The influence

of globalization 
on individual
behavior
HL extension topic for
the Sociocultural Approach
 • We often hear that we live in a globalized world. 
But what does this mean? 
Define • Take a minute to write down a working
globalization definition.
 • The movement toward a unifying, global culture and set
Defining of values based on individualism, free market economics
and democracy.
globalization • Values include freedom of choice, individual rights,
openness to change and tolerance of differences. 
Other useful definitions

• “Globalization is the process of interaction and integration among people,

companies, and governments worldwide.” Wikipedia
• “Globalization is the word used to describe the growing interdependence of the
world's economies, cultures, and populations, brought about by cross-border trade in
goods and services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and information.”
Peterson Institute
• Globalization is “a process by which cultures influence one another and become more
alike through trade, immigration, and the exchange of information and ideas.”
(Arnett, 2002)
 • Local culture is the culture that a person is
Local vs. enculturated into.  For example, most of you were born
and raised in the Chinese/Macanese culture.
Global Culture • The global culture is the culture of trade, diplomacy and
the Internet. You are acculturated into the global culture.
Acculturation vs.
Globalization
• Acculturation: when we adapt to
a different local culture.
• Globalization: a type of
acculturation process, in
which the values of most cultures
around the world are adopting
the cultural values of today's
"modern high-tech society".
Aspects of globalization

• What is happening in our world that has led to the

creation of this type of culture?

Brainstorm four factors that have led to globalization.

Aspects of globalization
• Increased travel
• Transnational companies with labor
standards 
• International marketing and access to
goods
• Flow of information - Internet
The effects of
globalization

• What are some of the changes we

have seen in behavior around the
world as a result of globalization?
Effects of globalization
• Gender roles
• Attitudes toward marriage and sexuality
• Rise in secularism
• Attitudes toward privacy
• Increased consumerism
• Change in diet – the West now eats sushi! The East
now eats beef and cheese!
Effects of globalization
• The influence of global culture may have a negative
effect on the formation of identity in non-
Western youth.
• Global culture may undermine local culture for
young people
• It may directly contradict traditional values
• Traditional worldviews may seem irrelevant
• E.g., decline in collectivism amongst young
people in Japan and China.
Link with Social Identity Theory
• Humans instinctively identify themselves with in-
groups, which leads to the drawing of boundaries
between groups, defensiveness, prejudice and
discriminatory practices.
• Is it possible that acculturation between local and
global cultures could lead to a global social
identity (GSI) where individuals identify with an in-
group that comprises all humanity? 
Bi-cultural identity
• Young people are likely to develop and integrate a global identity alongside
their local identity.
• Youth is a time when identity is forming
• Sense of belonging to a worldwide community
• Awareness of events, practices, styles and information that are part of the global culture
• Communicate with people around the world
• Direct access to information about every part of the world
• Internet and digital technology
• Local identity is maintained
• daily interaction with family and the community
• Pastimes in the local environment
• Traditions and customs
• E.g., arranged marriage
Effects of
globalization
• Identity confusion: Difficulty
to integrate oneself into a
single “identity” as one tries to
determine one’s values and
place in society.  
Effects of
globalization
• Delocalization: when one has
a strong global identity but
fails to identify with their local
culture. 
• E.g., a strong international
school identity but resenting
or not identifying with one’s
own culture. 
 Effects of globalization

Delocalization may result in feelings of alienation because of the lack of a clear

cultural identity. 

They may feel that they lack clear guidelines for behavior and feel that they do
not belong anywhere.
Some young people may have trouble finding meaning in the worldview that is
the basis of the global culture, with its values of individualism and
consumerism.
• This new worldview may contradict their cultural traditions.
• Marginalization is likely and there is an increased risk of depression, suicide and substance use.
Self-selected identity
• In order to escape the identity confusion, some individuals choose to dissent
from global culture and join a self-selected culture.
• This is usually because they disagree with the perceived values of globalization.
• May be religious
• May be interest-based, e.g., music genres
• May be organized protests explicitly against aspects of globalization
• Ethnic, national and religious identities can become more salient in response to
the homogenizing force of globalization.
• Ironically, all these groups may rely on aspects of globalization for organization.
Self-selected identity
Fundamentalist religious groups
• Provides structure and meaning
• Oppose secularism
• Oppose the idea of globalization
•  Marty & Appleby (1993) argue that the common
characteristics of fundamentalist religious groups are: a strict
code of conduct, a belief that their traditional religious
beliefs are superior to modern values, a sense of being
under attack by the modern world, and a belief in the
hierarchy of authority.
• Kaufman (1991) carried out a case study of US women who
grew up in secular Jewish homes but converted to Orthodox
Judaism in their teens or early twenties. The participants felt
that orthodox Judaism offered them a “definite place in the
world” and that tradition and clear guidance for how to live
their lives were comforting. 
Norasakkunkit & Uchida
(2014)
• Hikikomori is a culture-bound syndrome found primarily in
Japan where young Japanese may lock themselves in their
rooms and refuse to come out for years at a time.  
• The disorder, also known as “social isolation syndrome,” has
three key characteristics:
1. No motivation to participate in school or work; 
2. Persistent social withdrawal for at least six months; 
3. No signs of other psychological disorders. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imR1-CaSxZE&
ab_channel=NBCNews
 • It is estimated that hikikomori affects 1.2
million young people in Japan, ages 15 – 34. 
• The goal of young people with hikikomori is
Norasakkunkit  to avoid possible social interactions with
others who may know them and judge them.
& Uchida
• Although the disorder was relatively rare in
(2014) the past, it has been rising significantly over
time – does this mean that globalization
could be playing a role in the rise of the
disorder?
 • The study uses an analogous approach - that is, the
Norasakkunkit & Uchid participants do not actually suffer from hikikomori, but
a (2014) they have several of the risk factors that are associated
Procedure with the disorder. 
• 195 Japanese university students. 
Norasakkunkit & Uchida (2014)
Procedure
• The participants were given a standardized test to see whether they were at high
risk or low risk for hikikomori. 
• The researchers then gave the participants a test to measure their attitudes
about social harmony and social conformity.  
 perception of their current self, their ideal self, and general Japanese society. 
• They also were asked to take a test to measure their sense of local identity (high
on social harmony and collectivism) and global identity (high on individualism
and achievement).
Norasakkunkit & Uchida (2014)
Results

• Participants with high-risk for hikikomori ranked social harmony values much
lower than the low-risk participants.
• High-risk participants also scored lower than low-risk students on both local
identity and global identity.
• It appears that the local culture may alienate many Japanese youths who may
then decide not to conform to the cultural norms, but do not identify with or
know how to access the globalized culture, and so they withdraw from society.
Ogihara & Uchida
(2014)
• Aim:  to investigate the effect that working in
an individualistic workplace would have on the
subjective wellbeing of Japanese women. 
• Participants: 34 adult Japanese women who
worked for a large insurance company in Japan
where performance and achievement-oriented
goals were posted on the walls of the offices. 
• Procedure: the participants answered surveys
related to individualistic and collectivistic
orientation, subjective well-being, and the
nature of their relationships.
Ogihara & Uchida (2014)
Results
• Participants who were achievement-oriented
scored lower on subjective well-being and had
fewer close friends. 
• The lower levels of well-being in the Japanese
sample may be due to the transition that Japan is
currently experiencing, where globalization is
promoting individualism in the workplace while
the local culture is maintaining traditional
collectivistic values.
Ogihara & Uchida (2014)
Evaluation
• They were unable to directly test the causal relationships between an individualistic
orientation and a decrease in the number of close friends.
• It could be that those who have fewer friends were the ones that were drawn to
working in such an environment. 
• It is difficult to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the effects of
globalization, identity, and one’s well-being.
• It could also be that people who are working in Japanese companies that have
adopted Western values experience some kind of identity confusion because they
have internalized Japanese values of collectivism during their upbringing but are now
exposed to Western ideas and values of individualism.
Becker et al. (2002)
• Television was introduced to the islands of Fiji in
1995.  Becker and her team wanted to study if the
introduction of television would lead to an
increase in eating disorders among Fijian
adolescent girls.
• Fijian culture focuses on having a large appetite; a
larger body mass is not seen as unattractive, but
rather, desirable.  
• Up until this study, there had been only one
reported case of anorexia in the islands of Fiji.
 • This was a prospective study - that is, the behaviors
of the participants were measured prior to the
introduction of television into their culture.
• The study was also a natural experiment – watching
television was a naturally occurring IV and
not manipulated by the researcher.
Becker et al. • Two samples of Fijian school girls (a total of
(2002) approximately 60 participants) were studied.  
• The first group in 1995, only a few weeks after
Method television was introduced.
• The second group was tested in 1998 - three years
later.  The study was looking at girls between the
ages of 16 and 18.
Becker et al. (2002)
Procedure
• In 1995 the girls were given the EAT-26, a standardized test to
determine eating attitudes. 
• After the completion of the survey, semi-structured interviews
were used to confirm the test results if there was evidence of
binging and/or purging behaviors.  
• Weight and height were also measured.
• The 1998 sample also took the EAT-26 test with the follow-up
interview, but they were also given
additional questions regarding the dieting practice, body image
and difference in generational values.
Becker et al. (2002)

• Notice that the EAT-26 is a Western test. It

was assumed by the researchers that this
test could be administered to determine
eating habits, despite cultural differences.  
• This is an "etic" approach to research. 
• Since all participants spoke fluent English,
the test did not need to be translated into
the local language.
Becker et al. (2002)
Results

• The researchers found that there

was a significant difference in the
EAT-26 scores of the two groups.  
• None of the girls reported
purging behaviors in 1995; by
1998 it was 11.3% of the sample. 
• However, self-reported binge-
eating did not change
significantly (7.9% and 4.6%
respectively)
Becker et al. (2002)
Results
• In 1995, dieting was rare in Fiji. 
• By 1998, 69% of the participants reported that they
had dieted to lose weight. 
• 74% felt that they were “too big or fat”. 
• 77% reported that television had made them think differently about their
body shape. ​
• 40% felt that weight loss would improve their job prospects ​
• 31% felt that their parents’ generation wanted them to consume too much
food.​
​
 Becker et al. (2002)
Results

• The interviews revealed that

participants admired television
personalities and wanted to alter their
looks to be more similar to them. 
• The interviews also revealed that
there was little awareness among the
participants that television images are
heavily edited.
Becker et al. (2002)
Evaluation
• As this was a naturalistic study, it has high ecological validity. However, the
study cannot be replicated, so the level of reliability is low.
• The data was self-reported.  This is also not a diagnosis, so we cannot say
that the girls had eating disorders. 
• The researchers cannot conclude that the group in 1998 did not
have disordered eating behaviors in 1995 as the two samples did not have
the same participants.
• It is difficult to isolate the variable of television viewing. 
• There was no logging of the number of hours watched.
Problems with studying globalization

Construct validity
How do we measure the level of globalization in a country?  In an individual?
• Operationalizing and measuring globalization is difficult. Much of the data is self-
reported. There is also an assumption that people that spend a lot of time on the
Internet, for example, are taking part in the global community - but they could be
looking only at local websites - that is, sites in Chinese that deal with Chinese cultural
issues. 
• In addition, there are too many variables that play a role in globalization - e.g., travel,
exposure to foreign media, social class, language skills - and many more. These factors
may influence the degree to which globalization may affect culture. And since
globalization is an ongoing process, a single snapshot in time is not adequate to
understand the effects of globalization, longitudinal research is necessary.
Problems with studying globalization

Ecological fallacy
• Several studies look at how globalization affects people from collectivistic
cultures. Ogihara & Uchida (2014) showed that Japanese employees for a Western
firm who were more achievement-oriented had lower subjective well-being. This
assumes that all Japanese participants share the same values. This is known as
the ecological fallacy.  
• It could very well be that a disconnection from their local culture was the reason that
they took the job with the Westernized company in the first place. This is also a
problem of bidirectional ambiguity - did low subjective well-being lead to them
pursuing a job in a Western firm or did the job itself lead to low subjective well-
being?  We can only know this through prospective research - measuring their well-
being when they start their job and then again after several months.
Problems with studying globalization

Sampling bias
• Researchers still often apply an etic approach to the
research - as seen in the study by Becker et al. 
• In addition, although non-Western samples are used,
they often are participants who are educated, from a
good socioeconomic level, and from industrialized
countries.
 Possible ERQs on Globalization
Discuss how globalization may affect behavior.

Norasakkunkit & Uchida (2014) Marginalization from both local and global cultures

Becker et al (2002) Globalization and disordered eating patterns in Fiji

Discuss the interaction of global and local cultural influences on behavior.

Norasakkunkit & Uchida (2014) Marginalization from both local and global cultures

Becker et al (2002) Globalization and disordered eating patterns in Fiji

Discuss methods used to study the influence of globalization on behavior

Norasakkunkit & Uchida (2014)  A correlational study

Becker et al (2002) A natural experiment
Research Methods in Globalization

• Identify two research methods used in the study of globalization

• Becker et al (2002) - a natural experiment
• Norasakkunkit & Uchida (2014) - a correlational study
• Evaluate the strengths and limitations of the research methods
• Discuss the extent to which we can determine the effects of globalization on
behavior
Natural experiments
• Natural experiments are characterized by the fact that the independent variable is
naturally occurring, i.e., the change between the experimental and control conditions is
brought about because of factors that are outside of the experimenters' control, e.g.,
before and after the introduction of western TV channels in Fiji.
• As changes in the independent variable are naturally occurring, the findings of natural
experiments may lack internal validity, as changes in the DV may have arisen due to
extraneous factors, i.e., other societal changes which accompanied the introduction of
Western TV were actually responsible for changes in the DV.
• As natural experiences are out of the control of the researcher, it makes it difficult to test
the reliability of the data as the experiment cannot be exactly replicated.
• As they are naturally occurring, they have high ecological validity.
Correlational studies
• Correlational studies have no manipulated variable and therefore do not seek to
establish causal relationships as is the case with experimental studies; they have two or
more measured variables known as co-variables which are measured using quantitative
data, e.g., through some sort of rating scale.
• Correlational studies are common in areas of psychology where it may not be possible to
ethically or practically manipulate variables as part of an experiment; as there is no
attempt to establish causality, internal validity relates solely to the extent to which the
instruments used to measure the co-variables provide accurate and meaningful data.
• Correlational research is mostly cross-sectional, rather than longitudinal. This means we
only see a snapshot in time and do not see change over time.