Being oneself through time: Bases of self-continuity across 55 cultures* Article

Becker, M, Vignoles, VL, Owe, E et al. (2018). Being oneself through time: Bases of self-continuity across 55 cultures* . 17(3), 276-293. 10.1080/15298868.2017.1330222

cited authors

  • Becker, M; Vignoles, VL; Owe, E; Easterbrook, MJ; Brown, R; Smith, PB; Abuhamdeh, S; Cendales Ayala, B; Garðarsdóttir, RB; Torres, A; Camino, L; Bond, MH; Nizharadze, G; Amponsah, B; Schweiger Gallo, I; Prieto Gil, P; Lorente Clemares, R; Campara, G; Espinosa, A; Yuki, M; Zhang, X; Zhang, J; Zinkeng, M; Villamar, JA; Kusdil, E; Çağlar, S; Regalia, C; Manzi, C; Brambilla, M; Bourguignon, D; Möller, B; Fülöp, M; Macapagal, MEJ; Pyszczynski, T; Chobthamkit, P; Gausel, N; Kesebir, P; Herman, G; Courtois, M; Harb, C; Jalal, B; Tatarko, A; Aldhafri, S; Kreuzbauer, R; Koller, SH; Mekonnen, KH; Fischer, R; Milfont, TL; Des Rosiers, SE; Jaafar, JL; Martin, M; Baguma, P; Lv, S; Schwartz, SJ; Gavreliuc, A; Fritsche, I; González, R; Didier, N; Carrasco, D; Lay, S

abstract

  • Self-continuity–the sense that one’s past, present, and future are meaningfully connected–is considered a defining feature of personal identity. However, bases of self-continuity may depend on cultural beliefs about personhood. In multilevel analyses of data from 7287 adults from 55 cultural groups in 33 nations, we tested a new tripartite theoretical model of bases of self-continuity. As expected, perceptions of stability, sense of narrative, and associative links to one’s past each contributed to predicting the extent to which people derived a sense of self-continuity from different aspects of their identities. Ways of constructing self-continuity were moderated by cultural and individual differences in mutable (vs. immutable) personhood beliefs–the belief that human attributes are malleable. Individuals with lower mutability beliefs based self-continuity more on stability; members of cultures where mutability beliefs were higher based self-continuity more on narrative. Bases of self-continuity were also moderated by cultural variation in contextualized (vs. decontextualized) personhood beliefs, indicating a link to cultural individualism-collectivism. Our results illustrate the cultural flexibility of the motive for self-continuity.

publication date

  • May 4, 2018

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 276

end page

  • 293

volume

  • 17

issue

  • 3