Culture and Personality Processes:

Conceptual and Methodological Issues

Veronica Benet-MartinezUniversity of California at Riverside, USA

Universitat Rovira i VirgiliMarch 23-25, 2010

DAY 2

Culture and Personality Taxonomies

*Required Readings:

•Benet-Martínez, 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-Martínez, 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 people’s 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)

HISTORY OF LEXICAL PERSONALITY RESEARCH

Allport & Odbert (1936)

Webster’s II unabridged Traits States Evaluations Doubtful 4,504 4,541 5,226 3,682

Cattell (1943) Norman (1963) FIRST FACTOR ANALYSIS EFFORTS:

5 Factors

Norman (1967)

Webster’s III Traits States Social Roles Evaluative Physical Ambiguous Obscure

2,800 2,638 1,476 761 882 4,796 3607

Goldberg (1990, 1992) John (1984, 1989) FIVE FACTORS ! Costa & McCrae (1985) E, A, C, N, O MORE FACTOR ANALYSES ETC.

• Do the Big 5 fully capture the domain of personality description?

• What is the structure of English personality lexicon if you don’t exclude evaluations, states, and social roles?

ExtroversionAgreeableness

Conscientiousness

Neuroticism

Culture

Human Personality Dimensions: Big Five

HP

‘BIG SEVEN’ : Big Five plus two independent evaluative dimensions

POSITIVE VALENCE Outstanding OrdinaryImpressive Average Excellent Not exceptional POWERExceptionalAdmirable 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-Martínez & 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 VALENCE

4. 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-Reports PV NV PE NE C A CN

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

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

BFI BIG 5 NEO SCALES PERSONALITY SCALES 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 .49 C-Spa .87 .95 C-Spa .31 e

N = 170 Hispanic bilinguals CFI=.93; ²/df=2.4

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-Martínez & 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)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

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS AGREEABLENESS

Well-balanced 64 Easy-going 54 Moderate 54 Good-natured 49 Reasonable 53 Docile 46 Hasty -42 Stormy -45 Reckless -43 Unreconciling -47 Crazy -49 Unyielding -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

AFFECT

CIRCUMPLEX MODEL OF AFFECT

Aroused Engagement Fearful Hi Negative Hi Positive Enthusiastic Affect Affect Sad Unpleasantness Pleasantness Happy Lo Positive Lo Negative Sluggish Affect Affect Calm

Disengagement

Sleepy

Adapted from Larsen & Diener (1992)

PLEASURE VS. PAIN

INTENSITY VS. COOLNESS

Overlap between indigenous Big Seven dimensions and imported

(American) dimensions?

BIG 7 & 5 SEVEN LATENT COMMON IMPORTED PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS INDIGENOUS SPANISH SCALES SPANISH SCALES Positive Emotionality .94

.90 PEM .71 Pleasantness Extraversion .34 .57 Negative Emotionality .97

.80 NEM .34 Engagement Neuroticism

Conscientiousness (IPC-7) .75 .80 Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness (BFI) .63 CONS

Agreeableness (IPC-7) .70

AGRE .79 Agreeableness Agreeableness (BFI) .90

Conventionality .38

CONV .78 Conventionality Openness -.76

Positive Valence .93 PVAL .81 Positive Valence

Negative Valence .79 NVAL .83 Negative 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 X²/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 robust

b) independent of each other and of other personality attributes

c) 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 man’s desire)--Spanish proverb

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

ALMODOVAR’S 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

Psyche

Culture

Process of creating brands (psyche culture)

Way in which brands are used (culture psyche)

Main Theoretical Framework

BRAND

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

ExcitementSincerity

Competence

Ruggedness

SophisticationBP

N = 2,085

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

US BRAND PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS

Sincerity

Down-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

Sophistication

Class: upper class, good-looking, glamorous

Charm: charming, feminine, smooth

Ruggedness

Masculinity: outdoorsy, masculine, western

Toughness: tough, rugged

Competence

Reliability: reliable, hard working, secure

Intelligence: intelligent, technical, corporate

Success: successful, leader, confident

MOST RECENT WORK:Aaker, Benet-Martínez, & 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

ExcitementSincerity

Competence

Peacefulness

SophisticationBP

N = 2,297

JAPANESE BRAND PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS

Peacefulness

Celestial Seasonings, BasuKurin

Mildness: shy, mild-mannered, peaceful

Naïvity: naïve, dependent, childlike

Similarities

Differences

versu

s

Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication

Peacefulness versus Ruggedness

Japan vs. US: Summary

“Excitement”“Sincerity”

“Passion”

“Peacefulness”

“Sophistication”BP

SPANISH BRAND PERSONALITY DIMENSIONSN = 698

Passion

Osborne spirits, Zara fashion, Martini aperitif

Intensity: 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

Discussion

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

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

Discussion

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

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

Discussion

Relating 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)