PRIVACY PREFERENCES: A CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON OF AMERICANS AND ASIAN INDIANS

The need for privacy and privacy preferences were studied from a cross-cultural perspective. The American culture and nuclear family emphasize individuality and privacy whereas the Asian Indian culture and joint family emphasize the group and togetherness. A sample of 141 Americans and 123 Indians completed the Privacy Preference Scale to determine differences in need for privacy and privacy preferences. Results showed that for most kinds of privacy, Indians have a lower need for privacy than Americans. These results provide some support for adaptation level theory as method of predicting privacy preferences.