Determinants and Behavioral Consequences of Psychological Modernity: Empirical Evidence from Costa Rica

Abstract

A major goal of research on national development and underdevelopment is to specify and empirically test propositions drawn from theories emphasizing individual, societal, or international determinants. In this paper we examine a central premise of individual modernity theory that psychological modernity mediates the effects of background factors and directly affects individual behaviors thought to contribute to societal modernization. Several analytical tests were made using fifteen behaviors identified in the modernization literature and an index of modern behavior. Based on data collected from a stratified quota sample of 210 Costa Rican adult males, we (1) estimate separate ordinary least-squares regression equations of the behaviors as afunction of psychological modernity and background variables (age, rural-urban residence, education, occupation and income); (2) perform a similar analysis after forming indexes of background and behavioral indicators; and (3) estimate a full structural equation model of eight behaviors incorporating measurement error of psychological modernity and allowing the disturbances in the equations to be correlated. The results indicate that psychological modernity has, in most cases, a negligible effect on behavior when measurement is assumed to be perfect, and nonnegligible effects in the direction predicted for three of the eight behaviors when the measurement error in psychological modernity is taken into consideration. After evaluating design limitations and potential objections, we note that psychological modernity is important in determining only a limited number of behaviors and generally adds little to explaining behavioral variations beyond objective background characteristics. We conclude that psychological modernity appears more as an interpretative construct (and that only in several cases) than a pervasive source of modern behavior. Implications for national development and additional lines of research are discussed.