The cultural dimension of tightness - looseness: some recent applications
Professor Anu Realo (Department of Psychology, University of Tartu) made a presentation “The cultural dimension of tightness - looseness: some recent applications” at the scientific seminar of the International Laboratory of Socio-Cultural Research on 21st September. She presented results of the research conducted in 33 countries.
The researchers relied on the theory of cultural dimensions of individualism-collectivism, considered to be one of the most useful and studied constructs in social psychology according to H. Triandis: the time since 2001 is called the decade of individualism-collectivism in cross-cultural psychology - during that time the frequency of mentioning in the literature sources increased 2 times, making 3600 references. The researchers, based on Pertti J. Pelto’s theory, expanded the outlined concept by introducing complementary measurement of the tightness-looseness, which is based not on the group differences, but on rules and regulations prevailing in the society. Thereby "tightness" reflects the degree of hierarchical structure of socio-cultural elements in the society.
By the high “tightness” the researchers mean the predominance of strong cultural norms against personal autonomy and low level of tolerance for deviant behavior; the “looseness” culture, on the contrary, has a latitude social structure accepting individual autonomy and high tolerance to the different forms of behavior.
The data of 33 countries (N = 6823) gathered by the researchers gave information about the status of “tightness” of cultures, and also examined the attitude to the nonstandard behaviour in everyday situations.
According to the research, the most "tight" culture is Pakistan, and the most "open" is Ukraine. Tendency toward rigidity of social norms and intolerance to the non-standard behavior is more common for women, the elderly and persons with no secondary education, rather than for men, younger people and persons with secondary or higher education. The most undesirable place to exhibit an abnormal behavior considered a job interview, and most of the respondents considered their own living room as the most desirable place to manifestation of a nonstandard behavior.
Alexander Stefanov
Trainee Researcher