The Effect of Culture on Collectivistic and Individualistic Social Relationships

Abstract

This study investigated how international students from both collective and individualistic cultures change attitudes toward their ethnicity, dating and social relationships, and academics as a result of spending one semester at Texas A&M University. It was hypothesized that students from individualistic cultures would be influenced by their experiences at Texas A&M University more than students from collectivistic cultures. In particular, it was hypothesized that collectivistic students with a large social support group would be influenced less because their group would reinforce their belief system. This hypothesis was not supported by the data. Although in the Spring no significant effects were found for differences between individualistic and collective participants on the Values and Academic questions, there was a significant main effect for the Ethnic Identity questions. Kahle's Equilibrium Model of Attitude Change, which indicated that information absorbed by the international students would transform them in such a way that adaptation was possible, was also supported by several significant correlational relationships.