SELF and CULTURE
What type of change?
Cigdem Kagitcibasi
Koç University
Turkish Academy of Sciences
Panel on “The New Emerging Markets (Beyond BRIC): Managing Global
Brands and Consumers”
Koc University, June 22nd, 2010
CONNECTIONS BETWEEN LEVELS OF
ANALYSIS
Culture level
Individualism
-
Collectivism
Individual /
Independence - Interdependence
Interpersonal Triandis et al. (1982). Allocentric vs. Idiocentric tendencies: Convergent
and discriminant validation, Journal of Research in Personality, 19, 395level (self)
415.
Kağıtçıbaşı,C. (1990) Family and socialization in cross-cultural
perspective: A model of change. In J. Berman (Ed.), Cross-cultural
perpectives: Nebraska Symposium on motivation, 1989 (pp.135-200).
Lincoln, NE: Nebraska University Press.;
Markus, H.R. & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications
for cognition, emotion and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, (2),
224-253
A further distinction:
Values orientation
and
To I/C
‘Normative Individualism/
Collectivism’
(Norms/values;
Vertical-Horizontal I/C;
Hierarchy)
Self orientation
‘Relational Individualism/
Collectivism’
(Self-other relations;
separatenessembeddedness)
Kagitcibasi (1997). Individualism and collectivism. In J. W. Berry, M.
H. Segall, & C. Kagitcibasi (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural
psychology, 2nd Ed.
The latter - - self boundaries, self - other relations has
found expression in contrasts made between the
‘Western’ Self-Contained Self and ‘Other’ Views of the
Self:
• Enriquez
•
•
•
•
: The Filipino Kapwa the unity of the
“self” and the “other”
Japanese : Group Self (Amae)
Nsamenang : West African Social Selfhood
Sun : The Chinese Two Person Matrix
(Yin and Yan)
Roland
: Japanese and Indian Familial Self
Also reflected in Popular Psychology
Connected and Separate Selves/Family
Connected
family
Separate
family
Autonomy and Relatedness are Basic Human
Needs
However, The construal of Autonomy and
Relatedness as Conflicting has prevailed over
Autonomy and Relatedness as Basic Needs
Thus, Relatedness is seen as incompatible with
Autonomy; and Separation from others is seen
as necessary for autonomy
(“Separation-Individuation” hypothesis)
What is the underlying reason?
Not evolutionary, which rather stresses the
survival value of cooperation and relatedness in
humans and other primates (Euler et al, 2001;
Guisinger & Blatt, 1994).
It is cultural ... Western Individualism as a
‘Cultural Affordance’ (Poortinga, 1992).
In much cross-cultural research and theory
individualism is understood as autonomy (Hofstede,
1980, 1991; Rothbaum et al., 2000; Rothbaum &
Trommsdorff, in press; Smith & Schwartz, 1997;
Triandis, 1995; Markus & Kitayama, 1991)
Schwartz (2004) recast Individualism-Collectivism as
Autonomy vs. Embeddedness
This is especially the case for Normative I-C
Thus issues of both conceptualization and
measurement
Yet, it is neither logically nor psychologically
necessary for Autonomy to mean Separateness if we
recognize the existence of two distinct dimensions:
Agency:
Autonomy
Heteronomy
(dependency)
Interpersonal Distance:
Separateness
Relatedness
The two dimensions underlie self, self-other
relations and social behaviors.
They reflect basic human needs for
autonomy and relatedness.
As conceptually distinct dimensions, either
pole of each one can coexist with either pole
of the other one.
Kagitcibasi, C. (1996). The autonomous-relational self: A new
synthesis. European Psychologist, 1, 180-186.
A Conceptual Model of Different
Types of Selves
AGENCY
Autonomy
Autonomous-Separate self
Autonomous-related self
INTERPERSONAL
DISTANCE
Separation
Heteronomous-separate self
Relatedness
Heteronomous-related self
Heteronomy
This conceptualization renders viable
The Autonomous-Related Self
Despite the consensual agreement that Autonomy and
Relatedness are basic needs, this self construal has not
been readily recognized in psychology, even in crosscultural psychology.
Kagitcibasi, C. (2005). Autonomy and Relatedness in Cultural Context. Implications for Self
and Family. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 36, 403-422.
Kagitcibasi, C. (2007). Family, Self and Human Development Across Cultures: Theory and
Applications. (Revised Second Edition). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Global Change toward the
Autonomous-Related Self
With
• Urbanization
• Increased Education
• Increased Affluence
Urbanization of Populations
10-19 age group population
(million)
Urban Shift in Developing Countries for
Young Population (age 10-19)
700
600
500
urban
400
rural
300
200
100
0
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