Social and biological intergroup hierarchy beliefs: A cross-cultural comparison between the US and South Korea

Abstract

The present research investigated social and biological intergroup hierarchy beliefs in the US and South Korea, representative Northern European-heritage and East Asian cultures, respectively. We hypothesized that individual-orientation (the emphasis on individuals and individual achievements) and group-orientation (the emphasis on groups and efficient functioning of groups) would predict social and biological hierarchy beliefs differently within and between these cultures. As expected, intergroup hierarchy beliefs were stronger in South Korea than in the US, particularly for biological hierarchy beliefs. Multigroup structural equation modeling analyses revealed that group-orientation predicted intergroup hierarchy beliefs across cultures, but more strongly in South Korea than in the US. Also, an emphasis on individual achievements predicted social hierarchy beliefs only in the US, whereas an emphasis on roles/positions within groups predicted social and biological hierarchy beliefs only in South Korea. Results implied that intergroup hierarchy beliefs may be generally associated with group-orientation and the value of competence or efficiency in each culture.

Distinctive Roles of Medial Prefrontal Cortex Subregions in Strategic Conformity to Social Hierarchy

“…We believe these findings provide the first empirical and neural evidence for the novel theoretical framework that SC in the social hierarchy can be best understood as a means of minimizing the metabolic cost of the body (Constant et al, 2019;Theriault et al, 2021), which can contribute to building a novel framework for understanding the complex motivations underlying strategic social conformity. Given that the behavioral and neural processing of social hierarchy can be influenced by cultural differences (Freeman et al, 2009;Chiao, 2010;Shin et al, 2019), it is essential for future research to investigate whether the tendency of strategic conformity in social hierarchical context can be replicated in other cultural contexts such as European and Western cultures.…”

Social hierarchies in democracies and authoritarianism: The balance between power asymmetries and principal-agent chains

“…Stratified DHs can result from group-based productivity differences. However, they can also follow from group-based discrimination (Henrich and Boyd, 2008) or segregation (Tsvetkova et al, 2018) like in caste and class systems or intergroup hierarchy beliefs (Shin et al, 2018). In stratified DHs, communication and interaction are rather inside than between the layers and secondary communication is not allowed.…”

Differences, Threats, Values, and Country‐Specific Prejudice toward Immigrants and Foreign Workers in Three Major Receiving Countries: The United States, Germany, and Australia

“…Previous research has found that perceiving “foreignness” as a negative quality predicted prejudice toward immigrants and foreign workers (Mullen, ). In the current study, we examined responses to both socially‐ and biologically‐based differences , because norms and values may differentially affect the impact of a socially‐ or biologically‐based difference (Rangel & Keller, ; Shin, Dovidio, Napier, Stangor, & Uleman, ). Lay theories often portray race (e.g., White, Black, or Asian) as biologically‐based, whereas ethnicity (e.g., French or Japanese) is primarily related to culture (involving, for example, language, religion, and/or traditions).…”