Cultural Psychology

Cultural psychology shows that different cultures have very different ways of seeing and reacting to other people's behavior. A notable illustration is the response of cultures to transgressions of social norms—subtle infractions that contravene etiquette or expectations. A 2023 cross-cultural study examined reactions to quotidian "incivility" (e.g., rudeness or rule disregard) in a highly collectivist nation, China, compared to a more individualistic nation, the UK. The researchers discovered that Chinese participants were more likely to perceive uncivil rule-breakers as immoral and were more predisposed to uphold social norms through criticism, punishment, or social sanctions compared to British participants. Furthermore, the Chinese participants expressed heightened personal discomfort upon observing an individual disregard social norms, and this emotional unease elucidates their harsher judgment of the transgressor as "immoral" in contrast to participants from the UK. In cultures that value individualism, like Britain, people were more accepting of small rule-breaking because it fit with their ideas about personal freedom and individual rights. In contrast, the results from China illustrate how collectivist cultural values—emphasizing group harmony, respect, and order—can enhance the moral gravity of actions that undermine social cohesion. In fact, other studies have shown that what is considered a moral issue varies from culture to culture: Western societies tend to moralize issues of fairness and harm, while East Asian societies also strongly moralize breaches of social decorum and hierarchy. For example, not showing respect to an elder or littering in public might be seen as a small crime in one culture and a moral crime in another. These differences show how important cultural context is in psychology. They remind researchers and practitioners that ideas like "right" and "wrong" aren't the same for everyone. Instead, they depend on social values, traditions, and group expectations that can be different in different parts of the world.

 Sources:

Chen-Xia, X. J., Betancor, V., Rodríguez-Gómez, L., & Rodríguez-Pérez, A. (2023). Cultural differences in how people see and respond to breaking social norms: a comparative study frontiersin.org frontiersin.org. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, Article 1243955.

Buchtel, E. E., et al. (2015). Immorality in the East and West: Are immoral actions particularly detrimental or notably uncivilized? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(10), 1382–1394. (Cross-cultural research on moral judgments between Western and East Asian contexts)