Cultural Differences In The Social World

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a.) What is the definition of each one according to the book? Define each concept.

1. Social cognition – Social cognition is how an individual feels and thinks about themselves and the social aspect of the world they live in. To be more specific it is how these individuals choose, decipher, remember and use this social information to make specific judgments and decisions in life (Aronson, 2013, 48).
2. Attributions – Attribution is a theory or concept that explains how a person causes their own actions or even effects others behaviors in the social world (Aronson, 2013, 84).
3. Emotions – Emotions are a way for us to be able to communicate our emotional state and feelings with others. Sometimes this is through our moods or even facial

If we aren’t understanding of the variances between cultures and the way they communicate verbally, emotionally, and nonverbally this can create considerable issues. The three primary problems that could arise if we don’t have an understanding of cultural differences are the ways we interpret others comments and actions, how we predict future behaviors, and conflicting behaviors of others (“Differences in Culture,” n.d). Culture plays a significant part in peoples lives because it shapes our personal values and views on the world. Having a perspective and understanding a persons culture is important because each culture is different in respect to personal views and behaviors, but it is key to respect their culture because just like us it shaped who they are. The reason we have stereotypes of other cultures is because of this particular reason, we assume that our culture is superior and the correct way to do things. For example, I have heard the stereotype that French people are impolite, offensive, and they hate Americans, but was this stereotype created because of a misunderstanding between cultures? Cultural differences can be educational because it allows us to understand the uniqueness of a culture and allows us to learn new things. Cultural differences allow people to feel a sense of belonging, which can be empowering knowing

77). We all express or encode a feeling with an outward facial expression such as smile or frown, and we decode or interpret these features the same across the board (Aronson, 2013, p.77). According to Aronson (2013) a study was done in New Guinea with a small tribe that had little to no contact with Westerners and when told particular stories had the same six facial expressions as Westerners. It’s interesting because verbal language is vastly diverse between cultures, but that in order for us to understand each other better we have a nonverbal form of communication such as facial