Title: Individualistic Practices and Values Increasing Around the World – Association for Psychological Science – APS
Headings: Individualistic Practices and Values Increasing Around the World
Individualistic Practices and Values Increasing Around the World
Content: To measure individualistic values, they examined data on the importance that people place on friends versus family, how important people believe it is to teach children to be independent, and the degree to which people prioritize self-expression as a national goal. Santos, Varnum, and Grossmann also looked at data on specific socio-ecological factors – including the level of socioeconomic development, disaster frequency, incidence of infectious disease, and extreme temperatures in each country – to examine whether they might account for any shifts in individualism over time. Overall, the results showed a clear pattern: Both individualistic practices and values increased across the globe over time. Specifically, statistical models indicated that individualism has increased by about 12% worldwide since 1960. Only four countries—Cameroon, Malawi, Malaysia, and Mali—showed a substantial decrease in individualistic practices over time, while 34 out of 41 countries showed a notable increase. And only five countries—Armenia, China, Croatia, Ukraine, and Uruguay—showed a substantial decrease in individualistic values over time, with 39 out of 53 countries showing a substantial increase. While the data indicated an overarching trend toward greater individualism, the researchers noted that sizable differences between countries remained through 2011. Several socio-ecological factors — including more frequent disasters, less prevalent infectious disease, and less climatic stress in poorer countries — were linked with individualism, but increased socioeconomic development was the strongest predictor of increased individualism over time. Various aspects of development were related to increases in individualism, particularly increases in the proportion of white-collar jobs, in education levels, and in household income.