Culture Conscious

In some places, people talk about musical notes as being high or low, as in “Minnie Riperton could really hit the high notes.” In other places, people use a horizontal metaphor instead of a vertical one, talking about musical notes as being thick or thin. Are these spatial metaphors for musical pitch learned or innate? Read More

What is the suicide rate in Bolivia? Indonesia? Kenya? No one knows because government officials in those countries don’t report official suicide statistics. The lack of reporting is unfortunate because suicidal behavior is a public health problem in some countries. When official statistics are unavailable, is it possible to estimate the suicide rate? Read More

A team of international researchers says people using a foreign language are more likely to make utilitarian decisions when faced with a moral dilemma. What does this mean for people who work at the U.N. or multinational corporations? Read More

Many older people have probably lost a step when it comes to certain cognitive functions, but they can take solace in the fact that they’re wiser now—wiser than they used to be and wiser than the typical young person. Right? Well, maybe. It apparently depends a great deal on where you live. Read More

Picture yourself at a casino in Las Vegas, on the hunt for a new game of chance. You come across a table with a huge sign overhead, “The Big Payoff.” In this game, a player puts $100 on the table and a mechanical device flips a coin. If the coin comes up heads, you forfeit your bet. If the coin comes up tails, you walk away $150 richer. Would you take the bet? Read More

Indian-American kids have dominated the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 1999, winning 11 of 15 competitions and the last six in a row. What’s going on? Why do Indian-Americans consistently win spelling contests at the national level? Read More

Try to recall a time when you were the center of attention. When you graduated from high school, for instance, or did something really embarrassing. When you picture that scene in your mind’s eye, whose perspective do you adopt? Do you imagine the scene from your original point of view or from the perspective of an observer? For many people, the answer depends in part Read More

Picture yourself in a foreign city, walking along with a guidebook in one hand and city maps in the other. If misfortune came your way, if you stumbled and dropped everything, where would you be most likely to receive help from a passerby? Budapest? New York? Bangkok? Rio de Janeiro? Stockholm? Read More

We all feel it sometimes, but we don't fully understand it. Read More

Imagine yourself sitting alone in a dark room. Suspended on the wall is an illuminated rod, spinning lazily on its axis. Surrounding the rod is a rectangular frame, also illuminated, that tilts to one side. If you were instructed to adjust the rod so that it pointed straight up and down ... Read More

The Occupy movement protests against economic inequality and the concentration of wealth among an elite few. In Garrison Keillor’s fictional town of Lake Wobegon, “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” Surprisingly, the former may have something to do with the latter. Read More

In the first half of a two-part interview, renowned cross-cultural psychologist Steven Heine discusses his latest research, shares a critique of Western psychology, and tells us why everyone should care about this stuff. Read More

We tend to think about numbers as existing in space. These spatial associations are shaped by cultural factors to some degree, but can also be tempered by experience in the here and now. Read More

By looking at culturally specific ways of dealing with numbers, we can begin to tease apart which aspects of math, while not transcending humanity, may at least be universal to all cultures. We'll start the exploration simply, the same way many of us learned to deal with numbers: by counting on our hands. Read More