Cultural Practices Emphasize Influence in the United States and Adjustment in Japan

13 Pages·0.445 MB·English

by  Kitayama, Morling. Miyamoto

PMEoRrlSiOngN eAt LaIlT. /Y EAMNDPH SAOSCISIA OLF P CSYUCLHTOURLOALG PY RBAUCLTLIECTEISN
Cultural Practices Emphasize Influence in
the United States and Adjustment in Japan
Beth Morling
Muhlenberg College
Shinobu Kitayama
Yuri Miyamoto
Kyoto University
Peoplehavethecapacitybothtoinfluencetheirenvironmentand Inonelineofcontemporarypsychology(Rothbaum,
to adjust to it, but the United States and Japan are said to Weisz, & Snyder, 1982), these two motives have been
emphasize these processes differently. The authors suggest that investigatedastheconceptsof“primarycontrol”(acting
AmericansandJapanesedevelopdistinctpsychologicalcharac- on the environment in order to influence it) and “sec-
teristics, which are attuned to social practices that emphasize ondarycontrol”(adjustingoneselftoone’scircumstances).
influence (in the United States) and adjustment (in Japan). Thesetwoimportantmotivesmaybemanifestbothinsit-
Americanparticipantscouldremembermore,andmorerecent, uatedaction,suchascontrollingsomeeventoradjusting
situations that involve influence, and Japanese respondents to some set of circumstances, and in psychological
couldremembermore,andmorerecent,situationsthatinvolve responses, such as efficacy or trust. Furthermore, they
adjustment.Second,American-madeinfluencesituationsevoked are closely associated with cross-culturally divergent
strongerfeelingsofefficacy,whereasJapanese-madeadjustment construalsofself.Thus,whereasactsofinfluenceenhance
situationsevokedstrongerfeelingsofrelatedness.Third,Ameri- the independence and autonomy of the self, acts of
cans reported more efficacy than Japanese, especially when adjustment highlight the interdependence and con-
respondingtoinfluencesituations.Japanesefeltmoreinterper- nectednessoftheselfwithothers(Kitayama&Markus,
sonally close than Americans, especially when responding to 2000).
adjustmentsituations.Surprisingly,U.S.influencesituations Research on Americans is rich with examples of the
also made people feel close to others, perhaps because they positivecorrelatesofafeelingofcontrolorefficacy(e.g.,
involved influencing other people.
Authors’Note:Theresearchdescribedinthisarticlewassupportedby
grantsandpostdoctoralfundingfromtheJapanSocietyforthePromo-
S tionofScience,theNationalScienceFoundation(UnitedStates),the
everal psychological writers have noted a potential Japan Ministry of Education (Mombusho: B-20252398, 07044036),
andagrantfromUnionCollege.Theauthorsgratefullyacknowledge
tension between a pair of human motives: to effica-
LucyRobinforcollectingtheU.S.datadescribedinStudy2.Thanks
ciouslyactontheworldandtoadjustoneselftoothers.
alsoareduetoNarikoTakayanagifortranslationassistance,Leilani
ErichFromm(1941),forexample,arguedthataspeople DoyleandErinRosenbergforcollectingU.S.data,andYukikoUchida
achieveautonomyandpersonalfreedom,theyarepoten- forcoding.WethankFredRothbaumforhishelpfulcommentsonthe
tiallyfacedwithfeelingsofalienationfromabroadercul- manuscript.Portionsofthesedatawerepresentedatthe1999conven-
tionsoftheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation,Boston,Massachu-
tureandlackofmeaning.PsychoanalystOttoRank(1932)
setts,andtheAsianAssociationofSocialPsychologyinTaipei,Taiwan.
wrotethatwhenpeoplefeelautonomousandincontrol,
YuriMiyamotoiscurrentlyattheDepartmentofPsychology,University
theyriskfeelingisolatedfromothers,whereaswhenthey ofMichigan,AnnArbor.Correspondenceconcerningthisarticlecan
accommodatethemselvestoafamilyorcommunity,they besenttoBethMorling,DepartmentofPsychology,MuhlenbergCol-
fear the “death” of the individual self. Freud famously lege,Allentown,PA18104;e-mail:[email protected],orto
ShinobuKitayama,FacultyofIntegratedHumanStudies,KyotoUni-
saidthatthehealthypersonisable“toloveandtowork”
versity, Yoshida, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501 Japan; e-mail: kitayama@
(Gay,1989).Accordingtotheseviews,peoplewantboth
hi.h.kyoto-u.ac.jp.
toinfluencetheeventsandpeoplearoundthemandto
PSPB,Vol. 28 No. 3, March 2002 311-323
adjust to fit in with people or communities. © 2002 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.
311
312 PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN
Bandura,1997;Strickland,1989).Similarly,researchers situationsofpeopleineachcultureandthecontingent
havebeguntodemonstratehowadjustingtotheworld psychologicalresponsesthatpeopledevelopinresponse
alsocanbeadaptive,suchasduringillness(e.g.,Thomp- to these situations.
son, Nanni, & Levine, 1994) or physical aging (e.g.,
Cultural Differences in Situations and Psychologies
Heckhausen&Schulz,1995).Influenceandadjustment
maytradeoffinusefulness,dependingonwhatthesitua-
Weinvestigatethetypesofeverydaysituationsthatare
tionallows(e.g.,Band&Weisz,1990;Thurber&Weisz,
emphasizedintheUnitedStatesandJapan,predicting
1997).
thatAmericanshavemorefrequentandpsychologically
Inthisarticle,weproposethatculturesputrelatively
morepotentopportunitiestoinfluencetheirsurround-
differentemphasesonthesetwohumanmotivesbypro-
ings,whereasJapanesehavemorefrequentandpsycho-
vidingregularlydifferentkindsofopportunitiesforeach.
logicallymorepotentopportunitiestoadjusttotheirsur-
ThisidearesonateswithHong,Morris,Chiu,andBenet-
roundings. But we also investigate the corresponding
Martinez(2000),whodemonstratedthatbiculturalpeo-
psychologicalresponsesthatdevelopafterrepeatedexpo-
ple respond in a cognitively more “Eastern” way or a
sure to such different situations.
more “Western” way, depending on the particular cul-
Theoretically,differentpsychologicalresponsesshould
tural prime. Likewise, both Americans and Japanese
be related to each practice. First, when people act to
showed more self-enhancement, an “American” way of
influence their surroundings, they will experience the
responding,whenexposedtosituationscommonlyavail-
psychologicalsenseofefficacy,thebeliefinone’sability
ableintheUnitedStatesthantothosecommonlyavail-
toact,orafeelingofcompetence(Bandura,1997).Effi-
able in Japan (Kitayama, Markus, Matsumoto, &
cacyisoftenincludedintheconstellationofpersonality
Norasakkunkit, 1997). In this article, we suggest that
constructs that include control, and it indeed predicts
AmericansandJapanesebothhavethepotentialtoinflu-
people’s attempts to change their own circumstances.
enceandadjustbutthattheirhomecultureschronically
Efficacy will result when people experience success in
provide disproportionate numbers of opportunities to
influencing their social or situational circumstances.
practiceinfluenceandadjustment.Inresponsetothese
Second,whenpeopleacttoadjusttotheirsurroundings,
repeated cultural “primes,” people develop different,
especially to other individuals, they will often receive
corresponding psychological feelings, specifically, effi-
positiveinterpersonalresponsesfromthemand,there-
cacy in the United States and closeness to others in
fore, they will experience the sense of relatedness to
Japan.
them. Uchida, Kitayama, Mesquita, and Reyes (2001),
forexample,foundinthreedifferentculturesthatsym-
Cultural Differences in Influence and Adjustment
pathetic orientations to others (a form of adjustment)
Inaclassicarticle,Weisz,Rothbaum,andBlackburn arecloselyassociatedwithsocioemotionalsupportfrom
(1984)proposedthatAmericanculturefocusesoninflu- them.Furthermore,adjustingoneselftofateorfriends
ence (in their words, “primary control”) and Japanese hasbeenassociatedwithinterdependenceandcollectiv-
culturefocusesonadjustment(or“secondarycontrol”). ism (Morling & Fiske, 1999).
Forexample,theynotedthatreligioustraditionsinthe Itisreasonablethatinbothcultures,influencesitua-
UnitedStateshaveemphasizedmessianic“goodworks” tionsevokemoreefficacythanrelatedness,whereasadjust-
that are inherently controlling, whereas Japanese reli- ment situations evoke more relatedness than efficacy.
gious traditions emphasize the agency that resides in However,inlinewithWeiszetal.(1984),wepredictthat
spiritualandenvironmentalforces.U.S.psychotherapies Americaninfluencesituationswillevokeespeciallystrong
attempttoeraseanxiousordepressivesymptoms,whereas feelings of efficacy, whereas Japanese adjusting situa-
indigenousJapanesepsychotherapiesadvocateadapting tionswillevokeespeciallypotentfeelingsofrelatedness.
to and accepting one’s symptoms. This background leads us to a final hypothesis. In
Some past studies have documented that Japanese responsetorepeatedexposuretotherelativelymorefre-
and North Americans differ in the predicted ways (see quentandmorepotentinfluencesituationsintheUnited
Gould,1999,forarecentreview),notonlyonpsycholog- States, Americans will develop relatively strong psycho-
ical, individual differences such as Locus of Control logical feelings of efficacy. Similarly, in response to the
(e.g., Bond & Tornatzky, 1973) or responses to future morefrequentandmorepotentadjustmentsituationsin
threats (Heine & Lehman, 1995) but also in single Japan, Japanese will develop heightened psychological
behavioral contexts or situations (Morling, 2000; see feelings of relatedness to others. Of importance, how-
alsoChang,Chua,&Toh,1997;Seginer,Trommsdorff, ever, these psychological experiences are likely to be
& Essau, 1993). However, these studies either rely only contingent on the relatively specific type of social con-
onpsychologicaltraitmeasuresoronlyonsinglesitua- texts that originally fostered them. Thus, Americans
tions.Inthepresentstudy,wetestedboththeeveryday shouldexperiencestrongerfeelingsofefficacythanJap-
Morling et al. / EMPHASIS OF CULTURAL PRACTICES 313
anese,especiallyinsituationsinvolvinginfluence.Like- neseinfluencesituations.Inturn,Japaneseculturemay
wise, Japanese should experience stronger feelings of produce especially strong adjustment situations; there-
relatedness,especiallyinsituationsinvolvingadjustment. fore, Japanese adjustment situations should be rated
As an analogy, consider the emotions elicited by an higheronperceivedrelatednessthanAmericanadjust-
event,suchasaWestern-stylewedding,whichmayelicit ment situations.
feelingsofsolemnityandhappinesseveninJapan,where Finally,weexpectedthatthisnewsetofparticipants
this style of wedding is often followed. However, such would reveal their own culturally shaped psychological
emotions may be felt especially strongly by Americans characteristics through their ratings of the situations.
because the Western ceremony is more frequent and Therefore,Hypothesis3statesthatAmericans,whorou-
more culturally elaborated in the United States. To say tinelyparticipateinmorefrequent(Hypothesis1)and
thatAmericansfeelespeciallyhappyinthiscontextisnot more potent (Hypothesis 2) influence situations, will
toimplythattheyfeelthiswayatalltimes.Similarly,we reporthigherfeelingsofefficacy.Butbecausethisfeel-
predict that Americans should feel more efficacy than ingissustainedbyaparticularsocialpractice,Americans
Japanese,notallthetimebutintheinfluencesituations shouldreportmoreefficacyprimarilyininfluencesitua-
thattheymoreregularlypractice.Inturn,Japanesemay tions.Inturn,wepredictedthatJapanesefeelespecially
feelclosertoothers,notallthetimebutcertainlysoin closetoothers,especiallywhentheyarerespondingto
the adjusting situations that they more regularly prac- adjustment situations.
tice. The situation-specificity of psychological experi-
enceshasbeendocumentedinmanydomainsincluding
STUDY 1A
various personality traits (Mischel & Shoda, 1995) and
Totestthehypothesisthatinfluencesituationsarerel-
self-esteem(Kitayamaetal.,1997).Furthermore,itisthe
atively more prevalent in the United States and adjust-
hallmarkofmanyculturalpsychologicaltheories(Geertz,
ment situations are relatively more prevalent in Japan
1973; Gergen, 1994).
(Hypothesis 1), we asked both American and Japanese
Situation Sampling Method and Hypotheses respondents to recall situational instances of the two
types of social practices. If this hypothesis is correct,
Totestourpredictions,weusedthemethodofsitua- Americansshouldrecallagreaternumberofinfluence
tion sampling (Kitayama et al., 1997). The first step situations than Japanese but Japanese should recall a
(Studies1Aand1B)istocollectspecificsituations(indi- greater number of adjustment situations than Ameri-
vidualexamplesofpractices)frommembersofeachcul- cans.Furthermore,influencesituationsrecalledbyAmer-
ture. Specifically, we asked people in the United States icansshouldbemorerecentthanthoserecalledbyJapa-
and Japan to describe situations in which they either nese, but adjustment situations recalled by Japanese
influenced,oradjustedto,theirsocialorsituationalcir- shouldbemorerecentthanthoserecalledbyAmericans.
cumstances.Wethenaskedtheparticipantstoestimate
Method
howlongagoeachsituationoccurred,totestHypothesis
1: In the United States, influence situations should be
PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE
moreeasilyrecalled,andmorerecent,thanadjustment
situations; in Japan, adjustment situations should be CollegestudentsfromKyotoUniversityinJapan(n=
moreeasilyandrecentlyrecalledthaninfluencesituations. 40women,43men)andIndianaUniversityintheUnited
In the second step in this method (conducted as States(n=43women,41men)participatedforcourse
Study 2), we attempt to get at both the psychological creditorforpayment(500yenorU.S.$5).Participants
characteristicsthatarefosteredbythesituationsineach were asked to remember and describe situations that
culture and the relatively enduring psychological char- involvedeitherinfluenceoradjustment.Thoseassigned
acteristics developed by people in each culture. To do to the influence condition were instructed as follows:
this,weaskedanewsetofparticipantsfromeachculture
torespondtoarandomsampleofthesituationsgener- Indailylife,wearesurroundedbyavarietyofpeople,
atedinthefirststep.Welookedbothathowefficacious events,andobjects.Wewouldlikeyoutothinkofsitua-
peoplefeltinresponsetoinfluencesituationsfromeach tionsinwhichyouhaveinfluencedorchangedthesurround-
cultureandathowcloselyrelatedtootherstheyfeltin ingpeople,events,orobjectsaccordingtoyourownwishes.
response to adjustment situations from each culture. Pleaseconsiderasbroadarangeofsituationsaspossible;
Weexpectthatbothinfluenceandadjustmentsitua- however, the situations should be ones that you have
actually experienced.
tionswillexistinbothcultures. However,Hypothesis 2
predictsthatU.S.culturewillproduceespeciallystrong
influencesituations;therefore,U.S.influencesituations Thoseassignedtotheadjustmentconditionreceivedthe
shouldberatedhigheronperceivedefficacythanJapa- following instructions:
314 PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN
Indailylife,wearesurroundedbyavarietyofpeople, 656.6) than did their adjustment counterparts (M =
events,andobjects.Wewouldlikeyoutothinkofsitua- 456.4), t(158) = 5.51, p < .001, interaction F(1, 158) =
tionsinwhichyouhaveadjustedyourselftothesesurround- 4.83, p = .029. The pattern held when only the most
ingpeople,events,orobjects.Pleaseconsiderasbroada
recent situations were examined, with the most recent
range of situations as possible; however, the situations
Americaninfluencesituationshappeningmorerecently
should be ones that you have actually experienced.
(M=21.70days)thanadjustmentsituations(M=84.5),
t(145) = 3.73, p < .001, and the most recent Japanese
These instructions were translated and back-translated influencesituationstendingtohappenlongerago(M=
byateamofnativeJapaneseandnativeEnglishspeakers 47.17)thanadjustmentsituations(M=16.89),t(145)=
to ensure equivalence. 1.79, p = .075, interaction F(1, 145) = 13.76, p < .001.
Each participant received a stack of 20 index cards. There were no main or gender effects.
Theywereinstructedtolisteachnewsituationonasepa- Largevariancessuggestedusingmediansforthemost
rate card. Exactly 20 minutes were allotted to this task. recentsituation.Thepredictedpatternholds,witheven
Examplesofinfluencesituationsincludedthefollowing: morerecentfrequencies(mostrecentU.S.influencesit-
“Ihavealotofhairanditisdifficulttowash.SoIcutit uationmedian4daysago,adjustment14daysago;Japan
shortsoitiseasytowashnow”(fromJapan)and“Italked influence 7 days ago, adjustment 1 day ago).
mysisteroutofdatingaguywhoIknewwasajerk”(from
the United States). Examples of adjustment situations STUDY 1B
includedthefollowing:“WhenIamoutshoppingwith
TheresultsofStudy1Asupportthatculturesprovide
myfriend,andshesayssomethingiscute,evenwhenI
influenceandadjustmentsituationstodifferentdegrees.
don’t think it is, I agree with her” (from Japan) and “I
However, it was surprising that the recalled situations
had to adjust last school year when one of my room-
occurredquitealongtimeago(onaverage,1to2years
mates’ boyfriends moved into our house” (from the
ago).Evenwhenweanalyzedthemostrecentsituations,
UnitedStates).Weshallcomebacktoadetailedanalysis
wefoundthattheyoccurred,onaverage,morethan16
ofthecharacteristicsofthesesituationsinStudy2.After
daysago(althoughthemedianswereconsiderablylower).
the 20-minute period, participants were asked to turn
However, in Study 1A, we did not tell participants they
eachcardoverandtoindicatehowlongagoeachsitua-
shouldlistthemostrecentsituationstheycouldthinkof,
tion occurred. Responses ranged from “today” to “a
whichmayhavecausedthemtolistonlyidealexamples
monthago”to“6yearsago.”Weanalyzedeachtimeesti-
ofsituations.InStudy1B,wethusaskedanewsetofpar-
mate in terms of days (e.g., “a month ago” = 30 days).
ticipantstolistthemostrecentsituationtheycouldthink
Results and Discussion of that fit each description.
We analyzed the number of situations generated by Method
AmericansandJapanese,theaveragerecencyofallthe
situations (the number of days ago that the situations PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE
occurred),and(toreducevariance)therecencyofthe
CollegestudentsfromKyotoUniversityinJapan(13
most recent situation for each person, if it occurred
withinthelastyear.Datawereanalyzedwitha2×2×2 womenand18men)andUnionCollegeintheUnited
States(18womenand13men)participatedforcourse
between-subjectsANOVA,usingauthorgender,author
creditorforpayment(500yenorU.S.$5).Theinstruc-
culture,andsituationtype(influenceoradjustment)as
tions were identical except the participants were asked
factors.
torecallthemostrecentsituationofeachtype.Thistime
The results support Hypothesis 1. American partici-
the situation type was manipulated as a within-subjects
pantstendedtolistmoreinfluencesituations(M=8.43)
variable, with order of presentation counterbalanced
than adjust situations (M = 7.30) and Japanese partici-
across subjects.
pantstendedtolistfewerinfluencesituations(M=7.84)
thanadjustsituations(M=8.70),althoughtheinterac-
Results and Discussion
tionwasonlymarginallysignificant,F(1,159)=3.17,p=
.077. Notably, people from both cultures are able to ReplicatingStudy1A,Americans’influencesituations
come up with examples of both influence and adjust- (M=6.51)happenedmorerecentlythanadjustmentsit-
ment.Second,theinfluencesituationsreportedbyAmer- uations(M=10.76),t(54)=2.91,p=.005,whereasJapa-
icanshappenedmorerecently(M=390.4daysago)than nese influence situations (M = 6.54) happened some-
adjustment situations (M = 548.0), post hoc contrast, whatlongeragothanadjustmentsituations(M=4.28),
t(158)=4.36,p<.001,whereasJapanesereportedthat althoughthedifferencewasnotsignificant,t(54)=1.55,
their influence situations happened longer ago (M = p= .13, interactionF(1, 54) = 4.70,p= .035.
Morling et al. / EMPHASIS OF CULTURAL PRACTICES 315
As expected, the situations generated in Study 1B PROCEDURE
weremuchmorerecentthanthoseinStudy1A,butthey
Ofthemorethan1,300influenceoradjustmentsitua-
werestillabout1weekold(mediansrangedfrom1to2
tionsgeneratedinStudy1A,weselectedarandomsam-
days). This may suggest that our participants found it
pleof320situations.Therewere40fromeachofeight
somewhatdifficulttorecallclearinstancesofsituations
situationtypesderivedfromeachcellofthe2(situation
accordingtotheseinstructions.Afuturestudycoulduse culture)×2(situationgender)×2(situationinstruction:
experiencesamplingandaskparticipantstocodesitua-
influence or adjust) design of Study 1A. We removed
tionsforinfluenceoradjustment.Nevertheless,thedata
information from situations that was culture specific
suggest, as predicted, that although members of both
(e.g.,replacingfraternitywithsocialclubandTokyowiththe
cultures could remember examples of both types of
city)andabilingualJapanesetranslatorwhohadlivedin
socialpractices,therewererelativelymoreopportunities
the United States translated the set of situations. The
thatpeopleconstruedasinfluenceintheUnitedStates
authorsback-translatedthesituationsandensuredthat
and as adjustment in Japan.
eachonesoundednaturalinthenewlanguage.Thesitu-
ations described concrete behaviors that were easily
STUDY 2 translated.
These situations were presented to both American
Study2wasdesignedtotestHypotheses2and3using
andJapaneserespondentsinaquestionnaireformat.To
thesituationsamplingmethod(Kitayamaetal.,1997).
reducetheburdenontherespondents,weseparatedthe
We randomly sampled situations involving either influ-
sample of 320 situations into two versions of the ques-
enceoradjustmentfromthepoolofmorethan1,300sit-
tionnaire.Eachformcontained160situations(20from
uationscollectedinStudy1A.Wesubsequentlyaskeda
eachofthe8possibletypesofsituations),buttheactual
newgroupofbothAmericanandJapaneserespondents
160 situations were different in each form. The two
to estimate their experience of (a) efficacy, power, or
formsthuscomprisedreplicationsofthesamestudy.We
competence and (b) feelings of closeness, merging, or
onlyreportresultsthatreplicatedinbothquestionnaires.
interpersonal relatedness in each of these situations.
Ineachquestionnaire,the160situationsineachform
We tested two propositions of Hypothesis 2. First,
wererandomlyordered,andtwoordersofpresentation
bothAmericanandJapaneserespondentsshouldreport
were created for each form to control for effects of
strongerfeelingsofefficacywhenexposedtoAmerican-
fatigue. In the questionnaire, each situation was fol-
madeinfluencesituationsthanwhenexposedtoJapanese-
lowed by two questions, one about feelings of efficacy
madeinfluencesituations(Hypothesis2a).Second,both
(i.e.,powerandcompetence),theotheraboutfeelings
AmericanandJapaneserespondentsshouldexperience
of relatedness (i.e., interdependence and closeness to
stronger feelings of relatedness when exposed to Japa-
others).Specifically,thefirstquestionwasposedinthe
nese-madeadjustmentsituationsthanwhenexposedto
following way:
American-made adjustment situations (Hypothesis 2b).
Thethirdhypothesissuggeststhatenduringpsycho-
Inthissituation,wouldyoufeelthatyoudidsomething
logical characteristics develop in response to the pre-
becauseofyourcompetence,power,oreffort?Ifso,indi-
dominant social practices in each culture. Thus, the
catehowmuchbyusingtheleft-handscale.Wouldyou
repeatedexposuretoinfluencesituationsintheUnited
feelpowerless,incompetent,orunabletodosomething?
StatesshouldleadAmericanstofeelmoreefficacythan
Ifso,indicatehowmuchusingtheright-handscale.If
Japanese,atleastintheinfluencesituationsthatsustain
this situation would not affect your feelings of compe-
thesefeelings(Hypothesis3a).Inturn,thepracticesof tence, circle N/A below.
adjustment in Japan should create individual Japanese
selveswhofeelmorerelatedtoothersthanAmericans,at
Two question stems followed. One read, “I did some-
leastintheadjustmentsituationsthatsustainthesefeel-
thing,feltcompetent,powerful”andwasfollowedbya4-
ings (Hypothesis 3b).
point scale; the other read, “I was unable to do some-
thing, felt incompetent, powerless,” followed by a 4-
Method
point scale. A “not affected” option also was available.
PARTICIPANTS The second question was posed in the following way:
Agroupofstudentscomposedof50Americanmen
Thinkaboutotherpeopleinthissituation.Otherpeople
and52Americanwomen(allwhite)fromUnionCollege
may have been present, or you may have merely been
and 48 Japanese men and 48 Japanese women from
thinkingaboutorimaginingthepresenceofotherpeo-
KyotoUniversitycompletedsurveys.Participantsworked pleduringthesituation.Inthissituation,wouldyoufeel
in groups to fulfill a course requirement or to earn merged with or interdependent with those other peo-
U.S.$5 or 500 Yen. ple? If so, indicate how much by using the left-hand
316 PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN
scale.Wouldyoufeelseparatefromorindependentof portion of situations in which people’s sense of either
thoseotherpeople?Ifso,indicatehowmuchusingthe efficacy or relatedness was affected in some way.
right-handscale.Ifthissituationwouldnotaffectyour
feelingsofbeingclosetoorseparatefromotherpeople, PERCEIVED EFFICACY AND RELATEDNESS
circle N/A.
The top half of Table 1 displays the mean ratings of
efficacyandrelatedness,brokendownbysituationcul-
ture, situation type, and respondent culture.
Thetwoquestionstemsread,“Interdependent,merged
withothers”and“Independent,separatefromothers,” Degreeofefficacyorrelatednessaffordedbysocialpractices.
eachfollowedbya4-pointscale.A“notaffected”option Ourfirstsetofanalysesfocusedonthedegreeofefficacy
was available. The full instructions for these two ques- and relatedness fostered by influence and adjustment
tionswereincludedonthefirstinstructionpageofthe situations. In general, influence situations were rated
questionnaire. Thereafter, only the question stems ap- higher on efficacy (M = 1.69) than adjusting situations
peared after each situation. (M = 0.11), indicating that influence situations foster
feelingsofefficacy.Similarly,adjustingsituationsoverall
Results and Discussion wereratedhigheronrelatedness(M=0.64)thaninflu-
encingsituations(M=0.32),indicatingthatadjustment
We analyzed the rating data in two ways. First, we
situationsfosterfeelingsofrelatedness,interactionF (1,
treated each participant as the unit of analysis. Means 1
190)=498.97,p<.001;F (1,304)=98.75,p<.001.This
werecomputedacrosssituationsthatdifferedinrelevant 2
resultsupportsouruseofefficacyandrelatednessasthe
within-subject variables including index type (efficacy
psychological characteristics that are fostered by these
and relatedness), situation type (influence vs. adjust-
socialpractices.However,thiseffectwasqualifiedbysitu-
ment situations), situation culture (American-made vs.
ationculture,accordingtoourpredictions(seeFigure
Japanese-made situations) and situation gender (male-
1). The three-way interaction that simultaneously tests
madevs.female-madesituations).Thebetween-subjects
Hypotheses 2a and 2b, involving index type, situation
variables were respondent culture (American vs. Japa-
type,andsituationculture,wassignificant,F (1,190)=
neseparticipants),respondentgender(malevs.female 1
281.81,p<.001;F (1,304)=11.53,p<.001.Insupportof
participants),andform(firstorsecondsetof160situa- 2
Hypothesis2a,Americaninfluencesituations(M=2.01)
tions).SignificantFs,referredtoasF s,computedfrom
1 were rated higher on efficacy than were the Japanese
ananalysisofvariance(ANOVA)ofthisdesignindicate
influencesituations(M=1.35),t (190)=11.46,p<.001;
thegeneralizabilityoftheeffectsoverrespondents.Sec- 1
t (304)=1.86,p=.064.InsupportofHypothesis2b,Japa-
ond,weanalyzedthedatausingthesituationastheunit 2
nese adjusting situations tended to be rated higher in
ofanalysis.Meanswerecomputedseparatelyforeachsit-
relatedness(M=.89)thantheirAmericancounterparts
uation;therefore,within-situationvariableswererespon-
(M=.42),t (190)=8.29,p<.001;t (304)=1.35,p=.18.
dent culture, respondent gender, and index type. The 1 2
Besides the two hypothesized effects, two additional
320situationsvariedonthebetween-situationvariables
patternsinthisinteractionsuggestadditionalaffordances
situation type, situation culture, situation gender, and
ofthesesituations.First,Americaninfluencesituations,
form (first or second set). Significant Fs, referred to as
surprisingly, evoked significant feelings of relatedness
F s, computed from an ANOVA performed on these
2 (M=.74)comparedtoJapaneseinfluencesituations(M
means, indicate the generalizability of the effects over
=–.10),t (190)=14.99,p<.001;t (304)=2.44,p=.015.
situations. 1 2
Ofimportance,however,theAmerican-madeinfluence
Unless otherwise noted, only those omnibus effects
situationsstillfosteredmuchstrongerfeelingsofefficacy
thatattainedstatisticalsignificanceinbothanalyseswill
than those of relatedness, t (190) = 22.08, p < .001;
be reported below. Because of the mixed design, post 1
t (304)=3.58,p<.001.Second,althoughadjustmentsit-
hoc contrasts are t tests using aggregated error terms 2
uationsdidnotevokeasmuchefficacyasinfluencesitua-
(Rosenthal & Rosnow, 1991).
tions did (as reported earlier), American-made adjust-
Twomeasureswereused.First,weexaminedoverall
ment situations (M = .43) actually showed a somewhat
indices of perceived efficacy and relatedness. For each
strongerpotentialtoevokefeelingsofefficacythantheir
scale, we assigned the value of 0 to the not affected
Japanese counterparts (M = –.19), t (190) = 10.76, p <
responses,1creatinga9-pointscalerangingfrom–4.0to 1
.001;t (304) = 1.75,p= .081.2
+4.0.Positivescoresmeanthattheparticipantsfeltrela- 2
tivelyefficaciousorrelatedtoothersandnegativescores Psychological responses sustained by social practices. We
mean that they felt relatively incompetent or separate also analyzed the psychological characteristics that are
fromothers.Second,weexaminedtheproportionofthe sustained by the social practices prevalent in each cul-
situations that participants rated at all; that is, the pro- ture. The three-way interaction between respondent
Morling et al. / EMPHASIS OF CULTURAL PRACTICES 317
TABLE 1: ResponsestoSituationsonEfficacyandRelatednessby
SituationCulture,SituationType,andRespondentCulture
Influence Adjustment
Situations Situations
United United
States– Japan- States– Japan-
Made Made Made Made
Mean (SD) ratings of efficacy
American respondents 2.44 1.77 0.26 –0.36
(0.87) (1.08) (1.56) (1.48)
Japanese respondents 1.57 0.93 0.60 –0.02
(1.02) (1.00) (1.01) (1.03)
Mean (SD) ratings of
relatedness
American respondents 0.67 –0.27 0.07 0.40
(1.20) (1.32) (1.21) (1.34)
Japanese respondents 0.84 0.07 0.77 1.39
(0.95) (1.29) (1.25) (1.34)
Percentage (SD) of situations
relevant for efficacy
Figure 1 Differentculturalaffordancesofinfluenceandadjustment
American respondents 90.2 88.2 85.8 80.7
situations.
(12.6) (13.9) (14.2) (17.7)
NOTE:U.S.-madeinfluencesituationsaffordmoreefficacyandrelat-
Japanese respondents 78.6 64.9 62.6 58.0 ednessthanJapan-madeinfluencesituations.Japan-madeadjustment
(14.9) (20.8) (20.4) (22.9) situationsaffordmorerelatedness,butnotmoreefficacy,thanU.S.-
Percentage (SD) of situations made adjustment situations.
relevant for relatedness
American respondents 86.9 83.9 85.2 83.5
(13.2) (15.5) (13.2) (14.6)
Japanese respondents 80.9 75.9 77.2 81.9
(16.3) (15.3) (14.4) (12.3)
country, index type, and situation type that simulta-
neouslytestsHypotheses3aand3bwassignificant,F (1,
1
190) = 13.23,p< .001;F (1, 304) = 23.91,p< .001.3
2
First,efficacyratingsinthetwotypesofsituationsare
presented in the left side of Figure 2. In support of
Hypothesis 3a, Americans felt more efficacy than Japa-
nesewhentheywereexposedtoinfluencesituations(by
.87 points), t (190) = 4.63, p < .001; t (304) = 8.90, p <
1 2
.001. In contrast, in the adjustment situations, Ameri-
cansactuallyperceivedlessefficacythanJapanese(by.35
points),t (190)=1.86,p=.064;t (304)=3.58,p<.001.
1 2
Thesimpleinteractioninvolvingsituationtypeandres-
pondent culture proved significant for the efficacy rat-
Figure 2 Attunement of cultural affordances and psychological
ings,F (1,190)=141.71,p<.001;F (1,304)=152.48,p<
1 2 tendencies.
.001.FeelingsofefficacyforAmericans,then,aredepend- NOTE:AmericansfeltmoreefficacythanJapanesewhentheyimag-
entoncontext.Americansdonotalwaysfeelhigherin inedthemselvesintheinfluencesituations.Japanesefeltmoremerged
withothersthanAmericans,butespeciallysoinadjustmentsituations.
efficacy; they mainly respond so when a familiar and
meaningful social practice sustains it.
Next,relatednessratingsinthetwotypesofsituations
arepresentedintherightsideofFigure2.Insupportof situations(by.24points),t (190)=1.28,p=.20,t (304)=
1 2
Hypothesis 3b, Japanese respondents reported higher 2.46,p=.014.Thesimpleinteractioninvolvingsituation
relatednessratingsthanAmericansinadjustmentsitua- typeandrespondentculturewassignificantfortherelat-
tions (by .84 points), t (190) = 4.47, p < .001, t (304) = ednessratings,F (1,190)=20.30,p<.001;F (1,304)=
1 2 1 2
8.60,p<.001.Incontrast,Japaneserespondentsreported 35.79,p<.001.Thus,theJapanesefeelingsofrelatedness
onlyabitmorerelatednessthanAmericansininfluence are sustained especially by adjustment situations.
318 PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN
Gendereffects.Effectsofgenderweremostlynegligible thatJapanesemorereadilyratetheirownfeelingsofrelat-
with one important exception. Specifically, male-made ednessthanefficacy,especiallyforadjustingsituations.
situationswereratedhigheronefficacy(M=1.03)than Finally, a three-way interaction among situation cul-
female-madesituations(M=.77),whereasfemale-made ture, index type, and respondent culture, F (1, 190) =
1
situationswereratedslightlyhigheronrelatedness(M= 13.53,p<.001andF (1,304)=8.81,p=.0036wasduetoa
2
.54) than male-made situations (M = .42), F (1, 190) = more differentiated pattern among Japanese partici-
1
122.30,p<.001;F (1,304)=3.97,p=.047.Thisresultsug- pants, who rated Japanese-made (but not American-
2
gests that in both cultural contexts, men’s situations made)situations(61%)tobeespeciallylowintheirrele-
afford a greater sense of efficacy than women’s situa- vanceforfeelingsofefficacy,comparedtoAmericansit-
tions,consistentwithpastresearchontheautonomyand uations(71%).Thisfurthersupportsthatefficacyisaless
achievementgoalspromotedformalegenderrolesand frequentpsychologicalexperienceinJapanese-madesitu-
relatednesspromotedforwomen’sroles,atleastinthe ations, as well as for Japanese people.
United States (e.g., Cross & Madson, 1997; Josephs,
SUMMARY
Markus, & Tafarodi, 1992).4
TheresultsofStudy2supportedourprimaryhypoth-
PROPORTION OF SELF-RELEVANT SITUATIONS eses.Americaninfluencesituationsaffordedmoreeffi-
cacy than their Japanese counterparts, and Japanese
Becauseparticipantswereallowedtoindicatethatany adjustment situations afforded more relatedness than
given situation was “not applicable,” we examined the their American counterparts. In addition, Americans
proportions of situations considered relevant for effi- responded with especially strong feelings of efficacy in
cacy and relatedness (i.e., 1 minus the proportion of influencesituations,andJapaneserespondedwithespe-
“notapplicable”responses).Thismeasureindicatesthe ciallystrongfeelingsofrelatednessinadjustmentsitua-
extent to which these psychological experiences (effi- tions. One surprising result, however, was the finding
cacyandrelatedness)areactivatedatallbythesituations. that American influence situations not only afforded
The proportions were first arc-sin transformed and efficacybuttheyalsoaffordedfeelingsofrelatedness,a
submitted to an analysis of the same design as that finding we explored in a content analysis.
describedabove.ThebottomhalfofTable1presentsthe
rawpercentages,brokendownbysituationculture,situ- Content Analysis
ation type, and respondent culture. Overall, American
We content-analyzed the 320 situations selected for
respondentsjudgedagreaterproportionofsituationsto
Study2tostudythecontentofthesituationsingreater
berelevantforbothfeelingsthanJapaneserespondents,
detail,especiallytoinvestigatewhyAmericaninfluence
F (1, 190) = 56.09, p < .001, and F (1, 304) = 425.8, p <
1 2 situations might have afforded relatedness as well as
.001.Inaddition,American-madesituationswerejudged
efficacy.
tobemorerelevantforthesefeelingsthanJapanesesitu-
Twocodersfirstdividedeachofthesituationsintoits
ations,F (1,190)=60.06,p<.001,andF (1,304)=11.01,
1 2 acts,antecedents,andconsequences(reliabilityranged
p=.001.Thesetwomaineffectsmaysuggestthatpsycho-
from75.5%to100%).Athirdcoderresolveddisagree-
logicalexperiencesimplicatingtheself-conceptingen-
ments.AnativeEnglishspeaker,anativeJapanesespeaker,
eral may be more salient in the United States than in
andabilingualcodedthesituationsintheiroriginallan-
Japan.
guages, according to the six features listed in Table 2
Inthebackdropofthesetwoeffects,wefoundasignif-
(reliability ranged from 85.8% to 98.8%).
icantthree-wayinteractionamongsituationtype,index
type,andrespondentculture,F (1,190)=9.94,p=.002 INFLUENCE SITUATIONS
1
andF (1,304)=8.48,p=.004.5AsshowninTable1(col- CodingrevealedapossiblereasonwhyU.S.influence
2
lapsingoversituationculture),Americansrespondedto situations afforded both efficacy and relatedness: U.S.
allofthesituationsinequalproportion,regardlessofthe influenceactsaredirectedtowardimprovingotherpeo-
situation type or the type of index they used. As just ple.First,thevastmajorityofAmerican-madeinfluence
described, this ceiling effect suggests that Americans situations (90%) involve another person, compared to
indiscriminately report on their psychological experi- 61% of their Japanese counterparts, χ2(1) = 17.92, p <
ences. In contrast, Japanese showed a more differenti- .001. More important, the objects of influencing acts
atedpatternofresponses.Specifically,Japaneserespon- were more likely to be other people in the American-
dentsperceivedallsituationstobelessrelevanttotheir made situations than in the Japanese-made situations
senseofefficacythanfortheirsenseofrelatedness,espe- (58.8%vs.22.5%),χ2(1)=21.77,p<.001.Japaneseinflu-
ciallyforadjustingsituations(seeTable1collapsingover ence situations, instead, tended to control nonsocial
situationculture),simpleinteractionF (1,92)=75.75,p objects(suchasfurnitureoraworkschedule)morethan
1
<.001andF (1,304)=30.77,p<.001.Thisresultsuggests theirAmericancounterparts(41.3%vs.11.3%),χ2(1)=
2
Morling et al. / EMPHASIS OF CULTURAL PRACTICES 319
TABLE 2: TheCodingSchemeUsedtoContent-Analyzethe320 ationswerelikelytobedirectedatsocialobjects(suchas
Situations institutions or policies, 38.8%).
Onefurtherdifferencebetweenthetwocountrieswas
Element Coded For: Example
thatJapaneseinfluencingactsweremorelikelytomen-
Act Is it a compulsion? Ihad toadjust to the tion that they went against situational demands (e.g.,
(described by “had to,” demands of sports by “My mother was used to serving bread, but I asked for
“ought,” or “must”) quitting smoking. rice”(UnitedStates,17.5%;Japan,32.5%),χ2(1)=4.80,
Object of Is it nonsocial? I movedmy couch.
p=.028.Thisfinding,combinedwiththefactthatJapa-
the act Is it social? I convincedmy mother.
Antecedent: Does it fit with the act? I wanted to eat toast for nesesituationsweremoreoftendirectedatobjects,may
actor’s breakfast, so I explainwhyJapaneseinfluencesituationswereratedas
intention convinced my slightly separated from other people (see Figure 1).7
mother to serve it.
Does it go against the ? I was not having funbut ADJUSTMENT SITUATIONS
act I pretended to enjoy
myself so I would not The adjustment situations from the two countries
break the mood. werelargelysimilar.However,oneimportantexception
Antecedent: Does it fit with the act? When people want to sing
suggestswhyJapaneseadjustmentsituationsmadepeo-
situation’s balladsat Karaoke,
ple feel especially close to others.
intention I sing them too.
Does it go against the My friends wanted to go First, in both countries, adjustment situations were
act? for pizzabut I likelytoinvolvepeople(68%)andthetargetofadjust-
convinced them to mentwaslikelytobeasocialsituationofsomekind(e.g.,
go to this other
the demands of university life or others’ expectations,
place.
47%)ratherthaneithernonsocialcircumstances(such
Consequences Good or bad for the I cut my hair short soit
of the act actor? is easy to wash now. as the demands of a sport, 25%) or other individuals
Good or bad for I helped my brother (e.g.,afriend’srequest,15%).Andaswemightexpect
someone else? study for a big exam. fromtheinstructions,peopletendedtoadjusttositua-
He got an A.
tionalantecedentdemands(53.8%),notgoagainstthem
Presence of Yes I helped mybrother
(4.4%).
others study for a big
exam . . . . Of importance, however, Japanese adjustment situa-
No I cut my hair short . . . . tionsweremorelikelythantheirAmericancounterparts
to involve voluntary actions of adjustment. American-
madeadjustmentsituationsweremoreoftenphrasedas
compulsions (e.g., “I had to adjust . . . ”; 41.25% vs.
18.58,p<.001.Inaddition,whenAmericansinfluenced
8.75%),χ2(1)=22.53,p<.001.Thisfindingisespecially
otherpeople,theyalsotendedtonotethattheseothers
noteworthybecausein22.5%ofJapaneseadjustingsitu-
benefited from their acts. In all, 21.3% of American
ations, compared to 7.5% in the United States, the
influencing acts mentioned positive consequences for
actor’sintentions(anantecedent)specifiedthecontrast
otherpeople,whereasonly5%ofJapaneseinfluencing
betweenwhattheyintendedtodoandwhattheyactually
acts did so, χ2(1) = 9.26, p = .002. Thus, the American
did(e.g.,“IwasnothavingfunbutIpretendedtoenjoy
influencing situations can be characterized as acts of
myself”). This pattern suggests that in Japan, overcom-
prosocialinfluence.Americansinfluenceotherpeople, ingone’spersonaldesireisasignofone’scommitment
forthosepeoples’benefit(aprototypicalsituationwas“I to the relationship—it magnifies the extent to which a
helpedmybrotherstudy,andhegotanA”).Thispattern person is adjusting. In addition, the first finding sup-
may reasonably lead to both efficacy and closeness to portstheargumentthatadjustmentisseeninarelatively
other people. morepositivelightinJapaneseculture,especiallybecause
Despite these qualitative differences, we also found compulsorylanguagewasrarelyusedinJapaneseadjust-
thatinbothcountries,influenceactshadpositiveconse- mentsituations.Incontrast,intheUnitedStates,people
quencesfortheself(19.3%),wereunlikelytobephrased may use compulsory language to describe adjustment,
ascompulsions(only2actswere),andafairlylargepro- otherwisetheymaybeconsideredweakfordoingsome-
portionoftheself’sintentions(anantecedent)fitwith thing “just because” the situation demanded it.
theact,suggestingthatpeopledidwhattheywantedto
Self-Report Replication
do(38.8%).Asmallproportionoftheantecedentsmen-
tioned situational intentions (an antecedent) that fit The 320 coded situations were randomly selected
withtheacts(20.6%),meaningthatpeople’sactionsfit fromStudy1A.InStudy1B,weusedaself-reportmethod
thedemandsofthesituation.Similarly,influencingsitu- toreplicatethecodingresultthatinU.S.influencesitua-
320 PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN
tions, people direct their influence at other people influenceandthesenseofefficacybutJapaneseculture
(becauseoftimeconstraints,wewereunabletotestall emphasizestheprocessofadjustmentandthesenseof
possiblecodingresultswiththeself-reportmethod).Par- relatedness. The set of data provides a great deal of
ticipants rated their own situations on two questions empiricalsupportforWeiszetal.’s(1984)classichypoth-
(usinga5-pointscale):“Duringthissituation,didyoutry esis about the relative emphasis of “primary” and “sec-
to change something about another person or other ondary”controlintheUnitedStatesandJapan.First,we
people?”and“Duringthissituation,didyoufeelyouhad observed systematic differences in the frequencies of
tochangeyourbehavior?”Becausecodingrevealedthat influenceandadjustmentsituations.Thus,influencesit-
bothAmericansandJapanesereportedadjustingtothe uationsweremorecommonthanadjustmentsituations
demands of a situation, we expected that both Ameri-
intheUnitedStatesbutthereversewasthecaseinJapan.
cans and Japanese would report changing their own
Second, we found that these situations are relatively
behaviorinadjustmentsituations.However,wepredicted
morepotentintheirrespectivecultures.Thatis,Ameri-
thatonlyAmericanparticipantswouldreportchanging
caninfluencesituationshadanespeciallystrongpoten-
otherpeople in influence situations.
tial (or “affordance”) to produce the sense of efficacy,
Resultsshowedathree-wayinteractionbetweenrespon-
whereas Japanese adjustment situations had especially
dentcountry(between-subjects),situationtype(within-
potentaffordancesforthesenseofrelatedness.Finally,
subjects),andtheobjectofchange(selforother;within-
wefoundthatparticipantsfromthetwoculturesrevealed
subjects),F(1,56)=10.94,p=.002.Replicatingthecoding
contextually attuned psychological characteristics that
results,Americansweresignificantlymorelikelytochange
reflect the kinds of situations emphasized in their own
othersthanthemselvesininfluencesituations(M=3.62
culture.
vs. M = 2.23), t(25) = 4.76, p < .001, whereas Japanese
These cross-cultural differences, however, occurred
showednosignificantdifference(M=2.72vs.M=2.24),
againstabackdropofcross-culturalsimilarities.Tobegin,
t(31)=1.47,p=.15.However,bothAmericansandJapa-
people from both cultures rated influence situations
nese responded that they changed their own behavior
frombothculturestobehigheronefficacy,andpeople
more than others’ behavior in adjustment situations:
from both cultures viewed adjustment situations simi-
Americansself-changeM=3.62versusother-changeM=
larly,ratingthemhigheronfeelingsofrelatedness.The
1.960, t(25) = 5.68, p < .001; Japanese self-change M =
2.91versusother-changeM=2.03,t(31)=3.41,p=.002. overall pattern is consistent with the notion that influ-
The simple interaction of Situation Type × Object of enceandadjustmentaretwogeneralapproachestothe
Changewassignificantinbothcountries,UnitedStates world but that cultures provide different numbers of
F(1, 25) = 52.2,p< .001; JapanF(1, 31) = 12.9,p< .001. opportunities to influence or to adjust. In addition,
In sum, these two follow-up questions replicate the whereasthepsychologicalfeelingsofAmericanandJap-
codingfindingthatAmericans,butnotJapanese,change aneseareattunedtothetypesofsituationstheircultures
otherpeopleininfluencesituationsandcontributesto emphasize(Americansreportedmoreefficacyininflu-
an overall picture of American influence situations as encesituationsandJapanesereportedmorerelatedness
distinctlysocialevents.Notonlydoothersappeartobe in adjustment situations), this attunement was not lim-
influenced in these situations but the actors in them ited to local situations (American situations for Ameri-
respond by feeling especially close to others. We high- cans and Japanese situations for Japanese), with which
light the importance of this finding in the general they might be particularly familiar. Thus, Americans
discussion. were responsive to influence situations sampled from
bothculturesand,likewise,Japanesewereresponsiveto
GENERAL DISCUSSION adjustment situations sampled from both cultures, a
findingconsistentwiththeideathatinfluenceandadjust-
Culturalpsychologicalresearchofthelastdecadehas
ment are general approaches.
documentedmanywaysthatcultureshapesseveralpsy-
Inaddition,ourdatashowthatpsychologicalcharac-
chologicalphenomenaformerlyconsideredtobe“basic,”
including the fundamental attribution error, the need teristics often attributed to people in the two cultures
for positive self-regard, intrinsic motivation, analytic (i.e.,independenceandefficacyintheUnitedStatesand
thought,andtheconceptoftheself(seeFiske,Kitayama, interdependenceandconnectednessinJapan)arenot
Markus, & Nisbett, 1998, for a review). The present purelypsychological;theyrepresentajointeffectofboth
researchbuiltonthisliterature,suggestingthatwhereas apsychologicaltendencyandsocialsituationstowhich
influenceandadjustmentareenactedinboththeUnited the tendency is attuned. In other words, psychological
States and Japan, culture shapes how these actions are tendencies are not separable from the social modes of
experienced. Three lines of evidence supported that being that are emphasized in a culture (Kitayama &
European American culture emphasizes the process of Markus, 1999).