SOME CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE PERCEPTION OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

Cultural differences in the perception of social behaviors were studied by presentation of 120 social behaviors (e.g., to hit, to command, to obey, etc.) to three samples of respondents: Greek females, American females, American males. The respondents made Thurstone equal appearing interval scale judgments in which the 120 behaviors constituted the stimuli. The judgmental continua were defined by the words: Give Affect vs. Denies Affect; Gives Status vs. Denies Status; Intimacy vs. Formality and No Trace of Hostility vs. Maximum Hostility. (These dimensions were found to be culture common, between Americans and Greeks, in previous factor analytic work). Numerous cultural differences in the perception of social behavior were observed. They are discussed in relation to previous studies of American and Greek national character. Prepared in cooperation with Athenian Inst. of Anthropos, Athens, Greece. Sponsored in part by the DARPA.