Culture, self-understanding and the bicultural mind : a study in Greece and the Netherlands
The present thesis investigates impact of culture at the between the Dutch and the Greek cultures level by focusing in the Greek society and the within individual level in the form of Dutch-Greek biculturalism. The Netherlands is an individualist society, while Greece is traditionally considered to be more collectivist, although currently undergoing transition. Two main lines of inquiry are discussed: firstly, Dutch-Greek biculturalism and in specific the Cultural Frame Switching hypothesis, and secondly self-perceptions and how they relate to positive psychological function. The individualism... Mehr ...
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Dokumenttyp: | Dissertation |
Erscheinungsdatum: | 2010 |
Verlag/Hrsg.: |
Utrecht University
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Schlagwörter: | Sociaal-culturele Wetenschappen (SOWE) |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Permalink: | https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27609487 |
Datenquelle: | BASE; Originalkatalog |
Powered By: | BASE |
Link(s) : | https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/187224 |
The present thesis investigates impact of culture at the between the Dutch and the Greek cultures level by focusing in the Greek society and the within individual level in the form of Dutch-Greek biculturalism. The Netherlands is an individualist society, while Greece is traditionally considered to be more collectivist, although currently undergoing transition. Two main lines of inquiry are discussed: firstly, Dutch-Greek biculturalism and in specific the Cultural Frame Switching hypothesis, and secondly self-perceptions and how they relate to positive psychological function. The individualism collectivism dimension is used to facilitate predictions (i) for obtaining the default patterns to base our experiments on biculturalism upon (ii) to examine self understandings comparatively and (iii) to study how self-understandings evolve in Greece. Attention has also been given to local cultures specific context. We conducted three experimental priming studies. The bicultural samples consisted of early adolescent- and adult individuals of Greek origin who live in the Netherlands and are highly competent in both the Dutch and the Greek language. They were randomly assigned either to the Greek or the Dutch cultural priming condition. Cultural frame was manipulated by using culture-specific symbols and language. The Cultural Frame Switching hypothesis was examined in relation to social explanations, personal and social self-evaluations, identification with friends, and endorsement of values (friendship, family integrity and obedience). The responses of the bicultural participants were affected by cultural priming: when assigned to the Greek culture condition they provided more external attributions, identified more strongly with friends, evaluated the personal self less positively and the social self more positively, than when assigned to the Dutch culture condition. Responses of bicultural participants were compared to those of mono-cultural control groups in the Netherlands and in Greece. Results show a clear pattern of ...