Chapter 9 Personality and Cultural Values

Question 1

What is personality?

What are cultural values?

Answer 1

Personality refers to the structures and propensities inside people that explain their characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior. It also refers to people’s social reputations—the way they are perceived by others. In this way, personality captures what people are like (unlike ability, which reflects what people can do).

Cultural values are shared beliefs about desirable end states or modes of conduct in a given culture that influence the development and expression of traits.

Question 2

what are the big 5 personality dimensions?

Answer 2

The “Big Five” include:

1. conscientiousness (e.g., dependable, organized, reliable)
2. agreeableness (e.g., warm, kind, cooperative)
3. neuroticism (e.g., nervous, moody, emotional)
4. openness to experience (e.g., curious, imaginative, creative)
5. extraversion (e.g., talkative, sociable, passionate)

Question 3

Is personality driven by nature or by nurture?

Answer 3

Although both nature and nurture are important, personality is affected significantly by genetic factors. Studies of identical twins reared apart and studies of personality stability over time suggest that between 35 and 45 percent of the variation in personality is genetic. Personality can be changed, but such changes are apparent only over the course of several years.

Question 4

What taxonomies can be used to describe personality, other than the Big Five?

Answer 4

The Big Five is the dominant taxonomy of personality; other taxonomies include the MyersBriggs Type Inventory and Holland’s RIASEC model.

Question 5

What taxonomies can be used to describe cultural values?

Answer 5

Hofstede’s taxonomy of cultural values includes individualism–collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity–femininity, and short-term vs. long-term orientation.

More recent research by Project GLOBE has replicated many of those dimensions and added five other means to distinguish among cultures: gender egalitarianism, assertiveness, future orientation, performance orientation, and humane orientation.

Question 6

How does personality affect job performance and organizational commitment?

Answer 6

Conscientiousness has a moderate positive relationship with job performance and a moderate positive relationship with organizational commitment. It has stronger effects on these outcomes than the rest of the Big Five.

Question 7

Are personality tests useful tools for organizational hiring?

Answer 7

Personality tests are useful tools for organizational hiring. Research suggests that applicants do “fake” to some degree on the tests, but faking does not significantly lower the correlation between test scores and the relevant outcomes.