Title: Individualist or Collectivist? How Culture Influences Behavior | HealthyPsych.com
Headings: 
Individualist or Collectivist? How Culture Influences Behavior
Culture
Elizabeth Hopper, PhD
January 30, 2015
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Content: How does culture affect the way we see ourselves? The researchers Hazel Markus and Shinobu Kitayama have studied how an individual’s cultural background affects how they view themselves. People from individualistic cultures are more likely to have an independent view of themselves (they see themselves as separate from others, define themselves based on their personal traits, and see their characteristics as relatively stable and unchanging). On the other hand, people from collectivistic cultures are more likely to have an interdependent view of themselves (they see themselves as connected to others, define themselves in terms of relationships with others, and see their characteristics as more likely to change across different contexts). Going back to the example I began this post with, people from individualistic cultures are more likely to mention personal traits when finishing the sentence “I am…”, while people from collectivistic cultures are more likely to list relationships and group memberships. While individualism/collectivism can be measured in any culture, much of the research so far has been conducted on East Asian and Western cultures. Researchers have found that Western cultures tend to be more individualistic while East Asian cultures tend to be more collectivistic. However, it’s important to remember that many factors can influence individualism/collectivism, so individuals within a culture can also differ in their levels of independence/interdependence. Individualism and collectivism can even be affected by the situational context. For example, one study found that individuals from two cultural backgrounds became more individualistic when shown images relating to an individualistic culture and more collectivistic when shown images relating to a collectivistic culture.