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The interplay between individualist and collectivist orientations, ethnic identity, and beliefs about stereotypes was explored among Asian Americans. The authors proposed four components of Asian American Identity: feelings of interdependence with family, a sense of connectedness to heritage and tradition, a belief that achievement would reflect well on one's family and group generally, and an awareness of structural barriers and racism. A sample of 162 Asian American university students perceived stereotypes about Asian Americans as focusing primarily on school achievement and secondarily on social attributes. Although rarely engaging in strategies to avoid being academically labeled, students engaged in strategies to avoid labeling in other domains. Students varied in their valuation of the model minority label, with those high in Asian American Identity, collectivism, and work ethic more likely to view the label positively.
American society is a multiethnic, multicultural society (e.g., Fowers & Richardson 1996; Gutierrez, 1992; Phinney, 1996). Yet, in the cultural psychology literature, America is often described as individualistic in orientation (e.g., Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Triandis, 1995). That is, Americans are said to focus primarily on individual traits and attributes, to view personal independence as an important value, to believe that individuals are defined primarily by their achievements, and to believe that the individual is the causal agent, not his or her circumstances (Hsu, 1983). This individualistic focus is said to interplay with another part of American culture, the work ethic (e.g., Katz & Hass, 1988; Tropman, 1988), which focuses on the value of hard work and effort as well as a belief that those who succeed by dint of hard work are morally "good" as well as successful. But whereas individualism has been described as encouraging a focus on the individual and not the group, American society clearly does take social groups into account-especially ethnic and racial groups. The current study focuses on the interplay between individualist and collectivist orientations and ethnic identity of Asian Americans, a group sometimes described as a "model minority," and explores and describes the stereotypes that Asian Americans perceive others hold of them.
Being American: Individualism and . . .
The interplay between individualism and the exclusionary cohesiveness of majority society has taken different forms over the course of America's history. Traditionally, immigrants were thought...