Culture and Personality Flashcards
what is culture
shared systems of meaning that provide standards of perceiving, believing, evaluating, communnicating, and acting among those who share a language, a historic period, and a geographical location
what is a simple definition of culture?
culture is the game rules
true or false; culture is equivalent to race/ethnicity
false
what is the anthropological view of culture and personality
personality is only culture
what is the modern view of culture and personality
personality traits are products of biological and cultural evolution
culture is needed to understand the personality and personality makes up culture
what are possible methods in studying cultural differences in personality
lexical approach
combined ETIC/EMIC approach
cognitive perspective approach
what is the lexical approach to studying culture and personality
use natural language to study cultural universals/differences in personality
what is found about the big 5 using the lexical approach?
they are replicated cross culturally in spain
what is the limitation of the lexical approach
assuming that not additional words are describing personality in the other culture, just used the categories established in american culture
what is the combined ETIC/EMIC approach
combine ETIC and EMIC approaches
what is the EMIC approach
indigenous measures
use the lexical appraoch within the culture to find important personality words
what is the ETIC approach
imported measures
use the lexical approach from another culture in the new culture
what are the spanish big 7
positive valience
negative valience
conscientiousness
agreeableness
openness
pleasantness
engagement
what is the difference between spanish big 7 and our big 7
they are similar categories, but use slightly different words than we would use
what is the new factors that spanish big 7 introduce
pleasantness
engagement
what could explain the presence of the new factors in the spanish big 7
spanish culture could be more passionate and therefore puts importance on those traits
how is the overlap between spanish +ve valence and imported +ve valence?
positively and highly correlated
how is the overlap between spanish -ve valence and imported -ve valience
positive and moderately correlated
how is the overlap between agreeableness culturally?
positive and highy correlated
how is the overlap between conscientiousness culturally?
positively and highly correlated
how is the overlap between openness culturally?
low positive correlation
how is the overlap between spanish pleasantness and imported extraversion/neuroticism?
high positive correlation with extraversion
moderate negative correlation with neuroticism
how is the overlap between spanish engagement and imported extraversion/neuroticism?
moderately postive correlation for both
what are the conclusions of the spanish big 7 studies
considerable overlap between the two cultures
openness means something different in spain
pleasantness and engagement replace extraversion and neuroticism
+ve and -ve valence are robust across both cultures
what are the big four cultural syndromes
individualism vs collectivism
vertical vs horizontal
uncertainty avoidance
gender socialization
what is individualism
self is independent of others
use self-descriptive language
where is individualism usually found?
western cultures
what is collectivism
self is interdependent with others in your group
use interpersonal roles to describe self
where is collectivism usually found
eastern cultures
what are criticisms about the collectivist/individualist approach
countries used as comparisons
overgeneralization
what is the countries of comparison criticism of the collect/ind approach?
most evidence compares USA and Japan, but USA is very individualistic and Japan is only moderately collectivistic
what is the overgeneralization criticism of the collect/ind approach?
ppl in the culture can differ between collect/ind
a singular person can vary in collect/ind depending on the context
what are the vertical/horizontal relationships
emphasis on hierarchy/status (vertical) vs equality (horizontal)
example of country that is vertical and collectivist
india
example of country that is vertical and individualist
USA
example of country that is horizontal and individualistic
sweden
example of country that is horizontal and collectivist
Isreali Kibbutz
what is uncertainty avoidance
tolerance for ambiguity and comfort in unstructured situations (low avoidance) vs strong belief in rules/safety/security (high avoidance)
what is gender socialization
how enforced gender roles are in the culture
what is evoked culture
cultural differences that emerge as a result of different environments
what are examples of evoked culture
egalitarianism because of food supply
culture of honor because of economics
how are egalitarianism and food supply related
highly variable food supply will lead to a more horizontal culture and vice versa
who studied cultures of honor
Nisbett
what is a culture of honor
culture that responds aggressively to insults because of emphasis on reputation
how are cultures of honor and economics related? why is this?
cultures with herding economics have cultures of honor
prevent thievery
agriculturally based cultures aren’t usually cultures of honor because their whole income is not stolen as easily
what is an example of culture of honor
Southern USA
what did Nisbett’s study find
southerners;
-favour violence more
- violence is linked to reputation insults
-have higher testosterone and cortisol when insulted
- have higher implicit associations with violent words
what countries tend to have high power distance
latin
asian
african
what countries tend to have low power distance
germanic countries
what countries tend to have high uncertainty avoidance
latin
japan
german speaking
what countries tend to have low uncertainty avoidance
anglo
nordic
chinese cultures
what countries tend to have high gender socialization
japan
germany
austria
switzerland
what countries tend to have moderate gender socialization
english speaking countries
what countries tend to have low gender socialization
nordic countries
netherlands
some latin
thailand
what Big5 traits are correlated with individualism
extraversion (+)
what Big5 traits are correlated with power distance
extraversion (-)
conscientiousness (+)
openness (-)
what Big5 traits are correlated with masculinity
openness (+)
neuroticism (+)
agreeableness (-)
what Big5 traits are correlated with uncertainty avoidance
neuroticism (+)
agreeableness (-)
what was the personality profiles of cultures project
took uni students from 51 different countries
asked them to rate someone they knew on the NEO-PI-R measure of Big5
what is transmitted culture? where do we learn it?
culture-specific ideas/values/beliefs that are transmitted to others within the culture
taught in early life through socialization
what did Rice and Steele study
compared subjective well-being of citizens from 20 nations and SWB of americans with ancestors in those countries
what survey did the americans take in Rice and Steele’s study
General Social Survey (GSS)
what survey did the 20 nations take in Rice and Steele’s study
world values survey (WVS)
what were the results of Rice and Steele’s study
SWB of country of origin was correlated positively with SWB of immigrants
immigrants who went to church at least once a week had more transmitted culture
what is biculturalism
individuals that have internalized more than one culture
what are compatible cultural identities
unconflicting identities that co-exist and are complementary to each other that make biculturalism an asset
what are oppositional cultural identities
conflicting identities that are chosen between and have a dissociation that makes biculturalism a burden
what is the cognitive perspective approach to culture
culture is a shared meaning system that someone can possess more than one of and can switch between
culture guides behaviour only when meaning-systems are cognitively available accessible and applicable
what were the methods of the biculturalism study
chinese-americans were primed with US or Chinese cultural meaning systems (or control neutral) and then asked to explain an ambiguous social event
internal attributions were individualistic and external attributions were collectivistic
what were the results of the biculturalism study?
biculturals have multiple cultural meaning systems and can move between them based on cues
biculturals baseline cognitive attributions fall between the cultures without priming
