Are Cultures Becoming Individualistic? A Cross-Temporal Comparison of Individualism–Collectivism in the United States and Japan

“Research suggests that effort is valued more in collectivistic societies than in individualistic societies, as it is seen as a key for goals valued in these societies, such as self-improvement and social harmony (Heine et al., 1999).”

“…pronoun drop, or whether the language of a society allows pronouns to be dropped (E. Kashima & Kashima, 1998), and the index of pathogen prevalence, or the extent to which disease-causing pathogens were prevalent in a society’s historical environment (Fincher et al., 2008; Murray & Schaller, 2010).”

“On the one hand, people in Japan came to live more independently from other family members (Hamamura, 2012; Ogihara, 2018b), increasingly gave more unique names to their babies (Ogihara, 2015, 2021a, 2021b; Ogihara et al. , 2015), and came to hold more individualistic values (Hamamura, 2012; Taras…”

“…2013), many researchers have documented and sought to explain shifts on broad cultural dimensions such as individualism (e.g., Greenfield, 2013; Hamamura, 2012), as well as in the meaning of more specific concepts such as happiness (Oishi et al., 2013) and nature (e.g., Kesebir & Kesebir,…”

“Similarly, if societies have become increasingly individualistic (as evidenced, for example, in Beugelsdijk et al ., 2015; Hamamura, 2012), our results suggest that not all of them will have experienced a commensurate reduction in corruption, at least partly because attitudes towards corruption may…”

“The model consists of two free parameters, fitted to each participant’s answers: (1) a social influence parameter d corresponding to the weight attributed by the participant to the group rating with respect to her own initial rating, and which determined the adjustment of the post-test rating, here measured as the sig…”

“…degree educated should be employed. are more likely to be individualistic (Varma, 1998; Mawdsley, 2004; Chatterjee, 2008), although researchers have found that despite greater individuality among youth in collectivist societies, traditional values still seem to be well embedded (Hamamura, 2012).”

“Others have adopted a more welfare capitalist approach (e.g. Denmark, Japan) that emphasizes employee benefits that contribute to welfare and equality.”

“In European-American cultures, individualistic values and systems have been fostered and maintained over a long period of 1 It should be noted that some indices did not show the increase of individualism in Japan (Hamamura, 2012).”

“This may be related to the national background of the United States which worships individualism [81].”

“Research has reported a global trend toward the acceptance of individualism in collectivist cultures (Hamamura, 2012; Liu & Wang, 2009; Santos et al., 2017).”

“The second line of enquiry revolves around cultural context and suggests that rising individualism goes hand in hand with economic growth and welfare advancement (Hamamura 2012), and ultimately results in the decline of the family.”

“, Japan and the United States, respectively), particularly with regard to constructs such as independence-interdependence and individualism-collectivism (Hamamura, 2012; Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Nisbett, 2004), and some have challenged the simplistic Asia/ collectivist versus West/individualist dichotomy (Oyserman et…”

“Acculturation to an individualistic culture may increase the need for autonomy among members of collectivistic cultures (Hamamura, 2012; Rhee & Jang, 2019); a study of seniors of multiple ethnicities living in New York indicated that they were uncomfortable delegating end-of-life decisions to…”

“…alternative possibility is that the reported pattern reflects societal differences in individualism-collectivism, a cultural dimension strongly associated with development (Hamamura, 2012) and known to implicate differences in generalized trust (Delhey et al., 2011; Yamagishi & Yamagishi, 1994).”

“On the other hand, Hamamura (2011) recently observed continuing emphasis on some collectivistic values such as the perceived importance of family and friends, social obligation, and contribution to society among Japanese young adults, despite a rise of individualism in Japan over the past several…”

“More people in East Asia are adopting individualistic values as evidenced by their lifestyles (increased divorce rates, rural–urban migration, more freedom in personal choice; Hamamura, 2012; Steele and Lynch, 2013).”

“In China, a nation with an industrial base, regions experiencing rapid GDP growth may prioritize economic development over environmental protection (He et al., 2020), influencing local individualistic culture (Hamamura, 2012), hence necessitating control.”

“Third, American culture has become markedly more individual-istic in recent decades (Grossmann & Varnum, 2015; Hamamura, 2012; Santos et al., 2017).”

“…1994) might be more conducive to the development 1although some studies suggest a rise in individualism in many cultures, including japan, some differences remain, so that japan can still safely be said to be less individualistic than most Western cultures, the us in particular (hamamura, 2012).”

“…and Taiwan, where the Confucian family values that emphasize women’s subordinate position prevail and individualist values rarely overcome the collectivist goals (Hamamura, 2011), although recent research shows that in East Asian societies the changes are happening, as well (Yang and Yen, 2011).”

“Despite the clear increase in individualism among Americans compared to Asians, Hamamura (2012) found that both Americans and Japanese show increasing individualism regarding some issues and increasing collectivism regarding other issues.”

“…the ratio of divorce rate to marriage rate: Individualist cultures around the world have higher rates of divorce than collectivist cultures (Hamamura, 2012). d. the percentage of people with no religious affiliation: religion promotes integration and regulates moral conduct, as a result it…”

“…suggests that individualism and modernist sociological developments—such as the spread of capitalism and secular, scientific worldviews—have had a bidirectional historical influence (Greenfield, 2013; Hamamura, 2012), and we propose that both of these factors contributed to the rise of the DP.”

“These indicators were frequently examined in previous work related to cultural change (e.g. Grossmann & Varnum, 2015; Hamamura, 2012; Liu & Xin, 2015; Twenge, 2000).”

“The occurrence of a socioecological change, such as change over time in the same society and migration to a different society examined here, draws attention to the broader issue of the stickiness of cultural heritage (Hamamura, 2012).”

“Previous studies (Allik and Realo, 2004; Hamamura, 2012) found a positive association between independence and generalized Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 2 March 2016 | Volume 7 | Article 384 trust, suggesting that taking the risk of trusting others outside of a close-knit community…”

“…have demonstrated evidence of dynamic shifts in social structures in a given culture, while highlighting the discord between new social structures and the human mind in accommodating to these changes, and the potential for consequential social problems (Hamamura, 2012; Norasakkunkit et al., 2012).”

“Current Japanese society demonstrates the attributes of an individualistic society (Hamamura 2012; Hofstede 2021).”

“Consider, for example, the recent worldwide historical trend toward increased individualism and decreased collectivism (Hamamura, 2012; Santos et al., 2017).”

“…the number of multigenerational households has decreased in the United States (Gross-mann & Varnum, 2015) and in Japan (Ogihara, 2017; see also Hamamura, 2012), not because living alone is more adaptive but in part simply because more people could afford to live independently of their parents.”

“…religious beliefs may have common cultural values and attitudes toward environmental protection. e.g., Schwartz, 1994; Vandello & Cohen, 1999; Hamamura, 2012; Beugelsdijk et al., 2015; Olsson & Paik, 2016; Ang, 2019).37 Based on survey participants’ responses, I create an overall measure of…”

“In addition, macroeconomic factors predict changes in broader cultural values (Greenfield, 2016; Hamamura, 2012).”

“Second, the social and cultural changes brought by economic and social development in China have increasingly strengthened the individualism value among Chinese college students, whereas the collectivism values have gradually weakened (Kashima et al., 2011; Hamamura, 2012; Liu et al., 2020).”

“This shift toward greater individualism has also been reported in other cultural aspects in Japan (Hamamura, 2012; Ogihara, 2017b; 2018b; 2020b; Taras et al., 2012; for reviews, see Ogihara, 2017a; 2018a).”

“Prior cultural researchers argue that interpersonal structure in society—for example, the strength of family ties—reflects the society’s level of individualism (Hamamura, 2012; Markus & Kitayama, 1991).”

“For instance, Japan shows signs of increased individualization (e.g., increase in divorces, cf. Hamamura, 2012).”

“traditions (Hamamura, 2012; Zhang, Noels, Kulich, & Guan, 2015), it seems reasonable to expect that as culture changes even partially, so do the psychological tendencies (e.”

“It has been suggested that Japanese culture has become more individualistic at least in some respects (Hamamura, 2012; Ogihara, 2016b; Ogihara, Fujita, Tominaga, Ishigaki, Kashimoto, Takahashi, Toyohara, & Uchida, 2015; Ogihara, Uchida, Kusumi, 2015).”

“To summarize, research evidences a pattern whereby advertising reflects increasingly individualistic values – a trend consistent with the belief that cultures are becoming more individualistic (Hamamura, 2012: 20).”

“27 This might apply particularly to the younger online generation.”

“In collectivist societies, trust tends to be higher within in-groups where significant social relationships are formed, whereas in individualist societies, social relationships are not confined to specific in-groups (Hamamura 2012).”

“Because Japan is a collectivistic country (Hamamura, 2012) where people emphasize a group orientation, social harmony, and obligation to others (Caudill, 1973; Flanagan, 1979; Trommsdorff, 1983), suppression may maintain the existing order while avoiding negative outcomes.”

“Sin embargo, estudios recientes muestran una tendencia en diferentes culturas a moverse lentamente del colectivismo al individualismo (Hamamura, 2012; Zeng & Greenfield, 2015).”

“is typically thought to hold more individualistic values, whereas Japan is typically thought to hold more collectivist values (Hamamura, 2012; Markus & Kitayama, 1991).”

“In addition, a large number of studies have shown that modern society may need to reach win-win from the perspective of collectivism (Yang, 1996; Hamamura, 2012; Van de Vliert et al., 2012; Grossmann and Varnum, 2015; Huang et al., 2016; Santos et al., 2017).”

“obligations they are expected to meet with regard to their family-of-origin (Hamamura, 2012).”

“The individualism–collectivism dichotomy is among the most researched sociocultural aspects (Hamamura, 2012).”

“Narcissism has been linked to characteristics of a culture (Foster, Campbell, & Twenge, 2003), and the change in narcissistic dispositions could have a direct relationship with cultural change (Cai et al., 2012), which is often fueled by economic development (Hamamura, 2012).”

“Our study used three items from the World Values Survey (WVS) to calculate the level of individualism-collectivism in 65 countries/regions[38],[39].”

“Likewise, Study 2 also consisted of a college sample from metropolitan areas, who likely had more exposure to Western values and media than other demographics in Japan (e.g., Hamamura, 2012; Ogihara, 2017).”

“…cultural psychology, cultural agent, cultural game player INTRODUCTION The current Japanese cultural context is believed to be changing to a more independent and/or individualistic-oriented one (Hamamura, 2012; Beugelsdijk and Welzel, 2018; see also, Toivonen et al., 2011; Ogihara, 2017).”

“…modernization was a robust predictor of values are consistent with recent research examining the global changes in Individualism (Santos et al., 2017), thus the current finding contributes to our understanding on the modernization theory of value-change (Hamamura, 2012; Inglehart & Baker, 2000).”

“Finally, modernization theory suggests that the rise of individualism comes about as a consequence of an economic growth (Hamamura, 2012).”

“It has also been shown that individualism has advanced in line with economic growth in recent years (Yamawaki, 2012) and that the intimate family relationship, which has traditionally been characteristic of Japan, has become freer and looser with increased divorce rate and reduction in the household size (Hamamura, 20…”

“It is imperative to recognize that due to the effects of modernization and globalization, Asian cultures have undergone significant transformation (Hamamura, 2012; Kang, 2004; Tomlinson, 2003).”

“Collectivism versus individualism became the dominant contrast (Hamamura, 2012), which is useful when comparing the individualistic West to everyone else (Henrich, 2020), but it doesn ’ t capture differences among other world regions (Kitayama et al., 2022).”

“Contemporary Japanese culture is more Westernized than it used to be, but it is still predominantly a group-oriented society (Hamamura 2012).”

“Discussions suggest that the Japanese culture is becoming more individualistic than in the past (Matsumoto et al., 1996; Hamamura, 2012).”

“Many individuals immigrating to the U.S. come from collectivistic cultures, whereas many individuals residing in the U.S. are individualistic (Hamamura 2012).”