My family and I tend to oscillate between being collectivistic and individualistic based on the circumstances given.
I say this because in the book it states that individualistic cultures tend to prioritize personal fulfillment and security. Whether I look at my mother or father, stepmother or stepfather, the answer is the same, they believe that either you work hard and prosper or you don’t and won’t. They all frequently worked 40 to 50 hour work weeks growing up and love to attribute their independence, autonomy and personal security they enjoy today on this fact. I say that we “oscillate” because we are also the sort of family that have been in business together. I was in charge of one such endeavor, and for many years I fantasized about my resignation and every time we had the conversation about it, the counter argument against my resignation was always “Think about the good you are doing in your community”, “look how many people respect you” or “think about your little sister! Don’t you think she’ll want to come to America one day? You are the support system she will need!” being the sort of individual who was heavily influenced by anime growing up (cartoons whose heroes are primarily inspired by eastern, collectivist traditions) these arguments were highly effective on me and I stayed the course and continued to subordinate myself to them for these causes. fast forward to when we all were finally living together, and this was no longer the case. It was every man for himself. It seemed to me that, fearing their independence and reputation would be tainted by the stink of poverty, they refused to go near said business long enough to have any effect. They insisted that borrowing more money and spending more time on it was the way to go. A sentiment that I feel to be completely grounded in self interest and the need to protect their own individual sensibilities. I too oscillated of course, if I did not, then I wouldn’t be here to write this, I wouldn’t be in school again, and I would have still been doing whatever I was doing.
The Textbook also says that
- The Preferred Personality value orientation concerns whether the individual feels it is “more important to “do” or to “be””.
- Dichotomous thinking is Thinking in which things are perceived as “either/or” for example, “good or bad,” “big or small,” “right or wrong.”
My family all possess a preferred personality oriented to value “doing” rather than “being” and tend to indulge in a lot of Dichotomous thinking.
I say this because growing up they were very oriented towards their work and still are, they view people with opposing preferred personality value orientations with disdain and consider them to be lazy. As I said earlier, they frequently worked 40-to-50-hour work weeks when I was growing up and consider this behavior “Good” for lack of a better term and consider anyone arguing in favor of anything else “bad”. In hindsight, the story behind the business I gave earlier are also examples of their preferred personality value orientation towards “doing” and there dichotomous thinking.
Alberts, J. K., Nakayama, T. K., & Martin, J. N. (2023). Human communication in society (6th ed.). Pearson. Chapter 8.3, “-The Textbook”
Value orientations that my family holds are Individualism and Collectivism and Short-term orientation. Individualism respects the autonomy and independence of individuals (Alberts, 2022). My parents made it any important concept for me and my siblings growing up that being independent is extremely important, because when we settle into adulthood, we wouldn’t need to depend on someone else to help us get by. For me, I enjoy when I get to be by myself for a bit and don’t have to answer to someone or get help from someone. This was a value that was installed into my mind from a young age, and I think it was important for my parents to teach me this because I don’t need anyone to okay. It taught me how to be responsible with my money and to take care of the things I have. In the same regard, my parents also made a point to teach me that having a supporting community around me is great for my mental health. Collectivism, stressing the need for a group (Alberts, 2022). At some points in my life being around groups of people was what I needed, rather than being alone. I think there is a line to be drawn for each value, meaning that it is okay to ask for help or being around a group of people, but also don’t depend on others to survive in life.
The second value would be short-term orientation which states the importance of possessing one fundamental truth (Alberts, 2022). This mainly is pertaining to religion and from as far back as I remember in my childhood, this was always a value for my family. It was something my parents believed in enough that they wanted to teach me and my siblings. Short-term orientation has definitely become not as common in society today, because there are so many ideologies that people find their truth in. Having this value for me has always benefited me, whenever I struggled mentally or was interacting with others. I have learned many valuable things about life and people through short-term orientation, like not judging others when they have different perspectives on life or finding comfort in know that my life is big than just me and there is a plan for my life.
Alberts, J, Nakayama, T, Martin, J. (2022) Human Communication in Society. (6th edition). Pearson.
To be honest, I can’t believe I didn’t consider that, having a more collectivist value orientation would also mean being more likely to ask for help and get assistance from the larger community, before reading your post. I suppose I too get stuck in the trap of thinking dichotomously, this is kind of like “Black or white” thinking. According to the textbook, it is when things are perceived as “either/or” for example, “good or bad,” “big or small,” “right or wrong.” So, I guess if individualism an independence is important and “good” then I must have internalized that asking for help is “bad”. You probably already knew that, but kudos to you for that.
Do you engage in dialectical thinking? I would imagine, as a publicist and as someone who is a communications major you probably would need to. According to the textbook, “the Dialectical approach, Recognizes that things need not be perceived as “either/or” but may be seen as “both/and.”” This can be a really handy way to think about things as it minimizes the emotional response one might have in various kinds of situations which may result in more fruitful communication practices. Well, in my opinion anyway.
Alberts, J. K., Nakayama, T. K., & Martin, J. N. (2023). Human communication in society (6th ed.). Pearson. Chapter 8.3, “-The Textbook”
