Interdependent Self-construals Research Articles

Attempt to validate the Self-Construal Scale in French: Systematic approach and model limitation

IntroductionIndependent and interdependent self-construals are included in individuals’ self-definitions. The 24-item Self-Construal Scale (SCS) was developed by Singelis (1994) as a means of measuring the “two selves” of individual identity, namely the independent self and the interdependent self. It has been translated into a number of different languages including French. Yet, proper psychometric validation procedures of the scale in foreign languages are lacking which is problematic given the recurrently reported subscales poor reliabilities. ObjectiveThe aim of the present paper is to present the steps followed in order to validate a French-translated version of Singelis’ (1994) 24-item Self-Construal Scale. Following such a systematic validation approach enables us to locate psychometric weaknesses and assess to what extent a standard validation procedure can address these limitations. MethodStudy 1 pertains to the translation of the inventory, item face-validity checks, and factor analyses. Study 2 aims to assess the inventory's test–retest stability, as well as its criterion-related validity based on correlations with Big Five personality traits. ResultsResults evidenced that back-translation, face-validity check and item selection did not enhance the SCS to a valid psychometric level. Factor analyses revealed that a three-factor model proved a better fit with the collected data. ConclusionGiven the poor psychometric properties of the SCS and the emergence of theory refinements, future research should consider alternative conceptualizations of self-construal.

Conceptualizing psychological processes in response to globalization: Components, antecedents, and consequences of global orientations.

The influences of globalization have permeated various aspects of life in contemporary society, from technical innovations, economic development, and lifestyles, to communication patterns. The present research proposed a construct termed global orientation to denote individual differences in the psychological processes of acculturating to the globalizing world. It encompasses multicultural acquisition as a proactive response and ethnic protection as a defensive response to globalization. Ten studies examined the applicability of global orientations among majority and minority groups, including immigrants and sojourners, in multicultural and relatively monocultural contexts, and across Eastern and Western cultures. Multicultural acquisition is positively correlated with both independent and interdependent self-construals, bilingual proficiency and usage, and dual cultural identifications. Multicultural acquisition is promotion-focused, while ethnic protection is prevention-focused and related to acculturative stress. Global orientations affect individuating and modest behavior over and above multicultural ideology, predict overlap with outgroups over and above political orientation, and predict psychological adaptation, sociocultural competence, tolerance, and attitudes toward ethnocultural groups over and above acculturation expectations/strategies. Global orientations also predict English and Chinese oral presentation performance in multilevel analyses and the frequency and pleasantness of intercultural contact in cross-lagged panel models. We discuss how the psychological study of global orientations contributes to theory and research on acculturation, cultural identity, and intergroup relations.

Identifying when choice helps: clarifying the relationships between choice making, self-construal, and pain.

Prior research indicates that making choices before a painful task can sometimes reduce pain. We examined the possibility that independent and interdependent self-construals moderate the effect of choice on pain. Further, we tested between two types of choice: instrumental and non-instrumental. Healthy normotensive undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of three conditions prior to the cold pressor task. Participants in an instrumental choice condition selected which hand to immerse in the water and were told this choice might help reduce their pain. Non-instrumental choice participants selected which hand to immerse but were given no information about potential pain reduction. Control participants were given no choice or additional instructions. Low interdependence individuals reported less pain than high interdependence individuals-but only when given an instrumental choice. These data indicate that not all forms of choice reduce pain and not all individuals benefit from choice. Instead, individuals low in interdependence exhibit pain relief from instrumental choices.

A two-nation experiment to investigate the relationships among national culture, individual-level cultural variables and consumer attitudes toward advertising websites and the brand

This research investigated how the attitudes of Japanese and US consumers toward three types of advertiser websites, and their attitudes toward the brand advertised on them, compared to the attitudes of consumers with independent and interdependent self-construals toward the same websites and brand. The three types of websites were informative, socially interactive, and entertaining. Some of the results confirmed previous research; some did not. For example, Japanese consumers tend to have a more positive attitude than US consumers toward a socially interactive advertiser website; consumers with an interdependent self-construal also tended to have a more positive attitude toward the website. But regardless of the type of website, US consumers had a more positive attitude toward the brand. To some extent both national culture and individual-level variables were found to be useful predictor variables for consumer attitudes toward advertiser websites and brands. The results suggested numerous additional directions for further research.

Relationship between bicultural identity and psychological well-being among American and Japanese older adults.

In a large national sample of American and Japanese older adults, this study investigated how bicultural identity affects perception of health and well-being in 11 individual psychological variables (i.e. positive well-being: self-esteem, optimism, subjective well-being Japanese equivalent, gratitude, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule–positive adjectives, and satisfaction with life; negative well-being: depression, pessimism, social anxiety, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule–negative adjectives, and perceived stress). This sample consisted of 1248 Americans from the Midlife in the United States survey, 2004–2006, and 380 Japanese from the Midlife in Japan survey in Tokyo, Japan, 2008–2010. Results showed that bicultural individuals (having both highly independent and interdependent self-construals) in both countries tend to exhibit higher scores across most perceived health and well-being measures when compared to other groups (i.e. marginal, interdependent, and independent). Cultural-specific aspects of self-construal, health, and well-being are explained to support the findings. Discussion of these findings and their implications is also provided.

Effect of Management Support on Knowledge Sharing: Interdependent Self-Construals Matter

Although the overarching theories predict a positive effect of management support on employees’ knowledge sharing (KS), empirical studies have shown some inconsistent findings, suggesting that a fu...

An Investigation of the Linkage between Relationship Status (Single vs. Partnered), Identity Dimensions and Self-construals in a Sample of Polish Young Adults

Abstract The aim of this exploratory cross-sectional study was to examine the associations among relationship status, identity processes, and self-construals among Polish young adults. The theoretical framework of the study consisted of Erikson’s psychosocial theory of human development (Erikson, 1963; 1968; 1980), the dual-cycle model of identity formation (Luyckx, Goossens, & Soenens, 2006), and the concept of independent and interdependent self-construals. A total of 291 university students (155 females and 136 males) aged 20-25 completed the Dimensions of Identity Development Scale (DIDS; Luyckx, Schwartz et al., 2008) (Polish adaptation - Brzezińska & Piotrowski, 2010a) and Self-Construal Scale (SCS; Singelis, 1994) (Polish adaptation - Pilarska, 2014). Results showed that single individuals scored higher on exploration in breadth, exploration in depth, and ruminative exploration, and lower on commitment making and identification with commitment than did partnered individuals. Further, single and partnered individuals did not differ in the area of independent and interdependent self-construals. Discriminant function analysis revealed that especially ruminative exploration and exploration in breadth were important variables for discriminating single from partnered status.

The role of self-construal in resisting tobacco smoking

We interpreted depth interviews and personal observations of 29 Tongan and New Zealand European (NZE) women who self-identified as non-smokers to examine the role of self-construal in the creation and maintenance of their smoking-resistant identities. Our research offers substantive contributions to the smoking prevention literature because most prior work has been situated wholly within Western cultural contexts. We contribute methodologically by showing how a multicultural team-based approach can reap the advantages of interviewer–participant congruity whilst overcoming its limitations, thus paving the way for more fruitful qualitative research with minority groups. Our research also contributes theoretically to the self-construal literature by comparing the role of self-construal not just within the two groups but also across them. Our findings show that independent self-construal played a significant role in NZE women's resistance to smoking. However, for Tongan women, both independent and interdependent self-construals played important roles in their smoking resistance. Our findings both confirm and extend the current view that there are marked differences between collectivist and independent societies. We extend this view because our findings contradict the notion that Tongan women are likely to only use an interdependent self-concept when deciding to resist smoking, suggesting instead that Tongan women negotiate their self-construals in ways that allow them to employ the positives from both Tongan values and Western world views. We suggest that future appeals to Pacific women to resist smoking should draw on both traditional Pacific values and modern Western independence.

Making Up or Getting Even? The Effects of Face Concerns, Self-Construal, and Apology on Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Revenge in the United States and China

The purpose of this study was to integrate the central constructs in the face-negotiation theory in the examination of the antecedents and behavioral consequences of forgiveness in relational transgressions in U.S. and Chinese cultures. Results indicated that in both cultures, transgression victims’ independent self-construal and self-face concern were negatively associated, whereas their interdependent self-construals and other-face concerns were positively associated, with forgiveness, and offender apology was positively associated with forgiveness. Forgiveness had a positive relationship with reconciliation but a negative relationship with revenge in both cultures. The hypothesized model in which forgiveness mediated the relationships of antecedents on reconciliation and revenge fit the data well in both cultural samples.

The effects of independent and interdependent self-construals on reactions to transgressions: distinguishing between guilt and shame

The self-conscious emotions of guilt and shame are commonly distinguished by the self-reflective processes that foster these emotions. Distinctions based on resulting behavioral reactions, however, have been questioned in recent studies highlighting the role of different self-motivations. The current work draws on the self-construal literature to further clarify the antecedents and consequences of guilt and shame. We hypothesized that conceptualizing the self as independent from (vs. interdependent with) others fosters behavior-related (vs. self-related) cognitions typically associated with guilt (vs. shame). Additionally, we predicted that the deleterious consequences of shame for externalizing blame are more characteristic of independent (vs. interdependent) selves. These hypotheses were supported across two studies that measured (Study 1) and primed (Study 2) self-construals. Overall, our results suggest that the cognitive reactions associated with guilt and shame are differently encouraged by independent and interdependent self-construals.

Consequences of joint action: Entanglement with your partner.

Primates are expert tool users because they can adapt their body schemas to form a hand-tool joint representation that affords effective wielding. Here we extend the scope of this mechanism by proposing that humans are experts in social tasks because they can adjust their body schemas to incorporate the kinematics of partners, thus forming an interpersonal joint body schema. Participants engaged with a confederate in a 2-handed sawing task requiring each to use 1 hand. After active movement coordination, an interpersonal body schema was demonstrated in 2 ways. First, there was interference between visual stimulation near 1 person's body and vibrotactile localization on the other person's body. Second, after active movement coordination, the motor output of 1 partner (attempting to draw straight lines) was affected by the viewed actions of the other partner (drawing ovals). This adaptation of the body schema may underlie the formation of cultural groups. In fact, participants with interdependent self-construals (typical of Asian cultures) form a stronger interpersonal joint body schema than do participants with independent self-construals (typical of North American and Western European cultures).

“I” value justice, but “we” value relationships: Self-construal effects on post-transgression consumer forgiveness

Causal attributions and brand-relationships are known to determine how consumers react to brand transgressions. Considering both transgression controllability and brand-relationship strength, the authors show that self-construal moderates consumer reactions to brand transgressions. Three studies using different product and service failure scenarios demonstrate that consumers who have independent self-construals are more forgiving when the brand has no control over the transgression, regardless of brand-relationship strength. However, consumers who have interdependent self-construals are more forgiving when they have strong relationships with the transgressing brand, even if the brand is at fault. Furthermore, the salience of justice concerns versus expectancies for long-term brand-relationships underlies the self-construal effects on consumer forgiveness.

The protective and detrimental effects of self-construal on perceived rejection from heritage culture members.

Individuals may perceive themselves as interdependent and similar with close others, or as independent and distinct. Do these differences in self-construal influence perceptions of rejection from those closest to us? Few studies have investigated the antecedents of intragroup marginalization – the perception of rejection from family and friends due to not conforming to the prescribed values and expectations of one’s heritage culture. Furthermore, the implications of perceived intragroup marginalization for psychological adjustment and an integrated bicultural identity are unclear. To gage the effects of self-construals on perceived intragroup marginalization and psychological adjustment (i.e., subjective well-being and flourishing) and an integrated bicultural identity, we increased the cognitive accessibility of independent and interdependent self-construals through a priming manipulation. Participants were recruited via Amazon MTurk and completed the measures online. Our results showed that priming an interdependent self-construal decreased perceived intragroup marginalization from family and, in turn, poor psychological adjustment and bicultural identity conflict. Conversely, participants primed with an independent self-construal reported increased perceptions of intragroup marginalization from their family and, in turn, decreased psychological adjustment and increased identity conflict. These findings support the benefits of an interdependent self and the disadvantages of an independent self for minimizing perceived exclusion from heritage culture members.

Influence of culture on tripartite self-concept development in adolescence: a comparison between Han and Uyghur cultures.

This study investigated the development of cultural variability in interdependent self-construal by comparing the differences in the tripartite self-concept of adolescent samples from the Han and Uyghur cultures. Participants (460 males, 522 females; M age = 16.3 yr., SD = 4.8) in the sub-phases of pre-, early-, mid-, late- and post-adolescence were asked to completed the revised Twenty Statements Test, and the items generated by the participants were coded into private, relational, and collective self-statements. The private self-statements were further differentiated by personal and social orientation, and the relational self-statements were further coded into family and friend focus. The relational aspect of an individual's self, or personal relationship, became increasingly important with age in the Han cultural groups, whereas the collective aspect of an individual's self, or social identity, became increasingly important with age in the Uyghur cultural groups. These findings seem to show the development of differences between relational and collective interdependent self-construals. Furthermore, these findings emphasize the need for further research into the development of within-cultural differences in self-construal.

Challenging emotional prejudice by changing self-concept: priming independent self-construal reduces racial in-group bias in neural responses to other’s pain

Humans show stronger empathy for in-group compared with out-group members' suffering and help in-group members more than out-group members. Moreover, the in-group bias in empathy and parochial altruism tend to be more salient in collectivistic than individualistic cultures. This work tested the hypothesis that modifying self-construals, which differentiate between collectivistic and individualistic cultural orientations, affects in-group bias in empathy for perceived own-race vs other-race pain. By scanning adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found stronger neural activities in the mid-cingulate, left insula and supplementary motor area (SMA) in response to racial in-group compared with out-group members' pain after participants had been primed with interdependent self-construals. However, the racial in-group bias in neural responses to others' pain in the left SMA, mid-cingulate cortex and insula was significantly reduced by priming independent self-construals. Our findings suggest that shifting an individual's self-construal leads to changes of his/her racial in-group bias in neural responses to others' suffering.

The role of self-concept in cross-cultural communication

Empirical evidence supports the notion that communication behaviors in intercultural encounters are effectively extensions of cultural values as well as epistemologies. Study 1 established communication behaviors of Asians and New Zealanders (NZs) as consistent with vertical collectivism and horizontal individualism, respectively. In particular, argumentativeness is positively related to independent self-construal (SC) and negatively related to interdependent SC. This supports Markus and Kitayama’s SC theory. Study 2 showed that NZs exhibited more idiocentric and argumentative behavior, while Asians displayed more sociocentric and less argumentative behavior during two actual interactions; specifically, participants diverged in their communication styles to be more consistent with their cultural values during intercultural interactions. Analyses of decision outcomes provide support that culture moderates cognitive consistency behaviors such that NZs exhibited more inconsistency-reduction behaviors, which is rooted in adherence to noncontradiction. In contrast, Asians exhibited more inconsistency-support behaviors, suggesting that naive dialecticism rooted in acceptance of contradiction is customary in Asian social interaction.

자기 해석과 메시지 지향성이 가치 주장 광고 효과에 미치는 영향

Abstract The present study examined the effects of self-construal and me ssage orientation on value advocacy advertising. An experiment of college students was conducted to investigate relationship between the attitude toward advocacy advertisements and the purchase intention. The results showed that people with interdependent self-constru al have more positive attitude toward the advocacy advertisements than people with independent self-construal. The interaction effects between self-construal and mes-sage orientation on the value advocacy advertisements were not found significant. However, it was found that even people with independent self-construal showed more positive attitude toward the advocacy advertisement with oth-ers-orientation messages than the advertisement with self-orien tation messages in value advocacy advertising. Based on the findings, theoretical and managerial implications for value advocacy advertising were discussed. Keywords：Values Advocacy Advertising, Self-Construal, Message Orientation, Advertising Effect

The cultural lens approach to evaluating cultural validity of psychological theory.

In this article, we introduce the cultural lens approach (CLA), a novel approach to evaluating the extent to which a psychological theory applies across cultural groups. The CLA requires scholars to apply their accumulated knowledge about cultural influences and differences (e.g., independent and interdependent self-construals; Markus & Kitayama, 1991) to the ways in which theoretical propositions are interpreted and operationalized. First we highlight three limitations in existing approaches to cultural validity and the ways in which the CLA addresses these limitations. Next, we articulate the five steps involved in the CLA and apply it to three different theories from social, vocational, and positive psychology to demonstrate its broad utility. In all cases, we highlight how applying the CLA can generate multiple novel testable hypotheses to stimulate future research and to advance knowledge that is culturally sensitive.

Unpacking Cultural Variations in Social Anxiety and the Offensive-Type of Taijin Kyofusho Through the Indirect Effects of Intolerance of Uncertainty and Self-Construals

This article presents two studies that aim to unpack cultural variations in general social anxiety (SA) and the offensive-type of Taijin Kyofusho (OTKS)—a type of SA characterized by the extreme fear of offending others. Cultural variations in the expression and manifestation of SA are well established; however, the mechanisms underpinning this relation are unclear. The present studies use the Parallel Multiple Mediation Model to study how SA and OTKS are jointly shaped by self-construal and intolerance of uncertainty (IU). Study 1 compared Euro-Canadians and Chinese migrants in Canada. Results showed a mean group difference in OTKS, but not SA, with the difference mediated by IU. Study 2 tested this pattern of multiple mediations in Japanese, Chinese, and Euro-Canadian cultural contexts. Results showed significant differences among these three cultural groups on both SA and OTKS via multiple mediators (e.g., independent vs. interdependent self-construals and IU). Findings in both studies revealed that OTKS seems to be a psychopathology that is not specific to Japanese participants. The underlying mechanisms and processes of OTKS are also significantly different from SA. Significant cultural variations in SA and OTKS between Chinese versus Japanese cultural contexts were observed in Study 2. These studies demonstrate the conceptual and empirical advantages of using more complex models to unpack the psychological mechanisms shaping cultural variations in SA and OTKS.

Interdependent self-construals mitigate the fear of death and augment the willingness to become a martyr.

Humans are motivated by a quest for significance that is threatened by the inevitability of death. However, individuals with interdependent self-construals, self-representations that reflect embeddedness with and connection to others, are able to extend themselves through time and space through their linkage to a larger social group. The present set of 5 experiments tested the hypotheses that individuals primed with an interdependent self-construal would fear death less and would be more willing to face harm for the sake of the group than individuals with an independent self-construal, that is, self-representations that reflect autonomy and independence from others ("I have self-control"). The results show that interdependent self-construals, compared to independent self-construals, attenuate death anxiety, reduce the avoidance of death, increase the approach to death-related stimuli, induce a greater willingness to become a martyr, and induce a greater willingness to sacrifice the self for other members of important groups.