Cross-cultural research

Cross-Cultural Research

I am involved in various projects exploring wellbeing from a cross-cultural perspective. The background to this endeavour is the now well-established critique that wellbeing research – and indeed psychology more broadly – has been largely Western-centric, mostly conducted by and on people from places influentially labelled as “WEIRD” (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic). Encouragingly though, scholars are now more widely acknowledging the importance of not just focusing on proto-typically WEIRD places, such as the USA, and instead the field being more cross-cultural and global in its outlook.

One is the Global Wellbeing Initiative, a partnership between Gallup and Wellbeing for Planet Earth (a Japanese research and policy foundation). This project has focused on developing new items for the Gallup World Poll (GWP) that reflect perspectives on wellbeing which are particularly associated with non-Western cultures. The first iteration of the module was included in the 2020 GWP, and by the 2022 GWP a finalized iteration had been developed, focusing specifically on balance and harmony, as well as low arousal positive emotions (e.g., peace and calmness).

A second project is the Global Flourishing Study, is a longitudinal research study being carried out in collaboration between scholars at the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard and Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion, and in partnership with Gallup and the Center for Open Science. The study will involve data collection for approximately 240,000 participants, from 22 geographically and culturally diverse countries, with nationally representative samples within each country, and with annual data collection on the same panel of individuals for five waves of data. The survey includes a rich set of questions on well-being along with demographic, social, economic, political, religious, personality, childhood, community, health and character-based questions.

Lomas, T., Diego-Rosell, P., Shiba, K., Standridge, P., Lee, M. T., Case, B., Lai, A. Y., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2023). Complexifying individualism versus collectivism and West versus East: Exploring global diversity in perspectives on self and other in the Gallup World Poll. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 54(1), 61-89.

A wealth of research has suggested the West tends toward individualism and the East toward collectivism. We explored this topic on an unprecedented scale through two new items in the 2020 Gallup World Poll, involving 121,207 participants in 116 countries. The first tapped into orientations toward self-care versus other-care (“Do you think people should focus more on taking care of themselves or on taking care of others?”). The second enquired into self-orientation versus other-orientation (“Which of the following is closest to your main purpose in life? Being good at what you do in your daily life, Caring for family and close friends, or Helping other people who need help?”). We anticipated that self-care and self-orientation would index individualism (hence be higher in the West), while other-care and other-orientation would index collectivism (hence be higher in the East). However, contrary to expectation, there was greater self-care in the East (45.82%) than in the West (41.58%). As predicted though, there was greater self-orientation in the West (30.20%) than in the East (23.08.%). Greater self-care in the East invites one of two interpretations. Either these items: (a) index individualism and collectivism as anticipated, so in some ways the East is more individualistic and the West less individualistic than assumed; or (b) do not index individualism and collectivism as anticipated, so the concepts are more complex than often realized (e.g., collectivism may involve prioritizing self-care over other-care). Either way, the findings help complexify these concepts, challenging common cross-cultural generalizations in this area.

Lomas, T., Ishikawa, Y., Diego-Rosell, P., Daly, J., English, C., Harter, J., … Lai, A. Y. (2022). Balance and harmony in the Gallup World Poll: The development of the Global Wellbeing Initiative module. International Journal of Wellbeing, 12(4), 1-19.

Over recent decades, scholarship on wellbeing has flourished. However, this has been critiqued as Western-centric, firstly in terms of the location of research participants and scholars, and moreover in terms of the very ideas and values through which wellbeing is understood. In response to such issues, the Global Wellbeing Initiative-a partnership between Gallup and the Wellbeing for Planet Earth foundation-was created to look at wellbeing from a more global perspective. The centrepiece of this initiative is a survey module in the Gallup World Poll. This paper charts the evolution of this module to date, from its initial incarnation in the 2020 poll (featuring items on various aspects of wellbeing) to a finalized 2022 iteration (which focuses specifically on balance and harmony). With the 2022 version now intended to stay consistent longitudinally, this paper establishes a valuable baseline for this important project which will contribute to a more inclusive and comprehensive understanding of wellbeing.

Lambert, L., Lomas, T., van de Weijer, M. P., Passmore, H. A., Joshanloo, M., Harter, J., Ishikawa, Y., Lai, A., Kitagawa, T., Chen, D., Kawakami, T., Miyata, H., & Diener, E. (2020). Towards a greater global understanding of wellbeing: A proposal for a more inclusive measure. International Journal of Wellbeing, 10(2), 1-18. doi:10.5502/ijw.v10i2.1037

The science of wellbeing has come a long way from the early days of measuring wellbeing via a nation’s GDP, and wellbeing measures and concepts continue to proliferate to capture its various elements. Yet, much of this activity has reflected concepts from Western cultures, despite the emphasis placed on wellbeing in all corners of the globe. To meet the challenges and opportunities arising from cross-disciplinary research worldwide, the Well-Being for Planet Earth Foundation and the Gallup World Poll have joined forces to add more culturallyrelevant constructs and questions to existing Gallup modules. In this white paper, we review the discussion from the international well-being summit in Kyoto, Japan (August 2019), where nine such additions were proposed and highlight why a more global view of wellbeing is needed. Overall, the new items reflect a richer view of wellbeing than life satisfaction alone and include hedonic and eudaimonic facets of wellbeing, social wellbeing, the role of culture, community, nature, and governance. These additions allow for the measurement of a broader conceptualization of wellbeing, more refined and nuanced cross-cultural comparisons, and facilitate a better examination of the causes of variation in global wellbeing. The new Gallup World Poll additions will be trialled in 2020, with additional inclusions from this summit to be made in 2021.

Okuzono, S. S., Shiba, K., Kim, E. S., Shirai, K., Kondo, N., Fujiwara, T., Kondo, K., Lomas, T., Trudel-Fitzgerald, C., Kawachi, I., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2022). Ikigai and subsequent health and wellbeing among Japanese older adults: Longitudinal outcome-wide analysis. The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific, 21, 100391.

Background: Having a purpose in life has been linked to improved health and wellbeing; however, it remains unknown whether having "Ikigai"-a related but broader concept in Japan-is also beneficial for various physical and psychosocial outcomes. Methods: Using data from a nationwide longitudinal study of Japanese older adults aged ≥65 years, we examined the associations between having Ikigai in 2013 and a wide range of subsequent outcomes assessed in 2016 across two databases (n = 6,441 and n = 8,041), including dimensions of physical health, health behavior, psychological distress, social wellbeing, subjective wellbeing, and pro-social/altruistic behaviors. We adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics and the outcome values (whenever data were available) in the prior wave (2010). Findings: Having Ikigai (vs. not having Ikigai) was associated with a 31% lower risk of developing functional disability [95% confidence interval (CI) for risk ratio: 0.58, 0.82] and 36% lower risk of developing dementia [95% CI for risk ratio: 0.48, 0.86] during the three-year follow-up. Having Ikigai was associated with decreased depressive symptoms and hopelessness as well as higher happiness, life satisfaction, instrumental activity of daily living, and certain social outcomes (e.g., more frequent participation in hobby clubs). Some of these associations were stronger for men than women, and among individuals with high socioeconomic status (p-values for effect measure modification < 001). Interpretation: Having Ikigai may promote health and wellbeing outcomes among Japanese older adults, but particularly men and individuals with high socioeconomic status.

Shiba, K., Cowden, R. G., Gonzalez, N., Lee, M. T., Lomas, T., Lai, A. Y., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2022). Global Trends of Mean and Inequality in Multidimensional Wellbeing: Analysis of 1.2 Million Individuals From 162 Countries, 2009–2019. Frontiers in Public Health, 10.

Introduction: Human flourishing is a multidimensional concept characterized by a state of complete wellbeing. However, much of the prior research on wellbeing has principally focused on population averages assessed using a single item of wellbeing. This study examined trends in population averages and inequalities for a multidimensional index of wellbeing and compared emergent patterns with those found for Cantril's ladder, a measure of life satisfaction commonly used as a unidimensional index of wellbeing. Methods: Data were from the Gallup World Poll from the years 2009 to 2019, a repeated cross-sectional survey of nationally representative samples comprising ~1.2 million individuals from 162 countries. We assessed five domains of flourishing: (1) happiness, (2) health, (3) purpose, (4) character, and (5) social relationships. We used the Gini Index to estimate inequalities in wellbeing within populations. We examined and compared country ranking, global and region-specific trajectories of mean and inequality, and relationships with age for flourishing and Cantril's ladder. Results: Although all trends were highly correlated across the two metrics of wellbeing, we identified distinct patterns in flourishing concerning geography, time, and age relationships that were not observed for Cantril's ladder. Temporal trends and age relationships were different across domains of flourishing. Evidence of changing inequalities in wellbeing was also found, even when population averages were high or stable over time. Conclusion: Comprehensive measures of wellbeing are needed to capture the complex and changing patterns of wellbeing both within and across populations.

Lambert, L., Lomas, T., van de Weijer, M. P., Passmore, H. A., Joshanloo, M., Harter, J., Ishikawa, Y., Lai, A., Kitagawa, T., Chen, D., Kawakami, T., Miyata, H., & Diener, E. (2020). Towards a greater global understanding of wellbeing: A proposal for a more inclusive measure. International Journal of Wellbeing, 10(2), 1-18. doi:10.5502/ijw.v10i2.1037

The science of wellbeing has come a long way from the early days of measuring wellbeing via a nation’s GDP, and wellbeing measures and concepts continue to proliferate to capture its various elements. Yet, much of this activity has reflected concepts from Western cultures, despite the emphasis placed on wellbeing in all corners of the globe. To meet the challenges and opportunities arising from cross-disciplinary research worldwide, the Well-Being for Planet Earth Foundation and the Gallup World Poll have joined forces to add more culturallyrelevant constructs and questions to existing Gallup modules. In this white paper, we review the discussion from the international well-being summit in Kyoto, Japan (August 2019), where nine such additions were proposed and highlight why a more global view of wellbeing is needed. Overall, the new items reflect a richer view of wellbeing than life satisfaction alone and include hedonic and eudaimonic facets of wellbeing, social wellbeing, the role of culture, community, nature, and governance. These additions allow for the measurement of a broader conceptualization of wellbeing, more refined and nuanced cross-cultural comparisons, and facilitate a better examination of the causes of variation in global wellbeing. The new Gallup World Poll additions will be trialled in 2020, with additional inclusions from this summit to be made in 2021.

Merino, D., Velázquez, M., & Lomas, T. (2019). An exploration of the Spanish cultural term rasmia: A combination of eagerness, strength, activeness, courage, tenacity and gracefulness. Journal of Happiness Studies. doi: 10.1007/s10902-019-00104-y

Since much of the empirical work within Positive Psychology has taken place in English-speaking Western countries, there is concern that the resulting concepts and theories of well-being reflect a bias towards Western (and more specifically English influenced) ways of thinking. However, efforts are underway in the field to enhance its intercultural sensitivity, including in relation to studying cross-cultural diversity in emotional experience and understanding. In that respect, the current article focuses on the notion of rasmia, a Spanish term denoting drive and tenacity in achieving a goal. The research aims to explore the beliefs and conceptions that Spanish people have regarding rasmia. An on-line survey of Spanish residents revealed that rasmia was defined as incorporating eagerness, strength, activeness, courage, tenacity and gracefulness. A second study, conducted in order to determine the degree of agreement with this definition, showed an 80% of agreement. The results highlight the value of engaging with non-English concepts like rasmia.