CULTURE AND PERSONALITY:
BASIC CONCEPTS: culture & cultural syndromes
CULTURE & PERSONALITY: Benet-Martinez’s work
2 Approaches:Lexical / TaxonomicSocio-cognitive
Every person is in certain
respects
a) like all other people,
b) like some other
person,
c) like no other person. (Kluckhohn & Murray, 1948)
One of my favorite quotes ….
GENERAL QUESTIONS:
As people of varying cultures and ethnicities, how are we different and how are we alike?
How do culture and ethnicity shape our identities and personalities?
CULTURE:
Shared systems of meaning that provide the standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, communicating, and acting among those who share a language, a historic period, and a geographic location. (Shweder & LeVine, 1984).Useful metaphor -> culture = game rules
Culture Race or Ethnicity
Question for the class:Who can explain the differences between these?
Cultural Syndromes (TAXONOMY OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES)
2 basic dimensions of cultural difference: (Hofstede, 1983)
• Individualism/Collectivism: extent to which the self is defined as a bound and separate (vs. fluid and interdependent).
• Independent/Interdependent Selves (Markus & Kitayama, 1991)
•Vertical/Horizontal Relationships: emphasis on hierarchy and status versus equality
SELF
INDEPENDENT SELF
SELF
INTER-DEPENDENT SELF
VERTICAL
HORIZONTAL
INDIVIDUALISTICCOLLECTIVISTIC
USAIndia
Israel? Sweden
Culture & Personality: Benet-Martinez’s studies
Two different approaches:
(1) LEXICAL/TAXONOMICBasic dimensions of personality in Spanish?
(2) SOCIO-COGNITIVEModeling Biculturalism in the Laboratory
CULTURE AND PERSONALITY:
(1) PSYCHO-LEXICAL
Key idea: Language as a window to the ‘personality’
of a particular culture
My work: Exploration of basic dimensions of
personality description in different languages
Method: ‘Combined emic-etic’ approach; factor
analysis
(1) LEXICAL APPROACH
Natural language as a window to study cultural universals/differences in personality
FUNDAMENTAL LEXICAL HYPOTHESIS:
Those psychological constructs that are the most salient and socially relevant 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 and be overepresented in the language; and (2) the more languages and cultures will have a word for it.
(Goldberg, 1982)
Are the English Big Five (Seven) cross-culturally robust?
Yes in Spanish (using translated American measures)
(JPSP: Benet-Martinez & Waller, 1995; JPSP: Benet-Martinez & John, 1998)
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 7.
(1) LEXICAL APPROACH
Exploring Indigenous Spanish Personality Constructs
with
a Combined Emic-Etic Approach
(Benet-Martinez & Waller, 1997; Benet-Martinez, 2000)
GOALS OF THE STUDIES:
(1) To identify the basic indigenous dimensions of personality
description in Spanish
(2) To assess the overlap/specificity between these indigenous
Spanish dimensions and the American Big 7
COMBINED ETIC/EMIC APPROACH (Yang & Bond,
1990)
EMIC APPROACH: Reliance on indigenous measures or
models
--> in this study: self-reports on 299 indigenous Spanish personality adjectives
from the dictionary
PLUS
ETIC APPROACH: Reliance on imported measures of models
--> in this study: self-reports on Spanish-translated Big Seven and Big Five
questionnaires
Sample
N = 894 college students from Spain who completed both emic and
etic measures
Results from factor analysis of emic measure:7 INDIGENOUS SPANISH PERSONALITY
DIMENSIONSExamples of marker items (translated from Spanish)
POSITIVE VALENCE NEGATIVE VALENCE
Amazing 62 Sickening 43Superior 58 Terrifying 41Formidable 56 Filthy 41Resplendent 56 Greasy 39Not special -35 Cruel 39Mediocre -40 Wicked 38
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS AGREEABLENESS
Well-balanced 64 Easy-going 54Moderate 54 Good-natured 49Reasonable 53 Docile 46Hasty -42 Stormy -45Reckless -43 Unreconciling -47Crazy -49 Unyielding -48
OPENNESS
Bohemian 38Mystical 40Quaint 42Gossiping -36Disclosing -34Nosy -30
PLEASANTNESS ENGAGEMENT
Happy 54 Ardent 43Engergetic 53 Seething 36Relaxed 48 Intense 35Stressed –53 Cold -34Depressed –54 Idle -30Unhappy –56 Unemotional -37
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)
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.
OVERLAP BETWEEN THE INDIGENOUS (EMIC) SPANISH PERSONALITY
DIMENSIONS AND IMPORTED (ETIC) BIG 7 INVENTORY
INDIGENOUS SPANISH BIG 7
IMPORTED BIG 7 PositiveValence
NegativeValence
Agreable-ness
Conscien-tiousness
Openness Pleasant-ness
Engage-ment
Pos. Valence 79Neg. Valence 47Agreeableness 71Conscientious. 60Openness 22Extraversion 75 45Neuroticism -43 40
AverageOff-Diagonal (19) (07) (10) (25) (11) (20) (09)Correlations
CONCLUSIONS FROM STUDIES:
(1) There is considerable overlap between the
Spanish Siete Grandes and the American Big 7
(1b) Exception: Pleasantness and Engagement
(instead of E & N)
(2) Positive and Negative Valence seem fairly
robust across these two cultures.
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