other-directedadj.
/ˌʌðədᵻˈrɛktᵻd/, /ˌʌðədʌɪˈrɛktᵻd/, U.S. /ˈˌəðərdəˈrɛktəd/, /ˈˌəðərˌdaɪˈrɛktəd/ Sociology.
Of a person or his or her behaviour: governed or guided by the expectations and example of others, or by external circumstances and trends; socially reliant on external authorities. Also occasionally as n.: a person governed or guided in conformity in this way. Opposed to inner-directed and tradition-directed.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > motivation > persuasion > [adjective] > persuaded > able to be > by the goals or behaviour of others
other-directed1950
outer-directed1950
1950 D. Riesman et al. Lonely Crowd i. 9 The society of incipient population decline develops in its typical members a social character whose conformity is insured by their tendency to be sensitized to the expectations and preferences of others. These I shall term other-directed people.
1950 D. Riesman et al. Lonely Crowd i. 23 What is common to all other-directeds is that their contemporaries are the source of direction for the individual.
1973 Listener 17 May 635/1 [J. S.] Mill's fears were those of post-war American sociologists like David Riesman, who saw American society as full of ‘other-directed’ men.
1999 Ethnohistory 46 218 Women's very identity becomes other-directed and overdetermined.
Derivatives
ˈother-diˈrectedness n. the quality or state of being other-directed.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > motivation > persuasion > [noun] > persuadability > tendency to behave like others
other-direction1950
other-directedness1951
1951 Amer. Econ. Rev. 41 1010 Other-directedness emerges in an economy of abundance in capital-rich periods with large productive capacity.
1998 Current Anthropol. 39 432/2 Social psychological studies have noted sex-asymmetric dispositions..toward other-directedness.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1950