Beyond the 'east-west' dichotomy: Global variation in cultural models of selfhood

Vignoles VL 1 , Owe E 1 , Becker M 2 , Smith PB 1 , Easterbrook MJ 1 , Brown R 1 Show all authors , González R 3 , Didier N 3 , Carrasco D 3 , Cadena MP 3 , Lay S 3 , Schwartz SJ 4 , Des Rosiers SE 5 , Villamar JA 6 , Gavreliuc A 7 , Zinkeng M 8 , Kreuzbauer R 9 , Baguma P 10 , Martin M 11 , Tatarko A 12 , Herman G 13 , de Sauvage I 13 , Courtois M 13 , Garðarsdóttir RB 14 , Harb C 15 , Schweiger Gallo I 16 , Prieto Gil P 16 , Lorente Clemares R 16 , Campara G 16 , Nizharadze G 17 , Macapagal ME 18 , Jalal B 19 , Bourguignon D 20 , Zhang J 21 , Lv S 22 , Chybicka A 23 , Yuki M 24 , Zhang X 25 , Espinosa A , Valk A 26 , Abuhamdeh S 27 , Amponsah B 28 , Özgen E 29 , Güner EÜ 30 , Yamakoğlu N 30 , Chobthamkit P 31 , Pyszczynski T 32 , Kesebir P 33 , Vargas Trujillo E 34 , Balanta P 34 , Cendales Ayala B 34 , Koller SH 35 , Jaafar JL 36 , Gausel N 37 , Fischer R 38 , Milfont TL 38 , Kusdil E 39 , Çağlar S 40 , Aldhafri S 41 , Ferreira MC 42 , Mekonnen KH 43 , Wang Q 44 , Fülöp M 45 , Torres A 46 , Camino L 46 , Lemos FC , Fritsche I 47 , Möller B 48 , Regalia C 49 , Manzi C 49 , Brambilla M 49 , Bond MH 50

Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Psychology, University of Sussex
  • 2 CLLE, Université de Toulouse
  • 3 School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
  • 4 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami
  • 5 Department of Psychology, Barry University
  • 6 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University
  • 7 Department of Psychology, West University of Timisoara
  • 8 Department of Guidance and Counselling, University of Buea
  • 9 Department of Marketing and International Business and Institute on Asian Consumer Insight, Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University
  • 10 Department of Educational, Social and Organizational Psychology, School of Psychology, Makerere University
  • 11 Department of Human Sciences, University of Namibia
  • 12 Department of Psychology, National Research University Higher School of Economics
  • 13 Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain
  • 14 Department of Psychology, University of Iceland
  • 15 Department of Psychology, American University of Beirut
  • 16 Departamento de Psicología Social, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
  • 17 Department of Social Sciences, Free University of Tbilisi
  • 18 Department of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University
  • 19 Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge
  • 20 Equipe PErSEUs (EA 7312), Lorraine University
  • 21 Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • 22 Department of Psychology, North China University of Science and Technology
  • 23 Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk
  • 24 Department of Behavioral Science, Center for Experimental Research in Social Sciences, Hokkaido University
  • 25 Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University
  • 26 Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu
  • 27 Department of Psychology, Istanbul Şehir University
  • 28 Department of Psychology, University of Ghana
  • 29 Department of Psychology, Yaşar University
  • 30 Department of Psychology, Bilkent University
  • 31 Division of Psychology, Department of Psychology, Library Science, and Geography, Thammasat University
  • 32 Department of Psychology, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
  • 33 Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • 34 Department of Psychology, Universidad de Los Andes
  • 35 Department of Psychology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
  • 36 Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, University of Malaya
  • 37 Department of Psychosocial Health, University of Agder
  • 38 Centre for Applied Cross-Cultural Research, School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington
  • 39 Department of Psychology, Uludag University
  • 40 Department of Psychology, Ankara University
  • 41 Department of Psychology, Sultan Qaboos University
  • 42 Department of Psychology, Salgado de Oliveira University
  • 43 School of Psychology, University of Addis Ababa
  • 44 Department of Psychology, Chinese University of Hong Kong
  • 45 Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
  • 46 Department of Psychology, Federal University of Paraíba
  • 47 Institute of Psychology, University of Leipzig
  • 48 Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
  • 49 Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan
  • 50 Department of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
J Exp Psychol Gen, 2016 08;145(8):966-1000.
PMID: 27359126 DOI: 10.1037/xge0000175

Abstract

Markus and Kitayama's (1991) theory of independent and interdependent self-construals had a major influence on social, personality, and developmental psychology by highlighting the role of culture in psychological processes. However, research has relied excessively on contrasts between North American and East Asian samples, and commonly used self-report measures of independence and interdependence frequently fail to show predicted cultural differences. We revisited the conceptualization and measurement of independent and interdependent self-construals in 2 large-scale multinational surveys, using improved methods for cross-cultural research. We developed (Study 1: N = 2924 students in 16 nations) and validated across cultures (Study 2: N = 7279 adults from 55 cultural groups in 33 nations) a new 7-dimensional model of self-reported ways of being independent or interdependent. Patterns of global variation support some of Markus and Kitayama's predictions, but a simple contrast between independence and interdependence does not adequately capture the diverse models of selfhood that prevail in different world regions. Cultural groups emphasize different ways of being both independent and interdependent, depending on individualism-collectivism, national socioeconomic development, and religious heritage. Our 7-dimensional model will allow future researchers to test more accurately the implications of cultural models of selfhood for psychological processes in diverse ecocultural contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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