Idiocentrism

Johanna Nilsson & Ashley Heintzelman

The word idio means own, personal, private, peculiar, and distinct. The word centrism refers to adopting the middle position between two extreme viewpoints. The combination of these words, idiocentrism , should be used when measuring individual-level orientations reflecting individualistic cultures. Individualistic cultures are common in countries in North America and Western and Northern Europe, and the term individualism represents general attributes of such cultures. Individualistic cultures often are described in contrast to collectivistic cultures, which are more common in Asia and Africa. The term allocentrism should be used when measuring individual-level orientation in collectivistic cultures. Separating the terms idiocentrism from individualism , and allocentrism from collectivism , helps eliminate confusion concerning across-versus within-culture analyses. However, the term individualism continues to be used as a substitute for idiocentrism in the literature. Idiocentrism is reflected in attitudes, beliefs, norms, roles, and values. Several personality characteristics, such as competition, emotional distance from ingroups, ...

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