Page 173 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Self-Assessment

How Collectivistic or Individualistic Are You?

The purpose of this questionnaire is to help you assess your individualistic and collectivistic
tendencies. Respond by indicating the degree to which the values refl ected in each phrase are
important to you: Opposed to My Values (answer 1), Not Important to Me (answer 2), Somewhat
Important to Me (answer 3), Important to Me (answer 4), or Very Important to Me (answer 5).
1. Obtaining pleasure or sensuous gratification
2. Preserving the welfare of others
3. Being successful by demonstrating my individual competency
4. Restraining my behavior if it is going to harm others
5. Being independent in thought and action
6. Having safety and stability of people with whom I identify
7. Obtaining status and prestige
8. Having harmony in my relations with others
9. Having an exciting and challenging life
10. Accepting cultural and religious traditions
11. Being recognized for my individual work
12. Avoiding the violation of social norms
13. Leading a comfortable life
14. Living in a stable society
15. Being logical in my approach to work
16. Being polite to others
17. Being ambitious
18. Being self-controlled
19. Being able to choose what I do
20. Enhancing the welfare of others
To fi nd your individualism score, add your responses to the odd-numbered items. To fi nd your
collectivism score, add your responses to the even-numbered items. Both scores will range
from 10 to 50. The higher your scores, the more individualistic and/or collectivistic you are.
Source: William Gudykunst, Bridging Differences, 2nd ed. Copyright © 1994 by Sage Publications. Re-
printed by permission of Sage Publications, Inc.

a society in which social gender roles are clearly distinct: men are supposed to
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be assertive, tough, and focused on material success.” The United States ranks
relatively high on measures of masculinity, ranking 15th out of 53 countries. De-
spite traditionally being a highly masculine country, this is changing slowly, as
evidenced by female CEOs at Xerox and at eBay. Nevertheless, the majority of
CEOs in the United States continues to be male. The most feminine cultures are
found in Scandinavia and tend not to assign one set of roles to men and another
set of roles to women. In these cultures, the professional role a person assumes is
a product of ability rather than biological sex. Thus, when imagining a physician

or chief executive officer of a company, people don’t automatically see a man. In
140 imagining a nurse or secretary, they don’t automatically see a woman.