Cross-Cultural Study of the Hierarchical Structure of Human Relationships

A theoretical hierachy of human relationships is constructed in terms of altruism. It is hypothesized that the probability for an actor A to perform an altruistic act to a person B depends on the relationship between A and B, and the probability decreases consistently in the following order of relationships: close relatives, best friends, strangers who are very weak or very young or who are elite in society, common strangers, and enemies. Two hypothetical moral dilemmas were used to study the hierarchy and five test scores expressing correspondingly the above human relationships were constructed. The sample consisted of 400 English subjects in London and 519 Chinese subjects in Hong Kong. It was found that (i) the intercorrelations of the five score variables displayed a simplex-like structure and (ii) loadings for the score variables approximated a two-factor, semicircular configuration with score variables ordered by their hierarchical positions. The findings in both the London and Hong Kong Studies supported the proposed hierarchical structure of human relationships.