All in the Mind - Challenging Stereotypes - Culture, psychology and the Asian Self (Part 1 of 2)

Nice topic - when I was researching the available information on individualist vs collectivist cultures, I was surprised to find that Japanese people, for example, are just as individualist as Americans - and multi-generational Americans are no less collectivist than Japanese, and more collectivist than European-Americans.

Some definitions might help - all of the following information comes from this excellent article:

Oyserman, D., Coon, H.M., & Kemmelmeier, M. (2002). Rethinking Individualism and Collectivism: Evaluation of Theoretical Assumptions and Meta-Analyses. Psychological Bulletin; Vol. 128, No. 1, 3–72. DOI: 10.1037//0033-2909.128.1.3

I'm not sure if this is available online for free access or not - I can't it in an open access search.

And these come from the same article, but are more general definitions, and not based on a research model (as is the chart above, which gives sample items for a measure).

Individualism
The core element of individualism is the assumption that individuals are independent of one another. From this core, a number of plausible consequences or implications of individualism can be discerned. One question we explore further is whether research has empirically validated these plausible consequences or implications and whether these plausible consequences are, in fact, universally part of individualism.

Hofstede (1980) defined individualism as a focus on rights above duties, a concern for oneself and immediate family, an emphasis on personal autonomy and self-fulfillment, and the basing of one’s identity on one’s personal accomplishments. Waterman (1984) defined normative individualism as a focus on personal responsibility and freedom of choice, living up to one’s
potential, and respecting the integrity of others. Schwartz (1990) defined individualistic societies as fundamentally contractual, consisting of narrow primary groups and negotiated social relations, with specific obligations and expectations focusing on achieving status. These definitions all conceptualize individualism as a worldview that centralizes the personal—personal goals, personal uniqueness, and personal control—and peripheralizes the social (Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler, & Tipton, 1985; Hsu, 1983; Kagitcibasi, 1994; U. Kim, 1994; Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Sampson, 1977; Triandis, 1995).

* * * *

Collectivism
The core element of collectivism is the assumption that groups bind and mutually obligate individuals. From this core, theorists discern a number of plausible consequences or implications of collectivism. One question we explore further is whether research has empirically validated these plausible consequences or implications cross-culturally and whether these plausible consequences are, in fact, universal consequences of collectivism.

Although sometimes seen as simple opposites, it is probably more accurate to conceptualize individualism and collectivism as worldviews that differ in the issues they make salient (Kagitcibasi, 1987, 1997; Kwan & Singelis, 1998). According to Schwartz (1990), collectivist societies are communal societies characterized by diffuse and mutual obligations and expectations based on ascribed statuses. In these societies, social units with common fate, common goals, and common values are centralized; the personal is simply a component of the social, making the in-group the key unit of analysis (e.g., Triandis, 1995). This description focuses on collectivism as a social way of being, oriented toward in-groups and away from out-groups (Oyserman, 1993). Because in-groups can include family, clan, ethnic, religious, or other groups, Hui (1988) and Triandis (1995), among others, have proposed that collectivism is a diverse construct, joining together culturally disparate foci on different kinds and levels of referent groups. In this way, collectivism may refer to a broader range of values, attitudes, and behaviors than individualism.

Plausible consequences of collectivism for psychology—self-concept, well-being, attribution style, and relationality—are easily discerned. First, with regard to the self, collectivism implies that (a) group membership is a central aspect of identity (Hofstede, 1980; Hsu, 1983; U. Kim, 1994; Markus & Kitayama, 1991) and (b) valued personal traits reflect the goals of collectivism, such as sacrifice for the common good and maintaining harmonious relationships with close others (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Oyserman, 1993; Triandis, 1995). Second, with regard to well-being and emotional expression, collectivism implies that (a) life satisfaction derives from successfully carrying out social roles and obligations and avoiding failures in these domains (U. Kim, 1994; Kwan & Singelis, 1998; Markus & Kitayama, 1991) and (b) restraint in emotional expression, rather than open and direct expression of personal feelings, is likely to be valued as a means of ensuring in-group harmony.

Third, with regard to judgment, causal reasoning, and attributions, definitions of collectivism suggest that (a) social context, situational constraints, and social roles figure prominently in person perception and causal reasoning (Miller, 1984; Morris & Peng, 1994) and (b) meaning is contextualized and memory is likely to contain richly embedded detail. Last, with regard to relationality, definitions of collectivism imply that (a) important group memberships are ascribed and fixed, viewed as “facts of life” to which people must accommodate; (b) boundaries between in-groups and out-groups are stable, relatively impermeable, and important; and (c) in-group exchanges are based on equality or even generosity principles (U. Kim, 1994; Morris & Leung, 2000; Sayle, 1998; Triandis, 1995).

That should provide some background for the discussion in today's show from All in the Mind.

Challenging Stereotypes - Culture, psychology and the Asian Self (Part 1 of 2)

Listen Now - 2010-08-07 |Download Audio - 07082010

As East and West meet across the boardroom tables of big business, there's growing interest in how culture shapes the psyche and Self. If you're born into a collectivist or individualistic society, do you think differently? This week, controversial research on self esteem. Do East Asians need less of it to feel good about themselves?

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Transcripts are available on Wednesdays, and audio is available on Saturday directly after broadcast.

Guests

Professor Steven Heine
Department of Psychology
University of British Columbia, Canada
http://heine.socialpsychology.org/

Associate Professor Masaki Yuki
Department of Behavioural Science / Centre for Experimental Research in Social Sciences
Hokkaido University, Japan
http://lynx.let.hokudai.ac.jp/~myuki/

Dr Deborah Ko
Department of Psychology
University of Hong Kong
http://www3.hku.hk/psychodp/people/profile.php?person=deborahko

Assistant Professor Yuri Miyamoto
Department of Psychology
University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States
http://psych.wisc.edu/faculty/bio/kmMiyamoto.html

Professor Susumu Yamaguchi
Department of Social Psychology,
Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology
University of Tokyo, Japan
http://www-socpsy.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/yamaguchi/index-e.htm

Professor Huajian Cai
Sun Yat-Sen University
Guangzhou, China

Assistant Professor Takahiko Masuda
Department of Psychology
University of Alberta, Canada
http://www.ualberta.ca/~tmasuda/

Further Information

XXth Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology
Held in Melbourne, Australia, 2010.

All in the Mind blog with Natasha Mitchell
A place to engage, or you can add your comments directly above too (look for Add Your Comment).

Publications

Title: Nationality and espoused values of managers
Author: Geert J. Hofstede
Publisher: Journal of Applied Psychology, 61, 148-155, 1976.
URL: http://is.gd/e3GaF

Title: Is there a Universal Need for Positive Self Regard?
Author: Steven J. Heine, Darrin R. Lehman, Hazel Markus, Shinobu Kitayama
Publisher: Psychological Review, 106 (4), pp. 766-794, 1999.
URL: http://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~heine/docs/1999universal_need.pdf
Note: The link is a PDF file.

Title: Apparent Universality of Positive Implicit Self-Esteem
Author: Susumu Yamaguchi, Anthony G. Greenwald, Mahzarin R. Banaji, Fumio Murakami, Daniel Chen, Kimihiro Shiomura, Chihiro Kobayashi, Huajian Cai, Anne Krendl
Publisher: Psychological Science, 18, pp. 498-500, June 2007.
URL: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.158.9773&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Title: Is self-esteem a universal need? Evidence from The People's Republic of China
Author: Huajian Cai, Qiuping Wu, Jonathon D. Brown
Publisher: Asian Journal of Social Psychology, Volume 12 Issue 2, Pages 104 - 120, May 2009.
URL: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122384486/abstract

Title: Why do Westerners self-enhance more than East Asians?
Author: Falk, C.F., Heine, S.J., Yuki, M., & Takemura, K.
Publisher: European Journal of Personality, 23, 183-203, 2009.
URL: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122312878/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

Title: The influence of culture: Holistic versus analytic perception
Author: Nisbett, R. E. & Miyamoto, Y.
Publisher: Trends in Cognitive Science, 9, 467-473, 2005.
URL: http://is.gd/e3Gpa

Presenter

Natasha Mitchell

Tags: Psychology, culture, perspectives, individualism, collectivism, All in the Mind, Challenging Stereotypes, Culture, psychology, Asian Self, Part 1 of 2, Natasha Mitchell, Takahiko Masuda, Huajian Cai, Susumu Yamaguchi, Yuri Miyamoto, Deborah Ko, Masaki Yuki, Steven Heine, self-esteem