Research
In Collaboration with International Scholars, we are now conducting a variety of research projects as follows:
Project 1: Mongolian Project
We are currently investigating the socio-cultural and ecological factors that shape the mentalities of contemporary Mongolians (e.g., Masuda et al., 2022). In collaboration with scholars at the National University of Mongolia, Nagoya University, and the University of Michigan, we have conducted preliminary studies to assess the perception patterns of contemporary Mongolian teenagers and young adults. Additionally, we are also interested in the concept of culture of honour as it pertains to Mongolian society, as Mongolia has a nomadic pastoral history.
| Collaborators | Affiliations |
| Tsolmon Bayart-Od | University of Alberta |
| Shinobu Kitayama | University of Michigan |
| Sainsanaa Khurelbaatar | National University of Mongolia |
| Dulamsuren Dashzeveg | Nagoya University |
| Keiko Ishii | Nagoya University |
Project 2: Gerontology
False memory effects can be found across different situations and cultures. The effects of false memory can vary, from simply forgetting the specific spelling of a TV show name to a person being wrongfully convicted of a crime. It has been found that false memory effects can increase with age, though this has not been examined cross-culturally. This study seeks to explore the effects of culture on false memory effects specifically related to aging. The study will take place in Canada, Türkiye, and Japan, with two groups of participants in each country: the young and the old. We hope to provide greater insight into cultural differences on false memory effects and to fill a large research gap on the differences in aging across cultures.
Project 3: Culture and Emotion
Do cultural differences in patterns of attention influence the perception of emotional expression? When interpreting emotions of a target person, do East Asians take into consideration the apparent emotions or feelings of those individuals who surround the target person? And if so, do they do this to a greater degree than North Americans?
In a series of experiments, we use cartoon and real morphing pictures consisting of five children. We measured the extent to which the perception of a central figure’s emotion could be influenced by changes in the facial expressions of the background figures. Thus far, we have found that the interpretations of Japanese participants are more likely than their American counterparts to be influenced by contextual changes (Masuda, Leu, Ellsworth, Mesquita, Tanida & Veerdonk, 2008; Masuda, Wang, Ishii, & Ito, 2012). Now, we further extend this line of research by examining types of context which influence even North American’s emotion judgment (Ito, Masuda, & Hioki, 2012; Ito & Masuda, 2013). In addition, in collaboration with scholars at business schools, we investigate whether this cultural variations in emotion judgment is observable even in business settings (Masuda, Argo, Hioki, Ito, & Senzaki, in preparation).
Another line of study attempts to answer the following question: If the intensity of facial expression differs across cultures, do these variations influence how people infer emotions from facial expressions? So far, we found that people in cultures where expression management is the norm evaluated the information appearing around the eyes, because emotional expression in that area is more difficult to control. In contrast, in cultures where overt emotional expression is the norm, people would evaluate the mouth area, which creates the most dynamic changes in facial expression (Yuki, Maddux, and Masuda, 2007; Masuda, Wang, Ito, Senzaki, Ishii, & Yuki, in preparation).
| Collaborators | Affiliations |
| Jennifer Argo, PhD | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Ken-Ichi Ito, PhD | Nanyang Technological University , Singapore |
| Koichi Hioki | Kobe University, Japan |
| Keiko Ishii | Kobe University, Japan |
| Senzaki Sawa, PhD | University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, USA |
| Masaki Yuki, PhD | Hokkaido University, Japan |
Project 4: Culture and Aesthetics
The creation of aesthetic expressions is considered to be a human universal. This project investigates the patterns of variation that emerge when comparing aesthetic expressions produced by different cultures. Previous research suggests that people’s aesthetic styles are influenced by the dominant patterns of visual attention developed in their respective cultural worldviews (Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008; Wang, Masuda, Ito, & Rashid, 2012). In this line of study, we are investigating the developmental course of which culturally dominant aesthetic patterns emerge. So far, the data has indicated the concept of horizon is understood at around age 8 or 9 (Grade 3) and that East Asian children from grades 4 onwards locate the horizon progressively higher than their North American counterparts. The current study examines the cultural differences in aesthetic patterns found in landscape images produced by children living in geographically and ecologically similar regions of Canada, Japan, and Mongolia. To date, we have collected over 500 images from children in grades 1-12. We are currently in the process of collecting more data from Japanese and Mongolian students before starting the data analysis.
| Collaborators | Affiliations |
| Kristina Nand | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Senzaki Sawa, PhD | University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, USA |
| Satoshi Akutsu, PhD | Hitotsubashi University, Japan |
| Huaitang Wang, PhD | Alberta Government, Canada |
Project 5: Soccer and Decision-Making
From your school physical education class to FIFA, soccer has always had a global reach in varying populations and ages. Being a staple sport, people around the world tend to look for the best ways to maximize success in the game by looking for the best course of player action. Consequently, this often drives emphasis away to highlight why players behave in certain ways. What makes a soccer player prefer to shoot or pass the ball? This project investigates if Higgins’ theories of promotion-oriented and prevention-oriented decision-making affects soccer players’ behaviour on the field. We are examining individual variations in soccer game decisions, and whether they correlate to regulatory focus theory (Higgins 1997). We hope this research provides novel insight to coaches allowing them a deeper understanding of why their players act in specific ways during the game. Eventually, we hope to relate these new findings to the epistemological development of cultural worldviews, highlighting potential decision-making variations between cultures.
| Collaborators | Affiliations |
| Nick Nitafan | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Brooklyn Chantry | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Tim Nakatsu | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Kaiyoshi Iglesias | University of Alberta, Canada |
Project 6: Culture and Stress Coping
Whether it be a fastly approaching assignment deadline, or dealing with pressure from supervisors at work, stress is something that impacts people from all walks of life. However, the way in which people perceive stress or deal with it can differ across cultures. In the Culture and Cognition Lab, we investigate cultural variations in stress perception and coping strategies between East Asians and North Americans. We have demonstrated that European Canadians mainly use primary coping strategies that involve the individual directly influencing their own environment as opposed to secondary coping strategies where individuals try to adapt to fit their environment in order to lower stress levels. In contrast East Asian Canadians and Japanese participants showed a more balanced approach to dealing with stress through endorsing both primary and secondary coping strategies (Han et al., 2022). We expanded this line of stress coping research by investigating cultural differences in the ways European Canadians and East Asian Canadians cope with threats to their body image. European Canadians tend to endorse Appearance Fixing strategies, seen as a coping strategy involving primary control by actively changing the situation. In contrast, East Asian Canadians tend to endorse Positive Rational Acceptance which involves adapting to the existing situation by altering their mindset, as seen in secondary control. We maintain that this line of study has multiple implications for advancing emerging fields of clinical cultural psychology that deal with how stress coping strategies vary across cultures.
| Collaborators | Affiliations |
| Leah Wojcik | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Shaneen Jamal | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Nishat Nawsheen | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Pragya Varma | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Madisyn Bundschuh | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Liora Boruchovich | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Satomi Shirakaki | University of Alberta, Canada |
Project 7: Sports Cultural Psychology
Sports in its paradigmatic form is a leisurely physical activity; nevertheless, it extends beyond this by connecting people from all corners of the world through competition. The question now becomes if there are cultural differences in the psychological processes in athletes? What about sport recreationalists? The purpose of this project is to explore this question by specifically addressing the potential cultural variations in motivation maintenance, decision making, skill mastering and visual perception during a game. We are interested in cultural differences in psychological processes (Yasuda, Masuda, et al. 2022). We examine if there are any variations as to the use of self-promotion vs self-prevention strategies in sports between North American cultures and East Asian cultures. This research will provide insightful outcomes for coaching youth from different cultural backgrounds, aid in maintaining mental health in professional sports and hopefully help all athletes enhance their overall performance.
| Collaborators | Affiliations |
| Yuto Yasuda, Ph.D. Student | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Muhammad Jamal | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Safi Shirazi | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Atharva Deshpande | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Delaney Fisher | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Brianna Mateuchev | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Jayesh Vig | University of Alberta, Canada |
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Previous Works:
Project 8: Culture and Relationship
This project examines how cultures influence people’s experience in different social relationships. In order to have a comprehensive understanding, we use different perspectives in our studies. First, we, with collaboration with Dr. Kenichi Ito, examined whether perceived norms of help seeking and perceived norms of help seeking in one’s society affected expectations of closeness in friendships between East Asians and North Americans (Ito, Masuda, Komiya, & Hioki, under review). Specifically, we found the perception of relational costs was primarily important East Asians whey they considered about help seeking. In addition, the perceived norm of seeking help was positively associated with expectation of closeness in friendships. We extend our research on friendship experience to enemyship experience from a socio-ecological perspective. We are currently conducting research to examine the potential influence of relational mobility on enemyship strategies among East Asians and North Americans (Li & Masuda, in preparation).
| Collaborators | Affiliations |
| Liman Man Wai Li | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Ken-Ichi Ito | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore |
Project 9: Culture and Child Development–The Child-Parent Project
Developmental psychologists have advocated theoretical frameworks of socialization processes (Azuma, 1994; Greenfield & Bruner, 1969; Rogoff, 1993, 2003; Vigotsky, 1930/1978), and cultural psychologists are now starting to demonstrate in what ways culturally divergent patterns of attention are developed through socialization practices (Imada, Carlson, & Itakura, 2013; Senzaki & Masuda, under review; Senzaki, Masuda, Shimizu, Takada, & Okada, 2013; Masuda, Shimizu, Senzaki, & Takada, 2013). For example, Senzaki et al. (2013) investigated the development and transmission of culturally specific attentional patterns, while focusing on parent–child socialization practices as the source of cultural differences in visual attention in Canada and Japan. The results indicated that when parents and children jointly engaged in the same visual attention task, cultural differences emerged, and this effect was especially strong in the case of 8-year-old and older children: Children showed cross-cultural differences in their attentional patterns, mirroring those of their parents (i.e., object-oriented in Canada and context-sensitive in Japan). This is indirect evidence of “scaffolding processes” (Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976). With their parents’ help, older children imitate the ways of attention held by mature members of the society. We further intend to investigate (1) when, and (2) how children internalize culturally unique attentional patterns. To answer these questions, we have assembled a research team in collaboration with three developmental psychologists both in Japan (Dr. Itakura, Dr. Shimizu) and in the US (Dr. Senzaki).
| Collaborators | Affiliations |
| Senzaki Sawa, PhD | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Matt Russell | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Kristina Nand | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Yuki Shimizu, PhD | Saitama University, Japan |
| Shoji Itakura, PhD | Kyoto University, Japan |
| Akira Takada, PhD | Kyoto University, Japan |
| Yukiko Uchida, PhD | Kyoto University, Japan |
| Hiroyuki Okada, PhD | Tamagawa University, Japan |
Project 10: Culture and Attention
We have investigated cultural variations in visual attention, and examined whether East Asians are more likely than North Americans to attend to context. In a variety of experiments, we have demonstrated that East Asians are more attentive than North Americans to contextual and relational information (Masuda & Nisbett, 2001; 2006; Nisbett & Masuda, 2003). We are continuing to investigate the underlying mechanisms of cultural variation in perception. For example, we have conducted eye-tracking studies in collaboration with Dr. Sawa Senzaki (University of Wisconsin, Green Bay), which support these differential patterns of attention (e.g. Senzaki, Masuda, & Ishii, 2013). These results suggest that cultural variations in basic perceptual processes may be deeply rooted.Currently, we are investigating these differences under the frameworks of culture and neuroscience (e.g. Masuda, Russell, Chen, Hioki, & Caplan, 2013)
| Collaborators | Affiliations |
| Matthew Russell | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Jeremey Caplan | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Keiko Ishii | Kobe University, Japan |
| Yvonne Chen | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Koichi Hioki | Kobe University, Japan |
Project 11: Culture and Judgment
his project extends our research on culture and perception to applied research. We obtained evidence that East Asians were more context-sensitive when they made attribution of others’ behaviors relative to North Americans (Masuda & Kitayama, 2004). Recently, we focus on how cultural variation on perception and attention may affect the judgment and decision-making processes. First, we found East Asians and North Americans used different strategy for information-searching process in decision making, in which East Asians searched both important and unimportant information (Li, Masuda, & Russell, in preparation). Secondly, East Asians were more likely to allocate resources for all possible alternatives whereas North Americans primarily allocated resources to the most possible alternative (Li & Masuda, in preparation). Finally, we found correlational and experimental evidence that showed cultural meaning system, dialecticism, affected indecisiveness among East Asians and North Americans (Li, Masuda, & Russell, in preparation).
| Collaborators | Affiliations |
| Liman Man Wai Li | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Takashi Hamamura | Chinese University of Hong Kong, China |