Protestantism and Retrospective Labeling: A Cross-Cultural Study in Person Perception

Abstract

Person perception was studied experimentally to test certain predictions following from Rotenberg's theory concerning the effects of the Calvinist conception of Man on Western culture. Americans scored significantly higher than Israelis on a Protestant ethic scale. When American and Israeli subjects were asked to rate, on the basis of past information, the probabilities of a person being at present a mental patient ("damned') or a successful businessman ("elect'", Americans were consistently more deterministic in their interpersonal perceptions than Israelis. The hypothesis that in retrospective labeling increases in probability ratings of the outcomes, once a label has been assigned, will be greater among Americans than Israelis was not confirmed. Implications for future research are briefly discussed.