Abstract

Western cultures conceive of the self as an independent entity containing idiosyncratic disposition. So psychologies of Western cultures have stressed the importance of the development of individuality, autonomy, independence, achievement motivation, and identity as essential components of psychological maturity. And then Western overemphasis on individualistic values has led to consider relatedness as a weakness or even as pathological. However, many writers agree that the relation of individuality and relatedness is orthogonal rather than unidimensinal. In spite of many writers' agreement, there was no attempt to measure individuality and relatedness as multidimensional variables. We construct Individuality-Relatedness Scale on the assumption that two variables are orthogonal dimensions rather than opposite poles of one dimension. We found positive correlation between individuality and relatedness(r=.21, p<.001). And each correlation between individuality and self-esteem, and between relatedness and self-esteem was significant(r=.42, p<.001; r=.39, p<.001). Dependency correlated only with individuality(r=-.75, p<.001). Both individuality and relatedness were negatively correlated with loneliness(r=-.39, p<.001; r=-.67, p<.001). We assigned each participant to one among four groups on the base of median values of Individuality-Relatedness Scale and found significant group differences in self-esteem, dependency, and loneliness.