Sociocultural Variation in Models of Agency: Implications for Choice, Motivation, and Well-Being

这个项目考察了人类对代理的理解、体验和操作的文化差异，重点是代理的模型。世界各地的人都认为自己具有代理能力，并认为自己是在做某事的“我”，但他们体验到的事情可能会有很大不同，因为他们使用的代理模式不同。对于那些从事独立文化背景的人来说，代理通常被认为是个人化的或脱节的，主要是由于个人的愿望、目标和意图。对于那些处于相互依赖的文化背景中的人来说，代理经常被认为是联合的，这是一个人与他人接触的结果，也是意识到互惠义务和期望的结果。在这项研究中，重点是正在做某事的积极的“我”的性质。尽管代理通常被认为是自治和“自由意志”的同义词，但越来越明显的是，代理采用了特定于文化的形式。该项目围绕三个具体的假设进行组织：1.在相对独立的文化背景下，当一个人自己的利益和意图被体验和理解为这些行动的来源时，这些行动将与正常的良好结果相关联。然而，在相对相互依存的文化背景下，当相关他人的利益和意图被体验和理解为这些行动的来源时，这些行动将与正常的良好结果相关联。独立的文化背景的特点是普遍分布着促进并要求关注自己的利益和意图的脱节的代理模式，而相互依存的文化背景的特点是普遍分布着促进并需要关注对他人的期望和义务的联合代理模式。在相对独立的文化语境中，幸福感与脱节的代理感相关联，而在相对相互依存的语境中，幸福感与联合代理感相关联。这项研究解决了关于自由、责任和他人在个人行为中的角色等经典理论问题。这一结果对于文化与心理过程相互构成的基础研究，以及进一步分析心理健康与社会文化语境之间的关系具有重要意义。

This project examines cultural variation in the understandings, experience, and operation of human agency with a focus on models of agency. People everywhere regard themselves as agentic and have a sense of themselves as an "I" who is doing something, but what they experience themselves as doing can vary dramatically because they engage different models of agency. For those engaged in independent cultural contexts, agency is often experienced as individualized or disjoint, as primarily a result of one's own desires, goals, and intentions. For those in interdependent cultural contexts, agency is frequently experienced as conjoint, a consequence of the engagement of the person with others and of the awareness of reciprocal obligations and expectations. In this research, the focus is on the nature of the active "I" who is doing something. Although agency is often thought to be synonymous with autonomy and "free will", it is increasingly evident that agency assumes culture-specific forms. The project is organized around three specific hypotheses:1. In relatively independent cultural contexts, actions will be associated with normatively good outcomes when one's own interests and intentions are experienced and understood as the source of these actions. In relatively interdependent cultural contexts, however, actions will be associated with normatively good outcomes when the interests and intentions of relevant others are experienced and understood as the sources of these actions.2. Independent cultural contexts are characterized by the pervasive distribution of disjoint models of agency that promote and require a focus on one's own interests and intentions, whereas interdependent cultural contexts are characterized by the pervasive distribution of conjoint models of agency that promote and require a focus on the expectations of and obligations to others.3. In relatively independent cultural contexts well-being is associated with a sense of disjoint agency, whereas in relatively interdependent contexts well-being is associated with a sense of conjoint agency.The research addresses classic theoretical issues concerning freedom, responsibility, and the role of others in individual behavior. The results should have important implications for basic research on the mutual constitution of culture and psychological process, and for further analyzing the relationship between mental health and sociocultural context.