摘要

    价值观决定人的行为。在日常活动中，我们可以观察到：中国人置身于集体中做事时会比较安心，也更倾向于融入集体并保持中庸；然而美国人更倾向于独立地从事日常活动，表达不同的观点。其实，在中美两国的不同文化背景下，展现出的个人主义价值观就是造成这种不同表现的原因之一。
与中国以自我为中心的个人主义不同，美国个人主义实则为个人至上的乐观信念，强调个人的平等、独立、自由、权利和责任，利于调动个人积极性和鼓励个人自我的价值实现。
本文以两部作品《水浒传》和《阿甘正传》为例，通过文献研究法和比较法，比较分析中美个人主义不同的文化背景、含义，解释美国个人主义价值观，从而提高跨文化交际能力。
   
关键词：个人主义；集体主义；利己主义

Abstract

Values decide one’s behavior. And there is an interesting phenomenon that Chinese like to do things in a group and blend in while Americans prefer having daily activities alone and get their unique piece of mind heard. The different recognition towards individualism held by Chinese and Americans under the two distinct cultures can be deemed as one of the reasons for this difference.
Unlike the Chinese individualism--selfishness, American individualism is an optimistic and people-oriented belief which lays emphasis on the equality, independence, freedom, right and responsibility of every individual. As a matter of fact, American individualism can encourage people to try their best to realize their personal values.
Taking Forrest Gump and Outlaws of the Marsh for example, this paper aims at comparing the meaning of American individualism and Chinese individualism by analyzing the both historical backgrounds of two countries through literature research method and contractive method. Then Chinese can enhance the ability of cross-culture communication.

Key words: Individualism; collectivism; egoism