[Dissonance] Kitayama et al. (2006)

[dissonance at psychologie-sociale.org]

Kitayama, S., Ishii, K., & Imada, T. (2006). Voluntary Settlement and
the Spirit of Independence: Evidence from Japan's 'Northern Frontier.' .
/Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 91(3)/, pp. 369-384.

The authors hypothesized that economically motivated voluntary
settlement in the frontier fosters independent agency. While
illuminating the historical origin of American individualism, this
hypothesis can be most powerfully tested in a region that is embedded in
a broader culture of interdependence and yet has undergone a recent
history of such settlement. The authors therefore examined residents of
Japan's northern island (Hokkaido). Hokkaido was extensively settled by
ethnic Japanese beginning in the 1870s and for several decades
thereafter. Many of the current residents of Hokkaido are the
descendents of the original settlers from this period. As predicted,
Japanese socialized and/or immersed in Hokkaido were nearly as likely as
European Americans in North America to associate happiness with personal
achievement (Study 1), to show a personal dissonance effect wherein
self-justification is motivated by a threat to personal self-images
(Study 2), and to commit a dispositional bias in causal attribution
(Study 3). In contrast, these marker effects of independent agency were
largely absent for non-Hokkaido residents in Japan. Implications for
theories of cultural change and persistence are discussed.


*Culture (Anthropological); *Culture Change; *Environment;
*Environmental Effects; *Individuality; Acculturation; Attribution;
Cognitive Dissonance; Cross Cultural Differences; Regional Differences;
Self Concept

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