Contextual Effect of Wealth on Independence: An Examination through Regional Differences in China.

ABSTRACT: The current study disentangled two different effects of wealth on psychological tendency toward independence: one is an effect exerted at the individual level (i.e., being rich) and the other one is a contextual effect (i.e., being surrounded by rich individuals). Past research has found a stronger tendency toward independence among people in economically developed societies. This association has often been explained as a result of a greater amount of choices, and thus more opportunities to express individuality that wealth affords individuals. In addition to this individual-level process, theories in cultural psychology imply that the wealth-independence link also reflects social processes-living in a rich society, regardless of one's own wealth, promotes independence (contextual effect o

SUBMITTER: Takemura K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4794504 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature