Faculty Publications

The Complexity Of Cross-Cultural Variation: Values In Guatemala And The U.S.

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Collectivism, Culture, Human values, Individualism

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Interamerican Journal of Psychology

Volume

48

Issue

2

First Page

152

Last Page

165

Abstract

The present study explores the value orientations of a sample of university students from Guatemala, an understudied country generally described as collectivistic, and compares them to a sample of students from the U.S., a country generally described as individualistic. The study explores the horizontal-vertical dimension of individualism-collectivism, and human values preferences using different scales that adjust for different response styles. Contrary to our expectations, Guatemalan participants did not show a greater preference for collectivism, but they did prefer the values of benevolence and security. Participants from the U.S. did not show a greater inclination for individualism, but they showed a greater preference for the values of universalism and hedonism. These results suggest the necessity of studying intercultural and intracultural variation with broader samples, as well as refining the conceptual definition of collectivism.

Department

Department of Psychology

Original Publication Date

5-3-2015

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