Cultural differences in regulatory focus & strenghts of lay conception for theory building

Theories of a phenomenon that lose sight of lay conceptions
risk being overly narrow and neglecting key elements of the
phenomenon. Yet, exclusive focus on the lay prototypes of a
phenomenon lacks the rigor and connections to other related
theoretical formulations found in good theories (Gregg et al.,
2008). Thus, the inclusion of a prototype analysis into the
literature on honor cultures can provide enhanced coverage
of the concept that may lead to testable hypotheses and new
theoretical developments. Our findings highlight the importance
of moral behavior for a thorough understanding of
honor. The role of moral behavior in cultures of honor has
tended to be understated (or assumed) in much social-psychological
research (but see Leung & Cohen, 2011;
Rodriguez Mosquera et al., 2008). The moral behavior items
identified in these analyses may prove useful in future measures.
In addition, the specific features generated by these
participants differed in their orientation toward avoidance of
specific negative behaviors (e.g., not to tell lies, generated by
Turkish participants) or approaching positive behaviors (e.g.,
doing the right thing, generated by Northern American participants).
This finding suggests a cultural difference in regulatory
focus, which may underlie other cultural differences in
honor-related behavior (Higgins, 1996). Thus, this prototype
analysis points out potentially useful descriptive elements of
honor and points to ways to integrate other theories into further
research.