ABSTRACT

In a study on social-psychological difference between Americans and Germans, Kurt Lewin, the late American German physiologist identified two personality types U-type and G-type as concentric circles representing life areas with the centre being the most private. The American U-type inner private' circle is far smaller than the German's. The opposite is the G-type larger private' circle, which is more evidently manifested in the Far East and Middle East. Mobility Mobile cultures such as in many parts of the US and New Zealand, where people frequently relocate across vast distances in their lifetime and emotional attachments to personal belonging become loose. Collectivism both logic and empirical data from Hofstede's and Trompenaars's research suggests that collective cultures are more diffuse than individualistic ones. Diffuse cultures tend to perceive friendships in specific cultures as shallow and superficial as they isolate their friends into one part of their life.