Need for approval from others and face concerns as predictors of interpersonal conflict outcome in 29 cultural groups

Vivian Miu-Chi Lun; Peter B Smith; Lusine Grigoryan; Claudio Torres; Antonia Papastylianou; Olga G Lopukhova; Diane Sunar; Matthew J Easterbrook; Yasin Koc; Heyla A Selim; Phatthanakit Chobthamkit; Trawin Chaleeraktrakoon; Pelin Gul; Lorena Perez Floriano; Rolando Diaz-Loving; Catherine T Kwantes; Masaki Yuki; Natsuki Ogusu; Yvette van Osch; Maria Luisa Mendes Texeira; Ping Hu; Ammar Abbas; Doriana Tripodi; Siugmin Lay; Maria Efremova; Bushra Hassan; Abd Halim Ahmad; Ahmed Al-Bayati; Joel Anderson; Susan E Cross; Gisela Isabel Delfino; Vladimer Gamsakhurdia; Alin Gavreliuc; Dana Gavreliuc; Ceren Gunsoy; Paola Eunice Díaz Rivera; Anna Hakobjanyan

doi:10.1002/ijop.12895

Need for approval from others and face concerns as predictors of interpersonal conflict outcome in 29 cultural groups

Int J Psychol. 2023 Jun;58(3):258-271. doi: 10.1002/ijop.12895. Epub 2023 Jan 27.

Authors

Vivian Miu-Chi Lun¹, Peter B Smith², Lusine Grigoryan³, Claudio Torres⁴, Antonia Papastylianou⁵, Olga G Lopukhova⁶, Diane Sunar⁷, Matthew J Easterbrook², Yasin Koc⁸, Heyla A Selim⁹, Phatthanakit Chobthamkit¹⁰, Trawin Chaleeraktrakoon¹⁰, Pelin Gul⁸, Lorena Perez Floriano¹¹, Rolando Diaz-Loving¹², Catherine T Kwantes¹³, Masaki Yuki¹⁴, Natsuki Ogusu¹⁴, Yvette van Osch¹⁵, Maria Luisa Mendes Texeira¹⁶, Ping Hu¹⁷, Ammar Abbas¹⁸, Doriana Tripodi¹⁹, Siugmin Lay²⁰, Maria Efremova²¹, Bushra Hassan²², Abd Halim Ahmad²³, Ahmed Al-Bayati²⁴, Joel Anderson²⁵, Susan E Cross²⁶, Gisela Isabel Delfino²⁷, Vladimer Gamsakhurdia²⁸, Alin Gavreliuc²⁹, Dana Gavreliuc²⁹, Ceren Gunsoy³⁰, Paola Eunice Díaz Rivera¹², Anna Hakobjanyan³¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, China.
² School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
³ Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK.
⁴ Institute of Psychology, University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil.
⁵ Department of Psychology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
⁶ Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology, Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia.
⁷ Department of Psychology, Istanbul Bilgi University, Istanbul, Turkey.
⁸ Department of Social Psychology, Groningen University, Groningen, Netherlands.
⁹ Department of Psychology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ Department of Psychology, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, Thailand.
¹¹ School of Psychology, Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile.
¹² Faculty of Psychology, Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico.
¹³ Department of Psychology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada.
¹⁴ Department of Behavioral Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
¹⁵ Department of Social Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands.
¹⁶ Department of Postgraduate Business Administration, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
¹⁷ Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, P. R. China.
¹⁸ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq.
¹⁹ Private Practice, Gioia Tauro, Italy.
²⁰ Centro de Medicion MIDE UC, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
²¹ Center for Socio-Cultural Research, HSE University, Moscow, Russia.
²² Department of Psychology, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
²³ School of Government, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Malaysia.
²⁴ Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, MI, USA.
²⁵ School of Health and Behavioral Science, Australian Catholic University and Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
²⁶ Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
²⁷ Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Comillas Pontifical University, Madrid, Spain.
²⁸ Department of Psychological Anthropology, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia.
²⁹ Department of Psychology, Teacher Training Institute, West University of Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania.
³⁰ Department of Psychology, Rhode Island University, South Kingstown, RI, USA.
³¹ Department of Personality Psychology, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia.

PMID: 36707726
DOI: 10.1002/ijop.12895

Abstract

The extent to which culture moderates the effects of need for approval from others on a person's handling of interpersonal conflict was investigated. Students from 24 nations rated how they handled a recent interpersonal conflict, using measures derived from face-negotiation theory. Samples varied in the extent to which they were perceived as characterised by the cultural logics of dignity, honour, or face. It was hypothesised that the emphasis on harmony within face cultures would reduce the relevance of need for approval from others to face-negotiation concerns. Respondents rated their need for approval from others and how much they sought to preserve their own face and the face of the other party during the conflict. Need for approval was associated with concerns for both self-face and other-face. However, as predicted, the association between need for approval from others and concern for self-face was weaker where face logic was prevalent. Favourable conflict outcome was positively related to other-face and negatively related to self-face and to need for approval from others, but there were no significant interactions related to prevailing cultural logics. The results illustrate how particular face-threatening factors can moderate the distinctive face-concerns earlier found to characterise individualistic and collectivistic cultural groups.

Keywords: Cross-cultural studies; Cultural logic; Face; Interpersonal conflict; Personality; Self-construal.

MeSH terms

Conflict, Psychological
Cross-Cultural Comparison*
Humans
Individuality
Interpersonal Relations*
Negotiating

Abstract

MeSH terms

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