Spontaneous self-descriptions and ethnic identities in individualistic and collectivistic cultures.
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.
Rhee
E
E
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York 10003, USA.
Uleman
J S
JS
Lee
H K
HK
Roman
R J
RJ
D000069:Acculturation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012919:Social Behavior; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology