Social Influence

Social Processes from a Cultural Perspective

Social connection lies at the heart of human experience, shaping how people form relationships, maintain group memberships, find compromises, and transmit the norms and values that bind communities together. Yet the scientific study of these processes has long drawn from a narrow foundation. The vast majority of research in social psychology has been conducted in highly individualized societies, which represent a small and psychologically distinctive slice of global human diversity. As a result, many foundational findings about social processes rely on samples that may not reflect the range of ways humans actually live and relate to one another.

This imbalance matters because social processes are not culturally neutral. What it means to feel connected to others, or disconnected and lonely, or like one belongs to a community, may vary considerably across cultural contexts. More broadly, core processes such as social influence, conformity, and intergroup dynamics are deeply embedded in cultural meaning systems that shape how, when, and why they unfold. Without attending to cultural context, psychological theories risk mistaking one cultural mode of being social for a universal human truth.

This Article Collection invites empirical and theoretical contributions examining social processes through a cultural psychological lens. Potential areas of exploration include, but are not limited to:

• Social connection and belonging
• Loneliness and social exclusion
• Social norms and their transmission
• Social influence and conformity

We welcome original research, meta-analyses, and theoretical reviews. Submissions should engage meaningfully with cultural context, for example, by including at least two cultural contexts and specifying how and why they may differ in the social process under study. Cross-country comparisons are encouraged, provided the underlying cultural differences are clearly articulated. Studies focusing on a single cultural context are also welcome but should justify and measure the cultural factors of interest. While we recognize that much cross-cultural work relies on survey methods, experimental and longitudinal designs are particularly encouraged.

Please contact Dr. MK Huffman at [email protected] with any queries about discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

Please be sure to select the appropriate Article Collection from the drop-down menu in the submission system.

Elianne Albath is a social psychologist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Basel, Switzerland. Her research focuses on social exclusion and disconnectedness, conspiracy belief, and underdog perceptions. She combines experimental methods with large-scale cross-national and longitudinal survey data to understand both the mechanisms and real-world prevalence of these experiences.

Christiane Büttner is a social psychologist and postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University. She received her PhD in social psychology from the University of Basel, Switzerland. Her research broadly focuses on experiences of social connection and disconnection in everyday life, including phenomena such as ostracism, social media interactions, and beliefs about interacting with others. Analyzing data from experiments, experience sampling studies, and cross-national surveys, Christiane hopes to understand how we can all build more meaningful, lasting connections.

The Guest Advisors declare no conflict of interest regarding this work.