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"Within and Between-Culture Variation: Individual Differences and the Cultural Logics of Honor, Face, and Dignity Cultures"

Dov Cohen, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology

University of Illinois

Culture is important because it helps define psychological situations and creates meaningful clusters of behavior according to particular logics.  Individual differences are important, because individuals vary in the extent to which they endorse or reject a culture's ideals.  Further, because different cultures are organized by different logics, individual differences mean something different in each.  Central to these studies are concepts of honor-related violence and individual worth as being inalienable vs. socially conferred.  I illustrate my argument with two experiments involving participants from Honor, Face, and Dignity cultures.  The studies showed that the same "type" of person who was most helpful, honest, and likely to behave with integrity in one culture was the "type" of person least likely to do so in another culture.  An integrated approach that considers cultural logics and individual differences allows for a more complete picture of both within- and between-culture variation.

Wednesday, February 16th, 4:15 p.m.

Science Center 101

Hosted by the Department of Psychology
Co-sponsored by the Intercultural Center and the Peace & Conflict Studies Program