Understanding the Persistence of Traditional Values in Modern Society: Adaptive Utility Matters

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Cultural Psychology
• Sociology

Background:

• Traditional values often persist in modern societies.
• The adaptation account posits that enduring adaptive utility explains this persistence.
• Filial piety is a key Confucian value relevant to societal changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the adaptation account by examining changes in filial piety.
• To investigate the adaptive utility of different forms of filial piety.
• To compare trends in filial piety in China and Japan.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of natural language data (Chinese and Japanese).
• Analysis of large-scale survey data from China (N=7,283) and Japan (N=4,763).
• Longitudinal data collection spanning from 1979 to 2023.

Main Results:

• In China, concern and liking for filial piety increased since 1979, driven by demographic shifts.
• Reciprocal filial piety was found to be adaptive and increasing, while authoritarian filial piety was maladaptive and decreasing.
• Similar adaptive and decreasing trends for reciprocal and authoritarian filial piety, respectively, were observed in Japan.

Conclusions:

• Findings support the adaptation account of cultural persistence.
• Reciprocal filial piety demonstrates adaptive utility in contemporary Confucian societies.
• Societal changes influence the adaptive nature and prevalence of traditional values.