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Psychology 307: Cultural Psychology

Lecture 9

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Scoring Your Questionnaire

In order to score your questionnaire, you must compute 2 scores.

Score 1: Sum of odd-numbered items

Score 2: Sum of even-numbered items

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The Self-Concept and Motivation

1. Does cultural variation on the dimension of “individualism-collectivism” influence the way in which the self is conceptualized?

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1. distinguish between an independent self-construal and an interdependent self-construal.

By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

2. discuss the results of Lu and Glimour’s investigation of self-construals using the Independent and

Interdependent Self Scale.

3. explain how self-construals influence self-descriptions and self-consistency.

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● Self-concept: A cognitive schema (i.e., organized knowledge structure) that contains beliefs about the self and controls the processing of self-relevant

information.

● Theorists have come to believe that cultural variation on IC has a profound influence on the self-concept.

Does cultural variation on the dimension of “individualism-collectivism” influence the way in which the self is conceptualized?

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● Specifically, theorists have come to believe that the emphasis on independence and personal goals in individualistic cultures leads people to develop an “independent self-construal.”

● In contrast, the emphasis on interdependence and collective goals in collectivistic cultures leads

people to develop an “interdependent self- construal.”

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X XX X SELFX X X X X

FATHER

FRIEND

FRIEND

CO-WORKER

SIBLING

MOTHER

STRANGER

STRANGERX X X X

X X X

X X

X

X X X X

X

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Out-Group

In-Group

The Independent Self-Construal

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X X SELF X X

FATHER

FRIEND

FRIEND

CO-WORKER

SIBLING

MOTHER

STRANGER

STRANGERX X X

X X

X

X

X X

X X

X

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Out-Group

In-Group

The Interdependent Self-Construal

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Independent Self-Construal

Interdependent Self-Construal

Definition of self

Free from social context. Tied to social context.

Structure of self

Stable, bounded, unitary. Variable, flexible, fluid.

Primary tasksUniqueness, self-expression,

realization of internal attributes, promotion of personal goals.

Fitting in, self-restraint, assuming one’s “proper” place,

promotion of others’ goals.

Role of othersSelf-evaluation (i.e., social

comparison).Self-definition.

Basis of self-esteem

Ability to express oneself and one’s internal attributes.

Ability to restrain oneself and maintain harmony with others.

Independent Versus Interdependent Self-Construals (Markus & Kitayama, 1991)

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● The distinctions between the self-construals promoted in individualistic cultures and collectivistic cultures are reflected in the following proverbs from North America and Japan, respectively:

Japanese proverb: “The nail that stands out gets pounded down.”

North American proverb: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

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Independent and Interdependent Self Scale (IISS)(Lu and Gilmour, 2007)

● Subscale 1: Independent Self-Construal

Score 1 (sum of odd-numbered items)

Cronbach’s alpha: .85

Assesses 7 facets: Being independent, unique and consistent; expressing oneself; realizing internal

attributes; promoting one’s own goals; being direct; separation from in-group; self-reliance associated with

hedonism.

Minimum score = 21; maximum score = 147

Mean score (British sample): 101.4 (SD = 13.5)

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● Subscale 2: Interdependent Self-Construal

Score 2 (sum of even-numbered items)

Cronbach’s alpha: .82

Assesses 7 facets: Belonging and fitting in; occupying one’s proper place; engaging in appropriate action; promoting others’ goals; being indirect; family

integration; interdependence and sociability.

Minimum score = 21; maximum score = 147

Mean score (British sample): 91.7 (SD = 13.0)

● Correlation between subscales: .28

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● A number of studies have provided support for the theory that individualistic cultures and collectivistic cultures promote distinct self-construals.

● Among these studies are those that have compared: (a) the self-descriptions of people from different

cultures, (b) the degree of self-consistency among people from different cultures, (c) the self-awareness

of people from different cultures, and (d) the degree of self-enhancement among people from different

cultures.

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● The differences in the self-descriptions of “individualists” and “collectivists” are exemplified in the

following passages (Markus & Kitayama, 1998):

(a) Self-descriptions:

● Research has shown that people from individualistic cultures tend use abstract, global, and stable

attributes (e.g., traits) to describe themselves, whereas people from collectivistic cultures tend to use social categories or affiliations (e.g., social roles) to describe themselves.

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Response of a student from the U.S.:

I like to live life with a lot of positive energy. I feel like there is so much to do and see and experience. However, I also know the value of relaxation. I love the obscure. I play ultimate Frisbee, juggle, unicycle, and dabble on the recorder. I have a taste for the unique. I am very friendly and in most situations very self-confident. I’m almost always happy and when I am down, it is usually because of stress.

Instructions: Describe yourself briefly.

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Response of a student from Japan:

I cannot decide quickly what I should do, and am often swayed by other people’s opinions, and I cannot oppose the opinions of people who are supposed to be respected because of age or status. Even if I have displeasure, I compromise myself to the people around me without getting rid of the displeasure. When I cannot make a decision I often do it according to other people’s opinions. Also, I am concerned about how other people think about me and often decide on that consideration. I try to have a harmless life. I calm down be being the same as others.

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● Studies that have compared the self-descriptions of people from different cultures have largely

employed the Twenty Statements Test (TST; Kuhn & McPartland, 1954).

● The TST is an unstructured measure that requires participants to write 20 statements in response to the question “Who am I?”

● Examples:

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1. Ma and Schoeneman (1997)

Administered the TST to Kenyans and Americans.

The Kenyan sample was divided into subgroups that varied in their exposure to Western culture.

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2. Fryberg and Markus (2003)

Administered the TST to Native Americans and European Americans.

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Native AmericansEuropean Americans

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● Research has shown that the self-beliefs of individualists tend to be more consistent across social contexts than the self-beliefs of collectivists.

● Moreover, there is a greater correlation between consistency of self-beliefs and psychological

adjustment in individualistic cultures than collectivistic cultures.

(b) Self-consistency:

● Examples:

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1. Campbell et al. (1996)

Recruited Japanese and Canadians.

In each study, participants completed measures of “self-concept clarity” (SCC) and self-esteem (SE).

Conducted 3 studies.

SCC: the “extent to which self-beliefs are clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and

[temporally] stable.”

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1. My beliefs about myself often conflict with one another. *2. On one day I might have one opinion of myself and on another day I

might have a different opinion. *3. I spend a lot of time wondering about what kind of person I really am. * 4. Sometimes I feel that I am not really the person that I appear to be. *5. When I think about the kind of person I have been in the past, I’m not

sure what I was really like. *6. I seldom experience conflict between the different aspects of my

personality. 7. Sometimes I think I know other people better than I know myself. *8. My beliefs about myself seem to change very frequently. *9. If I were asked to describe my personality, my description might end

up being different from one day to another day. *10. Even if I wanted to, I don’t think I could tell someone what I’m really like.

*11. In general, I have a clear sense of who I am and what I am. 12. It is often hard for me to make up my mind about things because I

don’t really know what I want. *

Campbell et al’s SCC Scale

* Reverse-scored item.

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Across the 3 studies, found that:

(a) SCC scores were higher among Canadians than Japanese.

(b) SCC scores were more strongly correlated with SE scores among Canadians than Japanese.

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StudyMean SCC Score

Canadian ParticipantsMean SCC Score

Japanese Participantsp

1 41.72 34.41 <.01

2 39.30 35.01 <.01

3 38.02 34.35 <.01

SCC Scores for Canadian and Japanese Participants (Campbell et al. 1996)

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StudyCorrelation Between

SCC and SE Canadian Participants

Correlation Between SCC and SE

Japanese Participantsp

1 .69 .37 <.001

2 .63 .46 <.07

3 .59 .08 <.001

Correlations Between SCC and Self-Esteem for Canadian and Japanese Participants

(Campbell et al., 1996)

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2. Suh (2002)

Recruited Koreans and Americans.

Assessed consistency in expression of 25 attributes across 100 situation-specific scenarios involving one’s parents, romantic partner, same-sex friend, and a stranger.

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Found that:

(a) self-consistency scores were higher among Americans than Koreans.

(b) self-consistency scores were more strongly correlated with psychological adjustment scores and

social aptitude scores among Americans than Koreans.

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Well-Being SocialSkills

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● The lower levels of self-consistency among collectivists does not indicate less predictability in their

behaviour: Collectivists show substantial consistency across time within each relationship (see English & Chen, 2007).

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● Consistent with cultural differences in self-consistency, research has shown that:

Individualists are more likely to maintain an entity theory of self, whereas collectivists are more likely to maintain an incremental theory of the self.

Individualists are more likely to maintain an incremental theory of the world, whereas collectivists

are more likely to maintain an entity theory of the world.

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Individualists are more likely to engage in primary control, whereas collectivists are more likely to engage in secondary control.

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The Self-Concept and Motivation

1. Does cultural variation on the dimension of “individualism-collectivism” influence the way in which the self is conceptualized?