Personality. Outline. Trait Approach. Individual Traits 10/22/2012. Lexical hypothesis: Enduring patterns of how people adapt to the world

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1 Outline Defining Personality The Big 5 Measuring Personality Across Cultures Cross-Cultural Studies of Personality Traits Big 5 Across Cultures Big 5 and National Character Where do we get our personality? Other dimensions of personality Personality Enduring patterns of how people adapt to the world Characteristic style of behaving, thinking, and feeling Consistent over and across between individuals Individual Traits : Characteristic or quality distinguishing a person National character All individuals have personality Do people from the same culture share personality traits? Culture-specific indigenous personalities Are there traits that are found only in specific culture Trait Approach Lexical hypothesis: All important individual differences have become encoded within the over time Gordon Allport (1936) 18,000 personality-related adjectives in English language 1

2 Factor Analysis Identifying Personality Factors Statistical technique Combines correlated items into factors Correlated items similar cause Measures Trait ratings Subjective Ratings by: Self-report Others Behavioral coding Should correlate with trait ratings To assess shyness: On a scale of 1 to 7, how cautious is the cat? How many seconds did the cat take to approach the new object? The 5 Factor Model: Big 5 (McCrae & Costa, 1999; John & Srivastava, 1999) NEO Personality Inventory Openness: I believe in the importance of art Conscientiousness: I do more than what is expected of me Extraversion: I love large parties Agreeableness: I trust others Neuroticism: I worry about things Continuum Extraverted X X X Inverted Rate yourself using the following scale. 1. Very inaccurate 2. Moderately inaccurate 3. Neither inaccurate or accurate 4. Moderately accurate 5. Very accurate McCrae & Costa 2

3 Big 5 & Real Life Outcomes Predict many important real-world behaviors Job performance and grades in school Physical health and life span Well-being Extraversion levels of well-being Neuroticism levels of well-being Measuring Personality across Cultures Etic perspective Personality measured and compared across cultures Emic perspective It is to create measures of personality that have same meaning (and validity) across cultures Measuring Personality across Cultures Cannot assume equivalence across cultures MUST validate personality measures and surveys in each new culture Method Validation Validate a translation Survey in English translate to Spanish Spanish version translate back to English Does it still make sense?? Difficulty in translations Relatively similar traits seen across cultures, but different prevalence rates The Big Five are found in observer ratings in 50+ cultures 3

4 Challenges for Cross-Cultural Research Method Validation The exaggeration of cultural differences The focus of research has been on differences Large sample sizes lead to statistically significant results even when differences are small Create new survey in each culture Take adjectives from each different language Factor analysis Only conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness should be considered universal Cultural Differences Big Five across cultures Appears less predictive across situations in some cultures Do Perceptions of National Character Correspond to Aggregate Personality Traits? What is the typical member of Culture A like? Perceptions of national character Stereotypes about personalities of people of different cultures Perceptions of national character are not accurate!! Why do we have them? Maintenance of national identity 4

5 Where do we get our personality? Biological Contributions Heritability Estimates Similarity of Human and Nonhuman Personality Extraversion Likeability Neuroticism Conscientiousness Silver Fox Selective Breeding Experiment Belyaev (1950s) Selected animals for ONLY tameness Dramatic behavioral changes in generations! Selection for tameness Other changes: Piebald coloration Floppy ears Non-seasonal reproduction Curled tails Selection may occur based on personality characteristics 5

6 Natural Selection: A Psychological Example Sapolsky, 2004 Other Traits Interpersonal relatedness Indigenous scale of personality traits in China Harmony inner peace of mind, contentment Ren Qing adherence to cultural norms Thrift v. Extravagance Ah-Q Mentality defensiveness, belittling others acheivements Face motivation to avoid shame Other Traits Indigenous development of personality structure Filipino personality structure Big 5 plus: temperamentalness and self-assurance Also: Social curiosity, risk taking, religiosity China and Spain 7-factor structure Other factors include: unselfishness, gentle temper, dependency/fragility, pleasantness, engagement, interpersonal relatedness Other Views of Personality: Locus of Control How much do you have over your behavior and your relationship with the environment and others Internal vs. External European Americans have internal locus of control 6

7 Autonomy Everyone has a basic need for for autonomy, competence, and relatedness (selfdetermination theory) Start with an interdependent or independent self Culturally based Autonomy Autonomy: Your behavior reflects YOUR interests, values, or desires Heteronomy: Your behaviors are not consistent with your interests, values, or desires, but someone else s Autonomy predicts well-being Indigenous Personalities and a Cultural Perspective on Identities Each culture pays tribute to specific way of understanding their world African model: layers of personality Japanese: amae Korean: cheong Indian: hishkama karma Chinese: ren qing Mexican: simpatia Filipino: pagkikipagkapwa, pakikiramdam, and pakikisama Integrating Universal and Culture- Specific Personality Personality is a multidimensional construct Two different aspects of personality Traits: rooted in biology Identities: less influenced by biology and more influenced by culture Sources of personality: Biologically innate and evolutionarily adaptive factors genetic predispositions Culture-constant learning principles and processes 7