I/C: Individualism/collectivism or individuate/categorise?

Abstract

The "common view" is that the Japanese are more collectivist than are Americans, and that American are more individualist than are the Japanese. This commentary briefly summarises Y. Literature reviews have shown that research does not support this common view. There is no reliable difference on individualism/collectivism (I/C). Further, there are several reasons to question the coherence of I/C itself. There also are multiple difficulties with the utility of global dispositions. The conditional nature of global dispositions such as I/C is illustrated by the author's published and unpublished attempts to create yet another I/C scale. Possible reasons for the persistence of the erroneous common view that the Japanese are more collectivistic than are Americans are discussed in terms of Western perceivers' stereotypes and the alternative of perceivers individuating/categorising (I/C) other people. Last, research on cultural differences in spontaneous social inferences, which has been framed in I/C terms, is reviewed and recast.

Work Stressors and the Buffering Functions of the Sense of Control in the United States and Japan: A Test of the Diminished Buffering Hypothesis

“…In a recent updated review, Takano and Osaka (2018) examined 20 additional studies published since their 1999 study and again found little evidence to support the common view. Subsequent commentaries of Takano and Osaka's (2018) review (Hamamura and Takemura 2018;Matsumoto 2018;Uleman 2018;Vignoles 2018) are in general agreement that the common view is untenable given the empirical evidence. Furthermore, research that has examined the explanatory role of individualistic values on group differences in the levels and main effects of perceived control show that individualistic values did not explain why Asian groups (including Japanese) report lower sense of control than Americans and did not explain the weaker association between sense of control and subjective well-being among Asian groups (Narisada and Schieman 2016).…”

To Donate or to Waste It: Understanding Posthumous Organ Donation Attitude

“…In regard to social influence, it was found that social influence on people's attitudes was stronger in collectivist cultures than in individualist cultures (Tan et al, 2004). Collectivism refers to the degree or extent to which individuals are integrated into groups and form their judgments and evaluation of certain behaviour based on the group norms (Uleman, 2018). Saudi Arabian culture seems to have a high power distance, high uncertainty avoidance, and is highly collectivist in nature (Almalki and Ganong, 2018).…”