Understanding privacy and its related concepts in psychological and cultural context

Privacy is the ability of an individual and/or a group to limit access to oneself and/or their group in physical, interactive, psychological, and informational dimensions, and it is a universal need that shows cross-cultural differences. This study aims to examine privacy from both cultural and psychological perspectives, develop a measurement tool, and investigate its relationship with fundamental psychological variables. To achieve this goal, firstly, a qualitative study with 88 participants was conducted to explore privacy culturally and develop a measurement tool. Prominent examples and definitions of privacy were examined in the qualitative study with content analysis, and a pool of 72 items was prepared. These items were evaluated by experts, and a second study was organized with the identified 56 items. Exploratory Factor Analysis was applied to the data collected from 283 participants, and the sub-dimensions of the scale were determined. In a third study, the predictive validity of the developed measurement tool was examined using data collected from 432 participants and the self-disclosure measurement. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was applied by examining alternative models, and the final form of the measurement tool was determined. The developed Privacy Sensitivity Scale consists of 28 items and four sub-dimensions. These dimensions are identified as privacy sensitivity on "personal information, personal space, sharing in close relationships, and community surveillance" contexts. It was observed that all sub-dimensions of privacy sensitivity were associated with self-disclosure. The relationships of these dimensions with gender, education level, personality, values, religiosity, interpersonal trust, and social anxiety were also examined. Various relationships between these variables and privacy sub-dimensions were identified. The findings were discussed considering the universal and cultural context of privacy.