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S42 A. Heinz et al. / European Psychiatry 27 (2012) / supplement n°2 / S32-S43
two self- construal styles: People who endorse individualistic
values think of people as independent of each other and describe
themselves using stable personality traits. This is refl ected in
a preference for general self- descriptions, e.g., “I am honest”.
By contrast, subjects who endorse collectivistic values think of
people as highly interconnected to one another and describe
themselves as embedded in specifi c social contexts. This is
refl ected in a preference for contextual self- descriptions, e.g.,
“When talking to my mother, I am honest”. During fMRI, Japanese
and European American study participants were presented with
general and contextual self- descriptions. Brain responses were
measured in the medial prefrontal cortex, a core area of the cortical
midline structures associated with self- referential processing.
The authors report that agreement with individualistic cultural
values was associated with greater medial prefrontal activation
during general self- descriptions. In contrast, agreement
with collectivistic values resulted in greater medial prefrontal
activations during contextual self- descriptions [8]. These
effects of self- construal styles were observed across cultures,
i.e., among Japanese as well as among European American study
participants, supporting the hypothesis that individualistic and
collectivistic values are present within different cultures. The
authors conclude that self- referential processing in the medial
prefrontal cortex varies as a function of self- construal style.
11. The social performative
and narrative construction of identity
Cultural constructions of identity infl uence not only the self
concepts of individual persons but also of social groups and
classes. This can be illustrated looking at the Rastafarian religion.
How can it be explained that Jamaicans started around 1930 to
venerate Ras (i.e. Duke) Tafari, the Ethiopian heir to the thrown,
who is better known by his crown name Haile Selassie I., and
based a religious movement on this veneration? In his book
“Rasta and resistance”, Campbell turned to the social confl icts in
Jamaica to explain this religious movement [4]. In the 1930ies,
Jamaica was a colony of Great Britain, and each class room
was decorated with the respective picture of the ruling British
king or queen. Africa, on the other hand, was described both
in the colonial discourse and in the view of the upper classes
as a “primitive” place, devoid of history. Such prejudices were
challenged when pictures of an African king appeared in the
news, who was the heir to the thrown of an ancient African
civilisation. Black nationalists in Harlem, in other cities in the
United States and in Jamaica used this picture to promote selfconsciousness
among African Americans. In Jamaica, Howell
and Hinds suggested that Jamaicans could only show loyalty to
one king and that this king is not the British monarch but Haile
Selassie I. Both were imprisoned, however, the new movement
was not successfully suppressed. The Rastafarian movement
early on started to identify with the anti- colonial struggles in
Africa. The movement further gained momentum after fascist
Italian troops invaded Ethiopia, when pictures of Ethiopians
resisting this invasion and of Haile Selassie I. appeared in the
news. One of the signs of the Rastafarian movement, the long
uncombed hair, was originally shown by the anti- colonial “Land
and Freedom Army” (Mau Mau) in Kenya, where it was worn
to demonstrate a “natural” African hair dress, which resisted
Western concepts of artifi cally straightened hair [4]. Social
identity was thus formed using symbols of successful resistance
against colonial rule. Of course most Africans who were abducted
to America came from West Africa and not from Ethiopia [41].
However, historical exactness is not the goal of such a social
construction; instead, the Rastafarian movement used symbols
and practices which represented the dignity and successful fi ght
for equal human rights and used them against the devaluation
of African traditions in the colonial situation.
What goes on in such movements can be explained with
Turner´s concept of performance: The anthropologist Turner
suggested that also in less antagonistic societies than in colonies,
group confl icts can arise, which are represented and refl ected
in social drama [65]. Turner used the example of the Brazilian
“Umbanda” cult, a religion that intentionally integrates African
elements, which are supposed to represent “pure nature” in
opposition to the threatening urban reality. During the performance
of these rituals, social confl icts among the participants are
refl ected in the roles acquired by the participants. Thus put into
scene, the performance of the social drama can heal the violated
social order and support the individual identity that is threatened
in its impoverished urban environment. The supposedly
“natural” African and Native American traditions are used in a
syncretistic way, which links catholic saints, spirits derived from
native American traditions and African gods (“Orishas”) of the
West African Yoruba. The Umbanda cult and the organisations
supporting these performances thus constitute a parallel society,
which supports oppressed classes and groups by providing a
place in an imaginary hierarchy, which strengthens their identity
via the ritualised expression of their confl icts, emotions and
social status within this cult [60]. The decisive element of such
a ritual is thus not the historically correct and “authentic” use
of African traditions but the self- conscious identifi cation with
the African heritage, which is otherwise quite too often not
appreciated and respected – also in the post- colonial discourse.
Proofs
12. Summary and outlook
These considerations show that the “self” is a fl uid concept;
rather than resembling a rock which stands fi rmly in the sea
of events, perceptions and emotions, the “self” is socially
constructed and articulated around experiences which appear
to be shared by all human beings. Such universal experiences
appear to include the prerefl ective access to individual thoughts
and feelings, an automatic knowledge that (at least in non-
pathological states) these emotions and cognitions belong to my
self. Conscious self- refl ection, on the other hand, is necessarily
imbued with social and cultural norms, narratives, images and
events, often of confl icting nature, and the social and individual
struggles underlying such self- images can often be identifi ed and
understood. To do so, it is not decisive to possess complex lexical
knowledge about each culture and its history; instead, each
individual synthesis has to be respectfully approached, so that
we can try to understand how a person constructs the personal
image of his or her self by using available parts and pieces of
the respective cultural, social and autobiographic experience
and tradition.