Sino-India difference in collectivism and its association with cultural heritage concerning argumentation

Xiaopeng Ren; Dongqin Kuai

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1027599

Sino-India difference in collectivism and its association with cultural heritage concerning argumentation

Front Psychol. 2023 Jan 12:13:1027599. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1027599. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Xiaopeng Ren^{1

2}, Dongqin Kuai^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
² Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Cross-cultural studies from a global perspective contend that China and India are both collectivistic cultures. However, it remains unclear whether and why China and India differ in their collectivism. This study examines whether the cultural heritage concerning argumentation explains why Chinese people are more collectivistic than Indians. Convenient samples were taken from online surveys (N _China = 398, N _India = 418), and 186 participants from the United States were included in the contrast group. In multiple methods conducted here, the Chinese respondents scored higher in holistic thought, compatriotism, nepotism, familism, and self-interdependence than the Indian respondents, while scoring lower in assertiveness and argumentativeness. Although China and India were more collectivistic than the United States, these findings support the hypothesis that Chinese people are more collectivistic than Indians. The study extended our knowledge of individualism-collectivism beyond east-west comparison.

Keywords: China; India; assertiveness; collectivism; compatriotism; cultural heritage concerning argumentation; holistic thought; nepotism.