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.