What Folklore Tells Us about Risk and Risk Taking: Cross-Cultural Comparisons of American, German, and Chinese Proverbs

Weber, Elke U.; Hsee, Christopher K.; Sokołowska, Joanna

doi:10.1006/obhd.1998.2788

Cited by 159 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…6 Our finding of smaller loss aversion among Asians is consistent with prior research of and Hsee and Weber (1999). The smaller loss aversion among Asians may be reflected in such Chinese proverbs as "Failure is the mother of success" (Weber, Hsee, and Sokolowska 1998), which suggests that failure is not to be feared because it fosters subsequent accomplishment.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

A cross-cultural study of reference point adaptation: Evidence from China, Korea, and the US

Arkes

Hirshleifer

Jiang

et al. 2010

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

123

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We examined reference point adaptation following gains or losses in security trading using participants from China, Korea, and the US. In both questionnaire studies and trading experiments with real money incentives, reference point adaptation was larger for Asians than for Americans.Subjects in all countries adapted their reference points more after a gain than after an equal-sized loss.When we introduced a forced sale intervention that highlighted a prior price change, Americans showed greater adaptation toward the new price, whereas Asians showed less adaptation. We offer possible explanations both for the cross-cultural similarities and the cross-cultural differences.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

A cross-cultural study of reference point adaptation: Evidence from China, Korea, and the US

Arkes

Hirshleifer

Jiang

et al. 2010

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

123

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“…As a result, they were willing to take more investment risks than others. This was confirmed by findings in Weber, Hsee and Sokolowska (1998), and Hsee and Weber (1999). Because Asian Americans are very different from other races and among themselves, theories that explain their financial behavior and wellbeing are needed.…”

Section: Conclusion and Future Research Directionssupporting

confidence: 57%

Financial Wellbeing of Asian Americans

Yao

2016

Handbook of Consumer Finance Research

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The Asian American population in the United States has been increasing. Research on the economic wellbeing of this minority group is far from being adequate. It is generally found that Asian Americans are more highly educated and have more wealth. Although the homeownership rate of this population is lower than the national average rate, the gap is gradually narrowing.Asian Americans are found to have more confidence in their financial future and have better management in their financial lives. In addition, Asian-owned businesses have been an important part of the U.S. economy and, as such, the self-employment status of Asian Americans has stimulated great interest for research. Large differences in financial behaviors exist among different groups in Asian Americans. This chapter serves the purpose to summarize past research on Asian American consumer finances and provide directions for future research.

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“…It is important to know, but not easy to establish, whether observed national differences in behavior are truly cultural-that is, are the result of longstanding differences in cultural norms and values that are not easily modified-or whether they are more malleable and transient because they result from current situational circumstances. Weber, Hsee, and Sokolowska (1998) demonstrated that the comparative analysis of cultural products can provide converging evidence to help answer this question. Norms and values operating in a given culture affect the behavior of members of that culture.…”

Section: Use Of Multiple Methodological Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Models and mosaics: Investigating cross-cultural differences in risk perception and risk preference

Weber

Hsee

1999

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

118

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In this article, we describe a multistudy project designed to explain observed cross-national differences in risk taking between respondents from the People's Republic of China and the United States. Using this example, we develop the followingrecommendations for cross-cultural investigations. First, like all psychological research, cross-cultural studies should be model based. Investigators should commit themselves to a model of the behavior under study that explicitly specifies possible causal constructs or variables hypothesized to influence the behavior, as well as the relationship between those variables, and allows for individual, group, or cultural differences in the value of these variables or in the relationship between them. This moves the focus from a simple demonstration of cross-national differences toward a prediction of the behavior, including its cross-national variation. Ideally,the causal construct hypothesized and shown to differ between cultures should be demonstrated to serve as a moderator or a mediator between culture and observed behavioral differences. Second, investigators should look for converging evidence for hypothesized cultural effects on behavior by looking at multiple dependent variables and using multiple methodological approaches. Thus, the data collection that will allow for the establishment of conclusive causal connections between a cultural variable and some target behavior can be compared with the creation of a mosaic.Since its beginnings as Volkerpsychologie in 19th-century Germany, cross-cultural psychology has never been able to establish itself as something more than a minor subdiscipline of psychology (see Cole, 1996, Chap. I, for a brief history). Its contributions are largely confined to books, edited volumes, and its own speciality journals, which are not widely read by mainstream psychologists. Yet, the argument, put forth by cross-cultural psychologists, that all conclusive psychological investigation must involve comparisons of behavior across cultures seems hard to refute.Given the complexities of human life and the importance of culture as a behavioral determinant, it obviously behooves psychologists to test the cross-cultural generality of their principles before considering them established.

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What Folklore Tells Us about Risk and Risk Taking: Cross-Cultural Comparisons of American, German, and Chinese Proverbs

Cited by 159 publications

References 13 publications

A cross-cultural study of reference point adaptation: Evidence from China, Korea, and the US

A cross-cultural study of reference point adaptation: Evidence from China, Korea, and the US

Financial Wellbeing of Asian Americans

Models and mosaics: Investigating cross-cultural differences in risk perception and risk preference

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