4 17 07: 4 17 07 Ch 17 = Culture and Personality 1. Cultural Universals and Differences 2. Markus andamp; Kitayama (1991) Model 3. Suh: Self-Consistency


Ch 17 = Culture and Personality: Ch 17 = Culture and Personality Some Cultural Universals 1. 2. 3. 4. Higher status person is 'Dr. blank' or 'Mr. So and so' Lower status person is 'Jack' or 'Bob' 5.


Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality: Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality What About Sex Roles? Margaret Mead (1935): Documented particular culture in which women were more dominant Today


Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality: Men: active, aggressive, conceited, loud, pleasure-seeking, reckless, tough Women: affectionate, dependent, emotional, fearful, modest, patient, prudish, timid, warm Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality


Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality: Williams andamp; Best (1990) Both men and women are viewed favorably as well as disfavorably However, in terms of different attributes Such sex differences have some support (Ch 16) Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality


Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality: Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality Ekman (1973) Set of emotional facial expressions Traveled to Fore foragers of New Guinea No exposure to Western culture Also Japan, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, USA Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, surprise


Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality: Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality Ekman (1973): 'your child has died', etc. Lazarus (1991): studies of blind children Thus, emotion expression


Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality: Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality Interpersonal circumplex Why? We don’t know for sure But knowing dominance and warmth of others is presumably a universal benefit


Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality: Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality Is personality a Western thing? In describing the spontaneous self (TST) In evaluating the behaviors of others (e.g., Miller, 1984) Recent research has evaluated this


Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality: Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality Is personality a Western thing? No Big 5 factor structure replicates in France, Holland, Philippines, Sino-Tibetan, Hamito-Semitic, Malayo-Polynesian cultures, so on


Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality: Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality Cultural diffs in traits Stereotypes or reality?


Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality: Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality McCrae et al. (2005) 80 colleagues 51 cultures 12,156 participants Big 5 inventory


Ch 17 = Culture and Personality: Ch 17 = Culture and Personality Cultural universals Cultural differences Also pronounced, however..


Ch 17 = Culture and Personality: Ch 17 = Culture and Personality Americans: oysters French: snails, frog legs Zulus: locusts Chinese: snakes Jale, New Guinea: people


Ch 17 = Culture and Personality: Ch 17 = Culture and Personality Middle Eastern men kiss each other on the cheek Germans do not visit 'Herr Professor' during office hours Iranians do not eat French Fries with their hands Japanese have many customs that Americans frankly do poorly with


Ch 17 = Culture and Personality: Ch 17 = Culture and Personality Norms However, aware when go to other cultures Scotland: fork stays in left hand Americans: cut, drop knife, then pick up fork with right hand Other examples of being fish out of water?


Ch 17 = Culture and Personality: Ch 17 = Culture and Personality Very loose with time Often late Very tight with time Perceived as obsessive by southern Europeans


Ch 17 = Culture and Personality: Ch 17 = Culture and Personality With strangers, larger With intimates, smaller Those near equator prefer less space Northern Europeans want more space


Ch 17 = Culture and Personality: Ch 17 = Culture and Personality India = 84% United States = 47% Germany = 9% Iceland = 3%


Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality: Chapter 17 = Culture and Personality Brahmins = not OK Americans = OK Brahmins = OK Americans = not OK Brahmins = not OK Americans = not OK What is considered acceptable varies by culture


Short film clip: Short film clip Cultural differences Are they chaotic and random? Or can we understand them more systematically? Recent work contrasts Americans, Europeans Vs. Japanese, Korean, Chinese, African, Indian Loosely Western versus Eastern And self-concept differences Film fact sheet


Cultural Differences: Cultural Differences Markus andamp; Kitayama (1991) model Very influential Cultures differ in self-concept


Cultural Differences: Cultural Differences Markus andamp; Kitayama (1991) model American, European Self exists apart from others self mother father friend girlfriend


Cultural Differences: Cultural Differences Markus andamp; Kitayama (1991) model Asian, Indian, African Self overlaps with others self mother father friend girlfriend


Cultural Differences: Cultural Differences Consequences for cognition (1) Self varies across contexts (or not) Contradictions allowed (or not) Me as friend: caring, submissive Me as boss: hard-assed, uncaring


Cultural Differences: Cultural Differences Consequences for cognition (2) Independent Behaviors attributed to traits (e.g., he is a jerk) Interdependent Behaviors attributed to situation (e.g., he must be in a hurry)


Cultural Differences: Cultural Differences (1) - ego focused = anger, pride Own needs andamp; wants Independent self, Western self - other focused = sympathy, shame, caring Other’s needs andamp; wants Interdependent, Eastern self


Cultural Differences: Cultural Differences Consequences for emotion (2) amae = need to be at another’s indulgence oime = feeling of indebtedness


Cultural Differences: Cultural Differences Consequences for emotion (3) Yes Internal attributes (feelings) seen as authentic reflection of self No Feelings seen as selfish, disruptive, primitive (4) Japan = less intense feelings, expressions China, Ghana = emotions seen as body problems not social ones


Cultural Differences: Cultural Differences Consequences for motivation (1) - deference = need to defer, follow - similance = need to emulate abasement = need for self-deprecation


Cultural Differences: Cultural Differences Consequences for motivation (2) Japan: - no desire to view self andgt; other - 'the nail that stands out gets pounded' (3) Western - yes - success: me; failure: situation Eastern - no - success: not me; failure: me


Culture and Self-Consistency (Suh, 2002) : Culture and Self-Consistency (Suh, 2002) Western conception of mental health Self-actualization Self as guidance, meaning Others just screw you up


Culture and Self-Consistency (Suh, 2002) : Culture and Self-Consistency (Suh, 2002) Eastern conception of mental health


Culture and Self-Consistency (Suh, 2002) : Culture and Self-Consistency (Suh, 2002) Importance of self-consistency in West People seek, trust feedback that confirms self concept Maintaining coherent self-view an important motive More inconsistency across roles = more depression, neuroticism


Culture and Self-Consistency (Suh, 2002) : Culture and Self-Consistency (Suh, 2002) Less cognitive dissonance arising from behavior that violates one’s prior attitudes Less critical of public behavior that mismatches private Americans would call this hypocrisy


Culture and Self-Consistency (Suh, 2002) : Culture and Self-Consistency (Suh, 2002) A tree changes colors, loses leaves, etc. It is still the same tree Thus, acting differently in different situations is natural


Culture and Self-Consistency: Culture and Self-Consistency Personal Pentagram self interacting with different people Romantic partner, parents, same-sex friend, stranger, teacher/professor How characteristic of you is each trait? Talkative (T), serious (S), nervous (N), intellectual (I), cheerful (C) Rank from 1 = most characteristic to 5 = least Connect each trait across contexts


Culture and Self-Consistency (Suh, 2002) : Culture and Self-Consistency (Suh, 2002) Extent to which equally talkative across situations Extent to which equally serious across situations 'traited' in this sense Always the same regardless of who I’m interacting with


Ch 16 = Culture and Personality : Ch 16 = Culture and Personality Self is always the same Self changes Koreans pentagrams less ordered (more variation) Consistency more predictive of happiness for ___