A society’s relational mobility explains cross-cultural differences in trust, well-being, and self-disclosure

Evidence

Relational mobility, defined as the amount of opportunities people in a given society or social context have to select interactional partners or groups when necessary (Yuki et al., 2007), as well as other factors that may be closely tied to relational mobility, has proven useful in explaining various North American and East Asian differences, such as those in the level of trust in strangers (Yamagishi & Yamagishi, 1994), determinants of subjective well-being (Sato, Yuki, Takemura, Schug, & Oishi, 2008), self-enhancement (Falk, Heine, Takemura, & Yuki, 2009), pursuit of uniqueness (Yamagishi, Hashimoto, & Schug, 2008), and self-disclosure (Schug, Yuki, & Maddux, 2010). — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1642

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines relational mobility as the opportunity to select interactional partners or groups, and lists the cultural differences it predicts.
• XREF: connects to: Social trust and civic engagement co-vary across societies as one underlying factor. — Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: America’s Declining…, 59; Social connectedness affects health as strongly as smoking, obesity, and hypertension do — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 1129