18 Individuals have characteristics depending on time and situation. They are likely
to use adjectives to describe their personalities like, ―energetic,‖ ―friendly,‖ or ―hard-working‖ to describe themselves. There is more competition between
individuals than groups. On the contrary, in Japan, studies show that individuals are more likely to think of themselves as the part of a society. Individual depends
on the situation. They are more likely to describe themselves in relation to others. Therefore, it can be said that individuals in each country have their own
perception about themselves. It depends also on their environment. Therefore, perception of an individual can be different from another individual.
b. Interactions
Interactions with other people has an important role to change a culture in a society. According to Kitayama 2002, stories, songs, architecture, and
advertisements are all methods of interaction that guide individuals in a culture to teach them how to behave in a daily life. Related to difference of how people in
Japan and United States see themselves as an individual, there is a difference also in their perception when they interpret a sign. For example, in Japan, no-smoking
signs emphasize the impact that smoke affects other people, not only the person who smokes. On the contrary, in the US, no-smoking signs focus on individual
action by simply saying ―No Smoking.‖ This example of the difference perception of a sign shows that cultural norms and values in one society to another can be
different. It depends on how people be taught about their cultural values through interactions with the society.
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c. Institutions
The next layer of culture is the institutions where the interactions between individuals take place. Kitayama 2002 said that these determine the rules for a
society and include legal, government, economic, scientific, philosophical, and religious bodies. Institutions
can affect individuals‘ thought to do some acts that in the end can be a behavior to the society.
d. Ideas
The last layer of the culture cycle is ideas that inform the institutions, interactions, and individual. Ideas can make pattern rules that can create a culture.
Ideas can shape the way people think and it can lead them to create a culture which can be detected, studied, and even changed. Therefore, culture of a society
can change every time.
3. Self-Regulation Theory
People who have a good self-regulation usually do not let their emotion control themselves. Therefore, usually they cannot be controlled by their
emotions. They tend to think first before they do their action. This is the ability to control emotions and impulses. People who have this character are usually
thoughtfulness which means they do not really care about changes and can decide which is bad and which is good, so they have the ability to say no.
Baumeister 2007 said that self-regulation theory is a system of conscious personal management that involves the process of guiding one‘s own thought,
behaviors, and feelings to reach goals. It is shown that someone has to be more competent in controlling his emotion in order to reach his goal. Research on self-
