A Cultural Psychology of Agency: Morality, Motivation, and Reciprocity. (September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Miller, Joan G.; Goyal, Namrata; Wice, Matthew
• Is Part Of: Perspectives on psychological science. Volume 12:Number 5(2017)
• Page Start: 867
• Page End: 875
• Publication Date: 2017-09
• Subjects: morality -- motivation -- reciprocity -- agency -- cultural psychology; Psychology -- Periodicals; 150
• DOI: 10.1177/1745691617706099
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1745-6916

Abstract

We highlight the need to culturally broaden psychological theories of social development in providing an overview of our programs of cross-cultural research on interpersonal morality, motivation, and reciprocity. Our research demonstrates that whereas Americans tend to treat interpersonal morality as a matter of personal choice, Indians tend to treat it as a role-related duty. Furthermore, Americans associate greater satisfaction with acting autonomously than with acting to fulfill social expectations, whereas Indians associate high levels of satisfaction with both types of cases. We also demonstrate that cultural variation exists in reliance on communal norms versus reciprocal exchange norms in everyday social support interactions among American, Indian, and Japanese populations, with these norms providing a background for contrasting experiences of agency. In conclusion, we highlight the contributions of cultural research to basic psychological theory. Although cultural research provides greater awareness of diversity in psychological functioning, its fundamental value is to contribute new insights into the theoretical formulations and methodological stances adopted in the discipline more generally.