Collectivism, Effects on Relationships

Theoretical Implications of Collectivism: Impact on Relationship, Values, Self-Concept, and Cognition

A collectivistic worldview should have important consequences for how relationships are conceptualized, what is perceived to be of value, and how the self is conceptualized. When perceived through a collectivistic view, a primary human goal is to maintain important group memberships and the necessary interpersonal relationships that group memberships create. This requires focusing on fitting in and appropriately engaging in social contexts. Figuring out what is appropriate requires skill in indirect communication (reading between the lines of communication and making inferences given context, tone of voice, and other cues) and the ability to restrain oneself, not stick out or offend ingroup others.

To maintain harmony in relationships with ingroup others requires a heightened sensitivity to interpersonal contextual cues including concerns for belongingness, dependency, empathy, norms for reciprocity, and occupying an appropriate place within the relationship hierarchy. These relationships require detailed interpersonal knowledge and constant awareness of others, their needs, desires, and goals. Thus, satisfying one's own need to connect with others may best be met by satisfying others' needs. One perspective on how to fit in and anticipate the needs of ingroup others comes from an East-Asian Confucian-based perspective. From this perspective, individuals are socialized to effectively regulate and control their own emotional displays, smoothing out both displays of negative and positive emotions in settings where either may offend others. Another perspective comes from African, Mediterranean, Middle-Eastern, and Latin perspectives that emphasize ingroup others as important sources of honor. Honor-based collectivism also emphasizes that the self is defined by ingroup others but does not necessarily focus attention on regulation of emotional expression. Rather, in these contexts, displays of anger, hostility, and other strong emotions can be appropriate ways to mend and restore honor. A drawback of research to date on collective world-view and relationships is that it mostly contrasts Eastern (Asian) and Western (especially North American) societies, suggesting that results so far may be limited to a certain kind of collectivism.

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