Are Mediterranean Societies “Cultures of Honor?”: Prevalence and Implications of a Cultural Logic of Honor Across Three World Regions
Mediterranean societies are often labeled as "honor cultures," in contrast with presumed "dignity" and "face" cultures of Anglo-Western and East Asian societies. We measured these cultural logics in two large-scale surveys (Studies 1 & 3: <i>N</i> = 2,942 students from 11 societies; Study 2: <i>N</i> = 5,471 adults from 14 societies). Middle Eastern and North African groups perceived honor values as the most normative in their societies, followed by Southeast European, and then Latin-European groups (who were comparable to Anglo-Western and East-Asian groups). East-Asian and Anglo-Western groups, respectively, perceived face and dignity values as most normative. Culture-level variation in perceived normative honor values, but not personal values, accounted for previously reported differences between Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean samples in several (but not all) measures of social cognitive tendencies. We conclude that a cultural logic of honor plays a role in Mediterranean societies, but labeling these societies as "honor cultures" is oversimplistic.
Authors
- Manuel Teresi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1103-7621)
- Alexander Kirchner‐Häusler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2406-7635)
- Stefano Pagliaro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0573-0937)
- Vanessa A. Castillo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8034-7631)
- Evangelia Kateri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9366-9648)
- Isabella R. L. Bossom (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3035-518X)
- Susan E. Cross (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9368-4397)
- Yukiko Uchida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8336-2423)
- Jinkyung Na (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7100-9606)
- Rosa Rodríguez‐Bailón (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3489-0107)
- Zafer Özkan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7831-2491)
- Vivian L. Vignoles (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7628-6776)
- Keiko Ishii (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0581-8138)
- Charis Psaltis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8724-665X)
- Panagiota Karamaouna
- Ayşe K. Üskül (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8013-9931)
- Juan Matamoros‐Lima (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6669-8745)
- Michael J. A. Wohl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6945-5562)
- Konstantinos Kafetsios (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5933-4409)
- Rania Miniesy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9176-5989)
- Charles Harb (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3958-0092)
- Dina Rabie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4401-4028)
- Meral Gezici-Yalçın
Institutions
- University of Crete (GR)
- Sogang University (KR)
- Coe College (US)
- British University in Egypt (EG)
- University of Sussex (GB)
- Universidad de Granada (ES)
- Iowa State University (US)
- Bielefeld University (DE)
- University of Kent (GB)
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR)
- Kyoto University (JP)
- Doha Institute for Graduate Studies (QA)
- University of Cyprus (CY)
- University of Chieti-Pescara (IT)
- Crete University Press (GR)
- Nagoya University (JP)
- Ordu University (TR)
- Carleton University (CA)
- American University of Beirut (LB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Published
- 2024-12-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672241295500
- Citations
- 12
- Primary Topic
- Cultural Differences and Values
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 7.72
Funders
- H2020 European Research Council