انگیزش معرفت شناختی و حفظ فرهنگ گروه: تاثیر نیاز به دریچه شناختی بر انتقال هنجارهای نسل سوم  Epistemic motivation and perpetuation of group culture: Effects of need for cognitive closure on trans-generational norm transmission

Overview of present hypotheses and studies Resistance to change of newcomers and old-timers with high vs. low need for closure may affect the stability of group culture across time. Consider a new member of a group from a different cultural background than members of the host country. Such individual may experience considerable uncertainty as to whether his or her values, traditions, and ideas would be accepted by the old-timers. The influx of new members into a group could be threatening also to the old-timers:, The cultural ‘‘invasion’’ by newcomers into the group could undermine its pre-existing worldviews and conventions, and replace them with different customs and perspectives. Thus, whether cultural change would occur may crucially depend on the ability of the newcomers to propose new ideas and solutions brought by their prior experiences and how open the old-timers are to innovations introduced by the newcomers. Specifically, openness to innovation may induce change, whereas closed mindedness may perpetuate cultural stability. In turn, members’ closed and open mindedness may stem from their motivational orientation, and more specifically from their need for closure, as discussed earlier. The relation between members’ need for closure and the perpetuation of group norm was tested in three studies described below. The first study was a field study aimed at testing our hypothesis in a real-world setting, i.e., in family culture. The remaining two studies were laboratory studies using a generations design specifically suited for investigating the transmission of group norms across changing membership, thus replicating cultural evolution in a laboratory setting (Jacobs & Campbell, 1961; Kenny, Hallmark, Sullivan, & Kashy, 1993). Using this paradigm, we investigated the way in which a basic mechanism of norm transmission (conformity of newcomers and stability of old-timers) is affected by the need for closure.