7.3. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
People from the West tend to be individualistic, while people from Asia, especially East Asia, tend to be collectivists. The differences between these two kinds of cultural patterns are reflected in several tendencies. Four will be mentioned here, and more can be found in Triandis (1995).
Collectivists define themselves as members of a collective (family, co-workers, neighbors, fellow countrymen, co-religionists, etc.). If you ask them who they are, for instance, they are likely to say "I am Japanese" or "I am an uncle." The individualists are more likely to say "I am responsible" or "I am kind" (i.e., use a trait).
Collectivist social behavior is predicted better from norms than from attitudes. Conversely, the social behavior of individualists can be predicted better from attitudes than from norms. In short, individualists more often do what they like than what they must do; collectivists more often do what is appropriate than what is enjoyable.
Collectivists have personal goals that are compatible with the goals of their collective, and when there is a discrepancy between the two kinds of goals they think that it is "obvious" that the goals of the collective should have precedence. Individualists often have goals that are not related to the goals of their collectives, and when there is an incompatibility between the two sets of goals they think that it is natural that their personal goals should have priority. For example, a research scientist working in a laboratory can spend time doing what is good for the laboratory or what is good for her. If she is a collectivist, she is likely to do more things that help the laboratory rather than herself; if he is an individualist, he is likely to do more things that help him rather than the laboratory. There is a slight tendency for women to be more collectivist than men.
Collectivists pay much attention to the needs of others, and they tend to stay in a relationship in which the other person needs them even if they do not feel that they are getting much out of the relationship. Individualists are more calculating. If they get enough out of a relationship, they stay; if the costs of the relationship exceed the benefits, they drop it.
Within any culture there are people whose personality is like the personality of collectivists (allocentrics) and people whose personality is like the personality of individualists (idiocentrics). Allocentrics in individualistic cultures are more likely to join groups, such as communes, gangs, unions, large organizations that provide job stability, the government, or the armed forces. Idiocentrics in collectivist cultures are most likely to try to leave their culture, so that they will not be pressured by their collectives to behave in ways they do not enjoy.
Differences between idiocentrics and allocentrics can be traced to upbringing. The parents of idiocentrics emphasize creativity, exploration, and self-reliance; the parents of allocentrics emphasize obedience, reliability, and duty.
Most cultures are collectivist, until their members become affluent and able to "do their own thing." The upper classes, the educated, and those who have traveled a lot tend to be individualistic. Exposure to the mass media increases individualism, because most of the programs emphasize pleasure rather than duty. Even in individualistic cultures there will be people who are allocentric among those who have been exposed to the traditions of particular cultures, have been raised in large families, or are financially dependent on others.
Research has shown that, on the whole, East Asian, Latin American, and African cultures are collectivist, while Western cultures are individualist. However, within the United States, Hispanics, Asians, and other minorities often have collectivist cultures. African Americans have collectivist cultures when they have been raised by extended families, but have extremely individualistic cultures when they have been raised by single mothers.
All humans have both individualist and collectivist elements in their cognitive systems, and they sample the elements that fit the situations in which they find themselves. Thus, if the collective is under threat, members of all cultures are likely to sample the collectivist elements; when an individual is competing with members of his or her own collective, the sampling of individualist elements is extremely likely. When the situation is ambiguous, however, then allocentrics will sample the collectivist elements while idiocentrics will sample the individualist elements. Most situations are ambiguous. For example, in a negotiation, will the other person be perceived as "one of us" or as "one of them?" In collectivist cultures it is more likely that the "one of us" perception will occur, and there are customs that favor the development of that perception. For example, before the negotiation, people in collectivist cultures expect that they will "get to know each other" and exchange a lot of private, even intimate information (e.g., "how much do you make per month?"). In individualist cultures the exchange of such intimate information is taboo.
Cultural differences on individualism and collectivism often result in misunderstandings, and when a person from a collectivist culture works in an individualistic culture, or vice versa, there is often culture shock (e.g., people feel depressed, anxious, cannot sleep well, lose their appetite). Cross-cultural training can be used to expose people to different cultures, and research shows that this reduces culture shock.