Culture and personality 2 Flashcards
How do you measure different traits for different cultures?
Create endogenous scales to see if the same traits emerge
What Big Five traits have emerged from other cultures?
extraversion, conscientiousness, intellect and openness, agreeableness (those these may have different cultural value and interpretations)
Factors other than the Big Five
unselfishness, gentle temper, dependency/fragility, positive valence, negative valence, pleasantness, engagement, interpersonal relatedness
What are other differences in the ways cultures differ in thought?
Formulation and expression of independent and original points of view, versus consensus building and/or tradition and mastery (difference may be due to culture suppressing self-expression or to the importance placed on learning about an area before attempting to formulate new ideas or ask questions)
What is an origin of cultural differences?
Avoiding the issue; viewed these questions as unanswerable; not a useful approach
Deconstructionism
reality has no meaning apart from what humans invent, or construct
Examples of ecology
need for complex agricultural projects and water systems in China, required coordination and results in collectivism
need for hunting in Germany, which required more individual effort and resulted in individualism
levels of infectious disease based on living in clean vs. dirty environments with high disease associated with low extraversion and openness
need to catch fish in open water, which is dangerous, is related to men with high bravery, violence, and domination over women; ability to catch fish easily in protected water is related to men who are gentle, ignore insults, and are respectful of women
These are only speculations.
The pathway of cultural differences
Ecology → Culture → Socialization → Personality → Behavior
How do cultural differences occur from personality differences?
Genetics may affect both personality and culture
But
Genetic differences are small, at most
Traits are likely to be weak predictors of behavior at the cultural level
People within cultures differ from each other
The data that support this idea can be explained in other ways
Ethnocentrism
judging another culture from the point of view of one’s own
Observations of other cultures will be influenced by the observer’s own cultural background
The exaggeration of cultural differences
often based on assuming all individuals of a culture are alike
The focus of research has been on differences
Large sample sizes lead to statistically significant results even when differences are small
Cultural relativism
idea that all cultural views of reality are equally valid
: means cultures cannot be judged as good or bad; female genital mutilation, ethnic cleansing, terrorism
How does Subcultures and multiculturalism play a role?
It is difficult to define culture
Important subgroups exist within large cultures
People can belong to more than one culture
Bicultural identity integration (BII)
The Universal Human Condition
New emphasis on how people are psychologically similar
Ex.
Personal goals
Strength of emotional feelings
even though expression of feelings may differ
