Choice as an Engine of Individualism: When and Why is Choice Beneficial or Detrimental in Three Cultural Contexts

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Abstract

This research project aims to provide a better understanding of the human motivational system, and particularly the role of choice in organizing and guiding behavior. While choice is generally seen as universally impactful, recent cross-cultural comparisons reveal that the powerful motivational effects of choice may be limited to middle class European American groups of people. In other words, choice and its effects on behavior are intimately tied to an individualistic cultural perspective. This research project explores the role of choice in self processes, especially with respect to a sense of agency, and the nature and consequences of choice in three cultural contexts -- middle class European American, middle class Indian and working class European American. Fourteen studies will examine several key ideas. First, in middle class European American contexts, choice impacts self expression and feelings of agency, which benefits performance on cognitive and physical tasks but negatively affects interpersonal relations. Second, in middle class Indian contexts, self restraint rather than self expression via choice is associated with agency and benefits individual performance. And third, in working class European American contexts, social solidarity rather than self expression (again, via choice) is related to agency and benefits performance. Thus, choice is not equally powerful for everyone and has some negative consequences even for those who are most likely to reap its rewards. The theoretical significance of this project rests, in part, on refining and enriching previous understandings of sociocultural effects and not, as is often the case, on introducing a novel dimension of cultural variation. Moreover, of both theoretical and practical significance is that the research seeks to show that while choice can be effective in motivating behavior, its impact depends on the specific sociocultural contexts with which people engage. That is, effectively motivating people to stop smoking, to vote, or to save energy resources depends on invoking socioculturally matched models of agency. Overall, then, this research promises to more fully explicate the choice by embedding it in sociocultural contexts and thereby contribute to policy makers' efforts in designing interventions that benefit communities.