Progressing Discourse From “How Much a Human’s Life is Cultural?” to “Which Life Domains Are Cultural?”

Abstract

In psychological science, researchers have long explored how individuals interact with their cultural context. Although it is commonly accepted that cultural factors shape individuals, the extent of this influence has not been clearly established. Some argue that culture profoundly shapes the human psyche, while others suggest a more limited cultural influence. This paper synthesizes these perspectives and reframes the inquiry from ‘To what extent is an individual’s life cultural?’ to “Which life domains are cultural?” To address this empirically, we sourced data from 147,260 participants residing in 88 different countries, who reported on 243 variables across, representing a wide range of different life domains. We analyzed 1,328 parameters derived from Intraclass Correlation Coefficients and Within-and-Between Analysis I, which quantify the proportion of variance in phenomena explained by differences at four levels of grouping: country, cultural zones, regions, and residential areas. We found that domains such as religious values, sexuality, social capital, and beliefs about out-groups vary significantly across cultures, whereas economic values, children’s qualities, perceptions of science and technology, and organizational affiliation show less variation. We situate these findings within models explaining societal constructs based on chronology, complexity, and evolutionary obligations.