In the context of Greece, the authors examined psychological correlates of individualization. In Study 1, the Greek context was compared to the Netherlands, and Study 2 focused on Greece and examined individual differences in self-descriptions. In Study 1, a distinction between Greek “neo-collectivist” and “collectivist” participants could be made. For both subsamples, the collective self played a key role in psychological well-being. In addition, for the “neo-collectivist” participants, it was the combination of high personal and high collective self-evaluation that predicted psychological well-being. The second study examined individualism in Greek society at the level of self-descriptions. The results were in agreement with the first study. Only for participants relatively high on individualism was higher personal self-evaluation related to higher collective self-evaluation and to global self-esteem. Taken together, the findings indicate that individualization in the Greek context increases personal self-evaluation but without changing the positive evaluation of the collective self and its central role in well-being.
Aiken, L.S., & West, S.G. ( 1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions . Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
2.
Andrews, F.M., & Withey, S.B. ( 1976). Social indicators of well-being: America’s perception of life quality. New York: Plenum Press.
3.
Bagley, C. ( 2005). Robustness of two single-item self-esteem measures: Cross-validation with a measure of stigma in a sample of psychiatric patients. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 101, 335-338.
4.
Baron, R., & Kenny, D.A. ( 1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182.
5.
Berry, J.W. ( 1990). Psychology of acculturation. In J. Berman (Ed.), Cross-cultural perspectives: Nebraska symposium on motivation (pp. 201-234). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
6.
Cross, S.E., Gore, J.S., & Morris, M. ( 2003). The relational self-construal, self-consistency, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 933-944.
7.
Cross, S.E., & Markus, H.R. ( 1999). The cultural constitution of personality. In L. Pervin & O. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 378-396). New York: Guilford.
8.
Frazier, P.A., Tix, A.P., & Baron, K.E. ( 2004). Testing moderator and mediator effects in counseling psychology research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 115-134.
9.
Gardner, D.G., Cummings, L.L., Dunham, R.B., & Pierce, J.L. ( 1998). Single-item versus multiple-item measurement scales: An empirical comparison. Educational and Psychological Measurement , 58, 898-915.
10.
Gardner, W.L., Gabriel, S., & Lee, A.Y. ( 1999). "I" value freedom but "we" value relationships: Self-construal priming mirrors cultural differences in judgment. Psychological Science, 10, 321-326.
11.
Gabriel, S., Renaud, J.M., & Tippin, B. ( 2006). When I think of you I feel more confident about me: The relational self and self-confidence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 772-779.
12.
Gebauer, J.E., Riketta, M., Broemer, P., & Maio, G.R. ( 2008). "How much do you like your name?" An implicit measure of global self-esteem. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology , 44, 1346-1354.
13.
Georgas, J. ( 1989). Changing family values in Greece: From collectivist to individualist. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 20, 80-91.
14.
Giddens, A., (1994). Living in a post-traditional society. In U. Beck, A. Giddens, & S. Lash (Eds.), Reflexive modernization: Politics, tradition and aesthetics in the modern social order. Cambridge University Press, UK.
15.
Heine, S.J., Lehman, D.R., Markus, H.R., & Kitayama, S. ( 1999). Is there a universal need for positive self-regard? Psychological Review, 106, 766-794.
16.
Hetts, J.J., Sakuma, M., & Pelham, B.W. ( 1999). Two roads to positive regard: Implicit and explicit self-evaluation and culture. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35, 512-559.
17.
Hofstede, G. ( 1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE.
18.
Hong, Y., Ip, G., Chiu, C.Y., Morris, M.W., & Menon, T. ( 2001). Cultural identity and the dynamic construction of the self: Collective duties and individual rights in Chinese andAmerican cultures. Social Cognition, 19, 251-268.
19.
Inglehart, R., & Baker, W.E. ( 2000). Modernization, cultural change and the persistence of traditional values, American Sociological Review, 65, 19-52.
20.
Inglehart, R., & Welzel, C. ( 2005). Value change and the persistence of cultural traditions in modernization, cultural change, and democracy: The human development sequence . New York: Cambridge University Press.
21.
Kafetsios, K. ( 2006), Social support and well-being in contemporary Greek society: Examination of multiple indicators at different levels of analysis. Social Indicators Research, 76, 127-145.
22.
Kagitcibasi, C. ( 2005). Autonomy and relatedness in cultural context. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 36, 403-422.
23.
Kanagawa, C., Cross, S.E., & Markus, R.H. ( 2001). "Who am I?" The cultural psychology of the conceptual self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 90-103.
24.
Krauss, R.M., & Chiu, C.Y. ( 1998). Language and social behavior. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (4th ed., Vol. 2, pp. 41-88). Boston: McGraw-Hill .
25.
Markus, H. ( 1977).Self-schemata and processing information about the self . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 63-78.
26.
Markus, H., & Kitayama, S. ( 1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion and motivation. Psychological Reviews, 98, 224-253.
27.
Oyserman, D., Coon, H.M., & Kemmelmeier, M. (2002). Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses . Psychological Bulletin, 128, 3-72.
28.
Papadopoulos, T.N. ( 1988). Greek family policy from a comparative perspective. In E. Drew, R. Emerek, & E. Mahon (Eds.), Reconciling family and working life (pp. 47-57). London: Routledge.
29.
Perdue, C., Dovidio, J., Gurtman, M., & Tyler, R. ( 1990). Us and them: Social categorization and the process of intergroup bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 59, 475-486.
30.
Pouliasi, K., & Verkuyten, M. ( 2007). Networks of meaning and the bicultural mind: A structural equation modeling approach. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 955-963.
31.
Robins, R.W., Hendin, H.M., & Trzesniewski, K.H., Potter, J., & Gosling, S.D., (2001). Measuring global self-esteem: Construct validation of a single-item measure and the Rosenberg self-esteem scale. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 151-161.
32.
Robins, R.W., Tracy, J.L., Trzesniewski, K.H.Potter, J., & Gosling, S.D., (2001). Personality correlates of self-esteem. Journal of Research in Personality, 35, 463-482.
33.
Robins, R.W., Trzesniewski, K.H., Tracy, J.L., Gosling, S.D., & Potter, J. ( 2002). Global self-esteem across the life span. Psychology and Aging, 17, 423-434.
34.
Rojas, M. ( 2006). Life satisfaction and satisfaction in domains of life: Is it a simple relationship? Journal of Happiness Studies , 7, 467-497.
35.
Scherpenzeel, A., & Saris, W. ( 1996). Causal direction in a model of life satisfaction: The top-down/ bottom-up controversy. Social Indicators Research , 38, 161-180.
36.
Schmitt, D.P., & Allik, J. ( 2005). Simultaneous administration of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale in 53 nations: Exploring the universal and culture-specific features of global self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 89, 623-642.
37.
Singelis, T.M., Bond, M.H., Sharkey, W.F., & Siu YiuLai, C. (1999). Unpackaging culture’s influence on self-esteem and embarrassability: The role of self-construals . Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 30, 315-341.
38.
Stewart, S.M., Bond, M.H., Deeds, O., & Chung, S.F. ( 1999). Intergenerational patterns of values and autonomy expectations in cultures of relatedness and separateness. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 30, 575-593.
39.
Sue, E.M. ( 2002). Culture, identity consistency, and subjective well-being . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1378-1391.
40.
Sui, J., Zhu, Y., & Chiu, C.- Y. (2007). Bicultural mind, self-construal, and recognition memory: Cultural priming effects on self- and mother-reference effect. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 818-824.
41.
Triandis, H.C. ( 1989). The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts . Psychological Review, 96, 506-520.
42.
Triandis, H.C., McCusker, C., & Huis, C.H. ( 1990). Multimethod probes of individualism and collectivism . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 1006-1020.
43.
Turner, J.C., & Onorato, R.S. ( 1999). Social identity, personality, and the self-concept: A self-categorization perspective. In T. R. Tyler, R. M. Kramer, & O. P. John (Eds.), The psychology of the social self (pp. 11-46). London: Lawrence Erlbaum.
44.
Veenhoven, R. ( 1984). Conditions of happiness. Dordrecht , the Netherlands: Reidel.
45.
Verkuyten, M. (in press). Self-esteem and multiculturalism: An examination among ethnic minority and majority groups in the Netherlands. Journal of Research in Personality.
46.
Verkuyten, M., & de Wolf, A. ( 2002). Ethnic minority identity and group context: Self-descriptions, acculturation attitudes and group evaluations in an intra- and intergroup situation. European Journal of Social Psychology, 32, 781-800.
47.
Verkuyten, M., & Pouliasi, K. ( 2002). Biculturalism among older children: Cultural frame switching, attributions, self-identification, and attitudes. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33, 596-609.
48.
Verkuyten, M., & Pouliasi, K. ( 2006). Biculturalism and group identification: The mediating role of identification in cultural frame-switching. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37, 312-326.
49.
World Development Indicators,2002, as quoted in Inglehart and Welzel, 2005, p.57
