Culture impact on self-concept: A study with students from different educational settings of Chiapas

The study explored self-concept among 410 mixed-race students from the Intercultural University of Chiapas (144), the Autonomous University of Chiapas (124), and University of Altos de Chiapas (142). Our general aim was to compare the results of the personal and social self-concept task (PSSC) among students attending these three universities. We predicted, following situated cognitive perspective on culture, that students would have different self-concepts because they are participating in different educational settings. Specifically, we expected that students who attend the Intercultural University of Chiapas would score significantly higher on social categories in self-concept task than students from the private University of Altos de Chiapas and Autonomous University of Chiapas. The results supported this hypothesis. We conducted an analysis of variance (ANOVA), showing significant differences in the studied groups. We suggested that proximal process is the mechanism through which culture influences individuals..