Tightness-looseness across India
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Psychology, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Sahakari, Sakshi S.
issued: 2024-08-06T20:41:17Z
issued: 2024
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Tightness-looseness characterizes cultural variation across and within societies through the strength and reinforcement of social norms. Although tightness-looseness has common correlates across cultures, within-country explorations in China and the US have also identified culture-specific aspects to it. The present study maps cultural tightness across a populous nation that remains largely psychologically uncharted: India. Using archival regional data for 28 states and 3 union territories, in Study 1 we construct a tightness-looseness index across India with 10 etic (culturally universal indicators, e.g., access to alcohol) and 9 emic (culturally unique indicators, e.g., caste-related laws) items (α = 0.93). In Study 2 and 3, we examine known influences (e.g., diseases prevalence) and correlates, or potential outcomes (e.g., discrimination), of cultural tightness, as well as underexplored associations such as geography (e.g., surface temperature) and culturally unique norms (e.g., arranged marriages). We tested these associations through specification curve analyses, and machine learning approaches (conditional random forests and SHAP values), with a weight of evidence approach to summarize findings across these complementary analyses. The analyses revealed multifaceted results – some aligning with, and others diverging from prior tightness literature. These findings document tightness-looseness in an overlooked geographic region and contribute to a richer understanding of the construct in diverse cultural contexts.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/88881
note: Tightness-looseness across India by Sakshi S. Sahakari B.A., University of British Columbia, 2022 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Psychology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2024 © Sakshi S. Sahakari, 2024ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: Tightness-looseness across India submitted by Sakshi S. Sahakari in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology Examining Committee: Friedrich M. Goetz, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, UBC Supervisor Mark Schaller, Professor, Department of Psychology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Jason Rights, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract Tightness-looseness characterizes cultural variation across and within societies through the strength and reinforcement of social norms. Although tightness-looseness has common correlates across cultures, within-country explorations in China and the US have also identified culture-specific aspects to it. The present study maps cultural tightness across a populous nation that remains largely psychologically uncharted: India. Using archival regional data for 28 states and 3 union territories, in Study 1 we construct a tightness-looseness index across India with 10 etic (culturally universal indicators, e.g., access to alcohol) and 9 emic (culturally unique indicators, e.g., caste-related laws) items (α = 0.93). In Study 2 and 3, we examine known influences (e.g., diseases prevalence) and correlates, or potential outcomes (e.g., discrimination), of cultural tightness, as well as underexplored associations such as geography (e.g., surface temperature) and culturally unique norms (e.g., arranged marriages). We tested these associations …
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2024-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0445000
language: eng
degree discipline: Psychology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Goetz, Friedrich M.
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88881