Using qualitative interview data gathered from 28 Hmong adolescents, we examined the meaning ascribed to language and style and how language and style behaviors are used to distinguish identity. We found that the participants used language and style to define their own ethnic group membership and cultural identities. Moreover they inferred meaning from these identity behaviors to discern which ...

according to the importance of symbolism in mystical narratives, and of course to the existence of a need for them to be interpreted in order to understand the text and its narrative details, we have analyzed three authentic and effective works: initially tazkirat al-awliyā by attar, secondly kashf-ol-mahjoob by hojviri and at the end resaleh of ghoshairieh by ghoshairi through a semiotic appro...

The authors examined the effects of exposure to foreign cultural environments and symbols on decision making among European Americans. Although European Americans predicted change less frequently than East Asians did (Pilot Study A), European Americans anticipated greater change when primed with East Asian culturally-laden locations (Pilot Study B and Study 1) and the East Asian yin-yang symbol...

This article examines the impact of cultural codes on the conduct and outcomes of evaluation. Cultural codes are defined as symbols and systems of meaning that are relevant to members of a particular culture (or subculture).These codes can be utilized to facilitate communication within the ‘inside group’ and also to obscure the meaning to ‘outside groups’. Drawing on the authors’ combined exper...

The authors present a new approach to culture and cognition, which focuses on the dynamics through which specific pieces of cultural knowledge (implicit theories) become operative in guiding the construction of meaning from a stimulus. Whether a construct comes to the fore in a perceiver's mind depends on the extent to which the construct is highly accessible (because of recent exposure). In a ...