In a study published in Nature Human Behavior on September 15, an international research team has shown that the responsibilities people hold in close relationships are what reliably differentiates Eastern and Western cultures and form the foundation of collectivism. The researchers developed a survey to measure this phenomenon, which they termed responsibilism. That survey was then given to over 12,000 people around the world from 100 different cultures, with the sampled countries covering 90 percent of the world's population.
Debunking nonsensical findings
For decades, the surveys that social psychologists used to measure collectivism have generated contradictory and nonsensical findings, such as repeatedly labeling Western cultures, such as the United States and United Kingdom, as more interdependent than East Asian countries, such as Japan.
“Culture is everywhere, and because it is everywhere, understanding it unlocks opportunities all around us,” said Thomas Talhelm, lead author of the study and professor at Arizona State University. “This work on responsibilism has the potential to give insight to people who straddle cultures, including children of immigrants navigating conflicting expectations at home and in school, teachers who adjust their instruction based on students with different value sets, or doctors who have to help people make decisions for sick family members.”
Helping your family or helping others?
“The current thought, of individualism versus collectivism, can be very limiting in how we look at other cultures”, adds Bojana Većkalov, postdoc at Radboud University and co-author on the study. “Just because we consider a society to be collectivist, doesn't mean that everyone suddenly looks out for everyone. There's much more gradation to it. Because you're helpful to family members, doesn't mean that you'll help a stranger on the street.”
Većkalov was responsible for the Serbian data gathered in the study, which she noted scored relatively in the middle when it comes to responsibilism. ‘The Netherlands, by comparison, scored low on responsibilism.
Collectivism in China
Lead author Talhelm spent 7 years living in China, which inspired and shaped this work. While living in Beijing, he experienced competitive jostling on the subway and received suspicious frowns when he smiled at people he passed on the street. At first, these behaviors seemed to be inconsistent with the frequent assumption that China has a collectivist culture — until he realized the common thread running through all these interactions was that they were between people who did not have close relationships with each other. Talhelm thought this thread might be contributing to contradictory findings about collectivism.
To test this idea, the research team set up the new survey questions to drill down into the responsibilities that come with having a close relationship with someone. The questions were specific about who was involved and what was happening, such as scenarios about keeping aging parents at home or going to a party and talking to people you don’t know to make new friends. The researchers specified the closeness of the people involved, whether it was a parent, coworker or stranger, and the circumstance and actions involved. Separately, the survey included questions about emotions, such as how people felt about others who were close to them or part of a larger group.
Scores compared
Countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia scored higher in responsibilism than North America, Europe and Australia. Those that scored high on the responsibilism survey have lower democracy scores and more corruption in government. They also have fewer policies favoring immigrants, such as right to work and family reunification, and fewer patents and sales of creative goods. On the other hand, the survey also found differences in public health, with countries scoring high having fewer deaths per capita from COVID-19 and lower rates of drug abuse. Furthermore, the study showed stronger ties of family and kinship in these countries.
Scores on the responsibilism survey also tracked real-world behavioral differences across cultures, with higher scores being associated with living with extended family members and being willing to lie in court for a close friend. By contrast, lower responsibilism scores, which are associated with more independent cultures, were associated with being more likely to return a lost wallet.