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3 - The continuing challenge of discovering psychological ‘order’ across cultures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
Walter J. Lonner
Edited by
Fons J. R. van de Vijver ,
Athanasios Chasiotis  and
Seger M. Breugelmans
Walter J. Lonner
Affiliation:
Western Washington University, USA
Fons J. R. van de Vijver
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Tilburg, The Netherlands
Athanasios Chasiotis
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Tilburg, The Netherlands
Seger M. Breugelmans
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Tilburg, The Netherlands
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Summary

It is the function of science to discover the existence of a general reign of order in nature and to find the causes governing this order.

Dmitri Mendeleyev (1834–1907)

There are two types of people: Those who sort people into categories and those who don't.

Anon.

The first of the above quotes is by one of the most famous and esteemed scientists in history and could well be adopted as a slogan for much of psychology. The second may be as true as it is humorous. It seems to have been Mendeleyev's fate to discover a ‘reign of order’, which he did with his development of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements. The famous chemist's mission seems especially relevant for cross-cultural psychologists. One could argue that a major reason why cross-cultural, or culture-comparative, psychology exists is to find a semblance of order among the panoply of constructs, ideas and perspectives – something akin to discovering a Rosetta Stone (or Stones) – that could help guide cross-cultural psychologists as they ply their trade in this important perspective of psychological science. This is especially true in the area of personality and social psychology, where the measurement of individual differences, or variations in ‘person variables’, prevail (Mischel, 1977).

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Fundamental Questions in Cross-Cultural Psychology , pp. 64 - 94
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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