Imposed Etics—emics—derived Etics: The Operationalization of a Compelling Idea

There is a tension between two research traditions in cross‐cultural psychology: working intensively within a single culture in order to understand indigenous psychological phenomena and how they are related to cultural context; and working comparatively across cultures in order to understand broad patterns of relationships between behavioural and cultural variables. This tension can be resolved, and the two approaches integrated, by the adoption of the emic and etic concepts of Pike, and by the elaboration of a set of concrete research steps rooted in these concepts. This paper outlines a conceptual and operational framework for the pursuit of both the indigenous and comparative goals, using examples from research on intelligence and attitudes.