In-group Bias and Culture of Collectivism |
| |
Authors: | Toshio Yamagishi Nobuhito Jin & Allan S Miller |
| |
Institution: | Faculty of Letters, Hokkaido University, N10 W7 Kifa-ku, Sapporo, Japan 060-810,;Hokkaido University, Japan |
| |
Abstract: | In this paper I present an argument that culture of collectivism which characterizes Japanese society is to be conceived in terms of an equilibrium between socio-relational and cognitive traits in which people have acquired expectations for generalized reciprocity within, not across, group boundaries. Maintenance of harmony among group members and voluntary cooperation toward group goals – the characteristics of collectivist culture – are often considered to be fundamentally psychological in nature. It is usually considered that members of a collectivist culture like to maintain harmony and cooperate toward group goals, or that "culture" sneaks into the minds of people and drives them to behave in such a manner. According to this view, culture is a fundamentally psychological or subjective matter. This is the view that I want to challenge in this paper. |
| |
Keywords: | |
|
|