RESUMEN
The goal of the present study was to cross-validate two measures of cultural tightness and looseness, CTL: one used in a comparison within the United States, and the other used in a cross-country comparison. The former was based mainly on aggregation of state laws on controversial issues and religiosity and the latter on assessment of homogeneity in moral values among representative samples across countries. To cross-validate these two measures, both were recomputed at the US divisional level. Despite the differences in their methods of computation, the two measures of CTL correlated highly with each other, r = .92, and with theoretical variables of interest. Further, when the two measures of CTL were used simultaneously to predict theoretical variables of interest, neither remained significant suggesting that they were substitutable with each other. Convergence of results with measures computed via maximally different methods increases the confidence in the validity of these two CTL measures.
Asunto(s)
Comparación Transcultural , Humanos , ReligiónRESUMEN
What motives do people prioritize in their social lives? Historically, social psychologists, especially those adopting an evolutionary perspective, have devoted a great deal of research attention to sexual attraction and romantic-partner choice (mate seeking). Research on long-term familial bonds (mate retention and kin care) has been less thoroughly connected to relevant comparative and evolutionary work on other species, and in the case of kin care, these bonds have been less well researched. Examining varied sources of data from 27 societies around the world, we found that people generally view familial motives as primary in importance and mate-seeking motives as relatively low in importance. Compared with other groups, college students, single people, and men place relatively higher emphasis on mate seeking, but even those samples rated kin-care motives as more important. Furthermore, motives linked to long-term familial bonds are positively associated with psychological well-being, but mate-seeking motives are associated with anxiety and depression. We address theoretical and empirical reasons why there has been extensive research on mate seeking and why people prioritize goals related to long-term familial bonds over mating goals. Reallocating relatively greater research effort toward long-term familial relationships would likely yield many interesting new findings relevant to everyday people's highest social priorities.