The influence of Chinese literature on social identity and collectivistic values: Insights from two studies comparing philology students and general readers.

The psychological functions of Chinese literature have received limited empirical attention despite its central role in cultural transmission. The present research examined how engagement with different genres of Chinese literature relates to social identity strength and collectivistic value orientation, with particular attention to identity-related mechanisms and individual differences in familiarity. Across two complementary studies, we combined experimental and correlational approaches grounded in Social Identity Theory and cultural transmission perspectives. Study 1 employed an experimental design with Chinese philology students to examine genre-based differences in social identity strength and collectivistic values, as well as the mediating role of social identity. Although classical Chinese literature was associated with higher levels of social identity strength and collectivistic value orientation relative to modern literature, these differences were not consistent across all genre comparisons. Social identity strength emerged as a key mechanism linking literary exposure to collectivistic value orientation. Study 2 extended this analysis to a heterogeneous sample of general readers and focused on naturalistic engagement with classical Chinese literature. Results indicated that engagement with classical literature was positively associated with social identity strength and collectivistic value orientation, particularly among individuals with greater familiarity with the literary tradition. Moderated mediation analyses further showed that familiarity amplified the indirect association between literary engagement and collectivistic values via social identity strength. Together, these findings suggest that the psychological impact of classical Chinese literature is conditional rather than uniform, depending on readers' engagement and familiarity. The study contributes to cultural psychology by clarifying how literary engagement operates as a culturally embedded resource that activates identity-related processes shaping value orientation.