Individualism,authoritarianism, and attitudes toward assisted death: cross-cultural,cross-regional,and experimental evidence |
| |
Authors: | Kemmelmeier Markus Wieczorkowska Grazyna Erb Hans-Peter Burnstein Eugene |
| |
Affiliation: | Department of Sociology, Mail Stop 300, Unviersity of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557. markusk@unr.edu |
| |
Abstract: | We hypothesized that in individualistic cultures, individualism predicts positive attitudes toward assisted death, whereas authoritarianism is negatively associated with favorable views of this issue. Study 1 confirmed this hypothesis in a Polish sample (n=100). Study 2, using a German sample (n=102), found the predicted relationships for forms of assisted death that involved the individual self-determination of a terminally ill patient. In Study 3 (n=72), we found experimental evidence that priming individualistic aspects of the self-concept results in more favorable views of physician-assisted suicide. Using a representative sample (n=1158), Study 4 found that across the United States, regional levels of individualism are reflected in corresponding patterns of support for assisted suicide. The discussion focuses on assisted suicide as a cultural phenomenon and explores the implications of growing levels of individualism for public opinion and policy on assisted suicide. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 PubMed 等数据库收录! |
|