Perceptions of time and punctuality in the United States and Brazil.

Conducted 3 cross-national experiments to investigate the hypothesis that differences between Americans (A's) and Brazilians (B's) in punctuality may be explained by divergent standard errors in their perception of time. Results of Exp I show that public clocks were less accurate in Brazil (B) than in the US. Results of Exp II with 205 A's and 202 B's show that watches were less accurate in B, watchless B's were less accurate than watchless A's in estimating the time of day, and B's were less exact than A's in reporting the time on their watches. Exp III, a questionnaire study of 107 A's and 91 B's, found that B's were more often late for appointments and social gatherings, were more flexible in their definitions of "early" and "late," and expressed less regret over being late than A's. However, A's had more negative overall impressions of a person who is frequently late and rated punctuality as a more important trait in a businessperson and friend than did B's. Thus, standards of timeliness may be broader and less salient for B's than for A's. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)