Personality

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

Aspects of an individual’s unique characteristics
- enduring behavioral and cognitive characteristics, traits or predispositions

Question 2

Trait

Answer 2

A characteristic or quality distinguishing a person

Question 3

Identity

Answer 3

Perceived roles in life, life experieces and narratives, values and motives

Question 4

Psychological anthropology

Answer 4

This perspective forms the basis of the notion of a ‘national character’, which refers to the perception that each culture has a modal personality type and that most persons in that culture share aspects of it
- Personality is a relevant and meaningfull concept in the cultures that are being compared.

Question 5

Cultural indigenous perspective

Answer 5

This perspective views personality as developed in a particular culture and found only in a specific culture; personality and culture are not separate entities, but are mutually constituted with each other

Question 6

Cross-cultural perspective

Answer 6

This perspective views personality as something discrete and separate from culture, and as an etic or universal phenomenon that is equivalently relevant and meaningful across cultures (which allows for comparisons to be made)

Question 7

Etic

Answer 7

Focused on measurement equivalence of improted instruments –> can be measured/compared across cultures
- strong focus on similarities may create blind spots

Question 8

Emic

Answer 8

Indigenous, culture-specific approach –> difficult to measure with the same meaning across cultures
- focus on cultural uniqueness

Question 9

Combined emic-etic

Answer 9

Starts in one culture from an emic approach and then takes the model from that culture and applies to other cultures in an etic approach to compare

Question 10

Universality of the five factor model

Answer 10

Similarities in personality dimensions within and between cultures
- factor analyses of trait adjectives from English lexicon that were descriptive of the self and others
- widely used measure -> revised NEO personality inventory

Question 11

Cross cultural differences in mean aggregate levels of five factor model
- why are there differences?

Answer 11

1. Cultures shaped personalities through learning
2. Selective migration of similar individuals

Question 12

Why do we have perceptions on personality traits

Answer 12

• national identity?
• other sources for stereotypes: climate, national wealth, values and social desirability
• differences in other/self-perception

Question 13

Five Factor Theory

Answer 13

This is the big five in personality traits: basic tendencies
- Neuroticisme
- Openness
- Conscientiousness
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
–> Explains where traits come from

Question 14

Characteristic adaptations on cultural bases

Answer 14

• Personal strivings
• Attitudes
• Skills
• Roles
• Relationships

Question 15

Self concepts

Answer 15

• self-schemas
• Specific beliefs
• Specific behaviors

Question 16

Evolutionary Approach

Answer 16

Universality of human interests
- traits serve adaptive functions
- hierarchical model from needs to action

Question 17

Ashanti personality
- Emic

Answer 17

Child is given the name of the day, as it refers to the soul of the day
–> overrepresented in the justice system
- selective enhancement - internalized expectations?

Question 18

Ubuntu personality
- Emic

Answer 18

African Personality
- ‘a person is only a person through others’
- layers
- three references axes: family, community, ancestors

Question 19

Amae personality
- Emic

Answer 19

Japanese (building block of relationships)
- form of passive lover or dependency
- originating in the relationship with the mother
Familiar to self-distancing and self-assertive dimensions, and could thus be translated into other personality dimensions

Question 20

Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI)
- combined emic and etic

Answer 20

• bottom-up, methodologically rigorous, indigenous approach, with a psycholexical starting point
• Emic/indigenous factor of interpersonal relatedness (Harmony and Renqing = theoretically and emprirically distinct
  –> take it to other cultures (etic) andrenaming: Cross-cultural personality assessment inventory

Question 21

South African Personality Inventory (SAPI)

Answer 21

Phase 1: Emic, culture-specific phase
Phase 2: instrument development phase
Phase 3: Combined emic-etic cross-cultural phase

Question 22

Emic phase 1: personality descriptors

Answer 22

11 languages –> dictonary use problemetic
Solution:
- interviews with 1216 participants
- 49818 responses, 900 personality descriptors
- not exhausitve but ecologically valid

Question 23

Phase 2: instrument development

Answer 23

Consideration:
- will the item translate well?
- Item too long in English? Idiomatic items?
Item Culling
–> traitedness

Question 24

Traitedness in instrument development

Answer 24

More expected in individualistic contexts
- concrete behaviours
- qualified by situation
- qualified by relation
- expressed as relation or role
- expressed as joint description

Question 25

Big Five

Answer 25

• conscietiousness
• emotional stability
• extraversie
• openess/intellect
• agreeableness

Question 26

Phase 3 combined emic/etic for cross-cultural applicability

Answer 26

Comparison of South African groups and non South African groups –> emic-etic

Question 27

Arab Personality Inventory (API)

Answer 27

Based on the five factor model and adds religious and moral values, gender roles and socioeconomic and political context

Question 28

Can all trait dimensions be valid

Answer 28

• if trait dimensions have a biological basis
• if they are different pieces of the same cake
  But: personality traits are not good predictors of behavior
  –> Is personality just a label to roganize descriptions more efficiently