SOCIAL ERRORS IN 4 CULTURES - EVIDENCE ABOUT UNIVERSAL FORMS OF SOCIAL-RELATIONS

To test the cross-cultural generality of relational-models theory, fou r studies examined the social errors of Bengali, Korean, Chinese, and Vai (from Liberia ad Sierra Leone) subjects resident in the United Sta tes. Few of the subjects understood or spoke English well or participa ted substantially in American culture. Subjects reported errors in whi ch they called someone they knew by the wrong name, misremembered with whom they had done something, or mistakenly directed an action at an inappropriate person. As predicted in all four cultures, people making these errors tend to substitute someone with whom they have the same basic kind of relationship. This effect of the four relational models is strongest in the least acculturated subjects. This effect is genera lly independent of tendencies to confuse people of the same age, gende r, or ethnicity, or the tendency to confuse people whom subjects encou nter in similar situations or refer to by the same role or kin term. T hese findings support the hypothesis that four universal relational ca tegories underlie everyday social cognition across cultures.