Socio-Cultural Construction of the Self: Effects of Voluntary Settlement, Public Self-Presentation, and Cultural Norms for Public Behavior.

Abstract

This dissertation includes three manuscripts that explore the effects of socio-historical as well as socio-cultural factors on shaping the self. In particular, this dissertation concerns (a) how culturally normative expectations toward independence or interdependence of the self are formed; (b) how those normative expectations are personally endorsed and internalized; and (c) how cultural norms shape individuals’ attitudes and guide their behavior. Chapter 2 explores the effects of the economically motivated voluntary settlement in the US on advancing independent mentalities. The effects were expected to be more pronounced in domains directly associated with survival in and adaptation to frontier conditions. In a tri-cultural comparison involving the US, Germany, and Japan, it was found, that Americans were higher than Germans in motivational and normative independence but not in epistemic independence. Chapter 3 explores the role of public self-presentation in the internalization of culturally normative expectations toward independence or interdependence of the self. It was expected that people would align their self-view to the normative self-view in their cultural context, more so in public than in private settings. As expected, Americans (Japanese) were more likely in public than in private to describe themselves by reference to inner attributes (social roles and status) and assess themselves to be independent (interdependent), thereby endorsing to a greater degree the culturally normative view of the self as an independent and bounded entity (interdependent and relational entity). Chapter 4 explores the role of culturally varying norms in shaping attitudes and guiding behavior. Whereas public consistency is highly valued in North American cultural contexts, public flexibility is highly valued in East Asian cultural contexts. Accordingly, it was hypothesized that individuals with North American cultural backgrounds would form a more potent attitude and be more likely to show behavior consistent with that attitude in public rather than in private settings. By contrast, individuals with East Asian cultural backgrounds would form a less potent attitude and thus leave room for flexibly adjusting their behavior to situations, while in public rather than in private settings. The results from Chapter 4 give partial support for the hypothesis.