The Effect of Acculturation on Reparative Behavior in Shame and Guilt Cultures

Abstract

As the number of immigration and their later generations grow in the workforce of more developed Western countries, understanding the processes and consequences of acculturation has gained a new level of importance. An old and re-emerging issue is the morality and reparative behavior in Western versus Eastern cultures, as well as its antecedents and consequences. We examined the effects of acculturation on the perception of psychological proximity, the intensity of moral emotions of shame and guilt, and the degree of compensation to victims of one’s wrongdoing. Our sample was comprised of a collectivistic group from a shame culture, China, and an acculturated group of Chinese living in a much less collectivistic society of a guilt culture, Canada. Our results indicated that participants’ perception of psychological proximity to other people and the level of compensation offered to the victims of transgression were significantly different among the two samples. Furthermore, shame and guilt mediated the relationship between perceived psychological proximity and the decision to compensate differently.

Keywords

acculturation / guilt / shame / psychological proximity / reparative behavior

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2014 Higher Education Press and Brill