Cross-Cultural Psychology Lecture 8 Personality across Cultures 1

Cross-Cultural Psychology. Lecture 8. Personality across Cultures. 1. 2. 3. The Big Five factors of personality. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions affecting personality. Factorial dimensions of personality in the Mexican culture and comparative analysis with USA.

Enthusiasm began growing about the measurement of persistent traits of personality and the scientific conviction 1980’s that this would prove useful for understanding and prediction in every field of applied psychology. Which are basic, universal dimensions that described personality?

The Big Five Factor Model Factor 1. Extraversion Talkative – silent Sociable – reclusive Adventurous – cautious Factor 2. Agreeableness Good-natural-irritable Gentle – headstrong Cooperative – negativistic Jealous – not jealous Factor 3. Conscientiousness Responsible – undependable Persevering – quitting Tidy – careless Factor 4. Emotional stability. Calm – anxious Non hypochondriac – hypochondriac Composed - excitable Factor 5. Culture Imaginative – simple Artistically sensitive – insensitive Intellectual - narrow

Hypothesis: Although some of those dimensions may be universal, their variance is different from 1 culture to another. Basic dimensions across cultures remain around five, it is quite possible that only some will be universal, whereas others will be what cross-cultural psychologists call emic.

Hofstede analysis of personality. Power distance : social inequality (obedient, respect of older people, authoritative, initiative, corruptive) ? Large power distance/ small power distance Uncertainty avoidance: threat by ambiguous situations. (self-controlled, anxious, emotional, tolerant with differences) ? Weak uncertainty avoidance/ strong uncertainty avoidance

Masculinity vs Femininity. (caring, modest, achieving, success, rich, assertive, sympathetic, ambitious) ? Masculine or Feminine? ? Collectivistic or Individualistic (harmony, honesty, task-oriented, processoriented, independent, cooperative)

Mexican dimensions of personality (1986, La Rosa) Factor 1. Affiliation Courteous – discourteous Well brought up – badly brought up Amiable - rude Factor 2. Emotionality Happy – sad Depressed – contended Bitter – jovial Factor 3. Quiet – communicative Social expression. Introverted – extraverted Reserved - expressive Factor 4. Emotional interindividual Romantic – indifferent Affectionate - cold

Factor 5. Occupational Responsible – irresponsible Punctual – unpunctual Factor 6. Emotional Impulsive – reflexive Temperamental - calm Factor 7. Ethical Honest – dishonest Loyal - disloyal Factor 8. Initiation Slow- fast Dynamic - apathetic Factor 9. Social Understanding – misunderstanding Accessible – inaccessible

Summary: One of the insights that can be gained from the present comparison across cultures is that clinical, educational, industrial, criminal, and social as well as other specialized psychologists must develop appropriate inventories that permit quantification of the behavioral dimensions functional in their respective realms. Thus, Hofstede's four universal dimensions plausibly best relate to the ordinary behavior of employees in a multinational corporation, whereas the big five factors of personality and the nine Mexican factors of the selfconcept aptly summarize expected ordinary, everyday personal and social behavior. The big five appear more useful to clinicians; the nine Mexican, to educational and industrial psychologists.

Kazakh Personality Research chart. More narrow More intellectual Artistically non-sensitive Artistically sensitive Irresponsible Responsible More nervous More balanced Careless Fussy, tidy Dishonest Honest Reclusive Sociable Headstrong Mild, gentle Unscrupulous Scrupulous Quitting Persevering Simple, direct Imaginative Cautious adventurous Silent Talkative Non-hypochondriac Hypochondriac Calm Anxious