

62 | Michele Gelfand on Tight and Loose Societies and People
Sep 2, 2019
Michele Gelfand, a cultural psychologist at the University of Maryland, discusses her groundbreaking research on 'tight' and 'loose' societies. She explains how these cultural dimensions affect social norms and behaviors, using examples from around the world, like Singapore and Alabama. Gelfand delves into how urban versus rural settings influence these cultural traits and their psychological implications on creativity and risk-taking. She also highlights the importance of balancing structure and freedom in organizations and explores the challenges of navigating gender norms across cultures.
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Cultural Codes
- Cultural variations are driven by deeper codes beyond superficial characteristics.
- Understanding these codes allows us to understand both modern and ancient cultures.
Tight vs. Loose Cultures
- Cultures vary in their adherence to social norms, categorized as tight or loose.
- This affects orderliness, tolerance, creativity, and how people interact.
Tightness vs. Other Dimensions
- Tightness-looseness is distinct from other cultural dimensions like individualism-collectivism.
- Tightness is correlated with collectivism but there are exceptions, like Germany, and vice versa, like Brazil.