Prototypical Behaviour Patterns of Social Intelligence: An Intercultural Comparison between Chinese and German Subjects
Title:
Prototypical Behaviour Patterns of Social Intelligence: An Intercultural Comparison between Chinese and German Subjects
Author:
Amelang, Elke Willmann Kimberly Feldt Manfred
Appeared in:
International journal of psychology
Paging:
Volume 32 (1997) nr. 5 pages 329-346
Year:
1997-10-01
Contents:
By using the Act Frequency Approach (Buss & Craik, 1980), Chinese subjects ( N = 31) generated a list of acts (specific behaviours) considered to represent social intelligence. These acts were rated by Chinese subjects ( N =39) and German subjects ( N =29) for prototypicality. A comparisonof results showed that the construct of social intelligence is culture dependent. For the Chinese, social intelligent behaviours seem to reflect the classical traditions and ideals of Confucianism. Acts that received the highest scores were those that described conforming to and fulfilling expectedroles, andacts in which the wellbeing of the entire society was described as being more important that the desires of an individual. This was especially true for older subjects and for women. Items controlling for socially desirable behaviour and social engagement showed clear differences between the two cultures; as expected, the German subjects rated these items lower, whereas the Chinese subjects found both items to be high prototypical of social intelligence. Des sujets chinois ( N = 31) ont produit-a l'aide de l'''Act Frequency Approach'' de Buss et Craik (1980)-une liste d'actes (comportements specifiques) senses representer l'intelligence sociale. Ces actes ont ete juges comme prototypiques par des sujets chinois ( N = 39) et des sujets allemands ( N = 29). Encomparant les resultats, nous constatons que la notion d'intelligence sociale est une construction culturelle. Pour les Chinois, les comportements de l'intelligence sociale semblent faire reference aux traditions classiques et aux ideaux du Confucianisme. Ainsi, les actes avec les scores les plus eleves sont ceux qui decrivent l'adaptation et la realisation des roles attendus ainsi que les actes dans lesquels le bien-etre de la societe entiere est plus important que les desires individuels. Ceci s'est verifie tout specialement pour les sujets ages et les sujets feminins. Les differences entre les deux cultures sont clairement demontrees par les items controlant les comportements socialement desirables et l'engagement social; les sujets allemands ont evalue-comme attendu-plus faiblement ces items, tandis que les sujets chinois les ont estimes comme fortement prototypiques de l'intelligence sociale.
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