Abstract
Two experiments showed that American (vs. Chinese) culture priming influences Beijing Chinese undergraduates' self-construal and its attendant memory strategies. Following American culture priming (vs. Chinese culture priming or control), the participants used relatively more independent self-statements and fewer interdependent self-statements to describe the self (Experiment 1). They also performed more poorly in a delayed recognition test if they had encoded the study materials (personality adjectives) with reference to the mother (Experiment 2). These results demonstrate the activation effect of culture on self-construal and its attendant memory processes. The results also show that biculturals can access different cultural conceptions of the self and change cognitive strategies flexibly in response to cues of changing cultural demands in the immediate context.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 818-824 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Experimental Social Psychology |
Volume | 43 |
Issue number | 5 |
Early online date | 1 Nov 2006 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2007 |
Keywords
- American culture
- Chinese culture
- Culture priming
- Mother-reference effect
- Recognition memory
- Self-construal
- Self-reference effect
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Sociology and Political Science