Different Cultures, Different Selves

Why do we do what we do? To please others? To live up to what culture expects? Or for our own reasons –- as “autonomous agents”? Americans tend to admire (at least in theory) the autonomous individual, the person who knows what he wants, and sets out to get it, no matter what the world might think. Is this true of all cultures? John and Ken are joined by Stanford Psychologist Hazel Markus to explore differences in motivation and action across cultures.