Social Errors in Four Cultures: Evidence about Universal Forms of Social Relations

Abstract

To test the cross-cultural generality of relational-models theory, four studies examined the social errors of Bengali, Korean, Chinese, and Vai (from Liberia and Sierra Leone) subjects resident in the United States. Few of the subjects understood or spoke English well or participated substantially in American culture. Subjects reported errors in which 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 generally independent of tendencies to confuse people of the same age, gender, or ethnicity, or the tendency to confuse people whom subjects encounter in similar situations or refer to by the same role or kin term. These findings support the hypothesis that four universal relational categories underlie everyday social cognition across cultures.