Clashes of civilizations: critical conditions for evocation of hostile attitude toward foreign intrusion of cultural space

Yang, Yung-Jui

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/29633 Copy

Description

Title

Clashes of civilizations: critical conditions for evocation of hostile attitude toward foreign intrusion of cultural space

Author(s)

Yang, Yung-Jui

Issue Date

2012-02-06T20:07:59Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Chiu, Chi-Yue

Committee Member(s)

• Chiu, Chi-Yue
• Wyer, Robert S., Jr.
• Cohen, Dov
• Vargas, Patrick T.

Department of Study

Psychology

Discipline

Psychology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• intercultural relations
• cultural symbolism
• spatial intrusion

Abstract

Facing the increasingly intensified interactions between cultures, why do people sometimes react to foreign cultural influence in a negative way? Three critical conditions were proposed to account for people’s negative reactions toward intrusion of a foreign element into the sacred space of the local community. These three conditions are (a) perceptions of the foreign element as a symbol of the culture it belongs to; (b) the foreign element is perceived to have intruded into the physical space of the local community; and (c) the local space is widely regarded by the local community with reverence and respect. Experiments 1 to 3 tested this proposed framework in different intercultural contexts: Chinese’s responses to the opening of a new McDonald’s shop at the Great Wall of China (Experiment 1); Americans’ responses to an image of Mao Zedong superimposed on that of the Statue of Liberty (Experiment 2); and Americans’ responses to the construction of a Muslim Mosque near Ground Zero in New York City (Experiment 3). The results from these three experiments supported the proposed model. Two additional experiments (Experiments 4 and 5) explored other bases of resistance to spatial intrusions of a foreign element. Results from these additional experiments showed that when cultural intrusions occur in a foreign country or in a competitive political outgroup, individuals may be motivated by culture preservation values, or by political ideology to resist or welcome these intrusions. I close with a discussion on the implications of the results for managing intercultural relations and future research.

Graduation Semester

2011-12

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Copyright 2011 Yung-Jui Yang

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