To go a level deeper than the surface of just labeling the culture of Asian countries as collectivistic, and Western countries as individualistic, I tried to dive deeper into the effects of such labels, and find the source. Observed from an experiment by Ryan and Deci, these labels largely touch on the issue of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (2000).One of the most fundamental principles of extrinsic motivation, like operant conditioning, is to give a reward each time a desired behaviour occurs to increase the frequency of that behaviour. Say for example you announced to an entire state, for any child that read a book, the child would receive a coupon for a free pizza. There is no doubt that rewards are powerful motivators and that pizzas will get kids to read more. However, the effects of the rewards not only stop there, but also affect the children’s thoughts about themselves, their self-concept, and their motivation to read in the future. Does getting money for reading, for example, change people’s ideas about why they are reading? The danger of reward programs such as this example is that kids will begin to think they are reading to earn the pizzas, and not because they find reading to be an enjoyable activity in its own right. When the reward programs end and pizzas are no longer forthcoming, children may actually read less than they did before. This is especially likely to happen to children who already liked to read. Such children have high intrinsic motivation, which is the desire to engage in an activity because they enjoy it or find it interesting, and not because of external rewards or pressures.
What happens when the children start getting rewards for reading? Their reading, originally stemming from intrinsic motivation, is now also spurred by extrinsic motivation, the desire to engage in an activity because of the external rewards or pressures, not because you enjoy the task or find it interesting. According to self-perception theory, rewards can hurt intrinsic motivation. Initially, many children read because they enjoyed it, but now they are only reading so that they will get the reward. This unfortunate outcome occurs when intrinsic motivation is replaced with extrinsic motivation; it makes people lose interest in the activity they initially enjoyed. This result is called the over-justification effect, which results when people view their behaviour as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, making them underestimate the extent to which their behavior was caused by intrinsic reasons.
This speaks volumes to Singaporean culture today. We often look at western kids and wonder why are they so outspoken. Or perhaps wonder why the opinion of family and friends matter so much to us, to the extent that sometimes a person's perspective can make us alter our decision altogether. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying individualism is clearly superior to our culture. They have problems of their own.
However, to find the sweet spot on the middle of the spectrum, we have to identify, what is the root of the problem? Is it really the culture that we have been shaped by, or our unwillingness to explore and find our identiy in something other than the impressions and expectations our community have for us?
3 comments:
If i were a child who likes reading and you are rewarding me pizzas for doing it, i would find it convenient, getting rewarded even while entertaining myself. Also, if i were the child who started reading because of pizzas, i may learn that reading a book is interesting and turning it into a hobby.
Okay, simple things aside. For us, i feel that we dont have enough courage to venture and search for our true self.
Our culture shapes who we are, and affects our interactions and midnsets later on. Therefore, it's not our fault if we are shaped by what is around us initially. However, we are to blame if we do not do anything to try and break out of our collective culture (should we yearn to). Perhaps people, aside from being too cowardly to take such a bold step forward, might actually be content with their society's nature. Then who is to say which culture (individualistic or collective) is better?
In my opinion, concerning the pizza case, it could go either way. I feel it really depends on the person. One person may lose sight of his real reason to read while another may not.
Therefore, it is hard to determine the consequences of study rewards like bursaries and scholarships. Personally, I feel something is not right about them. I have friends trying to achieve their scholarships because of the monetary rewards and not because they see the value in education.
When it comes to individualistic or collectivist culture, it is impossible to determine which is superior as you have pointed out. The important thing is that we do NOT see our culture as being superior to another. That would only lead to a whole host of other problems!
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