Bridging Psychology with Societal Development Science: Fifty Countries Research into the Relation Between "Folk Theories of Societal Development" and "Ideal Types of Well-being"
Institute of Psychology of the Polish Academy of Sciences ·Poland
About this project
<p>The aim of the proposed project is to investigate societal development processes by examining the role of psychological and cultural determinants shaping the desired directions of societal development and ideal well-being. In a large cross-cultural scheme (i.e., data collection will cover at least fifty countries), combined with experimental studies and advanced linguistic analyses of qualitative materials and artifacts, we will: (1) build models of folk theories of societal development, and ideal types of well-being, (2) investigate the consequences of fit between and individual and his or her cultural context in viewing these phenomena, (3) seek antecedents of the two main variables of our interest in macro-social and psychological variables - our particular interest will be directed towards regulatory focus (Higgins, 1997), psychological motives (Ryan & Deci, 2000), and cultural models of selfhoods (Vignoles et al., 2016). Crucially, (4) because we theorize that ideals about well-being and preferences towards societal development are interdependent, we will study how they interact with each other. Reaching the above aims will be especially relevant in international cooperation with Norway: this country repeatedly occupies top positions in various well-being rankings. We plan (5) to study the influence of historically anchored and cultural traditions on the ideas of good life in Nordic countries.</p>
Bilateral cooperation results
The project was designed as international, so that it is highly multi-cultural: both in terms of methodology and international collaboration. Thus, this apsect is a trully strong point of the project, and number of international collaboratirs is impressive. The results were published internationally and presented on international conferences.
Project partners
- Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo Donor project partner· Norway
- SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities Project partner· Poland