ERQ Topic: Discuss the role that one cultural dimension may have on behaviour.

Note that the same approach could be taken for Discuss effects of culture on behaviour

Sample 1
Cultural dimensions are aspects of a culture that are made up of cultural norms. It is important to
understand these cultural dimensions in order to facilitate negotiations and communication between
nations and communities. A handshake in the Western world signifies the closing of the deal
whereas in Russia it does not signify anything particular other than business is taking place. This is
an example of a difference in cultural dimensions that can lead to a misunderstanding.
There are several cultural dimensions. There is power distance. This focuses on how much people
respect authority and rules. Russia has a high power distance. There is also uncertainty avoidance
in which people do not like ambiguity. They want to be told what to do. Then there is masculinity
and femininity. Masculine cultures value work. Then there is time orientation. This dimension is
about whether one saves money for the future or only lives in the moment.
This essay will focus on the cultural dimensions of collectivism vs. individualism. A person in a
collectivist society will tend to identify strongly with the community. In collectivist societies working
together is important. Individualistic cultures focus on the individual.
This cultural dimension of collectivism vs. individualism affects social identity theory, memory, and
also conformity. Berry found that Inuits from Canada conformed significantly less than a tribe from
Sierra Leone. The Inuits had a more individualistic society where success depended more on
individual hunting as opposed to the Sierra Leone people who have a more collectivist society.
Survival in Sierra Leone depended on the annual harvest that everyone had to work for together.
However, this study is problematic because the participants were deceived during the Asch test.
When they found out that they had conformed after being lied to by the researcher, they could have
been emotionally traumatized. This is a serious ethical consideration that makes the results less
valid.
However, from these results, we can see that people are more likely to conform in a collectivist
society. This is because in order for the group to succeed it is important for people to cooperate.
This affects people in schools as well, where conformity is very important in order to succeed.
Whether a culture is collectivist or not will affect memory. In a Western individualist society, people
tend to remember their own successes more, and in collectivistic cultures, they remember the
group’s activity more. However, there are always exceptions in each culture. For example,
Americans remember 9-11 which is not an individual success; it was a national tragedy.
To conclude, the cultural dimension of individualism versus collectivism affects behavior in several
ways. It can affect the level to which we conform as well as what we actually remember.
457 words
Focus on the question: The beginning of the essay lacks focus. The first paragraph does not
clearly address the question. The second paragraph does a very brief description of the various
dimensions. This is poor practice. Only the third paragraph finally addresses the question, but only
in a limited fashion. The essay is not well-focused. 1 mark.
Knowledge and understanding: There is some understanding of the concept of dimensions and
specifically, I-C. The definition of individualistic culture uses the term to define itself. The use of
psychological terminology is limited. 3 marks
Use of research: There is only one study that is used to any effect. A second study is attempted but
Kulkoffsky's study and its results are not correctly described. 2 marks.
Critical thinking: There is very limited evidence of critical thinking. The comment about ethical
considerations is not highly relevant to the discussion of dimensions and is overstated. 1 mark.
Clarity and organization: The essay is not well organized. Ideas are not developed and there is no
clear "discussion" of dimensions. 1 mark
Total: 8 marks
Predicted: 4

Sample 2
Cultural dimensions were ‘discovered’ by Hofstede in 1980. They are best described as the values
and norms of a culture that guide behavior. Hofstede developed his theory by carrying out a content
analysis of questionnaires given to employees from different nationalities of an international
company. The questionnaires asked questions about relationships with others, attitudes toward
authority, need for clarity and rules, and attitudes about work and leisure time. One cultural
dimension he identified is “individualism vs collectivism” or I-C. It is debatable to what extent cultural
dimensions may influence an individual's behavior.
An individualistic culture focuses on individual achievement, independence, and self-actualization.
Individualistic cultures emphasize one’s autonomy and right to express one’s personal opinion and
feelings. These cultures also respect privacy. Collectivistic cultures focus on interdependence and
social harmony. In these cultures, it is not appropriate to directly express one’s personal opinion or
show emotion. Privacy is less important than acceptance and conformity to one’s group.
One way that I-C influences behavior is seen in Berry’s study of conformity. Berry tested Temne
farmers, who were collectivistic, and Inuit hunters, who were individualistic. Both groups were given
a version of Asch’s line test. As in the original, they were shown a line and then asked to match it
with one of the lines on a slide. In this version, the participant was tested alone, but in some cases
was told “Other Temne have said that line 4 is the best match. What do you think?” In some cases,
this was correct and in others, it was not. Berry found that the Temne (collectivistic) were more likely
to conform to the wrong answer if they were told that other members of their group had also chosen
that line.
This study is problematic in that the task is rather artificial. This could also be seen as a strength
because the study is highly controlled and has high internal validity. However, the task is also
meaningless, and choosing the wrong answer has no personal risk for the participant. This may not
reflect what happens under natural conditions, so the study has low ecological validity. However, it
could be argued that if they conform on such a meaningless task, this shows just how powerful the
cultural dimension actually is.
Another way that I-C influences behavior can be seen in Parker’s study of depression in white
Australian and Chinese out-patients. Australians are a highly individualistic culture and Chinese are
a collectivistic culture. Both groups were asked to complete a survey to measure both their level of
I-C and their symptoms of depression. Each symptom was ranked for intensity. The results showed
that 60% of Chinese reported that their somatic symptoms were the reason for seeking help,
whereas only 13% of Australians did. Australians were more likely to have emotional symptoms.
This makes sense as collectivistic cultures are less likely to express emotions to people outside their
family than individualistic cultures.
Unlike Berry’s experiment, this study is naturalistic. The patients are self-reporting on their
symptoms and a correlation was drawn between the level of I-C and the symptoms. Since Berry’s
study is a quasi-experiment, both studies are not able to demonstrate a cause-and-effect
relationship between the dimension and the behavior, but trends can be identified.
It is important to remember that dimensions – in this case I-C - refer to a trend in behavior within a
culture or a group. An individual's behavior may differ from the rest of the culture. That is – a person
from a collectivistic culture may be highly autonomous and someone from an individualistic culture
may strive for social harmony. Although dimensions have been used to help with international
business and to explain acculturative stress, there is the danger of applying these cultural
dimensions to all members of a culture, leading to stereotyping or the “ecological fallacy.” Cultural
dimensions lead to an “etic” approach to research in which we compare cultures, rather than an emic
approach which simply tries to understand a single culture. Dimensions are a good way to
generalize about cultures, but not a good way to talk about individuals.
685 words
Focus on the question: The introduction clearly sets up the essay. The question to be discussed is
clearly identified and the concept of "dimensions" is clearly defined. 2 marks.
Knowledge and understanding: The response demonstrates a clear understanding of the
dimension. Psychological terminology is generally used effectively, although the concepts of "etic"
and "internal validity" are not well linked to the question of cultural dimensions. 4 marks.
Use of research: There are three studies that are clearly outlined - Hofstede's original study, Berry
on conformity, and Parker on depression. Parker could be a bit more clearly explained with regard to
the procedure and findings. 5 marks
Critical thinking: There is some evidence of critical thinking. There is an attempt to both evaluate
the studies and to have a more holistic discussion of cultural dimensions. Ideas could be a bit more
developed overall. The final paragraph lacks development. 4 marks
Clarity and organization: The response is well-organized and the language communicates
effectively. 2 marks.
Total: 17 marks
Predicted: 7

Sample 3
Culture has many definitions and it is considered to be a complex system that includes several
different aspects of a certain society. Hofstede defines culture as the schemas that influence
individual behavior towards others and his/her surroundings and this behavior is learned through
daily interactions with other group members.
Cultural dimensions are defined as the way people understand their behavior and those of others.
One typical research investigating how cultures interact is that of Hofstede in IBM, a multinational
company including many different nationalities in its staff. Hofstede made surveys to the 40 largest
nationality groups in the company making a cross-cultural analysis to understand and analyze the
results, giving him insight into the different roles and behaviors taken by the personnel at IBM.
This essay will discuss the cultural dimension of individualism. In an individualist society, individuals
are expected to take care of themselves and their immediate family. This type of cultural dimension
is characteristic of Western cultures where there is a great importance on only caring for oneself and
those to whom an individual is in a direct relationship. This is in contrast to a collectivist society
where individuals since birth are integrated into larger families and social in-groups from which the
individual obtains care and support. Individualist societies have a larger emphasis on trying to obtain
more personal gratification from concentrating on the individual. Unlike in the collectivist society
where an individual who does not follow the norms of the family or society may face severe
consequences.
A study by Berry showed that people from collectivistic cultures are less likely to have flashbulb
memories than people from individualistic cultures. They asked the Chinese and Americans to try to
remember where they were, what they were doing, and who they were with when they heard the
news about someone’s death. The research showed that Americans remembered more and were
more accurate than the Chinese. This is because what the individual was doing at the time is more
important in individualistic cultures. However, this study cannot be generalized to all cultures as only
Chinese and Americans were studied.
Another study that showed the effect of dimensions was Parker’s study of Chinese patients with
depression. They found that Chinese patients had physical symptoms instead of cognitive
symptoms. This is because they have to hide their emotions so they are converted into physical
symptoms. In Western societies, it is normal for people to talk about their feelings, so this might
explain the difference. A problem with this study is that only Chinese patients were studied so we
cannot generalize to other cultures. In addition, they only studied depression. We do not know if the
Chinese would show physical symptoms of other disorders.
Individualism as a cultural dimension has an important role to a large extent over an individual, as it
guides and gives norms and expectations to how individuals should behave in their societies. These
norms are learned from an early stage in life and give the individual the mental schema on how to
behave towards their surroundings and others, as Hofstede (2001) explained with his definition of
culture.
515 words
Focus on the question: There is an attempt at focus, but it is not well sustained. The introduction
does not clearly frame the argument for the essay. 1 mark.
Knowledge and understanding: The dimension is not clearly defined and the description has some
inaccuracies/overgeneralizations. Psychological terminology is not used effectively - for example,
there is no clear understanding of flashbulb memory demonstrated. 2 marks.
Use of research: There are two studies used to support the essay. It is not a problem that the first
study is misattributed. However, the details of the studies are lacking and there are many errors in
the descriptions and interpretations of the findings. 2 marks.
Critical thinking: There is an attempt at critical thinking, but it is formulaic and of marginal relevance
to the question. 1 mark.
Clarity and organization: Language and organization are not always clear. 1 mark.
Total: 7 marks
Predicted: 3