A cultural task analysis of implicit independence: Comparing North America, Western Europe, and East Asia.

Informed by a new theoretical framework that assigns a key role to cultural tasks (culturally prescribed means to achieve cultural mandates such as independence and interdependence) in mediating the mutual influences between culture and psychological processes, the authors predicted and found that North Americans are more likely than Western Europeans (British and Germans) to (a) exhibit focused (vs. holistic) attention, (b) experience emotions associated with independence (vs. interdependence), (c) associate happiness with personal achievement (vs. communal harmony), and (d) show an inflated symbolic self. In no cases were the 2 Western European groups significantly different from one another. All Western…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 0717982, BCS 0717982
• UO
  University of Michigan
• NI
  National Institute on Aging

  Award: 1 R01 AG029509-01A2