Culture and the IndividualEnculturation, Socialization & Personality

Kimberly Porter Martin

Personality

-characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of genetics, socialization, enculturation and life experience.

Personality Trait

• A lasting characteristic attributed to persons in varying amounts of strength.

Fiske, 1971

Anthony F.C. Wallace

Societies deal with individual differences in personality in two general ways:

1. They enculturate and socialize children, shaping them to suit cultural expectations

2. They provide alternative roles that accommodate different personalities

Enculturation Vs. Social Stratification

The Enculturation, Socialization and Personality PowerPoint ( this one!) focuses on enculturation and socialization of individuals to try to shape them to cultural ideals.

The Social Stratification and Personality PowerPoint will deal with how society shapes personality and the kinds of roles it provides for individuals with different personalities.

Personality Models

• Measures of personality are based on models of the range of and importance of specific personality traits.

• Studying measures gives us insight about the emic views of the culture in which the measures were.

The Big Questions

• To what extent are we using ethnocentric measures?

• To what extent are we measuring ethnocentric concepts.

• If some personality traits are completely outside the experience of the researcher, – How will the researcher

know what to look for?– How will the researcher

know how to measure them?

Big Five Personality Model

Western Culture’s Big Five • The Five Factor Model (FFM)

– Conscientiousness• Persistence and reliability• Goal directedness

– Agreeableness• Compassion, warmth• Gentle and sensitive

– Openness to Experience• Curiosity and imagination

– Extraversion• Positive attitude• Seeks stimulating social interaction

– Neuroticism• Emotional instability• Anxiety and hostility

http://www.personalitytest.net/cgi-bin/ipipneo1.cgip://

Kagitcibasi’s Three Family StylesIndependent family

» Afluent, educated, middle class» Nuclear family units» Smaller families» Independence, self-sufficiency, uniqueness training

Interdependent family» Agrarian, » Children help w/ subsistence, care for aging parents» Intergenerational closeness, extended families» Obedience training

Psychological interdepence family » Emotional interdependence between family members» Socialized for family loyalties» Childrearing for a combination of autonomy within the

context of family loyalty» Compromise between the other styles

Eysenck Personality Model (EPQ)Western Culture

• Three qualities:

1. psychoticism*

2. extroversion

3. neuroticism

Psychoticism = aggression and interpersonal hostility. Predisposes for mental illness/schizophrenia.

Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI)

• Added a sixth dimension to the Big Five:– Interpersonal Relatedness (importance of

harmony, face and relationship orientation)

• Openness dimension missing from CPAI– Interpersonal Relatedness (importance of

harmony, face and relationship orientation)

Found in China, Hawaii and Singapore.

Western “blind spot” with regard to personality traits

Variability in Scale Results

• Locally derived measures are better

• Some traits overlap, but not predictable

• Sometimes traits dropped or added

• Other times blended into different variations

Examples of Indigenous Personality Models

Ubuntu – Africa – “a person is a person through other persons”

•Senegal – three layers of a person:

1.shell (body)

2.physiological functioning

3.psychological existence

4.spiritual existence

Sow’s African Model

Indian Jiva Personality Model

Examples of Indigenous Personality Models

• Japanese Amae = passive love and dependence as an infant has for its mother.

• Permeates Japanese culture throughout the lifespan.

• Creates an expectation of passive connection to all others in the group.

• Concealed amae leads to mental illness.

Examples of Indigenous Personality Models

• Bambara– A symbolic system– Person is not separate from spirit world,

human community and/or ecological context.– Sixty dimensions or elements in pairs, one

male and one female.• Thought-reflection• Speech-authority• Future-destiny

Value Systems

• Kluckhohn and Strodbeck

• Hofstede

• Locus of Control

Kluckhohn & Strodbeck’s Values Matrix (Item Examples)

Culture Type 1 Culture Type 2 Culture Type 3

The Innate Nature of Humans

Most people can’t be trusted. There are both good and evil people in the world and you have to check people out to find out which they are.

Most people are basically pretty good at heart.

The Human Relationship to Nature

Life is largely determined by external forces, such as God fate or genetics. A person can’t surpass the conditions life has set.

Humans should, in every way, live in harmony with nature.

The human challenge is to conquer and control nature. Everything from air conditioning to the green revolution has resulted from our having met this challenge.

Time Orientation

Humans should learn from history and attempt to emulate the glorious ages of the past.

The present moment is everything. Lets make the most of it. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Enjoy today.

Planning and goal setting make it possible for humans to accomplish miracles. A little sacrifice today will bring a better tomorrow.

Modality of Human Activity

It is enough to just be. Its not necessary to accomplish great things in life to feel your life has been worthwhile

The human purpose for being placed on this earth is for our own inner development.

If people work hard and apply themselves fully, their efforts will be rewarded.

Human’s Relationship to Others

Some people are born to lead others. There are “leaders” and “followers” in this world.

Whenever I have a serious problem, I like to get the advice of my family or close friends in how best to solve it.

All people should have equal rights, and we should all have complete control over our own destiny.

Kluckhohn & Strodbeck’s Values Matrix (Core Value)

Culture Type 1 Culture Type 2 Culture Type 3

The Innate Nature of Humans

People are inherently evil. People are a mixture of good and evil.

People are inherently good.

The Human Relationship to

Nature

Humans are subjugated to nature.

Humans should live in harmony with nature

Humans should dominate nature

Time Orientation Past oriented. Present oriented. Future oriented.

Modality of Human Activity Being. Becoming. Doing.

Human’s Relationship to

Others

Lineal/hierarchical relationships predominate.

Collateral relationships predominate.

Individualism is more important than relationships.

Hofstede’s Value Dimensions• 1. POWER DISTANCE• The degree of inequality between a less

powerful person and a more powerful other (Mulder 1977).

• The distance at which boss/supervisor and employee comfortably function within a given society.

• The boss's style of decision making along with employees level of fear about disagreeing with superiors.

Hofstede’s Value Dimensions

• 2. UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE

• The tolerance for uncertainty in a society, coped with in society by technology, law and religion, and in organizations by technology, rules and rituals.

Hofstede’s Value Dimensions

• 3. INDIVIDUALISM

• The relationship between the individual and the collectivity in which prevails in a given society.

• The degree to which the individual is valued over the group, or the group is valued over the individual.

Hofstede’s Value Dimensions

• 4. MASCULINITY

• The degree to which a society focuses on assertion and competition as opposed to nurturance and the development and maintenance of relationships.

Locus of Control

• Who or what controls your life?

– External = outside forces that you do not control or influence

– Internal = you are empowered to make changes and choices in your life. You have control of your own life.