Cultural Value Shifting in Pronoun Use

Yu, Feng; Peng, Theodore; Peng, Kaiping; Tang, Shi; Chen, Chuan Shi; Qian, Xiaojun; Sun, Pei; Han, Tingting; Chai, Fangyuan

doi:10.1177/0022022115619230

Cited by 47 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Several studies have used Google Ngram to highlight cultural changes (Greenfield, ; Hamamura & Xu, ; Kesebir & Kesebir, ; Michel et al., ; Oishi, Graham, Kesebir, & Galinha, ; Twenge, Campbell, & Gentile, , ; Xu & Hamamura, ; Yu et al., ; Zeng & Greenfield, ). With respect to this methodology, Twenge et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The changing psychology of culture in German‐speaking countries: A Google Ngram study

Younes

Reips

2017

Int J Psychol

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This article provides evidence for the long-term affiliation between ecological and cultural changes in German-speaking countries, based on the assumptions derived from social change and human development theory. Based on this theory, the increase in urbanisation, as a measure of ecological change, is associated with significant cultural changes of psychology. Whereas urbanisation is linked to greater individualistic values and materialistic attitudes, rural environments are strongly associated with collectivistic values like allegiance, prevalence of religion, and feelings of belonging and benevolence. Due to an increase in the German urbanisation rate over time, our study investigates whether Germany and the German-speaking countries around show the presumed changes in psychology. By using Google Books Ngram Viewer, we find that word frequencies, signifying individualistic (collectivistic) values, are positively (negatively) related to the urbanisation rate of Germany. Our results indicate that predictions about implications of an urbanising population for the psychology of culture hold true, supporting international universality of the social change and human development theory. Furthermore, we provide evidence for a predicted reversal for the time during and after World War II, reflecting Nazi propaganda and influence.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The changing psychology of culture in German‐speaking countries: A Google Ngram study

Younes

Reips

2017

Int J Psychol

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“…These frequencies represent the proportion of any given input word within the corpus in any given year, thereby allowing rises and falls in relative frequency–an index of cultural salience or popularity–to be tracked over long periods of time. Psychological researchers have employed the tool to explore historical shifts from third person to first person pronouns [19–21], and changing concepts related to age stereotypes [22] and happiness [23]. Greenfield [24] demonstrated an ‘us’ to ‘me’ shift in word frequencies in English-language books published from 1800 to 2000 and revealed other patterned changes indicative of a movement from collectivist rural values to values that are more individualistic and urban.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Twentieth century morality: The rise and fall of moral concepts from 1900 to 2007

2019

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Trends in the cultural salience of morality across the 20 th century in the Anglophone world, as reflected in changing use of moral language, were explored using the Google Books (English language) database. Relative frequencies of 304 moral terms, organized into six validated sets corresponding to general morality and the five moral domains proposed by moral foundations theory, were charted for the years 1900 to 2007. Each moral language set displayed unique, often nonlinear historical trajectories. Words conveying general morality (e.g., good, bad, moral, evil), and those representing Purity-based morality, implicating sanctity and contagion, declined steeply in frequency from 1900 to around 1980, when they rebounded sharply. Ingroup-based morality, emphasizing group loyalty, rose steadily over the 20 th century. Harm-based morality, focused on suffering and care, rose sharply after 1980. Authority-based morality, which emphasizes respect for hierarchy and tradition, rose to a peak around the social convulsions of the late 1960s. There were no consistent tendencies for moral language to become more individualist or less grounded in concern for social order and cohesion. These differing time series suggest that the changing moral landscape of the 20 th century can be divided into five distinct periods and illuminate the re-moralization and moral polarization of the last three decades.

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“…Interestingly, prior research has yielded mixed and even seemingly contradictory empirical findings. On the one hand, it is well-documented that some aspects of culture change such as the rise of individualism ( Hamamura, 2012 ; Talhelm et al, 2014 ; Yu et al, 2016 ) as societies shift from traditional to urban, from poor to rich, from more isolated to more interconnected, from less educated to more educated, from more agricultural to more industrialized ( Greenfield, 2016 ). For instance, as China has become wealthier, divorce rates, an indicator of modernity, have risen over the past decades ( Talhelm et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Chinese Traditional and Modern Cultures Affect Young Adults’ Moral Priorities?

Chen

Zhang

et al. 2018

Front. Psychol.

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Dramatic cultural change has occurred in Mainland China over the past four decades, yet little is known about how this cultural shift impacts Chinese peoples’ moral values. The present research aims to fill this gap by examining whether Chinese traditional and modern cultures influence young adults’ moral judgments. Study 1 investigated the relation between psychological traditionality/modernity and moral concerns. Results indicated that participants who strongly endorsed Chinese traditional culture prioritize relationship concern rather than justice concern. Study 2 used the cultural priming method and tested the effects of traditional and modern icons on moral concerns. Results suggested that participants who were primed with traditional or modern or neutral icons did not give priority to relationship or justice concern. Together, our findings provide initial empirical evidence on whether Chinese traditional and modern cultures shift the moral mindsets of bicultural young Chinese among alternative (and even competing) moral codes.

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Cultural Value Shifting in Pronoun Use

Cited by 47 publications

References 22 publications

The changing psychology of culture in German‐speaking countries: A Google Ngram study

The changing psychology of culture in German‐speaking countries: A Google Ngram study

Twentieth century morality: The rise and fall of moral concepts from 1900 to 2007

Do Chinese Traditional and Modern Cultures Affect Young Adults’ Moral Priorities?

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