Междукултурни различия в социалното възприятие
Cross-Cultural Differences in Social Perception

Summary/Abstract: The article concerns the conception of individualism and collectivism in psychology as well as the results from a study of person perception in India, Britain and Bulgaria. It was anticipated that in an individualistic country, like Britain personality will be perceived in more abstract and decontextualized terms than in more collectivist societies like India and Bulgaria. College student subjects in each of the three countries were asked to provide written descriptions of themselves and of two other targets. The results showed that the most abstract and decontextualized descriptions were provided by the Bulgarians. Differences between the British and the Indians were confined to references to people. Differences between targets were consistent with the hypothesis that these vary as a function of familiarity. It is suggested that the notion of an abstract individual, central idea of individualism, may also be consistent with certain forms of totalitarianism. The discussion also emphasizes the importance of considering the respondent's communicative flexibility in describing themselves and other people.

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