You go before me, please: Behavioral politeness and interdependent self as markers of Simpatía in Latinas.

OBJECTIVES: Previous research has documented that Latinos/as value the cultural script Simpatía, a tendency to be kind, polite, and focus on others. No previous study has been able to capture the behavioral markers of Simpatía in a naturalistic environment.

METHOD: Behavioral cross-sectional audio data were collected on the daily interactions between Latina and White European mothers with their partners and other adults using a digital audio recorder across 4 days. A mixed-methods approach was used to analyze the data.

RESULTS: Latinas exhibited increased behavioral Simpatía when talking to other adults compared to White European counterparts. Additionally, Latina mothers chose as a main character of their conversations other people rather than themselves. Conversely, White European mothers chose themselves as a main character of their conversations instead of other people.

CONCLUSIONS: These results show that core features of Simpatía (kindness and focus on others) can be found at the behavioral level in the environment that Latina mothers face on a daily basis. Implications for the cultural self and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).