Are Japanese more collectivistic than Americans? Examining conformity in in-groups and the reference-group effect

摘要

This study examines whether the common view that Japanese are more collectivistic than Americans is valid or not in three respects: First, the authors point out that those empirical studies that were directly related to the commonly accepted definition of individualism and collectivism (I/C) did not support the common view and that those studies whose relations to I/C were merely inferred were inappropriate in judging its validity. Second, the authors show that the reference- group effect (Heine, Lehman, Peng, & Greenholtz, 2002) cannot entirely explain the past questionnaire studies' failure to support the common view. Finally, by replicating Asch's ( 1956) conformity experiment with 40 groups of 140 Japanese college students belonging to the same college clubs, the authors demonstrate that Japanese conform no more than Americans even in in-groups.