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Individualism and collectivism are often equated with independent vs. interdependent, agentic vs. communal, and separate vs. relational self-construals. Although these same concepts have been used to characterize both cultural and gender differences, a perspective of cultural evolution suggests it is unlikely. A division of labor within society may produce gender differences, but this cannot explain cultural differences. A study of self-construal involving 5 cultures (Australia, the United States, Hawaii, Japan, and Korea) shows that differences between these cultures are captured mostly by the extent to which people see themselves as acting as independent agents, whereas gender differences are best summarized by the extent to which people regard themselves as emotionally related to others.

A series of studies of acculturative stress is reported, involving immigrants, refugees, Native peoples, sojourners and ethnic groups in Canada. Acculturative stress is defined as a reduction in health status (including psychological, somatic and social aspects) of individuals who are undergoing acculturation, and for which there is evidence that these health phenomena are related systematically to acculturation phenomena. A theoretical model and a comparative framework are presented within which the empirical studies were conducted. A total of 1,197 individuals were studied in the last decade and a half, using a common indicator of acculturative stress, for which reliability and validity indices are presented. Results indicate substantial variation in stress phenomena across types of acculturating groups, and across a number of individual difference variables (such as sex, age, education, attitudes and cognitive style), and across a number of social variables (such as contact, social support and status). A need for further comparative studies is identified so that acculturation phenomena may be understood in terms of their origins in variations across host societies, across acculturating groups and their interactions.

This article investigates the relationship between culture, personality, and deception in a simulated international management negotiation at multiple levels of analysis. `Deception' was operationalized here as the propensity to lie and bribe. As predicted, at the cultural level the results from a scenario study with 1583 participants from eight cultures suggested that cultural collectivism was positively related to reported use of deception in negotiations, and to greater emotional reactions (i.e. guilt, shame, and disgust) after the use of deception. At the individual level, however, the personality variable of allocentrism (consisting of behaviors found in collectivist cultures) was negatively related to the use of deception. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Are human individuals universally seen to be more real entities (or more entitative, to use Campbell 's, 1958, term) than social groups? Although the individual may be seen to be more entitative than social groups in the West, it is unclear whether this is the case in other cultures, especially in East Asia. Two aspects of perceived entitativity are distinguished: psychological essentialism (belief in the presence of essence-like unchangeable properties) and agency (perception that a social entity is an agent), and examined for four social targets (individual, family, friendship group, and society) in three Englishspeaking cultures (Australia, UK, and USA), three East Asian cultures (Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea), and two continental European cultures (Belgium and Germany). In all cultures, the individual person was seen to possess essence-like unchangeable characteristics more than social groups (i.e. essentialized). As for agency, the individual person was seen to be more agentic than groups in Western cultures, but both individuals and groups were conferred an equal level of agency in East Asia. Individuals may be universally more essentialized than friendship groups and societies, but not always seen to be more agentic, than social groups. Implications of the results for conceptions of individualism and collectivism are discussed.

This paper examines the factors that contribute to the high educational achievement of Korean students. The authors outline the limitations of psychological and educational theories that emphasize the biological basis (i.e., innate ability, IQ), individualistic values (e.g., intrinsic motivation, ability attribution, and self‐esteem), and structural features (e.g., high educational spending, small class size, and individualized instruction). Although the Korean government spends significantly less per student, class size is larger, cooperative learning is emphasized, and students have lower self‐concepts, they outperform their Western counterparts in reading, mathematics, and sciences (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2000; Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development, 2003). The indigenous psychology approach is used to examine factors that explain the high academic achievement of Korean students. Empirical studies that examine the role of self‐efficacy at the individual level, social support at the relational level, and Confucian values at the cultural level are reviewed. First, Koreans view education as a part of self‐cultivation that is pursued for its own sake and as a way to achieve personal, social, and occupational success. Second, Koreans do not believe in innate ability but believe it can be acquired through persistent effort and discipline. Third, parents play a key role in maintaining a strong relational bond and influencing their children's achievement throughout their lives. The sacrifice and support provided by parents are essential ingredients for their children's success. Fourth, emotional support, rather than informational support, is reported to be the most important. Fifth, self‐serving bias has not been found: Students attribute their success to effort and failure to a lack of effort and ability. Finally, although Western theories assume guilt and external pressure to have negative consequences, the reverse is the case. In Korea, children feel a sense of indebtedness toward their parents for all their devotion, sacrifice, and support. This promotes filial piety and academic achievement. Parental expectation and pressure had positive impact on their children's academic achievement.

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This paper compares indigenous, cultural, and cross-cultural psychology by examining their theoretical, conceptual, and epistemological foundations. They have been influenced by the three research traditions in psychology: (1) universalist, (2) contextualist, and (3) integrationist approaches. The goal of the universalist approach is to test and verify universality of existing psychological theories. Cultural psychologists, in contrast, point out that presumed universals are actually Western impositions and not universals. They affirm the contextualist approach and argue that every culture possesses its own unique characteristics, and they should be understood from within the culture.Integrationists argue that search for universals should include the content and context of culture, and they reject absolute universalism and relativism. In crosscultural psychology, two integrationist approaches can be identified: the derived etic approach (Berry, 1980) and the indigenous psychologies approach . In the derived etic approach, researchers adapt and integrate existing theories to fit local knowledge. Indigenization as articulated by Sinha (1997) represents this approach. In the indigenous psychologies approach, the primary goal is to understand how people think, feel, and behave in a particular context. It advocates a bottom-up model-building paradigm that examines the generative capabilities of human beings. Detailed analysis of the indigenous psychologies approach is provided.