Culture and first-person pronouns.
Priming research has shown that repeated exposures to first-person singular pronouns (I, my, me, mine) activate an individualistic orientation, whereas first-person plural pronouns (we, our, us, ours) activate a collectivistic orientation. However, little research has been done to explore the opposite direction of influence such that one's cultural orientation determines one's choice between first-person singular versus plural pronouns. The authors conducted three studies to examine the effects of one's cultural orientation on one's use of first-person possessive pronouns. Results show that, compared to their individualistic counterparts, participants who have a collectivistic orientation, chronically or temporarily by priming, preferred to use first-person plural possessive pronouns.
Na
Jinkyung
J
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 3232 East Hall, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. jinna@umich.edu
Choi
Incheol
I
D000293:Adolescent; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D012649:Self Concept; D012660:Semantics; D012933:Social Identification; D012938:Social Perception; D012945:Social Values; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D055815:Young Adult