Societies under chronic threat develop stronger norms and less tolerance of deviation.
Gelfand's 33-nation study found tightness correlated with historical threat: invasion, famine, population density and disease. The norms outlast the threat that produced them, as with cultures of honour.
In practice
- A country with a long history of invasion has stricter conventions about queueing, punctuality and dress than a neighbour that has never been invaded.
- An organisation that has survived two near-collapses has stricter norms and less tolerance of experiment than one that has never been threatened.