The effects of social change on the stability and malleability of the self-concept-from the viewpoint of cross-cultural comparison between eastern Europe and Japan

2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 15530414
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Social psychology
• Research Institution: Koshien University
• Principal Investigator: KANAGAWA Chie Koshien University, Department of Psychology, Professor (70194884)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SAKATA Kiriko Hiroshima University, Department of General Sciences, Associate Professor (00235152) ; DUTKA Malgorzata Koshien University, Department of Psychology, Assistant (10309411)
• Project Period (FY): 2003 – 2005
• Keywords: social changes / self-concept / stability of the self-concept / malleability of the self-concept / gender identity / Eastern European countries / self-efficacy / social intelligence

Research Abstract

This study aims at investigating the effects of the social changes on both the stability and the malleability of the self-concepts. For this purpose, we focused on Eastern European countries, mainly Poland where such drastic social changes as from the socialistic economies to capitalism did take place. Our research went on as follows :
(1) We established the psychological measure for the effects of social change. (2) In 2004, the relationship between the flexibility of the self-concept and the coping towards the stress derived from the social changes was examined. As a result, it turned out that the higher flexibility of the self-concept was significantly related to the higher scores of the adaptive indices' such as mental health and self-esteem. Furthermore, these relationships were observed both in the Polish and the Japanese samples. (3) In 2005, for the purpose of the standardization of the findings in 2004, we investigated the meditative function of the social intelligence on the relationship above mentioned. Our hypothesis was demonstrated that the high social intelligence facilitated the adaptive function of the flexibility of the self-concept toward the social changes.
Taking the results we've got into account, it might be said that the people with higher flexibility of the self-concept, i.e., those who have both the stability and malleability of the self-concept might be more likely to adapt themselves to the new environments generated by the social change.