Researchers examine a Brazilian phenomenon to understand how culture shapes human behavior and social psychology 

A study involving the D’Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR) proposed a nuanced discussion of the Brazilian “jeitinho,” arguing that this national phenomenon can illuminate the link between culture and social behavior on a global scale. The article was selected for a special issue of Personality and Social Psychology Review, one of the field’s leading international journals. 

Culture and psychology: a universal challenge
Social psychology has long sought to determine the extent to which certain human behaviors are universal or shaped by cultural particularities. This is not simple. For decades the field has been criticized for relying on culturally narrow samples (primarily from Western, developed countries) and for difficulties in replicating key findings, partly because many models have overlooked social and historical factors. 

Cross-cultural studies have revealed general trends, but they often fail to explain how different cultures reorganize universal behaviors to address their own contexts. In this scenario, the Brazilian “jeitinho” emerges as a revealing example of how psychological traits can take unique forms according to local needs. 

The research program on jeitinho
The article Contextualising Social Psychology Through Cultural Syndromes: The Case of Brazilian Jeitinho is the result of nearly two decades of research conducted by scholars from anthropology, sociology, economics, law and psychology. The goal was to understand the jeitinho not merely as a Brazilian social practice, but as a “cultural syndrome”: a meaningful cluster of behaviors that appear in specific contexts. 

“Our main objective is to broaden the discussion about jeitinho. There is na inferiority complex in Brazil, in which many people hold a negative view of the country. Jeitinho often appears negatively in that discussion, but it is important to emphasize that it is a Brazilian cultural expression that helps people survive adversity, so it is functional in some ways. There are also positive aspects of jeitinho, such as altruism and creativity. Overall, it reflects a complex history of colonization, exploitation and cultural imposition,” explains IDOR behavioral scientist and one of the study’s leaders, Dr. Ronald Fischer. 

Fischer’s team combined qualitative and quantitative methods to gather relevant data about jeitinho. The research included ethnographic interviews, historical analyses, experiments, longitudinal studies and even the creation of tailored questionnaires to identify behavioral patterns related to the phenomenon. The authors also conducted an extensive literature review to integrate and compare jeitinho with similar phenomena worldwide. 

How did Brazil create its own jeitinho?
According to the researchers, jeitinho can be understood as a creative way to solve problems under restrictive or bureaucratic conditions. It involves three main components: social creativity and skill; the potential to deceive or bend rules; and the pursuit of important goals that would otherwise be difficult to achieve. 

Among cultural dimensions common to many societies, the study points out factors that favor the emergence of jeitinho in Brazil, such as:

• High social hierarchy and large power distance: jeitinho may be activated to circumvent formal rules, especially when influential individuals are involved.

• Strong collectivism combined with relational mobility, which allows ties to be formed and dissolved quickly: in its “likable” dimension,jeitinho spontaneously creates social bonds or uses cordiality to resolve problems and build harmonious—even if temporary—relations.

• Flexible social norms with low consistency and enforcement: in its “malandra” dimension, jeitinho encompasses strategies of norm violation, manifesting as disregard for rules and normalization of corruption.

• Presence of bureaucracy,inequality and political instability: in contexts of rigid and ineffective institutions that create unnecessary obstacles, jeitinho emerges as an ingenious and creative problem-solving mechanism. 

It is no coincidence that jeitinho appears in practices seen as positive—such as friendliness and creativity—as well as in negative forms—such as trickery and corruption. Although jeitinho is shaped by national factors that favor it in Brazil, similar cultural phenomena exist elsewhere. 

Chinese, Arabic and Russian “jeitinhos”?
Indeed, the study’s leaders note that having a “jeitinho” is not as exclusive as paçoca or brigadeiro. Comparable phenomena exist in other cultures. In China, there is guanxi, an informal networking system marked by long-term obligations and reciprocal support. In Mexico, the informal exchange summarized as “one hand washes the other” is called palancas. In the Middle East there is wasta; in Russia, svyazi; and in Chile, pituto—concepts akin to nepotism, recommendations, or even bribery. All these practices are widespread across many cultures. 

Although less multifaceted than the Brazilian jeitinho, they similarly involve circumventing norms to achieve goals, each with its own nuances linked to local social and political traditions. 

What does this study reveal for global psychology?
The researchers argue that cultural syndromes like jeitinho help build a more contextualized and universal psychology. The proposal is to view basic psychological traits as “Lego blocks” that can be recombined in unique ways across cultures. 

“I believe this is the most innovative aspect of our research. In understanding human society, there are extremes of relativism—where every culture is unique and incomparable—and universalism—where a single base should explain any social development. Viewing the result as modular creates a bridge between these systems, offering a different way to explain cultural differences in the social sciences,” Fischer says. 

The study also suggests that anticorruption measures based solely on punishment may be ineffective if they do not address the structural causes that encourage informal practices. Solutions such as simplifying bureaucratic processes and expanding access to services may be more effective at reducing illicit behaviors in the long term. 

A step toward a more global psychology
The research on the Brazilian jeitinho underscores the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration for understanding complex phenomena. More than a cultural curiosity, it becomes a tool to reflect on the interaction between social rules, creativity and human behavior. By examining the jeitinho, the authors propose that social psychology move toward a truly global model capable of integrating local particularities without losing sight of universal elements that connect us as human beings.