journal Article
Academic production of east Asian sinologists from the perspective of cultural psychology
This study investigates the academic productivity of East Asian Sinologists through the lens of cultural psychology. By employing a mixed-methods approach involving qualitative and quantitative analyses, the study investigates Sinological studies across diverse Western cultural backgrounds and the scholarly outputs of East Asian Sinologists. A systematic literature review and comparative analysis are conducted to gather comprehensive data. Face-to-face interviews and questionnaires facilitate in-depth discussions with East Asian Sinologists, capturing their perspectives and cognitive processes. Quantitative analyses, including correlation and regression, unveil a significant influence of shared cultural backgrounds on the research outcomes of East Asian Sinologists. Analysis of survey data and statistical examinations reveals the pivotal influence of cultural factors on Sinologists’ scholarly output. Findings demonstrate a notable correlation between individuals’ cultural identity and academic performance, highlighting the significance of emotional factors in fostering academic creativity. The study underscores the relevance of cultural psychology in comprehending academic productivity and advocates for strengthened cross-cultural research collaboration.
Journal Article
Socioeconomic Variation in Motivations for Ritual Practice
This paper investigates socioeconomic variation in motivations for ritual practices among Mauritian Hindus. Using cultural domain analysis, we explore individuals’ reported reasons for engaging in a variety of religious rituals. Our findings demonstrate significant intra-cultural diversity driven by social stratification. Specifically, we observe that those of lower social standing appear primarily motivated by existential concerns related to material security and safety, while higher-status individuals view these practices as platforms for personal and social enrichment, as they are more preoccupied with self-actualization, spiritual connection, and social affirmation, reflecting a more abstract engagement with religious practices. Our findings reveal the adaptability of ritual practices to meet a wide range of human needs across varying life circumstances, as rituals can be differentially negotiated by individuals within the same cultural context depending on the specific socioecological niches they occupy. Moreover, they highlight the role of culture as a dynamic and distributed system with important implications for anthropological theory and practice.
Journal Article