Regional Similarities and Differences in People's Beliefs, Practices and Preferences

Abstract

Seven hundred fifty-three students from seven cities of India reported: (a) their perception of what people in general believe, practise and prefer (i.e., operative values); (b) their own allocentric and idiocentric orientations; (c) the extent to which they attached importance to other's (over their own) opinions, desires and interests; and (d) their age, gender, caste, class and urban exposure. The significant mean differences between the seven sub-samples led to identify three clusters of cities, namely the North, the South and the Central. The North and the South presented a contrast—the former manifesting strong orientations to meet unjustifiable and inconvenient social obligations and to cultivate personalised relationships. The Central cluster showed a differentpattern. The items on which the sub-samples did not differ formed a general factor of collectivism consisting of the themes of familialism, hierarchy and relationship orientation. Collectivism was found to be unrelated to the respondents' rating of the importance attached to other's (over one's own) opinions, desires and interests. Femalestudents, and those who were low on caste, class and urban exposure attached greater importance to others' than to one's own desires, opinions and interests. The self-ratings of allocentrism and idiocentrism proved to be unreliable.