Culture and Personality Processes:Conceptual and Methodological IssuesVeronica Benet-MartinezUniversity of California at Riverside, USA

Universitat Rovira i VirgiliMarch 23-25, 2010

DAY 2Culture and Personality Taxonomies

*Required Readings:

Benet-Martnez, V. & Waller, N. G. (1997). Further evidence for the cross-cultural generality of the Big Seven model: Imported and indigenous Spanish personality constructs. Journal of Personality, 65, 567-598.

Aaker, J., Benet-Martnez, V., & Garolera, J. (2001). Consumption symbols as carriers of culture: A study of Japanese and Spanish brand personality constructs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 249-264.

CULTURE AND PERSONALITY TRAITS: LEXICAL APPROACH Key idea: Language as a window to study the personality of a particular culture

My work: Exploration of basic dimensions of personality description in Spanish

Method: Combined Emic-Etic

Which are the most basic dimensions of personality?Is this basic structure universal? --> Long-lasting debate over the number and nature of the fundamental dimensions of personality

ambitious

awkward

bitter

boastful

boring

brave

careful

cheerful

chic

clever

clumsy

clumsy

cowardly

creative

dainty

dignified

dishonest

dull

excitable

fanciful

forgiving

ecstatic

energetic

gentle

glamorous

gutless

handsome

hateful

honest

hot-tempered

imaginative

intelligent

kind

lazy

lonely

loving

loyal

mean

mushy

neat

patient

poetic

practical

proud

quarrelsome

romantic

sarcastic

self-centered

selfish

shy

silly

sincere

sloppy

smug

somber

stingy

stubborn

stupid

sullen

superstitious

sweet

understanding

vain

wasteful

wise

PSYCHO-LEXICAL APPROACH

Natural language as a window to study cultural universals and differences in personality

FUNDAMENTAL LEXICAL HYPOTHESIS:

Those psychological constructs that are the most salient in peoples lives will eventually become encoded into their language The more important is such construct: (1) the more likely it is to be expressed as a single word, (2) overepresented in the language, and (3) the more languages and cultures will have a word for it.

(Goldberg, 1982)

Do the Big 5 fully capture the domain of personality description? What is the structure of English personality lexicon if you dont exclude evaluations, states, and social roles?

HISTORY OF LEXICAL PERSONALITY RESEARCH

Allport & Odbert (1936)

Websters II unabridged

Traits

StatesEvaluationsDoubtful

4,5044,5415,226

3,682

Cattell (1943)

Norman (1963)

FIRST FACTOR ANALYSIS EFFORTS:

5 Factors

Norman (1967)

Websters III

Traits States Social Roles Evaluative Physical Ambiguous Obscure

2,8002,6381,4767618824,7963607

Goldberg (1990, 1992)

John (1984, 1989)

FIVE FACTORS !

Costa & McCrae (1985)

E, A, C, N, O

MORE FACTOR ANALYSES

ETC.

ExtroversionAgreeablenessConscientiousnessNeuroticismCultureHuman Personality Dimensions: Big FiveHP

Sources: McCrae and Costa (1997), Norman (1963), Tupes and Chrystal (1958)

BIG SEVEN : Big Five plus two independent evaluative dimensions

POSITIVE VALENCE Outstanding OrdinaryImpressive Average Excellent Not exceptionalPOWERExceptionalAdmirable Important ESTEEM NEGATIVE VALENCEWicked Awful Dangerous MORALITY Disgusting Vicious Treacherous

Original Eng. studies: Tellegen & Waller, 1987; Waller, 2000Facets of Pval and Nval: Benet-Martinez & Waller, 2002

BASIC FACETS OF THE EVALUATIVE PERSONALITY DOMAIN:

Benet-Martnez & Waller (2002). From adorable to worthless: Implicit and self-report structure of highly-evaluative personality descriptors. EJP

1. Distinction (first-class vs. mediocre)2. Worth (gem vs. meaningless)3. Evilness(repulsive vs. adorable) NEGATIVE VALENCE4. Conventionality (odd vs. traditional)5. Stupidity (lunkhead vs. competent)

[replicated in both self-reports and semantic sortings]

POSITIVE VALENCE

Study 2: Multi-Trait Multi-Observer Matrix: Correlations Between Self-Reports and Observer-Ratings on the Big Seven

Observer-Ratings

Self-ReportsPVNVPENECACN

Positive Valence (PV)

.26

.01

.26-.10-.08-.04-.14

Negative Valence (NV)

-.11

.21

-.01

-.01

-.12

-.05

-.16

Positive Emotionality (PE)

.11

.12

.63

-.11

-.18

-.06

-.08

Negative Emotionality (NE)

.00

-.01

-.14

.46

.08

.01

.11

Conscientiousness (C)

-.01

-.06

-.21

.14

.55

.07

.27

Agreeableness (A)

.07

-.04

-.13

-.06

.12

.50

.13

Conventionality (CN)

-.13

.00

-.07

.06

.25

.14

.59

Note. N = 321 American college students. Cross-observer validity coefficients are in bold. Each participant was rated by one close person (friend, romantic partner, parent, or sibling).

Are the American Big Seven (Five) cross-culturally robust in non Anglo-Germanic languages?

Yes in Spanish (using translated American measures)

(Benet-Martinez & Waller, 1995, JPSP; Benet-Martinez & John, 1998, JPSP) ->

Can we conclude from this evidence that the American Big 7 represent the basic dimensions of personality description in Spanish? No --translated (imported) instruments superimpose a particular content and structure on the personality space of the other culture

N = 170 Hispanic bilingualsCFI=.93; /df=2.4

Benet-Martnez & John (1998). Los Cinco Grandes across cultures and ethnic groups. JPSP

BFIBIG 5 NEO

SCALESPERSONALITYSCALES

FACTORS

e .47 N-Eng .88

.92 N-Eng .39 e

N

.84

.91

e .53 N-Spa

N-Spa.42 e

-.37

e .21

.02 e

E-Eng

.94

.78 E-Eng

E

.85

.70

e .51 E-Spa

E-Spa .54 e

-.21

e .22

O-Eng

.85

.92 O-Eng.26 e

O

.76

.91

e . 46 O-Spa

O-Spa .35 e

.20

e .57 A-Eng

A-Eng.35 e

.82

.94

A

e .60 A-Spa .80

.92 A-Spa . 38 e

.34

e .38

.35 e

C-Eng

.94 C-Eng

.93

C

e .49C-Spa .87

.95 C-Spa .31 e

NEED FOR ANOTHER STUDY THAT: (1) Identifies the basic indigenous dimensions of personality description in Spanish (2) Assesses the overlap/specificity between these indigenous Spanish dimensions and the American Big Seven (Five)Benet-Martnez & Waller (1997). Imported and indigenous Spanish personality constructs. Journal of Personality.

COMBINED ETIC-EMIC APPROACH :

EMIC APPROACH: Reliance on indigenous measures or modelsin this study --> 299 indigenous Spanish personality adjectives (stratified sampling)

PLUS

ETIC APPROACH: Reliance on imported measures of modelsin this study --> Spanish-translated Big Seven and Big Five questionnaires

SampleN = 894 Spaniards who completed both emic and etic measures

INDIGENOUS SPANISH PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS

Examples of marker items (translated from Spanish)AFFECT

POSITIVE VALENCE

NEGATIVE VALENCE

Amazing 62

Sickening 43

Superior 58

Terrifying 41

Formidable 56

Filthy 41

Resplendent 56

Greasy 39

Not special -35

Cruel 39

Mediocre -40

Wicked 38

CONSCIENTIOUSNESSAGREEABLENESS

Well-balanced 64Easy-going 54

Moderate 54Good-natured 49

Reasonable 53Docile 46

Hasty -42Stormy -45

Reckless -43Unreconciling -47

Crazy -49Unyielding -48

OPENNESS-CONVENTIONALITY

Bohemian 38

Mystical 40

Quaint 42

Gossiping -36

Disclosing -34

Nosy -30

PLEASANTNESS

ENGAGEMENT

Cheerful 54

Ardent 43

Alert 38

Intense 35

Comical 48

Passionate 30

Fed-up 30

Relaxed-36

Distressed 44

Idle -30

Gloomy 56

Unemotional -37

PLEASURE VS. PAIN

INTENSITY VS.

PLEASURE VS. PAININTENSITY VS. COOLNESS

CIRCUMPLEX MODEL OF AFFECT

Aroused

Engagement

FearfulHi Negative Hi Positive Enthusiastic

Affect Affect

SadUnpleasantness PleasantnessHappy

Lo Positive

Lo Negative

SluggishAffect

Affect Calm

Disengagement

Sleepy

Adapted from Larsen & Diener (1992)

Overlap between indigenous Big Seven dimensions and imported (American) dimensions?

BIG 7 & 5SEVEN LATENT COMMON

IMPORTEDPERSONALITY DIMENSIONSINDIGENOUS

SPANISH SCALES

SPANISH SCALES

Positive Emotionality .94

.90 PEM.71Pleasantness

Extraversion

.34

.57

Negative Emotionality .97

.80 NEM.34Engagement

Neuroticism

Conscientiousness (IPC-7) .75

.80Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness (BFI) .63 CONS

Agreeableness (IPC-7) .70

AGRE .79Agreeableness

Agreeableness (BFI) .90

Conventionality .38

CONV .78Conventionality

Openness -.76

Positive Valence .93 PVAL .81 Positive Valence

Negative Valence .79 NVAL .83Negative Valence

Note = From Benet-Martinez (1999); N = 894 Spanish college students; Seven latent personality factors (PEM = Positive Emotionality; NEM = Negative Emotionality; CONS = Conscientiousness; A = Agreeableness; CONV = Conventionality; PVAL = Positive Valence; NVAL = Negative Valence); CFI = .945 and X/df = 2.3

CONCLUSIONS FROM STUDIES:

(1) There is considerable overlap between the indigenous Spanish Siete Grandes and the American Big 7

(1b) Exception: Pleasantness and Engagement (instead of E & N)

(2) Positive and Negative Valence are personality constructs:a) cross-culturally and cross-linguistically robustb) independent of each other and of other personality attributesc) not subsumable by the Big Five

Is personality meaning representing passion& pleasure also found outside the individual (e.g., in Spanish cultural artifacts and practices)

[personalityculture]

PLEASANTNESS & ENGAGEMENT in Spain:

Gran placer y poco duelo es el deseo de todo hombre(Much pleasure and little pain is every mans desire)--Spanish proverb

Spaniards ..... passion is the seed that brings them forth, and passion is the flower they bear--George Orwell (Homage to Catalonia)

ALMODOVARS FILMS: A celebration of pleasure/pain and passion

Kinder, M. (1987). Pleasure and the New Spanish Mentality: A Conversation With Pedro Almodovar. Film Quarterly, vol 41.1, 33 - 44.

Pally, M. (1991). The Politics of Passion: Pedro Almodovar and the Camp Esthetic. Cineaste Magazine, vol 12 issue 3.

Main Theoretical Framework

The meaning embedded in consumption symbols, such as commercial brands (e.g., Coke, Malboro), can serve to represent and institutionalize the values and beliefs of a culture.

Culture and psyche constitute each other

PsycheCultureProcess of creating brands (psyche culture)Way in which brands are used (culture psyche)Main Theoretical FrameworkBRAND

PREVIOUS WORK:

Aaker, J. (1997). Dimensions of brand personality. Journal of Marketing Research, 34, 342-352.

Identification of US brand personality dimensions

Aaker, J. (1997). Dimensions of brand personality. Journal of Marketing Research, 34, 342-352.

Please rate the extent to which the following personality traits describe Porsche.

- Down-to-earth?- Exciting?- Competent?- Sexy?- Masculine?...

Over 100 traits (3 independent sources), more than 60 brands across categories

ExcitementSincerityCompetenceRuggednessSophisticationBP

N = 2,085 Aaker, J. (1997). Dimensions of brand personality. Journal of Marketing Research, 34, 342-352. US BRAND PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS

Source: Aaker (1997), JMR

SincerityDown-to-Earth: down-to-earth, family-oriented, simple

Honesty: honest, sincere, real

Wholesomeness: wholesome, original

Cheerfulness: cheerful, friendly,sentimental

Excitement

Daring: daring, trendy, exciting

Spiritedness: spirited, cool, young

Imagination: imaginative, unique

Contemporary: up-to-date, independent, contemporary

SophisticationClass: upper class, good-looking, glamorous

Charm: charming, feminine, smooth

RuggednessMasculinity: outdoorsy, masculine, western

Toughness: tough, rugged

CompetenceReliability: reliable, hard working, secure

Intelligence: intelligent, technical, corporate

Success: successful, leader, confident

MOST RECENT WORK:

Aaker, Benet-Martnez, & Garolera, J. (2001). Consumption symbols as carriers of culture: A study of Japanese and Spanish brand personality constructs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

How generalizable are the five US brand personality dimensions to other cultures?

Target cultures: Japan and Spain (two very different collectivist cultures)

For both Japan and Spain studies:Please rate the extent to which the following personality traits describe X.

- Down-to-earth?- Exciting?- Competent?- Sexy?- Masculine?...Over 100 traits (3 independent sources), more than 60 brands across categories

ExcitementSincerityCompetencePeacefulnessSophisticationBPN = 2,297JAPANESE BRAND PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS

Source: Aaker, JMR (under review)

PeacefulnessCelestial Seasonings, BasuKurinMildness: shy, mild-mannered, peaceful

Navity: nave, dependent, childlike

SimilaritiesDifferencesversusSincerity, Excitement, Competence, SophisticationPeacefulness versus RuggednessJapan vs. US: Summary

ExcitementSincerityPassionPeacefulnessSophisticationBPSPANISH BRAND PERSONALITY DIMENSIONSN = 698

PassionOsborne spirits, Zara fashion, Martini aperitifIntensity: fervent, passionate, intense

Spirituality: spiritual, mystical, bohemian

Spain vs. US vs. Japan: Summary

DIMENSION

United States

Japan

Spain

SINCERITY

x

x

x

EXCITEMENT

x

x

x

SOPHISTICATION

x

x

x

COMPETENCE

x

x

RUGGEDNESS

x

PEACEFULNESS

x

x

PASSION

x

DiscussionRelating culture-specific dimensions to findings from cultural psychology on needs, emotion, and traits:

RUGGEDNESS:Emphasis on mastery and independence values (Schwartz, 1994)

DiscussionRelating culture-specific dimensions to findings from cultural psychology work on needs, emotion, and traits:

PEACEFULNESS:Emphasis on harmony values (Kim & Markus, 1999; Schwartz, 1994)

DiscussionRelating culture-specific dimensions to findings from cultural psychology work on needs, emotion, and traits:

PASSION:Emphasis on affective expression and autonomy (Schwartz, 1994; Benet-Martinez, 1999)

Now that I have given you some working defintions of culture, personality, and their functional interdependence, lets examine how I have studied this issue from the lexical prespective.=Remember that the basic idea behind this approach is =I have used this approach in an attempt to identify the basic dimensions along which the Spanish natural language of personality is organized=using a combo of indigenous and imported instruments=The basic notion behind the lexical approach to personality and culture is the fundamental lexical hypothesis: -the more important a personality construct is for a particular society, the more likely is the language of that culture to have many words to describe that disposition (e.g., self-esteem, self-actualization, self-efficacy, etc.)-the more important the disposition is in general, the more likely is to be represented in all languages=As many people in this room now, many lexical studies of the English lexicon have led to the conclusion that the thousands of personality descriptors included in the English language can be organized in terms of 5 broad dimensions (Big 5) representing EACNO

=What many people dont know is that the Big 5 model developed from lexical studies in which highly evaluative and state descriptors of personality were excluded as not relevant to personality description due to traditional definitions of personality that dismiss moral judgments and reputations as not relevant to the scientific study of personality.To do so, this research draws on both cultural and personality psychology that shows a set of Big Five dimensions, which has shown to be remarkably robust across cultures. Many suggest that is because individuals across cultures are likely to ask a common set of questions - is this person agreeable (will they be my friend), are they conscientious (can I count on them), are they neurotic (are they going to hurt me)?=Studies by Tellegen and others have shown that 7 dimensions (rather than 5) underlie the structure of personality descriptor lists where social evaluations and affective states are not excluded=this structure, called the Big 7, includes 5 dimensions which are very similar to the Big 5, plus 2 orthogonal evaluative dimensions:>Positive Valence: tapping moderate to extreme self-perceptions of worth and uniqueness.>Negative Valence: self-perceptions of awfulness and moral self-disapproval

=these 2 dimensions capture esteem, self-evaluative component of personality (namely self-perception of power and morality) not included in the Big 5.

=Work by Tellegen, Waller, and myself have shown that Pval and Nval are independent from each other and the other big 5

Structures obtained from self-reports and semantic-similarity sortings were quite similar at the structural and conceptual level. This finding suggests that, regardless of the rating methodology used, the conceptual component of so-called highly evaluative descriptors accounts for more variance than their purely evaluative constituent. In short, one conclusion that warrants consideration is that typically excluded highly evaluative personality terms, far from being behaviorally-ambiguous and psychologically uninformative, allude to meaningful dispositions that people both implicitly understand and possess to different degrees.

Can the Big 7 be replicated in other cultures?

=Some of my early work on this topic (using mono- and bilingual samples from Spain and the US) shows that both the Big 5/7 replicate pretty nicely in Spanish when you use translated versions of these measures.

=However, can we conclude that the American B7 represent read--NO, because imported measures inform us about the psychometric applicability of Big Seven instruments in Spanish, but tell us nothing about the structure of indigenous personality descriptors.The limitations of imported measures can be illustratrated with the following example: eating fast-food is American-specific practice, however, upon seeing fast-food restaurants all over the world, one could think that fast-food eating is an universal behavior when is NOT. Just because importing fastfood works (ie., people pretty much all over the world can eat fast food --althoug they do it slower), doesnt mean that fast food is indigenous to their culture or even a natural and spontaneous manifestation of their culture.The key difference between cultures is not what people can or cannot do, but what people spontaneously gravitate towards.For instance, in a study with John using Hispanic Spanish-English bilinguals, we found that (a) five personality factors representing the Big 5 underlie both the BFI and NEO and both the Spa and Eng versions of each of these instruments.

-The biggest advantage of the bilingual design over monolingual designs is that it does not confound language and sample differences .

The question of what are the basic dimensions of personality description in Spain requires a different study.An ideal design to answer these two questions was the combined emic-etic design.=In this study, the combined emic-etic approach involved collecting self-report data from two very different types of measures:(a) Indigenous instrument: 299 personality adjectives selected from an unabridged Spanish dictionary by two Spanish judges.-Personality descriptors were selected using a stratified-sampling method similar the one used by Tellegen & Waller (the discoverers of the Big 7): selecting the first personality word from every four pages, and using a pretty liberal inclusive selection criterion that did not exclude highly evaluative terms.-This procedure provide us a sample of Spanish personality descriptors representative of the entire Spanish personality lexicon.-These 299 terms were assembled in a questionnaire.(b) Imported instruments: Spanish version of the Big Seven questionnaire developed using the translation-back-translation method.

=Why also using translated measures?The advantage of also adding the translated measures is that once the indigenous constructs are identified, they can be correlated to the imported constructs to get a sense of how different/similar they are to the already established American dimensions The first set of analyses involved a FA of the self-reports on the 299 indigenous personality descriptors.-This analysis allowed me to identify the basic (indigenous) dimensions of personality description in Spain (first goal). (0) Scree plots and careful examinations of several factor solutions indicated that, like in the American data, a 7-factor solution best organized the variance behind the self-reports.

(1) Replicating T & W findings with the English lexicon, the indigenous Spanish structure included two large evaluative dimensions representing positive and negative aspects of self-evaluation, and very similar to the American Pval and Nval.-Those are Eng translations provided by a Spanish judge unfamiliar with the Big 7. -Note the amazing degree of overlap at the item level between the Spanish and English Pval and Nval dimensions(2) The structure also included two dimensions easily recognized as C, A, and a dimension relatively similar to the American Openness (note that the negative pole is defined by terms denoting a faultfinding, intrusive attitude that apparently for young Spaniards represents low O).(3) The most striking difference between the indigenous Spanish seven dimensions and the American Big 7 was how the affective experience is organized in the Spanish structure: rather than finding the traditional E and N dimensions, affect in the Spanish structure is organized in terms of one dimension...>Pleasantness contrasting pleasurable affect dispositions (humor, happiness) with unpleasant ones (sluggishness, sadness).>Engagement contrasted affect intensity (ardent, passionate, seething) with disengagement (idle, unemotional).CircumplexThese two indigenous Spanish dimensions are very similar to the Pleasure-displeasure and Arousal or Activation dimensions described in the Circumplex Model of Emotion as rotations of Pemo and Nemo (favored in lexical personality studies in English).So it seems that, at least for Spaniards,:-Pleas and Enga (rather than E and N) best represents the organization of affect dispositions.-This differentiation in terms of pleasant-unpleasant and intensity seems to support the stereotypical portray of Latin people as passionate and committed to the pleasures of life.

-Remember that each subject provided self-reports on both the indigenous Spanish measure and the American Big 7 questionnaires.

(1) A 7-factor solution (7 Grandes) best represents the basic structure of personality description in Spanish.These 7 dimensions, both differ and overlap in important ways with the American Big 7.(2) Pval and Nval are surprisingly replicable in Spanish suggesting that perceptions of power/distinction and morality are also important in Spain.

Recall that earlier I also brought your attention to the inseparability and reciprocal influence between culture and personality.-That is, personality also resides outside individuals (embodied in artifacts, icons, and institutions)-If passion is an important component of personality description among Latin individuals, can this meaning also be found outside the individual?Evidence for the emphasis given to affect intensity (passion) and pleasure is also found in other cultural artifacts such as proverbs, literature (Lorca), brochures (guide given to youth in a Summer concert), and visitors observations (Orwell)This emphasis on pleasurable and intense affect is also supported by perhaps one of the most powerful forms of cultural reproduction: film=According to scholar accounts from film and cultural studies, films such as those by Almodovar provide with an accurate, if also exagerated, portray of Spanish psyche in terms of:-uncontrolability of emotions (by virtue of their intensity)-the view of pain and pleasure, tragedy and joy, as indispensable elements of life (joy and tragedy stem from each other, there is no pleasure without pain, no indulgence without punishment, no sacrifice without reward). Brands are social constructs created by marketers to reflect reality. But in their creation and subsequent nurturance, they influence reality and ultimately individuals attitudes and behavior. In this light, the bi-directional relationship between culture and psychology is captured ..in the process of creating brands (psyche-creates-culture) and the way in which brands are used by individuals (culture-creates-psyche).

How do you use BP to market brands in your own country?

Now the key question - if these brands are social constructs created by marketers to reflect reality, then they should systematically differ in some ways in eastern cultures where reality - at least with respect to the self - differs.

To demonstrate the extent to which such differences may exist, an emic approach was used since this is not a known model nor may it be presumed to be universally robust. The process was started again in the Japanese culture - identifying more than 1000 traits indigenous to the Japanese culture. A set of brands that were representative of symbolic/utilitarian and both categories, and a sample of subjects who were representative of the Japanese population.How do you use BP to market brands in your own country?

There are two findings I want to highlight. The first is the similarities. Given the differences in the culture, one may expect many differences. Only one arose: dependence vs. ruggedness.There are two findings I want to highlight. The first is the similarities. Given the differences in the culture, one may expect many differences. Only one arose: dependence vs. ruggedness.