Oldal 163 [163]
MALE-FEMALE RELATIONSHIPS ACROSS CULTURES...
a principal component of the self is its relationships to others), which entails
the importance of family and group achievement," the lack of fixed boundaries
between the selfand the other"? and the ultimate goal of maintaining harmony
and appropriateness in relationships,'* where the approval ofthe others comes
across as a highly influential factor, and the Western positive image of the self
is interpreted as bragging."
Cognitive consistency versus context contingency
Second, and in accordance with the above, I would like to mention
cognitive consistency and context contingency as a feature of independent
and interdependent self-construal, respectively. In this context, cognitive
consistency refers to the individual saying what he/she feels straight from the
heart and his/her behavior resulting from internal attributes and processes
with the aim of self-expression. Regarding interdependent self-construal,
context contingency implies that being responsive to others is the preferred
and therefore most highly valued form of behavior, even at the expense of
consistency: "Eastern cultures may tolerate cognitive dissonance as normal/
natural as the interdependent self has a flexible/variable structure. [...] This
happens in order to attend to the needs and desires of the significant others
with whom [people] are interacting.”'®
Dispositionism vs. situationism
The next difference between the two construal types lies in their tendencies
of dispositionism (context independence) versus situationism (context
dependence).’” The independent construal is characterized by consistency and
stability in communication behavior across situations and over time, which
means the same behavior will be exhibited by the same person in all situations:
“Western people have a unique and articulated set of internal attributes that
remain stable across situations”? At the same time, in the case of the inter¬
dependent self-construal, behavior ofthe same person will vary from situation to
situation, and from one time to another: “interdependent selves do not prescribe
4 Tbid., 138.
15 Tbid., 73.
This principle is based on Buddhist tradition: to submerge the self and gain freedom from
the self.
Kim, Non-Western Perspectives on Human Communication, 121-129.
18 Ibid., 73.
In predicting behavior, Westerners focus on the individual (dispositionism) whereas Eastern
people focus on the social situation (situationism/contextualism), situational, external and
relational causes (Kim 83-87).
Kim, Non-Western Perspectives on Human Communication, 73.
* 161 +