Vinai Norasakkunkit

Bio: Vinai Norasakkunkit is an academic researcher from Gonzaga University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Social anxiety & Hikikomori. The author has an hindex of 12, co-authored 24 publications receiving 1065 citations. Previous affiliations of Vinai Norasakkunkit include Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Cultural Constructions of Happiness: Theory and Empirical Evidence

Abstract: In a review of recent cross-cultural evidence on happiness and well-being, the authors identified substantial cultural variations in (1) cultural meanings of happiness, (2) motivations underlying happiness, and (3) predictors of happiness. Specifically, in North American cultural contexts, happiness tends to be defined in terms of personal achievement. Individuals engaging in these cultures are motivated to maximize the experience of positive affect. Moreover, happiness is best predicted by self-esteem. In contrast, in East Asian cultural contexts, happiness tends to be defined in terms of interpersonal connectedness. Individuals engaging in these cultures are motivated to maintain a balance between positive and negative affects. Moreover, happiness is best predicted by perceived embeddedness of the self in a social relationship. Directions for future research are discussed.

Culture, Ethnicity, and Emotional Distress Measures The Role of Self-Construal and Self-Enhancement

Abstract: Research suggests that Asians consistently score higher than European Americans on measures of emotional distress. Extending previous research, the current study found that self-report measures of depression, social avoidance and distress, and fear of negative evaluation were positively related to a self-report measure of interdependent self-construal, negatively related to a self-report measure of independent self-construal, or both. Furthermore, distress measures varied inversely with relative self-enhancement, an indigenous constituent of the independent self but not of the interdependent self. Results suggest that certain commonly used measures of depression and social anxiety may tend to equate the moderately self-enhancing goals of an independent self with mental health, whereas responses reflecting culturally prescribed goals of an interdependent self may be seen as indicating emotional distress. The cultural appropriateness of standardized measures of emotional distress when applied to Asians was ...

Unable to conform, unwilling to rebel? Youth, culture, and motivation in globalizing Japan.

Abstract: This paper investigates the effects of globalization on Japanese young adults from sociological and psychological perspectives. While Japan’s socio-economic institutions have shown mainly resistant (or “hot”) reactions to globalization, individual-level adaptations remain oriented towards conformity to dominant life expectations, which remain largely unchanged, despite decreasing rewards. However, a socially withdrawn sub-group (the so-called hikikomori) appears to be unable to conform yet is also unwilling to rebel. The experimental evidence we review suggests such youth deviate from typical Japanese motivational patterns but have not necessarily become more Western. This poses serious problems in an interdependence-oriented culture, but the paralysis of this group seems to be an outcome of labor market change rather than a psychopathology. Finally, we also identify a contrasting group – whom we call the quiet mavericks – that adapts in creative and integrative (or "cool") ways by negotiating conformist pressures tactfully. Our account sheds light on just how complex and painful the psychological and sociological effects of globalization can be for young people in conformist societies, with implications to policy and social sustainability.

The NEET and Hikikomori spectrum: Assessing the risks and consequences of becoming culturally marginalized.

Abstract: An increasing number of young people are becoming socially and economically marginalized in Japan under economic stagnation and pressures to be more globally competitive in a post-industrial economy. The phenomena of NEET/Hikikomori (occupational/social withdrawal) have attracted global attention in recent years. Though the behavioral symptoms of NEET and Hikikomori can be differentiated, some commonalities in psychological features can be found. Specifically, we believe that both NEET and Hikikomori show psychological tendencies that deviate from those governed by mainstream cultural attitudes, values, and behaviors, with the difference between NEET and Hikikomori being largely a matter of degree. In this study, we developed a NEET-Hikikomori Risk Factors (NHR) scale that treats NEET/Hikikomori not as a set of distinct diagnoses, but as a spectrum of psychological tendencies associated with the risk of being marginalized in society. Based on this idea, we identified three related risk factors in our NHR spectrum scale: (1) Freeter lifestyle preference, which in Japan refers to the tendency to consciously choose to not work despite job availabilities, (2) a lack of self-competence, and (3) having unclear ambitions for the future (Study 1). Study 2 investigated and confirmed the validity of the scale by examining NHR differences between occupational groups. The results suggested that NHR is related to psychological tendencies common in the marginalized segments of society. The relationship between these psychological tendencies and actually becoming marginalized across cultures is discussed.

A Socio-Ecological Approach to Cross-Cultural Differences in the Sensitivity to Social Rejection The Partially Mediating Role of Relational Mobility

Abstract: The authors propose that cross-cultural differences in sensitivity to social rejection, or the extent to which one is alert to potential rejection from significant others, can be understood as an adaptation to different social ecological contexts varying in the degrees of relational mobility. In societies low in relational mobility, such as East Asia, relationships and group memberships are stable and exclusive, and thus it is difficult for individuals to recover once rejected from current relationships or groups. In these contexts, one would expect people to be continuously paying attention to negative feedback from others to avoid potential rejection. In contrast, this type of anxiety will be less pronounced in societies high in relational mobility, such as North America, because there are a greater number of relationship alternatives available, even if individuals were to be excluded from a particular relationship. Results from two cross-national studies showed that, as expected, individuals’ perceptio...

Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life

Abstract: Meanwhile, the authors' antidote to the American sicknessa quest for democratic community that draws on our diverse civic and religious traditionshas contributed to a vigorous scholarly and popular debate. Attention has been focused on forms of social organization, be it civil society, democratic communitarianism, or associative democracy, that can humanize the market and the administrative state. In their new Introduction the authors relate the argument of their book both to the current realities of American society and to the growing debate about the country's future. With this new edition one of the most influential books of recent times takes on a new immediacy.\

Basic psychological need satisfaction, need frustration, and need strength across four cultures

Abstract: The present study investigated whether satis- faction and frustration of the psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence, as identified within Basic Psychological Need Theory (BPNT; Deci and Ryan, Psychol Inquiry 11:227-268, 2000; Ryan and Deci, Psychol Inquiry 11:319-338, 2000), contributes to participants' well-being and ill-being, regardless of their cultural back- ground and interpersonal differences in need strength, as indexed by either need valuation (i.e., the stated importance of the need to the person) or need desire (i.e., the desire to get a need met). In Study 1, involving late adolescents from Belgium and China (total N = 685; Mean age = 17 years), autonomy and competence satisfaction had unique associations with well-being and individual differences in need valuation did not moderate these associations. Study 2 involved participants from four culturally diverse nations (Belgium, China, USA, and Peru; total N = 1,051; Mean age = 20 years). Results provided evidence for the mea- surement equivalence of an adapted scale tapping into both need satisfaction and need frustration. Satisfaction of each of the three needs was found to contribute uniquely to the prediction of well-being, whereas frustration of each of the three needs contributed uniquely to the prediction of ill- being. Consistent with Study 1, the effects of need satis- faction and need frustration were found to be equivalent across the four countries and were not moderated by indi- vidual differences in the desire for need satisfaction. These findings underscore BPNT's universality claim, which states that the satisfaction of basic needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence represent essential nutrients for optimal functioning across cultures and across individ- ual differences in need strength.