The cultural values of individualism and collectivism are often talked about in the world of psychology. Should you wish to learn more about cultural values for credit, please complete the following:
- What are the cultural values of individualism and collectivism?
- How does one's cultural value (of either individualism or collectivism) shape how they view them self?
- As stated previously, individualism and collectivism are utilized often in psychology. Do a little searching and find something that interests you in relation to individualism and collectivism. I prefer that you try to find an article discussing some research. Here is an example of what I mean by an article presenting some research. Please provide a link to your article.
- Summarize the article you found.
This is very open ended, so have some fun with it!
Cultures can be broken down into two different categories: collectivistic and individualistic. Cultures that are individualistic tend to emphasize the individual and reward personal achievement. The United States and most countries in Western Europe are good examples. On the other hand, cultures that are collectivistic emphasize the value in one’s country, and emphasize family/work group goals above individual needs. China, Korea, and Japan are the most prominent collectivistic societies. Obviously culture plays a huge role on people’s self-concept; a lot of people in japan are extremely honorable and would rather die than tarnish the name of their family. This promotes unity, brotherhood, and selflessness in the community.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1049015
The article investigated how the prevalence of collectivism or individualism in a society correlates to the economic development of that society. Causality in this case goes both ways; collectivistic or individualistic character of a society influences the economic growth of that society, simultaneously economic growth and change will influence a culture’s orientation between collectivism and individualism. Based upon this information, 4 hypotheses were created:
1.) Economic development is impeded by collectivism and facilitated by individualism
2.) Economic development is impeded by individualism and facilitated by collectivism
3.) Economic development promotes collectivism and erodes individualism
4.) Economic development promotes individualism and erodes collectivism
The rest of the article looked at what evidence and arguments there were for each hypothesis, and general themes/implications were explained.
Individualistic culture can be described as oriented around the self instead of the group, loosely linked, and putting personal goals above that of the group. Collectivist culture is characterized by dependance on others and the goals of the group above the goals of the individual.
ReplyDeleteA person raised in a individualistic culture would view their goals as being above that of everyone else, only helping someone else achieve if it could help them achieve as well. Individualistic people focus less on the extended family and more on their immediate family, and is less like to care for elderly parents as collectivist cultures.
Don't forget to do all parts of the assignment.
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