Browsing by Subject "Individuality"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6

Open Access
Beyond the 'East-West' dichotomy: Global variation in cultural models of selfhood
(American Psychological Association Inc., 2016) Vignoles, V. L.; Owe, E.; Becker, M.; Smith, P. B.; Easterbrook, M. J.; Brown, R.; González, R.; Didier, N.; Carrasco, D.; Cadena, M. P.; Lay, S.; Schwartz, S. J.; Rosiers, S. E. D.; Villamar, J. A.; Gavreliuc, A.; Zinkeng, M.; Kreuzbauer, R.; Baguma, P.; Martin, M.; Tatarko, A.; Herman, G.; de Sauvage, I.; Courtois, M.; Gardarsdóttir, R. B.; Harb, C.; Gallo, I. S.; Gil, P. P.; Clemares, R. L.; Campara, G.; Nizharadze, G.; Macapagal, M. E. J.; Jalal, B.; Bourguignon, D.; Zhang, J.; Lv, S.; Chybicka, A.; Yuki, M.; Zhang X.; Espinosa, A.; Valk, A.; Abuhamdeh, S.; Amponsah, B.; Özgen E.; Guner, E. Ü.; Yamakoglu, N.; Chobthamkit, P.; Pyszczynski, T.; Kesebir, P.; Trujillo, E. V.; Balanta, P.; Ayala, B. C.; Koller, S. H.; Jaafar, J. L.; Gausel, N.; Fischer, R.; Milfont, T. L.; Kusdil, E.; Çağlar, S.; Aldhafri, S.; Ferreira, M. C.; Mekonnen, K. H.; Wang, Q.; Fülöp, M.; Torres, A.; Camino, L.; Lemos, F. C. S.; Fritsche, I.; Möller, B.; Regalia, C.; Manzi, C.; Brambilla, M.; Bond, M. H.
Markus and Kitayama's (1991) theory of independent and interdependent self-construals had a major influence on social, personality, and developmental psychology by highlighting the role of culture in psychological processes. However, research has relied excessively on contrasts between North American and East Asian samples, and commonly used self-report measures of independence and interdependence frequently fail to show predicted cultural differences. We revisited the conceptualization and measurement of independent and interdependent self-construals in 2 large-scale multinational surveys, using improved methods for cross-cultural research. We developed (Study 1: N = 2924 students in 16 nations) and validated across cultures (Study 2: N = 7279 adults from 55 cultural groups in 33 nations) a new 7-dimensional model of self-reported ways of being independent or interdependent. Patterns of global variation support some of Markus and Kitayama's predictions, but a simple contrast between independence and interdependence does not adequately capture the diverse models of selfhood that prevail in different world regions. Cultural groups emphasize different ways of being both independent and interdependent, depending on individualism-collectivism, national socioeconomic development, and religious heritage. Our 7-dimensional model will allow future researchers to test more accurately the implications of cultural models of selfhood for psychological processes in diverse ecocultural contexts. © 2016 American Psychological Association.
Open Access
Cognitive individualism and the child as scientist program
(2011) Wringe, B.
In this paper, I examine the charge that Gopnik and Meltzoff's 'Child as Scientist' program, outlined and defended in their 1997 book Words, Thoughts and Theories is vitiated by a form of 'cognitive individualism' about science. Although this charge has often been leveled at Gopnik and Meltzoff's work, it has rarely been developed in any detail.I suggest that we should distinguish between two forms of cognitive individualism which I refer to as 'ontic' and 'epistemic' cognitive individualism (OCI and ECI respectively). I then argue - contra Ronald Giere - that Gopnik and Meltzoff's commitment to OCI is relatively unproblematic, since it is an easily detachable part of their view. By contrast, and despite their explicit discussion of the issue, their commitment to ECI is much more problematic.
Open Access
Multicellular individuality: the case of bacteria
(Springer, 2019) Ventura, Rafael
Recent attention to complex group-level behavior amongst bacteria has led some to conceive of multicellular clusters of bacteria as individuals. In this article, I assess these recent claims by first drawing a distinction between two concepts of individuality: physiological and evolutionary. I then survey cases that are representative of three different modes of growth: myxobacteria (surface-attached agglomerative growth), Bacillus subtilis (agglomerative growth not attached to a surface), and cyanobacteria (filamentous growth). A closer look at these cases indicates that multicellular individuality among bacteria is remarkably complex. Physiologically, the three cases of multicellular clusters do not form physiological individuals. But matters are different when it comes to evolutionary individuality; although multicellular clusters that grow by agglomeration are not highly individuated, filament-forming groups achieve a relatively high degree of individuality. I also suggest that debates about bacterial multicellular individuality may have been obscured by a failure to see that selection on highly individuated groups is by no means the only mechanism to bring about the complex group-level behaviors that have led some to view bacteria as multicellular individuals.
Open Access
Parasite stress and pathogen avoidance relate to distinct dimensions of political ideology across 30 nations
(National Academy of Sciences, 2016) Tybur J.M.; Inbar Y.; Aarøe L.; Barclay P.; Barlowe F.K.; De Barra M.; Beckerh D.V.; Borovoi L.; Choi I.; Choik J.A.; Consedine N.S.; Conway A.; Conway J.R.; Conway P.; Adoric V.C.; Demirci D.E.; Fernández A.M.; Ferreirat D.C.S.; Ishii K.; Jakšic I.; Ji T.; Van Leeuwen F.; Lewis D.M.G.; Li N.P.; McIntyre J.C.; Mukherjee S.; Park J.H.; Pawlowski B.; Petersen M.B.; Pizarro D.; Prodromitis G.; Prokop P.; Rantala M.J.; Reynolds L.M.; Sandin B.; Sevi, Barış; De Smet D.; Srinivasan N.; Tewari S.; Wilson C.; Yong J.C.; Žezelj I.
People who are more avoidant of pathogens are more politically conservative, as are nations with greater parasite stress. In the current research, we test two prominent hypotheses that have been proposed as explanations for these relationships. The first, which is an intragroup account, holds that these relationships between pathogens and politics are based on motivations to adhere to local norms, which are sometimes shaped by cultural evolution to have pathogenneutralizing properties. The second, which is an intergroup account, holds that these same relationships are based on motivations to avoid contact with outgroups, who might pose greater infectious disease threats than ingroup members. Results from a study surveying 11,501 participants across 30 nations are more consistent with the intragroup account than with the intergroup account. National parasite stress relates to traditionalism (an aspect of conservatism especially related to adherence to group norms) but not to social dominance orientation (SDO; an aspect of conservatism especially related to endorsements of intergroup barriers and negativity toward ethnic and racial outgroups). Further, individual differences in pathogen-avoidance motives (i.e., disgust sensitivity) relate more strongly to traditionalism than to SDO within the 30 nations.
Open Access
Struggling for individuality: the Istanbul YWCA
(2021-08) Karabağ, Müzeyyen
This study argues that the YWCA’s mainly American staff, observing that familial, social and educational structure prevented women from independent decision-making in Istanbul, promoted individuality by their labor and health practices between 1913-1930. The YWCA contributed to a discourse on the role of women that accentuated their individuality by promoting an autonomous professional identity instead of women’s maternal and marital roles. Putting emphasis on their individual’s needs first, they encouraged women to stand on their own, and to formulate and pursue their own professional goals as well as take care of themselves. The YWCA’s American staff promoted both having a profession and a healthy body as aims in and of themselves without links to nationalism, or motherhood, thus forming a contrast with the late Ottoman State’s and Early Republican state’s ideologies while simultaneously challenging the gender roles and patriarchal codes. Their prioritizing having a career over marriage and motherhood contributed to feminist activism.
Open Access
Two incompatible positions in the challenge against the 'individual subject of modernity'
(Sage Publications Ltd., 1997) Tekelioglu, O.
This paper discusses the theoretical status of human beings in the therapeutic sciences of modern societies. The concept of the 'individual' was shaped, and achieved an unsurpassable status in scientific discourse, during the 17th and 18th centuries. Likewise specialized disciplines have appeared to codify its 'normal' and 'deviant' conducts. Since the 1960s, there have arisen certain critical accounts challenging the existence of such an individual in social theory. I examine two perspectives questioning the status of the 'individual' in administrative practices at institutions of confinement: the anti-psychiatry movement and the post-structuralist critique of 'reason'. This paper contrasts these positions through the work of two exemplary thinkers (Goffman and Foucault), and reveals the impossibility of reconciliation, owing in the main to the very definition of the individual subject in theoretical discourse.