Culture and Personality Lecture 6 Culture and Personality

Outline Definition Cross-cultural research on personality Culture and the Big Five Factor Model of Personality Measurement of personality across cultures Indigenous personality

Definition Definition : Personality = a set of relatively enduring behavioral and cognitive characteristics, traits of individuals that are stable across situations, contexts, and time. Personality is based on stability and consistency across contexts, situations, and interactions

Approaches in studying personality Cross-cultural approaches in studying personality anthropologist provides earliest contribution to understand the r/ships between culture and personality through ethnographic fieldwork. The anthropology approach personality is cultural specific and contributes to the understanding of Cultural Psychology

Approaches in studying personality CCPsy sees personality as an etic or universal phenomenon that is equally relevant and meaningful in culture being compared. However, CCPsy also acknowledge indigenous personalities (cultural-specific)

Cross-cultural research on personality (Locus of control) Locus of control (Rotter, 1954, 1966) The belief of how much control one has on his/her behaviour and relationship with environment and with others

Cross-cultural research on personality (Locus of control) Internal locus of control (depends on the person) vs. External locus of control (depends on the environment). American > internal locus of control than Chinese, Japanese, Africans, Filipinos, Brazilians.

Studies on control Yamaguchi (2001) – control can be understood through the following 4 types : Direct control Indirect control Proxy Collective control Cultures can be explained through these 4 types of controls.

Cross-cultural research on personality Self-esteem Americans (European/North Americans) – have a pervasive tendency to maintain their feelings of self-esteem and self-worth. This is aligned with self-serving bias, defensive attributions, and illusory optimism as mechanisms for self-enhancement. In contrast, Asians (e.g.Japanese, Malaysian cultures) more negative self-evaluations. Personal self-esteem is a character of individualism.

Cross-cultural research on personality Eysenck Personality Scales – measures 3 personality traits, i.e.: (1)tough-mindness/psychoticism, (2)emotionality (Neuroticism), and (3) Extroversion. Asians seemed to less extrovert than Americans/Europeans and higher scores in Social desirability Scales.

Cross-cultural research on personality (contd.) Other studies – self-monitoring behaviours, Allocentrism (people center their attention and actions on other people rather than themselves) vs. idiocentrism (denoting interest centered upon oneself or one's own ways), authoritarianism (to study the concept of dominance & rigidity Cattel’s 16 PF scale Sidek Personality Inventory, Cognitive style and field dependence

Five Factor Model of Personality (The Big Five theory of Personality) Assumption of FFM: All human beings share a similar personality structure that consists of 5 traits or dimensions of personality. (OCEAN) Openness to experience Conscientiousness agreeableness Extroversion Neuroticism

O.C.E.A.N Traits associated with the FFM Openness to experience – Fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas, values Conscientiousness – Competence, order, dutifulness, achievement striving. Self-discipline, deliberation

O.C.E.A.N Extraversion – warmth, gregariousness, assertiveness, activity, excitement seeking. Positive emotions. Agreeableness – trust, straightforwardness, altruism, compliance, modesty, tender-mindedness Neuroticism – anxiety, angry hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness, vulnerability

Measurement of personality across cultures Do the psychology tools that measure personality fulfil psychometric requirements? Validity and reliability studies Issues of translation and its quality Response style

Culture and indigenous personality Indigenous personality – personalities that are developed in a particular culture that are specific and relevant only to that culture. To study IP needs methodologies particular to that culture. E.g. Chinese Personality Assessment inventory (CPAI) may resemble the FFM but add up dimensions not covered by the FFM, such as Chinese Tradition.

Integrating universal and culture- specific understanding of personality Personality should be understood as a multidimensional construct  of traits and identities, i.e. biologically determined and culture-oriented.

Conclusion Various approaches in measuring personality. FFM suggests universality in structure of personality However, indigenous aspects of personality fills in the gap of universal features of personality.