Individualism and Collectivism



Abstract

The concepts of individualism and collectivism requires to be better understood as it is a representation of overall aspects that are not confined to simple political and economical interpretations, rather such concepts pervade human society, the subgroups it contains, and its interactions. . The characteristics of a personality having the trait of conscientiousness must be known that how to control, direct, and regulate personal impulses. Individuals that possess a higher level of this personality trait are normally good on a their careers as they formulate long-ranging goals, organize and plan such goals, and then work persistently on such goals without taking influence of any distraction. The psychological aspects that distinguish two different cultural groups of America and Japan can be characterized in the domains of internalization (anxiety, depression, and over-controlled feelings of distress), and externalization (rule breaking, aggressiveness, and symptoms of hyperactivity or attention deficit). Generally, important differentiations are established between adults' personality profiles from the individualistic (American), and collectivistic (Japanese) cultures and also between adults and children showing the pathology of internalization and externalization. There can be different personality traits found in different cultural groups and we cannot assume that a particular culture will always demonstrate the similar type of personality traits. But, the culture has another distinctive worth as, it helps in recognizing the people identity. Individualism and Collectivism

Introduction

The concepts of individualism and collectivism requires to be better understood as it is a representation of overall aspects that are not confined to simple political and economical interpretations, rather such concepts pervade human society, the subgroups it contains, and its interactions. As per the concept of ethical-psychology, individualism grips that an individual should judge and think independently, without involving and respecting anyone more than his/her own mind's sovereignty. However, collectivism is the regarded as the practice and theory that makes forms some type of grouping rather than considering individuals as the elemental unit of social, economic, and political concerns. Individualism and collectivism are problematical constructs and both have been explored in various ways in order to frequently distinguishes groups from each other on the basis of culture and nation (Hofstede, 2001, n.d).

In this paper, the cultural groups that are chosen are: America as an individualistic and Japan as a collectivist culture. Firstly, there will be a focus given on backgrounds of these two different cultural groups. Then, a cultural analysis will be done examining the personality traits of people under each culture by a thorough comparison of both.

Cultural Backgrounds

The cultural background of America entails the cultural history of the U.S. since its establishment in the end of eighteenth century. Various different groups of immigrants have been a part in the creation of the national culture. However, distinctive groups on the basis of ethnicity may represent own and individual blinkered perspectives of culture. All the way through time, a wide-ranging culture of America has come into being that entails the overall nation. Cultural developments in America in contemporary history have most of the time ...