Culture and basic psychological processes--Toward a system view of culture: Comment on Oyserman et al. (2002).

Abstract

D. Oyserman, H, M, Coon, and M. Kemmelmeicr (2002) provide a most comprehensive review of empirical studies that used attitudinal surveys to capture cultural variations in individualism and collectivism. In the present article, the author suggests that the cross-cultural validity of attitudinal surveys can no longer be taken for granted. Moreover, the meta-theory underlying this literature (called the entity view of culture) is called into question. The author presents an alternative meta-theory (called the system view of culture) and discusses its implications for future work in cultural and cross-cultural psychology.