magazine issue 10 2009 / Issue 10

Culture and Health Psychology: Insights from a Socio-Cultural Perspective

• written by Ayse K. Uskul & David Sherman
• edited by Selin Kesebir

Recent research suggests that matching health communications to motivational strategies adopted at varying levels by different cultural groups is a way to positively influence health behaviour change. Recent work by Uskul, Sherman, and Fitzgibbon (2009) on the use of dental floss tested the hypothesis that health messages will be more persuasive if they are congruent with the cultural patterns of motivational strategies predominant in Western (individualistic) and Eastern (collectivistic) cultures. They drew on the literature suggesting that people from individualistic cultures are more motivated to seek positive outcomes whereas those from more collectivistic cultures are more motivated to avoid negative outcomes (Lee et al., 2000). Individualistic white British participants (who were more focused on seeking positive opportunities) were more persuaded (i.e., had more positive attitudes and stronger intentions to floss) when they received the message framed in terms of the benefits of flossing (gain-frame) than when they received the message framed in terms costs of failing to floss (loss-frame). By contrast, the collectivistic East-Asian participants (who were more focused avoiding negative contingencies) were more persuaded when they received the loss-framed message than the gain-framed message. Thus, the interplay of individual difference factors (motivational orientation), socio-cultural factors (cultural background), and situational factors (message frame) influenced important factors related to health behavior change.

To examine the effect of matching message content to culturally shaped aspects of the self, Uskul and Oyserman (in press) have employed a culturally informed social cognition framework (see Oyserman & Lee, 2008) which suggests that what comes to mind at a given moment depends on the available cues in one’s environment, and momentary cues can increase salience of culturally shaped orientations in ways of information processing. Specifically, they tested the effectiveness of culturally matched health messages after making salient the dominant cultural orientation. Matching health messages to salient cultural orientation increased persuasiveness; further, culturally relevant messages were more persuasive if they come after being reminded of one’s dominant cultural orientation. Individualist European Americans primed to focus on individualism were more persuaded by health messages associating health behavior with negative physical consequences for the self, whereas collectivistic Asian Americans primed to focus on collectivism were more persuaded by health messages associating health behavior with negative social consequences. Thus, message effectiveness can be increased by reminding potential recipients of their dominant cultural orientation.

Culture and social support. How people cope with health problems differs across cultural groups (e.g., Culver, Arena, Wimberly, Antoni, & Carver, 2004; Gurung, Taylor, Kemeny, & Meyers, 2004). Cultural differences, particularly in the use of social support, have been shown in studies comparing individuals of Asian, European-American, and Asian American backgrounds (for a review, see Kim, Sherman, & Taylor, 2008). Studies using various methods and samples from different groups with Asian heritage (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese) have consistently found that Asians and Asian Americans seek less social support than European Americans (Kim, Sherman, Ko, & Taylor, 2006; Taylor, Sherman, Kim, Jarcho, Takagi, & Dunagan, 2004).