Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2011 Mar;37(3):318-29. doi: 10.1177/0146167210394451.
What are the origins of cultural differences in conformity? The authors deduce the hypothesis that these cultural differences may reflect historical variability in the prevalence of disease-causing pathogens: Where pathogens were more prevalent, there were likely to emerge cultural norms promoting greater conformity. The authors conducted four tests of this hypothesis, using countries as units of analysis. Results support the pathogen prevalence hypothesis. Pathogen prevalence positively predicts cultural differences in effect sizes that emerge from behavioral conformity experiments (r=.49, n=17) and in the percentage of the population who prioritize obedience (r=.48, n=83). Pathogen prevalence also negatively predicted two indicators of tolerance for nonconformity: within-country dispositional variability (r=-.48, n=33) and the percentage of the population who are left-handed (r=-.73, n=20). Additional analyses address plausible alternative causal explanations. Discussion focuses on plausible underlying mechanisms (e.g., genetic, developmental, cognitive).
文化遵从差异的起源是什么？作者推断出一种假设，即这些文化差异可能反映了致病病原体流行率的历史变化：在病原体更为流行的地方，可能会出现促进更大程度遵从的文化规范。作者通过以国家为分析单位进行了四项该假设的检验。结果支持病原体流行率假设。病原体流行率与行为遵从实验中出现的文化差异的影响大小呈正相关（r=.49，n=17），与重视服从的人群百分比呈正相关（r=.48，n=83）。病原体流行率也与对不遵从的容忍度的两个指标呈负相关：国内的性格变异性（r=-.48，n=33）和左撇子人群的百分比（r=-.73，n=20）。其他分析考虑了合理的替代因果解释。讨论侧重于合理的潜在机制（例如遗传、发育、认知）。
