Patrick Denoux

Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals

Smiling individuals are usually perceived more favorably than non-smiling ones—they are judged as happier, more attractive, competent, and friendly. These seemingly clear and obvious consequences of smiling are assumed to be culturally universal, however most of the psychological research is carried out in WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) and the influence of culture on social perception of nonverbal behavior is still understudied. Here we show that a smiling individual may be judged as less intelligent than the same non-smiling individual in cultures low on the GLOBE’s uncertainty avoidance dimension. Furthermore, we show that corruption at the societal level may undermine the prosocial perception of smiling—in societies with high corruption indicators, trust toward smiling individuals is reduced. This research fosters understanding of the cultural framework surrounding nonverbal communication processes and reveals that in some cultures smiling may lead to negative attributions.

Catching up with wonderful women: The women-are-wonderful effect is smaller in more gender egalitarian societies: CATCHING UP WITH WONDERFUL WOMEN

Inequalities between men and women are common and well-documented. Objective indexes show that men are better positioned than women in societal hierarchies-there is no single country in the world without a gender gap. In contrast, researchers have found that the women-are-wonderful effect-that women are evaluated more positively than men overall-is also common. Cross-cultural studies on gender equality reveal that the more gender egalitarian the society is, the less prevalent explicit gender stereotypes are. Yet, because self-reported gender stereotypes may differ from implicit attitudes towards each gender, we reanalysed data collected across 44 cultures, and (a) confirmed that societal gender egalitarianism reduces the women-are-wonderful effect when it is measured more implicitly (i.e. rating the personality of men and women presented in images) and (b) documented that the social perception of men benefits more from gender egalitarianism than that of women.

Saillance de la religion dans les relations interculturelles

L’objectif principal de notre etude est de saisir l’impact de la nature culturelle et religieuse de l’interaction sur la saillance de la dimension religieuse. Nous postulons que la place occupee par la religion dans les interactions depend principalement de sa nature culturelle et religieuse ainsi que du type d’enculturation du sujet. Nous avons administre un questionnaire aupres de 71 sujets chretiens et musulmans en France. L’analyse met essentiellement en evidence l’invariabilite du recours a la religion de la part du sujet, quelle que soit la realite interactionnelle a laquelle il se confronte. Toutefois, s’impose parallelement que l’affirmation culturelle et religieuse aussi bien au niveau individuel et social, est predominante lors d’une rencontre monoculturelle, monoreligieuse.

Du conflit familial manifeste à la quête identitaire latente

Nous interrogeons une clinique singuliere aupres d’hommes isoles algeriens, en rupture avec leur famille afin de comprendre ce que viennent mettre en jeu les conflits familiaux post-migratoires et de donner du sens a la violence qu’ils manifestent. Cette reflexion est illustree par des cas cliniques mettant a jour les structures signifiantes de la quete identitaire qui sous-tend ces conflits familiaux. L’un des enjeux d’une telle recherche est de determiner les conditions d’un espace contenant et interculturalise permettant l’elaboration d’une tierceite culturelle creatrice en adequation avec la singularite du sujet.

Catching up with wonderful women

Inequalities between men and women are common and well-documented. Objective indexes show that men are better positioned than women in societal hierarchies-there is no single country in the world without a gender gap. In contrast, researchers have found that the women-are-wonderful effect-that women are evaluated more positively than men overall-is also common. Cross-cultural studies on gender equality reveal that the more gender egalitarian the society is, the less prevalent explicit gender stereotypes are. Yet, because self-reported gender stereotypes may differ from implicit attitudes towards each gender, we reanalysed data collected across 44 cultures, and (a) confirmed that societal gender egalitarianism reduces the women-are-wonderful effect when it is measured more implicitly (i.e. rating the personality of men and women presented in images) and (b) documented that the social perception of men benefits more from gender egalitarianism than that of women.

Catching up with wonderful women : the women-are-wonderful effect is smaller in more gender egalitarian societies

Inequalities between men and women are common and well-documented. Objective indexes show that men are better positioned than women in societal hierarchies-there is no single country in the world without a gender gap. In contrast, researchers have found that the women-are-wonderful effect-that women are evaluated more positively than men overall-is also common. Cross-cultural studies on gender equality reveal that the more gender egalitarian the society is, the less prevalent explicit gender stereotypes are. Yet, because self-reported gender stereotypes may differ from implicit attitudes towards each gender, we reanalysed data collected across 44 cultures, and (a) confirmed that societal gender egalitarianism reduces the women-are-wonderful effect when it is measured more implicitly (i.e. rating the personality of men and women presented in images) and (b) documented that the social perception of men benefits more from gender egalitarianism than that of women.

Conduites addictives des enfants en situation de rue : interculturation et résilience

UNLABELLED This research belongs to a more comprehensive study on the care of street children in Cameroon. The idea is to develop an analysis of the street pathology where symptoms such as addictive behavior and drug addiction can be found. Beside HIV AIDS, addictive behaviors are the main risk factors that many professionals have to face with while dealing with the street problems today. AIM Through an intercultural approach, we examined the practices of addictive typology, their initiatory role and their function in the integration of the street system. We also analysed their importance in the survival strategies. After an overview of theoretical controversies that feed the debate on addictions, we questioned the impact of these practices on the street career through the prism of general theory of addictions, particularly the hedonic management model. Addiction helps to resist adversity, it helps to desist and then to begin a harmonious neo development despite the horrors of the street experience. METHODOLOGY We undertook a quantitative and qualitative study on a sample of 148 street children. We proposed to 128 of them a questionnaire focused on addictive behaviors and survival strategies in the street context. We notably evaluated the street career of 24 of them, using interviews and standardized tests to assess self-esteem (Coopersmiths SEI) frustration tolerance (Rosenweigs P-F) and self-efficacy (Sherers SE Scale) in order to measure the impact of addictive behaviors on the resilience process. RESULTS We found that the street career is essentially traumatic, and that addictive behaviors involving various integration strategies are strongly linked to the interculturation process through the identity strategies and the intercultural competences. Addiction itself is not significantly related to self-esteem issues but strongly impacts on self-efficacy and the ability to tolerate frustration. They allow the street children to withstand the street adversity but are a real obstacle to their resilience process.

Les dimensions cachées de la rencontre interculturelle : un tournoi ancestral, le jeu des reines

Cet exercice structure est base sur un tournoi de jeu de carte opposant trois clans aux coutumes differentes. L’interculturalite de la situation resulte simultanement de la mise en scene par les joueurs de mœurs singulieres (relatives aux clans), et de la divergence des regles du jeu qui est ignoree par ces derniers (la valeur attribuee a certaines cartes est contradictoire d’un clan a l’autre). Cette situation est particulierement appropriee pour mesurer les effets de l’heterogeneite culturelle sur le deroulement d’une interaction. L’objectif principal de l’exercice est de favoriser le developpement de la conscience culturelle et de la sensibilite interculturelle des participants.

Formation et Problématique Interculturelle

Summary This more reflective article questions the educational practices in an inter‐cultural situation in three ways: from the viewpoint of the educators culture of origin, in the light of the educational action as a cultural confrontation, and in the light of the dynamics of those who are educated. It is argued that it is necessary to analyse the spontaneous ways in which cultural differences are perceived and understood, before any educational action with regard to a multicultural group.