Do Negative Attitudes Toward Deviance Predict Direct and Indirect Social Control? The Moderating Role of Culture

Abstract

Do people in differing cultures react differently when they observe other people’s deviant behaviors and have negative attitudes toward them? Based on the cultural psychological theory of individualism-collectivism, we hypothesized that negative attitudes toward deviance would predict stronger direct social control among North Americans than among Japanese, whereas it would predict stronger indirect social control among Japanese than among Americans. We conducted an online cross-cultural survey between the two countries. We asked participants to rate their negative attitudes and intended reactions toward the deviant behaviors described in a series of hypothetical scenarios. As predicted, culture significantly moderated the associations of negative attitudes toward deviance with direct and indirect social control. Negative attitudes toward deviance were positively associated with direct social control in the United States but not Japan. By contrast, the positive association between negative attitudes toward deviance and indirect social control was stronger in Japan than in the United States. In addition, these moderating roles of culture were not mediated by relational mobility. This research highlights the importance of cultural context in shaping people’s reactions toward norm deviance.