Changes in Chinese Culture as Examined Through Changes in Personal Pronoun Usage

Hamamura, Takeshi; Xu, Yi

doi:10.1177/0022022115592968

Cited by 87 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Other indicators of individualism show the same effect, including increasing frequency of relatively unique names (Grossmann & Varnum, 2015;Twenge, Abebe, & Campbell, 2010), higher rates of divorce (Grossmann and Varnum, 2015), and increasing endorsement of individualistic values (Santos, Grossmann, & Varnum, 2017). Similar effects have been observed in the US (Greenfield, 2013), China (Cai, Zou, Feng, Liu, & Jing, 2018;Hamamura & Xu, 2015;Zeng & Greenfield, 2015), Japan (Hamamura, 2012;Ogihara, in press). These shifts are not confined to handful of countries, and in fact individualism appears to have increased (at least over the past 50 years) in the majority of societies around the globe including countries as diverse as Chile, India, and Nigeria, Russia, and Turkey (Santos, Varnum, & Grossmann, 2017).…”

Section: Individualismsupporting

confidence: 53%

Cultural Changes in Neural Structure and Function

Varnum¹,

Hampton²

2018

Preprint

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Human cultures are not static. An emerging body of research has documented cultural changes in a wide variety of behaviors, psychological tendencies, and cultural products. Increasingly, this field has also begun to test hypothesis regarding the causes of these changes and to create forecasts for future patterns of change. Yet to date, the question of how our brains may change as a function of systematic changes in our environments has received relatively little attention and scant empirical testing. In the present chapter we begin by reviewing the literature on cultural change, including Varnum and Grossmann's program of research using a behavioral ecology framework to understand patterns of cultural change. Next we offer some initial predictions for changes in neural structure and function that may occur in the coming decades and we discuss implications for global mental health. Finally, we offer some ideas about how empirical research testing these predictions might be conducted and discuss challenges and opportunities for extending the study of cultural change to neuroscience.

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Section: Individualismsupporting

confidence: 53%

Cultural Changes in Neural Structure and Function

Varnum¹,

Hampton²

2018

Preprint

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“…Two alternative explanations of the results obtained should be considered. First, individualism was shown to rise throughout the 20th century, at least in the USA (Twenge et al, , ) and China (Hamamura & Xu, ). These results can indicate that there is a general trend for increase in individualism in modern societies, and Russia may be a part of this general trend.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Twenge, Campbell, and Gentile () found further evidence for increases in individualistic traits among Americans studying the usage of personal pronouns. Hamamura and Xu () applied the analysis of personal pronoun usage to a Chinese corpus and found an increase in the usage of individualistic pronouns and a decrease in the usage of collectivistic pronouns. Grossman and Varnum () studied culture‐level individualism correlates in the## USA including frequency of individualistic and collectivistic words computed with the Google Books Ngram.…”

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Transition to market economy promotes individualistic values: Analysing changes in frequencies of Russian words from 1980 to 2008

et al. 2017

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Google Books Ngram was used to assess changes in frequency of usage in words corresponding to collectivistic and individualistic values in Russia during the time of economic changes. It was found that in many domains transition to market economy was associated with a rise in the use of words corresponding to individualistic values and a decrease in the use of words associated with collectivistic values. In several cases, words corresponding to collectivistic terms were used more often than words corresponding to individualistic values. The results suggest that economic changes lead to a change in values structure, but that individualistic and collectivistic values can co-exist because of the transitional sate of the Russian society.

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“…In the past, “happiness” used to refer to good luck or favorable contextual conditions, but more recently denotes a favorable internal state (Delle Fave et al, ; Oishi, Graham, Kesebir, & Galinha, ). The lyrics of popular songs in the USA have become more antisocial and self‐focused (DeWall, Pond, Campbell, & Twenge, ). First‐person pronouns have increased in books since 1960 (Twenge, Campbell, & Gentile, ). Parents in the USA and Japan have increasingly selected unique names for their children. The percentage of children who are given “top 10 most popular” names has been dropping in the last 80 years in both countries (Ogihara et al, ; Twenge, Abebe, & Campbell, ). Chinese‐language books have changed over time, with individualistic pronouns (as a proportion of all pronouns) increasing and collectivistic pronouns decreasing in recent years (Hamamura & Xu, ).…”

Section: Outside the Head: Three Categoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• Chinese-language books have changed over time, with individualistic pronouns (as a proportion of all pronouns) increasing and collectivistic pronouns decreasing in recent years (Hamamura & Xu, 2015).…”

Section: Meta-analysis Of Cultural Productsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural difference, inside and out

Morling

2016

Social & Personality Psych

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Cultural psychologists study the extent to which human psychological experience is shaped by our participation in sociocultural practices, meanings, and products. Cultural psychologists document cultural differences both inside the head (in the form of emotions, cognitions, or motivations) and outside the head (in the form of public behaviors, cultural products, or institutions). Because cultural psychologists argue that culture and psyche “make each other up,” it is appropriate to study cultural difference at many loci—not just the traditional psychological areas in which many of us were trained. In this article, I describe cultural psychological evidence based on its social visibility and tangible nature. One category is collected on private, intangible, inside‐the‐head activities such as emotions, values, or motives. Another category, social interactions and behavioral performances, is intangible, public, and outside the head and includes how people talk to each other and how they walk, drive, or dress. A third category contains cultural products, which are tangible, public, and outside the head; it includes texts, websites, advertising, art, and architecture. These varying loci of cultural psychology allow us to appropriately document cultural differences and also allow us to study how humans are shaped by, and participate in recreating, their cultural contexts.

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Changes in Chinese Culture as Examined Through Changes in Personal Pronoun Usage

Cited by 87 publications

References 26 publications

Cultural Changes in Neural Structure and Function

Cultural Changes in Neural Structure and Function

Transition to market economy promotes individualistic values: Analysing changes in frequencies of Russian words from 1980 to 2008

Cultural difference, inside and out

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