Spontaneous self-descriptions and ethnic identities in individualistic and collectivistic cultures

J Pers Soc Psychol. 1995 Jul;69(1):142-52. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.69.1.142.

Abstract

The Twenty Statements Test (TST) was administered in Seoul and New York, to 454 students from 2 cultures that emphasize collectivism and individualism, respectively. Responses, coded into 33 categories, were classified as either abstract or specific and as either autonomous or social. These 2 dichotomies were more independent in Seoul than in New York. The New York sample included Asian American whose spontaneous social identities differed. They either never listed ethnicity-nationality on the TST, or listed it once or twice. Unidentified Asian Americans' self-concepts resembled Euro-Americans' self-concepts, and twice identified Asian Americans' self-concepts resembled Koreans' self-concepts, in both abstractness-specificity and autonomy-sociality. Differential acculturation did not account for these results. Implications for social identity, self-categorization, and acculturation theory are discussed.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Acculturation
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Asian / psychology*
  • Cross-Cultural Comparison*
  • Cultural Characteristics*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Individuality*
  • Male
  • Self Concept*
  • Social Behavior
  • White People / psychology