Thomson, Robert, Yuki, Masaki, Talhelm, Thomas, Schug, Joanna, Kito, Mie, Ayanian, Arin H, Becker, Julia C, Becker, Maja, Chiu, Chi-yue, Choi, Hoon-Seok, Ferreira, Carolina M, Fülöp, Marta, Gul, Pelin, Houghton-Illera, Ana Maria, Joasoo, Mihkel, Jong, Jonathan, Kavanagh, Christopher M, Khutkyy, Dmytro, Manzi, Claudia, Marcinkowska, Urszula M, Milfont, Taciano L, Neto, Félix, von Oertzen, Timo, Pliskin, Ruthie, San Martin, Alvaro, Singh, Purnima and Visserman, Mariko L (2018) Relational mobility predicts social behaviors in 39 countries and is tied to historical farming and threat. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115 (29). pp. 7521-7526. ISSN 0027-8424

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Abstract

Biologists and social scientists have long tried to understand why some societies have more fluid and open interpersonal relationships—differences in relational mobility—and how those differences influence individual behaviors. We measure relational mobility in 39 societies and find that relationships are more stable and hard to form in east Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East, while they are more fluid in the West and Latin America. Results show that relationally mobile cultures tend to have higher interpersonal trust and intimacy. Exploring potential causes, we find greater environmental threats (like disease and warfare) and sedentary farming are associated with lower relational mobility. Our society-level index of relational mobility for 39 societies is a resource for future studies.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Psychology > Psychology
SWORD Depositor:	Mx Elements Account
Depositing User:	Mx Elements Account
Date Deposited:	03 Jan 2023 13:16
Last Modified:	03 Jan 2023 13:30
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/109711

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