1. COLLECTIVIST VS. INDIVIDULAIST 1
Collectivist vs. Individualist in American and Chinese Middle School Children
Jess Aires
University of San Francisco

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Abstract
The way a child is brought up culturally can have an affect on how that child learns academically. This is exactly what we
aimed to study, collective and individual styles of learning from children in the United States as well as in China. In our
study, we wanted to see if Chinese middle school students would do better or worse while given an individualist task,
which was studying for a math test. We also wanted to see how middle school children in America would do when given a
collectivist math task. How we did this was had 200 participants that were from the age range of 12-13 year old, 100 from
the United States and the other 100 from China. Results showed that that Chinese middle school students out preformed
American students in both collectivistic and individualistic tasks. These findings suggest that the collectivistic up bringing
can have a positive affect on academics.

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Specific Aims
The aim of this study was to determine if manipulating study habits of Chinese and American middle school
students would change the outcome of their test taking ability. Since there is plenty evidence on how collectivists work
better in a group setting, we would like to conduct an experiment to see how well Chinese middle school children
(collectivist) preform when given an individualist and collectivist math test. Also, we would like to see how well
American middle school children (individualist) work when given the same math test (collectively and individually). In
this study, there will be a main effect of the collectivist intervention (IV1) in that the collectivist group will do better than
the individualist test. The subject variable (cultural background coming into the test) will have a main effect. We believe
the collectivist (Chinese) coming into the test will have a better score after the individualist test as well as scoring higher
on the collectivist test. The American group receiving the collectivist intervention will not preform as well, due to their
cultural upbringing. However,the American group will score high on the individualist test, but not as high as the Chinese
group. There will be no interaction between the two effects Independent variable and the subject variable. However,both
groups will benefit from the collectivist intervention.
Specific Aims One:
The United States middle school students would out preform when given an individualistic math test. Since there
is evidence that American school children are conditioned to study individualistically, they should out preform children in
China.
Specific Aims Two:
Middle school children in China are taught primarily collectively, as well as the Chinese culture is largely
collectivistic. Middle school children in China will out preform their American counterparts when given a math test
collectively.
Background and Significance
Collectivist and individualist style of learning affect how a child retains information. Chinese children learn a
completely different way than children in the United States. Educators and parents in China tend to push their children
into a more collectivist fashion of learning, where children are put in groups and have to figure out difficulties by working
collectively at an early age. In America, parents and teachers might have children work in groups, but American children
are more inclined to move away from a group setting and work alone as an individualist. Collectivist and individualist
learning styles are linked to children’s learning motivations, for example, learning math in the classroom. Chiu and Zeng
(2007) examined students’ math achievement. Student motivation beliefs included three types of components: value,
expectancy,and affect. When students invest time and get involved with their education activities, they get more
educational resources that open up for them. For example, children in China use group-based exercises to their advantages
by collecting information from each other to better themselves. Students who value activity groups are more likely to
perceive a greater likelihood of success in the classroom. Another way students better their performance is by actual
experience from past successes or failures on academic tasks. Chinese students tend to talk about their test scores as soon
as they receive them, which is usually the opposite for American students who tend to hide their score even when they the
score is relatively high. The method Chiu et al., (2007) used was a mathematics literacy test. The test concepts varied
from fairly easy questions to quite difficult. The sample size of the experiment was comprised of 107,975 15-year-old
students from 41 countries. In the sample, there were 54,743 girls and 53,232 boys. Each student had to complete a 2-hour
assessment test,and then took a 30-minute questionnaire. The testing concluded that students in wealthier countries
scored higher than students in poorer counters. Also, second generation immigrant students scored 5-12 points lower on
math tests than native born students. Male students preformed better than female students by 18 points. Western countries
had the highest academic achievement levels with motivation. However, Western countries cultural values of motivation
were scored lower than Asian countries. Culture can play a big role in how students are motivated, but decision-making
can also change another cultural factor.
Like motivation, decision-making can vary from culture to culture. Brew, Hesketh, and Taylor (2001) define what
it means for Chinese to be collectivist in an individualist society and how collectivist and individualist develop culture
decision-making. Their study examines cross-cultural differences from Australian Anglo to Chinese cultures. The
differences between the two cultures on decision-making relates to individualist and collectivist views. The researchers
wanted to see how Chinese collectivist views related to their decisions on a test that had individualist and collectivist
options. The tests given to the Australian Anglo participants had both collectivist and individualist options. Both tests
were conducted in Sydney, Australia. The participants varied from 69 Anglos (31 male and 38 female) and 70 Chinese (34
male and 36 female). The researchers put decision-making into three categories: rational thinking, hands on thinking, and
those who recognize affect in decision-making. In the research,Australian participants considered the first three styles

4. COLLECTIVIST VS. INDIVIDULAIST 4
“maladaptive patterns” of decision-making Brew et al., 2001. The style of Australian Anglo Western culture leans
towards self-directed action and individual goals, and not towards the consensus decision-making style that is favored in
the Chinese culture. The researchers found that Chinese participants were overall less individualists and more collectivist
than Anglo in their decision-making. The Anglo students chose answers that were more individualist than collectivist.
Chinese students were more likely to yield to family wishes to honor their family than Anglo. In conclusion, cultural
differences affected each decision that the Chinese and Anglos made. Cultural differences can judge a decision when it
comes to learning. For example, collectivists can be more inclined to ask questions severaltimes from peers or teachers as
opposed to individualist who may keep questions to themselves.
In fact,collectivist and individualist customs are also seen in Asian American students that are second or third
generation. Chen and Stevenson (1995) examined 11th
grade high school students’ motivation and math achievement from
America to East Asia. The study found that East Asian students place a high value on education and put a lot of effort in
academic achievement. Asian children devote longer time studying than their Caucasian American counterparts. The
participants were also from various regions of the globe. For example, Chinese and Japanese students attended high
school in Taiwan, while Asian American and Caucasian American students attended high school in America. The
researchers compared the four groups according to their values regarding education, their effort put into schoolwork, and
the behavior towards achievement. A high school level math test of 46 questions was given to each group. After the test,
students were required to fill out a short open-ended questionnaire. The test results came back with significant differences
among cultures. Asian American students scored higher than Caucasians, however, Chinese and Japanese students scored
higher than Asian Americans. In conclusion, Asian American and East Asian students held similar views of their
education practices. Caucasian American students were less likely to have the same views of academic success.
However, Asian academic success could relate to how much time is spent studying. Extended hours in the
classroom and extra time spent studying does have its rewards,and the biggest reward for Asian students is excelling in
the academics. Phelps (2005) explains why Chinese students take a more collectivist approach of learning. Asian
educational system from kindergarten to college has rigorous patterns for them to work at. At an early academic stage
Chinese children are pushed to perform at grade levels higher than their own. Students spend longer hours in school
compared to the American school system Phelps (2005). Also, Asian students spend more time studying outside of the
classroom too. Performance is important throughout high school because acceptance into a college or university is much
more difficult than in the United States. In the study, there were 500 elementary school children in Beijing, Shanghai, and
Suzhou provinces and 500 elementary school children in the United States. Participants were observed on how often they
were off-task. Chinese classrooms encouraged students to respect their teacher. American children in elementary
classrooms did not respect their teachers. The collectivist style of learning played a big role in the younger classroom
setting, because it taught students the values of academic achievement starting at a young age. One thing that Chinese
classrooms were abundant of having were students actively engaging in conversations, where the teacher speaks and the
children listen then respond. Students are expected to listen, watch,and answer questions posed by the teacher.
People of Asian descent are not the only ones that benefit from working collectively in a classroom setting.
African Americans showed similar signs while working in a collectivist setting. Hurley, Boykin & Allen (2005) describe
how African American share some beliefs with Asians when it comes to learning, which is a communal or collectivist
view. In the study, there were 78 participants (45 male, 33 female) that conducted an experiment of a math-estimation
task. The task required students to generate reasonable solutions to math problems through math manipulation. Also, the
task required half to work in a group and the other group had to work individually. Results from the experiment found that
African Americans working in a group setting were more responsive to learning contexts than the control group. They
also found that African Americans that worked in a group were more satisfied with the interaction of the group.
Method
Participants
The number of participants in the design involved 200 middle school children in the United States and in China
with an age range of 12-13 year old. In the U.S. group there were a mixture of 50 African American and 50 Caucasian
American students enrolled in Webster middle school located in a suburban area of Sacramento,California. In the study,
there were 50 male and 50 female Americans. The study that was conducted in China was in Changjun middle school
located in a suburban province of Changsha, Hunan. There were also 50 male and 50 female Chinese participants. Once
the students were selected,each had to have signed parental consent to be involved in the experiment. The children were
also given a signed consent form to fill out. As an incentive for children to participate in the study, they were offered free
school lunch for a month.

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Design
Subjects were placed into conditions that were manipulated. In each group, half of the children were required to
work collectively while the other half were required to work individually. The experiment used a 2x2 between subjects
design. The first independent variable was the instruction given on the test and the levels were collectivist and
individualist tests. The subject variable was their cultural background coming into the test, which was either collectivist or
individualist.
Materials and Instructors
The materials used in the collectivist group were a group math test that was verbal and written, and the same test
was used in the individualist group too, but the test was only issued in a written form. In the individualist test, participants
had to write down their answers on a piece of paper while sitting individually in their own desks. The test included 20
multiple choice algebra 1 material, for example, exponents, factorials, add or subtraction of fractions, inequalities, and
word problems. The algebra instructors were selected out of a random poll of teachers who won various teaching awards
the previous year. The instructor would select a few individuals that excelled at the top of their class.
Procedure
In the experiment, we had several middle school teachers select the students that were preforming at the top of
their class. Once the students were selected,I gave them two consent forms to fill out as a liability waver. Before the
experiment was conducted, I made sure each student had both forms filled out. During the experiment, I observed middle
school students while taking a math test. Each group took 30 minutes or less to finish the test. The group in Sacramento
took their test collectively and individually. The collectivist test group sat in a large lecture hall with 10 round tables and
five students per table. Each group discussed the math test, and then each student was tested while still sitting in the group
on the material they discussed. The other half of the Sacramento group took their test individually in a large lecture hall
while sitting individually in rows of 10 with five students in each row. The students were not allowed to discuss the test
with any other classmates and were to remain silent until everyone was finished with the test. In Hunan, the middle school
children sat individually in their desks in a large lecture hall. Students’ desks were lined up in rows of 10 with five
students in each row. The students were not allowed to talk until all the students’ tests were finished. In the collectivist
intervention group, students were also sat in the same large lecture hall with 10 round tables and five students per table.
The same rules applied as the collectivist group test in Sacramento.
Predictions
Based on the evidence stated before, after the experiment is over and the statistics are ran though SPSS, we
predict that the Chinese student group will out preform the American participants taking both the collectivist and
individualist math test. The American individualistic group will preform almost equally as well as the Chinese
individualistic group, however, the Chinese participants will preform slightly higher. The participants in the Chinese
collectivistic group will significantly out-preform the American collectivistic group. Based on prior research,the data
lines up perfectly with the results we have found, which confirms our hypothesis that Chinese students will preform better
when given an individualistic math test than their American counterparts.
Limitations and Pitfalls
In our study, we ran into a severallimitations. The population that we pulled from preformed at the top of their
class. This was a limitation to the study, because they excelled in all academic areas of study, which included math. In a
future study this limitation can be corrected by pulling from both children that are struggling as well as children that are
excelling in math. Another limitation that we found was that the American population was not that diverse. The American
population we studied doesn’t represent the United States as a whole. As well as in China, we pulled participants from a
suburban province in Hunan, which is a lower grade province. The education level in that particular province is not as
high as other higher-grade provinces, for example Shanghai, Beijing, or Hong Kong. Future studies could fix both of these
limitations by: 1) pulling from a more diverse population from the United States,like San Francisco or New York City. 2)
Pulling children from a higher-grade province in China that would represent the Chinese population. The last limitation
we ran into was the size of our population. For the sake of this study we kept the size fairly small, but future studies
should require more participants to fully understand both populations. Another future study that could be conducted is to
see how different Asian cultures vary when it comes to learning, for example, how does Japan/Korea vary to China’s
learning style.

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Impact
This study in particular is important because it shows how different cultures study and learn. Children in China
are seen to be extremely smart when it comes to academics,but the way this culture teaches their children could be a huge
factor. We believe, one day, that this study will influence educators in the United States to apply collectivistic learning
into classrooms. As we see in this study, this style of learning benefits students in China, and it could only benefit children
in the United States as well.

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