The self and personality Flashcards
Define and explain cultural values
Def: guiding principles for how people in certain cultures interact with their physical and social environment
Assumptions
- all human societies are faced with the same problems
- with each problem, there is a particular set of solutions
- any society has to figure out what their desired solution is
- each society is capable of making use of any of these solutions
Measured using
- Kluckhohn and Strodbeck’s value dimensions
- Hofstede’s value dimensions
Klockhon and Strodbeck’s value dimensions
Talk about a particular problem and then a particular set of solutions to solve it
Four dimensions
1. Time orientation: alternative orientations are:
•Past: asian cultures - ancestor worship/prayers
•Present: hispanic-american cultures in 50s - no point in thinking about past or present (less common now)
•Future: european-americans
- Nature orientation: what are humans place is in the universe - alternative orientations are
•Subjugation to nature: idea that the world is unpredictable/cannot be influenced by you
*helpless mindset (ex: homeless, societies with extreme inequalities - poor perspective)
•Harmony with nature: humans are apart of nature and cannot be separated
*aboriginals: garudiauns/one with nature
•Mastery over nature: we are more powerful - Human nature orientation: is human inherently… alternative orientations are
•Good orientation: humans are born good
*olden day Korean Confunctionism (humans are made from purest forms of energy)
•Bad/evil orientation: humans are born to be sinful
*baptizing children caught on in places like korea because its an easier argument to make
•Mixed: blank slate, controlling impulses - Relational orientation: how we interact with others alternative orientations are
•Collateral: decisions are made based on concerns/goals of the group (group > self)
*Indigenous populations (fam > individual)
•Lineal: social hierarchy (succession)
*ex: more money, elders
•Individualistic: making decisions by themselves/for themselves with little consulting
*ex: deciding to go to uni and paying for it
Hofstede’s value dimensions
These 5 dimensions fall on a continuum
1. Power distance: whether people in a group expect/accept an uneven distribution of power (particularly those at the bottom of the society)
•Higher rates: rampant corruption, political scandals, uneven distribution of wealth, children taught to respect authority
*eastern european/asian
•Lower rates: less corruption, equal distribution of wealth, children given more autonomy
*english/westernized
- Uncertainty avoidance: whether people in a group are comfortable with ambiguity and unstructured interactions (how important are the norms)
•Higher rates: different opinions seen as dangerous (threatening/destabilizing), strong need for norms and rules (clarity/structure), teachers know best
*east asian/south american
•Lower rates: higher tolerance of different views, dislike of rules and norms, teachers can admit they don’t know
*english speaking and Nordic - Masculinity: whether men and women should have different (than their stereotypical) roles
•Masculine (higher): maximum gender role differentiation, women not as prominent in politics, and sexuality is highly moralized (essentialized)
*eastern european/asian
•Feminine (lower): minimum gender role differentiation, many women in politics, sexuality isn’t a moral issue
*nordic - Individualism: whether people are integrated into cohesive groups rather than a loose collection of individuals
•Individualism (higher): emphasizes speaking your mind, breaking rules causes guilt, primary relationships with immediate family
*western
•Collectivism (lower): emphasizes maintaining harmony, breaking rules is shameful, born into complex network of extended family
*central american, east asian, and aboriginal
This is the most studied value dimension - Indulgence: Whether people in a group value or control gratification of one’s desires and value happiness
•Higher: great importance on freedom of speech, people see personal life as controllable, and more likely to remember positive emotions
*nordic/english speaking
•Lower: little concern for freedom of speech, personal life seen through helplessness, and less likely to remember positive emotions
*ex soviet
Similarities and differences in the two value dimensions
text (goal distribution of Hofstedes value dimensions)
Self construals and their consequences
Self schemas: cognitive schemas that contain beliefs about the self - self construals
•implicates how we attain our goals and how much we attempt to exert control on surroundings
1. Independent construal:
•the self is completely independent of social context (solid envelope)
•how you define yourself is independent of who you’re with
•some level of fluidity between members of in group and out group (have to work to maintain relationships or they’ll fall to out group)
•linked to individualism
- Interdependent self construal
•self is not a bounded entity
•how were tied to others depends on the relationship
•the self depends on those close to self
•not much fluidity between in and out group
•linked to collectivism
DRAW OUT CIRCLES AND TABLE LECTURE 16
Class data: no significant difference in independence, but significant difference (.5) more interdependence on Asian Canadians from Asia than european Canadians (asian Canadians from Canada in between)
Differences associated with the self construals
- Self descriptors
•Independent defines self as abstract, global, traits (easy going, fun loving, extraverted)
•Interdependent: defines self as social categories/roles, affiliations (university student psychology major) - Self consistency
•Independent: conformity seen negatively, as immature people who adapt to different situations are seen as fake (cognitive dissonance- dissonance reduction)
•Interdependent: conformity seen positively as immature people people are stubborn/don’t conform
GRAPH - Implicit theories of self
Independent: entity theory of self
•self is stable(fixed abilities/innate qualities)
•when you fail, you blame it on an innate lack of ability (I can’t do math), resulting in the withdrawal from task (I’m never taking math again)
Interdependent: Incremental theory of self
•self is fluid, abilities can be changed with effort
•when you fail, you blame it on lack of effort (I wish I tried harder) - Self esteem
Independent: high self esteem
•Self enhancement: tend to view self as positively and motivated by desire to bolster self-image/demonstrate unique attributes
•try not to think about discrepancy between actual and ideal self
•related to depression
Interdependent: social categories, affiliations, social roles
•self-effacement: tend to view selves in critical/disparaging manner, motivated by desire to fit in with others/self improve
•stronger emphasis on negative traits
Self enhancement compensatory strategies
- downward social comparison: compare ourselves to those who are worse off than us
- discounting: downplay importance of the attribute
- external attributions: attribute failures to others than self
Some argue self enhancement can be beneficial
- More ambition
- Ignore adversity
- Better physical health
GRAPH
Personality
Personality: a sense of self
Debate on universal applicability of personality
Variables
•some languages (english) pay a lot more attention to personality
•personality is trans-situationally stable, but many cultures don’t discuss this
•simple extension of studying western individualism
Universals
•all cultures possess terms that describe one’s enduring characteristics
•“Personality” exists, but may need to reconceptualise as something existing within relationships for certain cultures
Lexical method and personality
All important individual differences in personality are encoded in natural language
1. look for all dictionary entries that are trait adjectives
2. reduce list by eliminating synonyms, physical descriptors, temporary states, and unfamiliar terms
3. present list to participants
4. factor analysis: way to determine how many factors underly a particular constructs
•ex: if we have 6 questions on a personality measure, they may respond similarly on 1, 3, and 4 (agree to one = agree to all) because they’re all the same personality cluster
FFM and personality
OtE: intelligence/curiosity about the world
C: how responsible/dependable someone is
E: how active/dominant someone is
A: how warm and pleasant someone is
N: emotional instability and unpredictability
Evidence for cultural universality and variability
NEO-PI-R: studies across 50 cultures have revealed universality in FFM BUT starting with english terms - yield 5 factors - use same terms in another context - get 5 factors
•there is a bias within the measure to find 5 factors
Using lexical method in another language replicated the FFM
1. Gregariousness: extraversion
•liking company of others, talkative, humorous
2. Self-assurance: low on neuroticism
•assertive, brave, insensitive, not gullible
3. Concern for others vs egotism: agreeableness
•not violent, humble, generous
4. Conscientiousness
•difference: religion is a descriptor
5. Intellect: OtE
•clever, sensible, talented
Additions
- Tempermentallness (hot headed, emotional reactivity, irritable)
- Negative valance (crazy, sadistic, social deviance)
Etic vs emic measures
Emic: a measure is created from within a culture, and used to assess people within that culture
•more cultural variability: tests give different results
Etic: a measure is created from one culture, and exported for the use in another culture
•more universality: test gives same results
Self esteem differences with self construals
Independent: high self esteem
•Self enhancement: tend to view self as positively and motivated by desire to bolster self-image, demonstrate unique attributes
•try not to think about discrepancy between actual and ideal self
•related to depression
Interdependent:
•self-effacement: tend to view selves in critical/disparaging manner, motivated by desire to fit in with others/self improve
•stronger emphasis on negative traits
•experience more awareness of actual vs ideal self not as concerned about discrepancy
Self enhancement compensatory strategies
- downward social comparison: compare ourselves to those who are worse off than us
- discounting: downplay importance of the attribute
- external attributions: attribute failures to others than self
Some argue self enhancement can be beneficial
- More ambition (thinking about those who are worse than you)
- Ignore adversity
- Better physical health (less pressure/stress)
Studying self esteem (Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale)
•1-4 scale
•If there were no self enhancement factors, everyone would be in the middle of the scale
Findings:
•Europeans have greater self enhancement (less variability)
•East Asians tend to mimic what it would look like without self enhancement (a little more variability but neutral)
Potential reasons:
•Self enhancement vs group enhancement (not a lot of support because Europeans do both)
•Matter of importance (ask gill)
•Modesty norms: maybe people will realize if you’re lying to yourself or its not appropriate to brag in east asian cultures
•Response sets: moderacy bias’
