lecture 8 Flashcards
What is culture and personality psychology?
- customs, habits, and beliefs that shape emotions and personality
- it highlights the differences between individuals
How does culture impact personality?
give examples (eye contact, emotion, face)
- individual personalites differ when belonging to different cultural groups
- basically the same things may have different meanings in different cultures
Eye contact
- sign of respect in america
- confrontational in asia
Emotional expression
- high arousal emotions in western cultures
- low arousal emotions in collectivist
Face cultures
- reputation/respect is very important in eastern asia; severe social consequences
What is the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory?
- studied many employees in 40 countries
- the needs and rights of the group vs the individual
What is power distance?
measures acceptance of inequality within a culture
High power distance
- hierarchical cultures wheer authority is respected
Low power distance
- egalitarian cultures with less emphasis on hiearchy
What is Masculinity vs Feminity?
masculine cultures
- value competitiveness, ambition, and achievement
Feminine cultures
- emphasize cooperation, nurturing, and quality of life
What is uncertainty Avoidance
reflects a cultures tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty
High uncertainty avoidance
- prefer rules, structure, and predictability
Low uncertainty avoidance
- comfortable with ambiguity and flexibility
What is individualism vs collectivism?
individualistic cultures (independent)
- prioritize personal goals and self-reliance
- no obligation to larger community
- celebrate individual achievements; own goals over the companies goals
- emphasize achievement
Collectivist cultures (interdependent)
- value group harmony and loyalty
- individual is expected to be loyal
- everyone has their own expected role
- avoid failure
- traditionally collectivist cultures are becoming more individualistic
What are long term vs short term orientations?
Long term
- focus on future goals, perseverance and savings
short term
- emphasize the present; immediate gratification
indulgance vs restraint
indulgance
- allows free expression, enjoyment, and leisure
retraint
- control desires with strict norms
Things about WEIRD populations
Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic
- most research is based on them despite being a minority of the global population (basically bias)
- people who move to WEIRD countries become more extroverted
Characteristics of cultures
Dignity
- individuals value their own rights; social judgement irrelevant
- common in market driven societies
Honour
- an individuals worth is based on reputation
- able to defend ones personal status
Face
- Social worth is determined by fulfilling societal and hierarchical expectations
- main focus is to maintain harmony
How traits vary between cultures
- How average level of traits vary across cultures
- Are there traits which are specific to a culture and can such traits be meaningfully applied to other cultures?
- Most extraverted countries: Mexico, Hungary, Bulgaria,
- Least: Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong ( Gardiner et al., 2018)
- Chinese living in Canada more open, cheerful & agreeable than Chinese in Hong Kong.
- Differences positively correlated with length of stay ( McCrae et al., 1998)
subcultures also exist within nations; different parts of america act differently
What are some challenges in cross-cultural research?
- Response Styles:
- East Asians often choose midpoints on rating scales, complicating direct comparisons.
- Scale Construction Issues:
- Western-developed scales (e.g., Big Five) may not capture cultural nuances, such as the emphasis on humility in Asian populations.
- Generalization Problems:
- Applying findings from WEIRD populations to non-WEIRD cultures leads to inaccuracies.
Culture and personality
ways of thinking
collectivists
- hollistic thinking: context is important (things are related to eachother)
- integrate different view points (describing oneself in contradictary terms)
individualistc
- analytical, categrocal
- abstract laws
Independent thinking vs contextual approach
independent thinking
- focusues on individual opinions, problem solving, and a zoom in perspective (smaller picture)
- associated with western cultures where this is prioritized
Contextual thinking
- emphasizes relationshups, contextm abd a zoom out perspective (bigger picture)
- common in collectivist cultures
cultural influence
- Family upbringing shapes behavior. For instance, in some cultures, children are encouraged to voice opinions, while in others, they are taught to remain quiet and respectful of elders.
The origin of cultural differences
Ecology → Culture → Socialization → Personality → Behavior
collectivism
- agricultural societies cooperation & focus on common good to survival
individualism
- hunter gatherers, more of individual or a small group cooperation to survive
Industrial Revolution and Population Growth
- Advancements in nutrition and lifestyle led to a significant increase in population.
- By 1800, Jordan experienced a population boom, providing the workforce necessary
for the Industrial Revolution.
What is ethnocentrism?
Judging other cultures based on one’s cultural norms and values.
- focus on differences
- large sample sizes
examples
- asians are higher in “x” trait
subcultures and multicultrualism
- hard to define culture
- people can belong to many cultures
Billiguals and personality
- Research suggests bilingual individuals may exhibit different personality traits depending on the language used.
- Example: Mexican bilinguals were more extroverted and agreeable when tested in English compared to Spanish.
- bilinguals were more extraverted, agreeable, and conscientious in English than in Spanish
- differences for neuroticism relatively small
What is the universal human condition?
- How people are psychologically similar
- Culture may influence how people want to feel than how they actually feel
- American may laugh more than Chinese but both may actually feel the same way
- Personal goals similar in Chinese students and Canadian students
- Desire to please one’s parents
- Get good grades, shop for dinner
- Universal Human Condition:
- Everybody, everywhere must exist, work, relate to other people and ultimately die (Sartre)
- Culture may influence how people want to feel than how they actually feel
