Those with an interdependent self-construal focus on connecting with people, their social groups, and building strong social ties. Mixed‐type is the communication style of people who assign the same degree of value to both independent and interdependent self‐construals (e.g., they have confidence in their opinions, but in expressing their opinions, they usually consider how the other members of the group think). Consequently, the hypothesis is as follows – Hypothesis 5: American students will show a preference for (a) independent‐type; in contrast, Japanese students in Japan will be anticipated to demonstrate a preference for (b) interdependent‐type. Independent‐type refers to a communication style based on independent self‐construals. The tendency of American students to prefer the independent‐type of communication is consistent with former theories and research. Which type of person do you most want to communicate with?The questionnaire used for this study consisted of the following five measurements: (a) SII, (b) scale of conflicts in two situations, (c) self‐efficacy scale, (d) preference for expressiveness in communication, and (e) ICSI. In the US section, items of individualistic behavior are scored in the positive direction if participants agree with that type of behavior. View of the self that emphasises a person's embeddedness in a network of social relationships and downplays their unique traits or accomplishments. Therefore, examining a wide variety of samples that cover several generations would be highly informative. The average age of these students was 23.5 years.
Those with an independent self-construal focus on maintaining uniqueness and separateness from others. This type gives priority to independent construals of the self (e.g., they usually have confidence in their opinions and express them frankly). #1.B: I express my own opinion.
One final question posed here is “How can an individual develop stable yet flexible self construals; one consistent to some extent and simultaneously adaptive to the cultural context?” Problems in conceptualizing psychological process in a way that people can incorporate independent and interdependent construal of the self as their self‐construals, or how they can balance them, will be important issues.
Next, we take a look at ways to measure and experimentally manipulate self-construal. For future research, the development of other instruments in addition to SII, which measure independent and interdependent as separate continuums, is recommended.In this study, the SII was modified by asking the participants to imagine that they were with a different group of people each time they completed the SII. Those with an independent self-construal view internal attributes, such as traits, abilities, values, and attitudes as central to their sense of self. It is interesting to note that Japanese students expressed interest in communicating with the mixed‐type, rather than with the interdependent‐type, even though the latter would seem to be the preference of the traditional Japanese communication style. The issue of communication between independent and interdependent cultures can extend from the level of intrapersonal communication to interpersonal communication to communication between nations. In this study, three communication styles in relation to independent and interdependent self‐construals are presented: (a) independent‐type, (b) interdependent‐type, and (c) mixed‐type (details of this categorization are explained in the Method section of this article). It also seeks to unveil whether people can code‐switch between independent and interdependent behaviors depending on the context. These terms, however, are often used interchangeably.