Person Description in India, Britain, and Bulgaria

This study concerns person description in India, Britain, and Bulgaria. It was anticipated that in an individualist country such as Britain, person description would be more abstract and decontextualized than it is in more collectivist societies such as India and Bulgaria. College student subjects in each of the three countries were asked to provide written descriptions of themselves and of two other targets. The results showed that the most abstract and decontextualized descriptions were provided by the Bulgarians. Differences between the British and the Indians were confined to references to people. Differences between targets were consistent with the hypothesis that these vary as a function of familiarity. It is suggested that the notion of an abstract individual, a central idea of individualism, may also be consistent with certain forms of totalitarianism. The discussion also emphasizes the importance of considering the respondents' communicative flexibility in describing themselves and other people.

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