Kuba Krys

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at Polish Academy of Sciences

Background Societal development has traditionally been characterized as a progression from a steep to a relatively flat social hierarchy. However, this model fails to account for the societal progress observed in Confucian Asia. Over the last dozen years, Confucian Asia has gone through remarkable societal progress while remaining highly hierarchic...

Even in the most egalitarian societies, hierarchies of power and status shape social life. However, power and received status are not synonymous—individuals in positions of power may or may not be accorded the respect corresponding to their role. Using a cooperatively collected dataset from 18,096 participants across 70 cultures, we investigate, th...

This paper explores the differences between five components of subjective well-being: happiness, meaning, harmony, spirituality, and religiosity. This is a pressing question, as growing research suggests that a good life encompasses more than just happiness, underscoring the need to understand the distinctions between subjective well-being componen...

Background Previous studies showed that lay people see modernization as a threat to social fabric because it will make people less warm and moral. The purpose of this paper is to describe lay people’s understanding of the effects of different types of modernization. Specifically, we checked how social, economic, technological and conventional devel...

Dilemmas in navigating between various aspects of well-being are common, but remain unexplored in psychological research. In this paper, we introduce a novel method of assessing well-being dilemmas and their dynamics. In five studies run across the United States, Poland and Japan, we studied the dilemma between the pursuit of happiness and the purs...

People care about their own well-being and about the well-being of their families. It is currently, however, unknown how much people tend to value their own versus their family's well-being. A recent study documented that people value family happiness over personal happiness across four cultures. In this study, we sought to replicate this finding a...

We argue that the importance of family relationships for individual well-being varies across societies as a function of a society’s degree of cultural heterogeneity. To examine the role of family relationships, we analyzed the responses from 13,009 participants in 50 societies on their life satisfaction across societies varying in their levels of h...

Psychological science tends to treat subjective well-being and happiness synonymously. We start from the assumption that subjective well-being is more than being happy to ask the fundamental question: What is the ideal level of happiness? From a cross-cultural perspective, we propose that the idealization of attaining maximum levels of happiness ma...

This research investigates the joint effect of individual emotional experiences and societal expectations on life satisfaction. Inspired by the Affect Valuation Theory and Self-Discrepancy Theory, we explored how discrepancies between actual emotional experiences and what society believes we "ought" to feel are linked with life satisfaction. A tota...

The realization that most behavioral science research focuses on cultures labeled as WEIRD—Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (Arnett, 2008; Henrich et al., 2010; Thalmayer et al., 2021)—has given an impetus to extend the research to more diverse populations. Confucian East Asian societies have relatively strong social and tech...

Cultural sensitivity in societal development has been advocated for since at least the 1960s but has remained understudied. Our goal is to address this gap and to investigate folk theories of societal development. We aimed to identify both universal and culturally specific lay beliefs about what constitutes good societal development. We collected d...

We explore to what extent previously observed pan-cultural association between dimensions of self-construal and personal life satisfaction (PLS) may be moderated by three national-contextual variables: national wealth, economic inequality, and religious heritage. The results showed that Self-reliance (vs. dependence on others) predicted PLS positiv...

Seminal work on laypeople’s perspectives on societal development is the foundation of our renovated interest in good development and its relationship with well-being. The present study aims to analyze the relationship between individual basic psychological needs satisfaction, people’s visions of good societal development in the framework of the Sus...

We explore to what extent previously observed pan-cultural association between dimensions of self-construal and personal life satisfaction (PLS) may be moderated by three national-contextual variables: national wealth, economic inequality, and religious heritage. The results showed that MSelf-reliance (vs. dependence on others) predicted PLSpositiv...

Past research has shown that economic inequality shapes individuals’ self-construals. However, it has been unclear which dimensions of self-construal are associated with and affected by economic inequality. A correlational (Study 1: N = 264) and an experimental study (Study 2: N = 532) provided converging evidence linking perceived economic inequal...

People care about their own well-being and about the well-being of their families. It is currently, however, unknown how much people tend to value their own versus their family’s well-being. A recent study documented that people value family happiness over personal happiness across four cultures. In this study, we sought to replicate this finding a...

How can one conclude that well-being is higher in country A than country B, when well-being is being measured according to the way people in country A think about well-being? We address this issue by proposing a new culturally sensitive method to comparing societal levels of well-being. We support our reasoning with data on life satisfaction and in...

Social role theory posits that binary gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in less egalitarian countries, reflecting these countries’ more pronounced sex-based power divisions. Conversely, evolutionary and self-construal theorists suggest that gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in more egalitarian countries, reflec...

People care about their own well-being, but also about the well-being of their families. It is currently however unknown how much people tend to value their own and their family’s well- being. A recent study documented that people value family happiness over personal happiness across four cultures. In this study, we sought to replicate this finding...

Recent research has pointed to cross-cultural differences with regard to preferences for the directions that societies should take in their development. From an individual’s perspective, these directions might be understood as ‘goals’, i.e., internal representations of desired end states. To date, research on individual differences that determine p...

Cultural sensitivity in societal development has been advocated for since at least the 1960s but has remained understudied. Our goal is to address this gap and to investigate folk theories of societal development. We aimed to identify both universal and culturally specific lay beliefs about what constitutes good societal development. We collected d...

Cultural psychologists often treat binary contrasts of West versus East, individualism versus collectivism, and independent versus interdependent self-construal as interchangeable, thus assuming that collectivist societies promote interdependent rather than independent models of selfhood. At odds with this assumption, existing data indicate that La...

Although Interdependent Happiness Scale (IHS) has been used in different socio-cultural contexts, no study has tested the measurement invariance across countries. Because previous research did not agree on the dimensionality of the scale, we primarily investigated the factorial structure of the IHS, comparing the one-factor model to three-factor, s...

Well-being is recognized as a fundamental human goal and a universal human aspiration. However, some cross-country studies suggest that the desirability of the most often studied concept of well-being—personal life satisfaction—varies across countries, and we know little about the desirability of other types of well-being. Extending this novel area...

In this paper, we introduce the concept of ‘societal emotional environment’: the emotional climate of a society (operationalized as the degree to which positive and negative emotions are expressed in a society). Using data collected from 12,888 participants across 49 countries, we show how societal emotional environments vary across countries and c...

In this paper, we introduce the concept of ‘societal emotional environment’: the emotional climate of a society (operationalized as the degree to which positive and negative emotions are expressed in a society). Using data collected from 12,888 participants across 49 countries, we show how societal emotional environments vary across countries and c...

Numerous studies document that societal happiness is correlated with individualism, but the nature of this phenomenon remains understudied. In the current paper, we address this gap and test the reasoning that individualism correlates with societal happiness because the most common measure of societal happiness (i.e., country-level aggregates of pe...

People across cultures differ in behaviours, thoughts and preferences. Cultural sensitivity – i.e., acknowledgment of these cultural differences – in development science is a postulate known since at least the 1960s, but has remained understudied. The goal of the current paper is to address this gap and to investigate folk theories of societal deve...

Well-being emerges as the outcome of multiple interactions that happens in and over time through the dynamic interplay of personal, societal and environmental structures and processes. Due to the recent formulation of the concept of Interdependent Happiness, which is interdependently pursued and attained, we proposed a literature review aimed to hi...

Happiness research tradition is focused on an independent form of happiness (Satisfaction with life, SWL), which in part neglects the social context and group well-being. We considered interdependent happiness (IH) to evaluate a collectivist conceptualization of happiness, which is based on harmony with others. We also considered the role of the pe...

Locus of self-worth shifts from internal in cultures of dignity to external in cultures of honor. It remains yet unknown whether it can be modified, for example, under an influence of important life events, as migration to a culture of a distinct logic. Our study aimed to analyse relationships between the locus of self-worth and the acculturation s...

Since the Second World War, the dominating paradigm of societal development has focused on economic growth. While economic growth has improved the quality of human life in a variety of ways, we posit that the identification of economic growth as the primary societal goal is culture-blind because preferences for developmental pathways likely vary be...

Studies repeatedly have documented that societal well‐being is associated with individualism. Most of these studies, however, have conceptualized/measured well‐being as individual life satisfaction—a type of well‐being that originates in Western research traditions. Drawing from the latest research on interdependent happiness and on family well‐bei...

Facing increasing critique that PISA focuses too narrowly on cognitive achievement and human/knowledge capital, the OECD has recently shifted some of its focus to student happiness. The 2017 Students’ Well-Being report distinguishes between ‘happy schools’ and ‘unhappy schools’, showing that among students who combined high performance and life sat...

Although the association between individualism and satisfaction in societies is well documented, the precise mechanism linking these two remained understudied so far. Here we coin and describe the specific facet of individualism responsible for the above association–the ‘open society’. Open societies foster four others-benefitting attitudes: tolera...

Inequalities between men and women are common and well-documented. Objective indexes show that men are better positioned than women in societal hierarchies—there is no single country in the world without a gender gap. In contrast, researchers have found that the women-are-wonderful effect—that women are evaluated more positively than men overall—is...

This chapter explores family lives of couples who migrate from a less gender-egalitarian (i.e., Poland) to a more egalitarian nation (i.e., Norway). The authors present selected results from a large-scale mixed-methods study drawing from interviews conducted longitudinally with couples in Poland and in Norway, interviews with public-sector servants...

This chapter explores family lives of couples who migrate from a less gender-egalitarian (i.e., Poland) to a more egalitarian nation (i.e., Norway). The authors present selected results from a large-scale mixed-methods study drawing from interviews conducted longitudinally with couples in Poland and in Norway, interviews with public-sector servants...

Research on culture-related violence has typically focused on honor cultures and their justification of certain forms of aggression as reactions to provocation. In contrast, amusement and humor as the preferred reactions to provocation remain understudied phenomena, especially in a cross-cultural context. In an attempt to remedy this, participants...

Family and work are two important areas of adult life. However, these two domains are not always compatible, and the degree to which these roles are at conflict influences numerous spheres of individuals’ and couples’ lives. Work-life conflict is especially evident among migrants, as the separation from social networks within the home country makes...

In most individualistic cultures, pride is regarded as a positive emotion that follows a positive evaluation of one’s competence or effort when achieving a goal. Fredrickson (2001) suggests that pride may expand individuals’ scope of attention and broaden their action repertoires by driving them toward greater achievements in the future. In the pre...

Cultures vary in terms of emotional display rules, which include the expression of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. In Poland there is a norm of negativity, deriving from a culture of complaining (Wojciszke & Baryła, 2005), whereas in Canada, there is a tendency to express happiness (Safdar, Friedlmeier, Matsumoto, Yoo, Kwantes, Kakai, & Shigemasu...

Happiness is one of the most subjective states people may experience. Therefore, like each subjective state, the way happiness is experienced is related to the cultural framework individuals function in. One of the most popular scales of happiness is offered by Diener and collaborators: the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Numerous studies docu...

Numerous studies document that the most popular scale of happiness – Diener and collaborators’ Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) – is related to individualism and the concept of happiness that fits the independent self. In contrast, Hitokoto and Uchida offered the Interdependent Happiness Scale (IHS) to examine the collectivistic concept of inter...

Numerous studies document that the most popular scale of happiness – Diener and collaborators’ Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) – is related to individualism and the concept of happiness that fits the independent self. In contrast, Hitokoto and Uchida offered the Interdependent Happiness Scale (IHS) to examine the collectivistic concept of inter...

Smiling individuals are usually perceived more favorably than non-smiling ones - they are judged as happier, more attractive, competent, and friendly. These seemingly clear and obvious consequences of smiling are assumed to be culturally universal, however most of the psychological research is carried out in WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Indu...

Cultures vary in terms of emotional display rules, which include the expression of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. In Poland there is a norm of negativity, deriving from a culture of complaining (Wojciszke & Baryła, 2005), whereas in Canada, there is a tendency to express happiness (Safdar, Friedlmeier, Matsumoto, Yoo, Kwantes, Kakai, & Shigemasu...

Social perception studies have revealed that smiling individuals are perceived more favourably on many communion dimensions in comparison to nonsmiling individuals. Research on gender differences in smiling habits showed that women smile more than men. In our study, we investigated this phenomena further and hypothesised that women perceive smiling...

Studies on social perception reveal that on many dimensions smiling individuals are perceived more positively in comparison to non-smiling individuals. The experiment carried out in seven countries (China, Germany, Iran, Norway, Poland, USA, and the Republic of South Africa) showed that in some cultures smiling individuals may be perceived less fav...

Wojciszke suggests (2011) that most of social behaviours are driven by one of four main needs: affiliation, sense, control and self-esteem. Those needs may compensate each other: threat to one of them may be reaffirmed in the same domain or by a different need (Heine, Proulx i Vohs, 2006; Wojciszke, 2011). In two experiments we reveal that the sati...

According to Fredrickson's (1998, 2001) "Broaden-and-Built Theory of Positive Emotions" positive emotions have different effects in social life and are based on different mechanisms than negative emotions do. Moreover positive emotions vary among themselves - there are quality differences between them and they shall not be treated only as a single...