People in different cultures have strikingly different construals of the self, of others, and of the interdependence of the 2. These construals can influence, and in many cases determine, the very nature of individual experience, including cognition, emotion, and motivation. Many Asian cultures have distinct conceptions of individuality that insist on the fundamental relatedness of individuals to each other. The emphasis is on attending to others, fitting in, and harmonious interdependence with them. American culture neither assumes nor values such an overt connectedness among individuals. In contrast, individuals seek to maintain their independence from others by attending to the self and by discovering and expressing their unique inner attributes. As proposed herein, these construals are even more powerful than previously imagined. Theories of the self from both psychology and anthropology are integrated to define in detail the difference between a construal of the self as independent and a construal of the self as interdependent. Each of these divergent construals should have a set of specific consequences for cognition, emotion, and motivation; these consequences are proposed and relevant empirical literature is reviewed. Focusing on differences in self-construals enables apparently inconsistent empirical findings to be reconciled, and raises questions about what have been thought to be culture-free aspects of cognition, emotion, and motivation.

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Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation.

Are Americans more individualistic and less collectivistic than members of other groups? The authors summarize plausible psychological implications of individualism-collectivism (IND-COL), meta-analyze cross-national and within-United States IND-COL differences, and review evidence for effects of IND-COL on self-concept, well-being, cognition, and relationality. European Americans were found to be both more individualistic-valuing personal independence more-and less collectivistic-feeling duty to in-groups less-than others. However, European Americans were not more individualistic than African Americans, or Latinos, and not less collectivistic than Japanese or Koreans. Among Asians, only Chinese showed large effects, being both less individualistic and more collectivistic. Moderate IND-COL effects were found on self-concept and relationality, and large effects were found on attribution and cognitive style.

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Rethinking individualism and collectivism: evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses.

Community-based research in public health focuses on social, structural, and physical environmental inequities through active involvement of community members, organizational representatives, and researchers in all aspects of the research process. Partners contribute their expertise to enhance understanding of a given phenomenon and to integrate the knowledge gained with action to benefit the community involved. This review provides a synthesis of key principles of community-based research, examines its place within the context of different scientific paradigms, discusses rationales for its use, and explores major challenges and facilitating factors and their implications for conducting effective community-based research aimed at improving the public’s health.

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Review of community-based research: assessing partnership approaches to improve public health.

Three aspects of the self(private, public, collective) with different probabilities in different kinds of social environments were sampled. Three dimensions of cultural variation (individualism--collectivism, tightness-looseness, cultural complexity) are discussed in relation to the sampling of these three aspects of the self. The more complex the culture, the more frequent the sampling of the public and private self and the less frequent the sampling of the collective self. The more individualistic the culture, the more frequent the sampling of the private self and the less frequent the sampling of the collective self. Collectivism, external threat, competition with outgroups, and common fate increase the sampling of the collective self. Cultural homogeneity results in tightness and in the sampling of the collective self. The article outlines theoretical links among aspects of the environment, childrearing patterns, and cultural patterns, which are linked to differential sampling of aspects of the self. Such sampling has implications for social behavior. Empirical investigations of some of these links are reviewed.

The Self and Social Behavior in Differing Cultural Contexts

Past research has generated mixed support among social scientists for the utility of social norms in accounting for human behavior. We argue that norms do have a substantial impact on human action; however, the impact can only be properly recognized when researchers (a) separate 2 types of norms that at times act antagonistically in a situation—injunctive norms (what most others approve or disapprove) and descriptive norms (what most others do)—and (b) focus Ss' attention principally on the type of norm being studied. In 5 natural settings, focusing Ss on either the descriptive norms or the injunctive norms regarding littering caused the Ss* littering decisions to change only in accord with the dictates of the then more salient type of norm.

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A focus theory of normative conduct: Recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places.

This article reports the development of a short (12-item) acculturation scale for Hispanics. Separate factor analyses of the responses of 363 Hispanics and 228 non-Hispanic whites produced three fa...

Development of a Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanics

Hispanics Who are They? Issues in Identifying Hispanics Enhancing Research Participation Development and Adaptation of Instruments Translation of Data Collection Instruments Potential Problems in Interpreting Data

Research with Hispanic Populations

This investigation studied the effects of acculturation on attitudinal familism in 452 Hispanics compared to 227 white nonHispanics. Despite differences in the national origin of Hispanics, Mexican-, Central -and Cuban-Americans reported similar attitudes toward the family indicating that familism is a core characteristic in the Hispanic culture. Three basic dimensions of familism were found: Familial obligations, perceived support from the family and family as referents. The high level of perceived family support, invariable despite changes in acculturation, is the most essential dimension of Hispanic familism. Familial obligations and the perception of the family as referents appear to diminish with the level of acculturation, but the perception of family support doesn't change. Although these two dimensions of familism decrease concurrently with the level of acculturation, the attitudes of persons with high levels of acculturation are more familistic than those of white nonHispanics.

Hispanic Familism and Acculturation: What Changes and What Doesn't?

Conceptual Approaches to Acculturation, John W. Berry Major Approaches to the Measurement of Acculturation Among Ethnic Minority Populations - A Content Analysis and an Alternative Empirical Strategy, Nolan Zane, Winnie Mak Ethnic Identity and Acculturation, Jean S. Phinney Acculturation and Changes in Cutlural Values, Gerardo Marin, Raymond J. Gamba Acculturation Among Ethnic Minority Families, Kevin M. Chun, Phillip K. Akutsu The Influence of Acculturation Processes on the Family, Daniel A. Santisteban, Victoria B. Mitrani Overview of the Relation Between Acculturation and Ethnic Minority Mental Health, Pamela Balls Organista, Kurt C. Organista, Karen Kurasaki Acculturation and Physical Health in Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Hector F. Myers, Norma Rodriguez Acculturation, Psychological Distress and Alcohol Use - Investigating the Effects of Ethnic Identity and Religiosity, Fang Gong, David T. Takuchi, Pauline Agbayani-Siewert, Leo Tacata Idioms of Distress, Acculturation and Depression - the Puerto Rican Experience, Dharma E. Cortes Acculturation, Alcohol Consumption, Smoking and Drug Use Among Hispanics, Raul Caetano, Catherine L. Clark.

Acculturation: Advances in theory, measurement, and applied research.

This article reports the development ofa bidimensional acculturation scaleforHispanics (BAS). The scale provides an acculturation score for two major cultural dimensions (Hispanic and non-Hispanic ...

Gerardo Marin

Papers

Development of a Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanics

Research with Hispanic Populations

Hispanic Familism and Acculturation: What Changes and What Doesn't?

Acculturation: Advances in theory, measurement, and applied research.

A New Measurement of Acculturation for Hispanics: The Bidimensional Acculturation Scale for Hispanics (BAS)