| 摘要 | 文化心理学一般认为，西方社会偏向个体主义，而东方社会偏向集体主义。在西方，有研究发现，名字更独特的个体可能有更高的个人发展成就，但是目前尚不清楚这种关系的底层机制。中国社会在近几十年里经历了快速的文化变迁，个体主义日益流行，人们对独特名字更加偏好，这为探索名字独特性与个人成就之间关系的文化心理机制提供了可能。根据个人–环境匹配理论，当个人特征与环境特征相匹配时，个体会有更好的发展结果。基于此，本研究提出，个人名字独特性与个体主义文化之间的匹配是导致名字独特性与个人成就产生正向关系的一种可能的机制，因为对独特性的强调是个体主义的核心特点之一。具体地，本研究提出两个假设：（1）总体上，在当代中国，由于个体主义已经上升，名字独特性与个人发展成就也存在一种在西方观察到的正向关系；（2）这种关系受到个人–文化匹配的调节，主要存在于个体主义更高的文化环境（例如经济发达、现代化程度高的地区，或经济条件好、受教育程度高的家庭）。
研究一重点考察名字独特性与社会经济成就的关系，包括三项子研究（1、2、3）。鉴于个体与省份/城市的嵌套结构，研究采用多层线性模型分析数据，并控制对结果可能产生影响的混淆变量。研究 1 分析了“赶集网”的个人求职简历（N = 3,873,398），结果发现个体的名字越独特，求职期望的社会经济地位越高。研究 2 分析了职场社交平台的个人简历（N = 2,241,023），结果发现个体的名字越独特，实际的社会经济地位越高。研究 3 分析了全国代表性样本“2005 年中国1%人口抽样调查”（N = 1,047,350），结果发现，在控制了父母受教育程度、家庭经济状况等混淆变量后，名字独特性与实际的社会经济地位仍然存在正向关系；但是，个体主义文化匹配调节了该效应：名字独特性与社会经济地位的正向关系主要存在于经济发达、现代化程度高、个体主义文化更高的地区。
研究二重点考察名字独特性与创造性成就的关系，也包括三项子研究（4、5、6）。研究 4 分析了“百度学术”的研究者档案数据（N = 1,598,891），结果发现学者名字越独特，其科研成果影响力（H 或 G 指数）越高；随着学术生涯发展，名字独特性对学术创造性成就的预测越来越突显。研究 5 分析了“豆瓣网”的电影导演及电影评分数据（N 导演 = 1,333; N 电影 = 3,997），结果发现导演名字越独特，其艺术创造性成就（电影作品质量）越高。研究 6 进一步分析了大学生心理普查数据（N = 2,392），结果发现名字独特性与创造性的正向关系仅存在于父母教育程度高且为城市户口（而非父母教育程度低或为城镇/农村户口）的家庭。
总之，通过两个系列的六项研究，本文发现，虽然总体上名字独特性对个人发展成就具有积极预测作用，但该效应只在与个体主义文化匹配的条件下成立；而当个人与文化不匹配时，名字独特性与个人成就无关。因此，个人–文化匹配是导致名字独特性与个人成就产生正向关系的原因。本研究不仅第一次在中国揭示了名字独特性与个人发展成就的正向关系，而且进一步确认了其适用条件，为个人–文化匹配作为名字–成就关系的文化心理机制提供了具有生态效度的证据。这些发现还拓展了对文化变迁的影响的认识，为个人–环境匹配理论提供了新的证据，并在实践层面提示人们应该从科学、发展的角度来理解“名字”这一特殊的文化心理现象。 |
| 其他摘要 | From the perspective of cultural psychology, Western societies are more individualistic, whereas Eastern societies are more collectivistic. In Western societies, some past research has found that people with more unique first names are more likely to have higher individual achievement. However, little is known about the underlying mechanism of this relationship. Chinese society has undergone rapid sociocultural changes over the recent decades, especially increasing prevalence of individualism and increasing preference for unique names. This allows for an examination of the cultural psychological mechanism underlying the relationship between name uniqueness and individual achievement. According to the person–environment fit theory, individuals have better developmental outcomes when their personal characteristics match their environmental characteristics. Therefore, the present research posits that the person– culture fit on individualism can be a mechanism that explains the positive association between name uniqueness and individual achievement. Two hypotheses are proposed: (1) in general, since individualism has risen in contemporary China, name uniqueness is positively associated with individual achievement, an effect similar to those in previous studies in Western societies; and (2) such an association can be moderated by person–culture fit, and exists mainly in more individualistic cultures.
Study I tested the link between name uniqueness and socioeconomic achievement. Using resume data of job-hunters from Ganji.com (N = 3,873,398), Study 1 found that job-hunters with more unique names were more likely to expect a higher level of SES. Using resume data of people from professional networking websites (N = 2,241,023), Study 2 found that people with unique names were more likely to obtain higher SES. Using a nationally representative sample of the 2005 China’s 1% Population Census (N = 1,047,350), Study 3 again demonstrated the relationship between name uniqueness and SES (including educational attainment, occupational status, and income level), even after controlling for confounding factors such as parental education level and family income level. However, name uniqueness positively predicted SES mainly in more modernized and individualistic regions.
Study II examined the link between name uniqueness and creative achievement. Using archival data of Chinese scholars from Baidu Scholar (N = 1,598,891), Study 4 revealed that name uniqueness predicted higher H index and G index of researchers (as a proxy for their academic creative achievement), which was more salient among senior (vs. junior) scholars. Using archival data of Chinese movie directors and the ratings of their movies from Douban.com (Ndirector = 1,333; Nmovie = 3,997), Study 5 showed that name uniqueness predicted higher movie ratings of directors (as a proxy of their artistic creative achievement). Finally, based on a large survey on Chinese undergraduates (N = 2,392), Study 6 demonstrated that name uniqueness predicted creativity only among those who lived in urban (vs. rural) regions and whose parents were more educated.
Overall, through six studies, the present research found that the positive relation between name uniqueness and individual achievement, albeit effective in general, exists only when person and culture match on individualism but not when they mismatch. Hence, person–culture fit explains why name uniqueness positively predicts individual achievement. This research, for the first time, reveals the positive association between name uniqueness and individual achievement in China, has clarified its boundary condition, and provide evidence of high ecological validity for person–culture fit as a mechanism underlying the name–achievement association. Furthermore, these findings extend the understanding of the influence of cultural change, provide novel evidence for the person–environment fit theory, and suggest we should understand “name” as a cultural psychological phenomenon from a scientific and developmental perspective. |
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