Page 230 - Cultures and Organizations

What Is Different Is Dangerous 203

TABLE 6.2 Key Differences Between Weak and Strong
Uncertainty-Avoidance Societies
I: General Norm and Family

WEAK UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE STRONG UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE

Uncertainty is a normal feature of The uncertainty inherent in life is
life, and each day is accepted as it a continuous threat that must be
comes. fought.
Low stress and low anxiety High stress and high anxiety
Aggression and emotions should not Aggression and emotions may at
be shown. proper times and places be vented.
In personality tests, higher scores on In personality tests, higher scores on
agreeableness neuroticism
Comfortable in ambiguous situations Acceptance of familiar risks; fear
and with unfamiliar risks of ambiguous situations and of
unfamiliar risks
Lenient rules for children on what is Tight rules for children on what is
dirty and taboo dirty and taboo
Weak superegos developed Strong superegos developed
Similar modes of address for different Different modes of address for
others different others
What is different is curious. What is different is dangerous.
Family life is relaxed. Family life is stressful.
If country is affl uent: satisfaction with If country is affl uent: worried about
family life. cost of raising children.

described her personal experiences as a patient in Britain, France, Ger-

many, and the United States. One of her examples is that low blood pres-
sure is seen as a reason for living longer (and maybe getting a lower life
insurance premium) in Britain and the United States, but it is treated as a
disorder in (higher UAI) Germany, where several drugs are on the mar-
21
ket to cure it. A comparative study of doctor-patient interactions in ten
European countries showed that doctors in uncertainty- tolerant countries
on average had more eye contact with the patient and paid more attention
to rapport building. 22