model of self and agency is predominant, relational affordances hold relatively greater influence over intrapersonal beliefs, behavior, and life outcomes, such as women’s economic development. Figure adapted from Riemer et al., 2014; Thomas & Markus, 2023.

<mark>Psychological and behavioral science interventions are, implicitly or explicitly, grounded in models of agency. Given that the vast majority of theoretical and empirical research in the social sciences has been conducted in high-income Western countries (Thalmayer et al., 2021), it is unsurprising that independent models of agency tend to be the default (Adams et al., 2019; Thomas & Markus, 2023). For instance, a prototypical</mark> example of an independence-grounded motivational intervention common in Western contexts prompts individuals to imagine and set personal goals, to identify actions to achieve those goals through self-initiative, and to plan selfregulation strategies <mark>to cope with setbacks (</mark> Duckworth et al., 2013; Oettingen & Gollwitzer, 2010). A rare cross-cultural, large-scale experiment tested this intervention with thousands of online learners across the U.S., China, and India and found that this exercise effectively boosted academic achievement in the U.S. but showed null results in the more collectivistic contexts of China and India (Kizilcec & Cohen, 2017). Follow-up surveys suggest a potential cultural mismatch. Students in India compared to those in the U.S. saw personal academic goals as secondary to fulfilling social obligations (e.g., chores) and relational goals (e.g., not disappointing family). These results suggest that the intervention’s focus on self-advancement, and its omission of relational considerations, may not have resonated with Indian students in the sample as it did with U.S. students. These findings are consistent with other cross-cultural research showing that, in India compared to the U.S., fulfilling social obligations is more motivating than achieving personal autonomy and that choices made by trusted others are more motivating than personal choices (Iyengar & Lepper, 1999; Tripathi et al., 2018). In the domain of economics, incentives based on social norms have been found to motivate effort to a greater extent compared to monetary incentives in India than the U.S. (Medvedev et al., 2024).

‘Culturally wise interventions’ actively attend to such cultural variation. Psychologically wise interventions are wise to how people make sense of themselves, others, and the social structures people seek to navigate (Walton & Wilson, 2018). ‘Culturally wise’ interventions are additionally wise to the fact that people are enculturated actors whose models of agency, goals, and social structures systematically vary across cultural contexts (Hoff & Stiglitz, 2016; Markus & Hamedani, 2019; Shweder, 2003). Past research has shown that incorporating culturally specific models in the representation of opportunities <mark>can foster individual motivation and performance (Stephens et al., 2012; Thomas et al., 2023; Thomas & Markus, 2023). F</mark> or example, <mark>in one lab experiment in Nairobi, Kenya, Thomas, Otis, et al. (2020) found that representing cash transfers as a way to either advance independent goals like self-reliance or interdependent goals like collective growth, as compared to meeting basic needs, both enhanced intrapersonal self-efficacy but only the interdependent narrative also influenced relational affordances, such as mitigating perceived social stigma, and promoted skills building behavior. In the context of the multi-faceted poverty reduction program in rural Niger, we hypothesize that representing independent models of agency will increase women’s intrapersonal beliefs, such as self-efficacy, but that representing interdependent agency intervention will additionally influence relational affordances and, ultimately, women’s economic development outcomes.</mark> In Study 1, we provide <mark>descriptive data on the sociocultural context and illustrate specific methods for</mark> designing ‘culturally wise’ social-psychological interventions. We find that, in rural Niger, models of women’s economic agency were more interdependent than independent, situating relational factors like social harmony and respect as more important than intrapersonal 4