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Subject PSYCHOLOGY
Paper No and Title Paper No 5: Personality Theories
Module No and Title Module No 35: Culture and Personality
Module Tag PSY_P5_M35
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Learning Outcomes
2. Introduction
3. Major approaches to exploring and explaining personality across cultures
3.1. Evoked Culture
3.1.1. Evoked Cooperation
3.1.2. Evoked Mating Strategies
3.1.3. Evoked Aggression
3.2. Transmitted Culture
3.2.1. Cultural differences in Moral Values
3.2.2. Cultural differences in Self Concept
3.2.3. Cultural differences in Self Enhancement
3.3. Cultural Universals
3.3.1. Beliefs about personality characteristics of men and women
3.3.2. Expression of Emotions
3.3.3. Five factor model of Personality
PSYCHOLOGY Paper No 5: Personality Theories
Module No 35: Culture and Personality
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4. Differences between Eastern, particularly Indian
and Western culture vis-à-vis Personality
4.1. Individualism VS Collectivism
4.2. Child rearing practices
4.3. Nuclear and Extended family dynamics
4.4. Expression of Emotions
4.5. Pathology and Coping strategies
5. Summary
PSYCHOLOGY Paper No 5: Personality Theories
Module No 35: Culture and Personality
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1. Learning Outcomes
After studying this module, you shall be able to
Know about various cultural differences in personality
Learn why and how people belonging to different cultures differ in various dimensions of
personality
Identify the major areas of research within the topic and topics of future research
Evaluate your knowledge about the topic
Analyze the previously done researches that can be replicated or redesigned in Indian
setting
2. Introduction
Personality is a function of both genetic and environmental factors. Among environmental
factors, culture plays a very influential role. Culture comprises of shared meaning systems that
become standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, communicating, and acting among the
ones who share a language, a historic period, and a geographic location (Triandis, 1996). Culture
is passed from one generation to another through language, values and artifacts, media messages,
cultural practices and institutions and through the modeling of behavior (Markus & Kitayama,
1994).
The focus on ‘Culture and personality’ emerged as a reaction against the 19th social evolution
and diffusionism. Louis Henry Morgan and Edward Tylor were the early evolutionists who held
the belief that each culture goes through the same hierarchical evolutionary system. This view
was confronted by Franz Boas and some of his students (such as Ruth Benedict) (Kelly et.al.,
2009). There is some debate on exactly how the field emerged. Some believe it developed from
an interaction between anthropology and Freud’s psychoanalysis (Singer 1961). Robert A.
LeVine (2001) suggests that the field began in 1918 with W.I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki’s
publication “The Polish Peasant in Europe and America.” Thomas and Zaniecki (1918) stated
“when viewed as a factor of social evolution, the human personality is a ground of the causal
explanation of social happenings; when viewed as a product of social evolution, it is causally
explicable by social happenings.” The field developed more with later work by Margaret Mead
and Ruth Benedict. Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) provided “the first sustained
consideration of the relation between personality and culture”. Interest in Culture and Personality
thrived in the 30s and 40s and was viewed as an exciting and influential paradigm in the social
sciences (Verónica Benet-Martínez & Shigehiro Oishi, 2006).
A debate of interest which has emerged from this field is the importance of emic (culture-
specific) and etic (transcending culture) constructs in advancing knowledge in psychology and the
value of universality (discovering universal laws) versus cultural relativism (all “laws” are emic,
constructivism). These dilemmas plague those engaged in indigenous, cultural and cross-culture
research. There are three differing positions held by anthropologists and social psychologists in
terms of importance of commonalities in human nature and emphasis on cultural context in
studying human behavior; Absolutism, Relativism and Universalism. Absolutism de-emphasizes
the role of culture (as a nuisance variable) and focusing solely on studying common human
nature. Relativism suggests it may be much more appropriate to concentrate on describing human
PSYCHOLOGY Paper No 5: Personality Theories
Module No 35: Culture and Personality
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beings in relation to their sociocultural environment.
Universalism, emphasizes the importance of psychological
universals, as well as is sensitive to cultural context.
According to recent reviews (e.g., Church & Ortiz, 2005; LeVine, 2001), the most recent core
propositions of this field were: (a) Participants of a particular culture internalize the ethos of that
culture and develop a common corresponding personality structure (the uniformity assumption);
(b) Culturally shaped childhood experiences can predict adult personality patterns (the continuity
assumption); (c) adult personality characteristics common in a country impact its culture, social
trends, and psychopathology.
Later, Sapir (1956), Wallace (1961), talked about the concept of ‘modal personality’ which
focuses on within-culture individual variations in personality i.e. the existence of both prevalent
personality types in each culture and individual variability (Verónica Benet-Martínez & Shigehiro
Oishi, 2006).
During the last decade there have been many cultural studies conducted on issues such as self-
processes, emotion, and personality traits establishing that the culture is an important determinant
of what it means to be a person (see reviews by Church, 2000; Diener, Oishi, & Lucas, 2003;
Markus & Kitayama, 1998; Triandis & Suh, 2002). Thus, irrespective of whether cultural
influences all the individuals of that culture similarly or there are individual variations, has been
an important question to be catered to in the study of ‘Culture and Personality’.
Cultural Personality Psychology generally has three key goals: 1.To find out the causes
underlying the cultural diversity; 2.To find out how human psychology moulds culture; and 3.To
find out how culture shapes human psychology (Fiske et al., 1997)
3. Major approaches to exploring and explaining personality across
Cultures
3.1 Evoked Culture
Evoked culture is defined as a set of predictable responses of people belonging to
particular culture do to some specific environmental conditions (Larsen & Buss, 2005).
According to this approach, there are two aspects necessary to explain variations in
cultures:
1. A underlying universal mechanism (such as competitiveness)
2. Environmental differences in the intensity of activation of the underlying mechanism.
(Cultures where there are more eligible candidates, has people who are more
competitive)
Few examples are provided below:
3.1.1. Evoked Cooperation
Every human being has the capacity to share and cooperate but it is the
environmental conditions that activate or deactivate such behaviours. For
instance, the pattern of cooperative food sharing has been found among different
bands of hunter-gatherer tribes (Cosmides & Tooby, 1992). There are certain
tribes such as Ache tribe of Paraguay; that share difficult to fetch food items such
PSYCHOLOGY Paper No 5: Personality Theories
Module No 35: Culture and Personality
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as meat based on the principle of reciprocity. It
has been observed that cooperation and sharing
varies from tribe to tribe based on the food supply.
3.1.2. Evoked mating strategies
Belsky, Steinberg & Draper (1991) did an extensive research on the topic. It was
found that children who have been reared in a harsh and rejecting environment,
inconsistent patterns of providing resources and marital discord tend to develop a
personality of impulsivity, inability to rely on single mate and as a result tend to
opt for a sexual life that starts early and inclines them towards having multiple
mates. On the other hand, children who have been reared in sensitive, supportive
and responsive environments, been provided with reliable resources and have
observed spousal harmony tend to develop conscientiousness and commitments
in relationships leading to stable marriages.
Evidence also confirms that there are within group similarities and between
group differences in mating strategies. As Buss (2003) found that in China
marriages are long lasting, whereas in Sweden, divorce is common.
3.1.3. Evoked Aggression
Nisbett (1993) proposed that aggression is displayed more in the cultures where
one’s means of subsistence can be rapidly undermined. Such as herding
economies, where one’s entire stock could be stolen by thieves. So to scare of the
prospective thieves, people of that culture create a reputation of an aggressor.
3.2 Transmitted Culture
It consists of ideas, values, attitudes and beliefs that are transmitted from one generation
to another through direct or indirect interactions (Tooby & Cosmides, 1992)
3.2.1 Cultural differences in moral values
Moral behaviour i.e. what is right and what is wrong are important aspects of
human personality that guides an individual’s behaviour. Children learn cultural
views on morality early in life (Shweder et. al., 1990). These moral values are not
passed through genes, rather are taught by parents and teachers or learnt through
observation within one’s culture.
An example of moral values in a particular culture could be Semang of Malaysia,
for them it is sinful to comb one’s hair during rain, to watch dogs mate, to torture
a helpless animal, to kill a sacred wasp, to have sexual intercourse in the day time
and so on (Murdock, 1980).
3.2.2 Cultural differences in Self Concept
Self-concept of people in different cultures relies on their cultural belief in either
Interdependence (Collectivism) or Independence (Individualism). According to
Triandis (2001), in Individualist societies, people tend to act independently of
their groups, giving priority to personal goals rather than to group goals. They act
according to their own attitudes and desires, rather than succumbing to the norms
and attitudes of their in-group. On the hand, in the collectivist societies people
are interdependent on each other, they give priority to the goals of their in-
groups. These people in collectivist societies are highly concerned about their
PSYCHOLOGY Paper No 5: Personality Theories
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social relationships. They focus more on
relationships than fulfilling one’s own wishes
and goals.
Using the Twenty Statements Test, researchers have discovered that US
participants tend to describe themselves with regard to their individual
characteristics, such as smart, stable, dependable and open minded (Rhee et. al.,
1995). Chinese participants, in contrast, more often describe themselves in terms
of their social roles, such as “I am a good daughter” or “I am Jane’s friend” (Ip &
Bond, 1995).
3.2.3 Cultural differences in Self Enhancement
Self enhancement is the tendency to describe oneself using positive attributes
which are valued socially, such as calm, honest, intelligent and hardworking
(Larsen & Buss, 2005). Such tendencies towards self enhancement remain stable
over time. Researchers have found Westerns, for instance, Americans tend to
have positive descriptions of themselves as compared to Easterners; Japanese
(Fiske et. al., 1997).
3.3 Cultural Universals
There has been an attempt to identify features of personality that are present in almost all
cultures.
3.3.1. Beliefs about personality characteristics of Men and Women
William and Best (1990) did a large scale study over a period of 15 years in
which they collected data from 30 countries. The countries represented
continents such as Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. In each country
college going students were asked to observe 300 adjectives commonly used in
their countries and also indicate that a particular adjective is more often linked to
males, females or both. The findings were very astonishing as there was
tremendous consensus among countries in the way they associated many of the
trait adjectives with different genders.
3.3.2. Expression of Emotions
In the book ‘The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals’, Charles Darwin
(1872/1965, pp. 15, 17) has expressed “The same state of mind is expressed
throughout the world with remarkable uniformity; and this fact is in itself
interesting as evidence of the close similarity in bodily structure and mental
disposition of all the races of mankind”
Psychologist Paul Ekman (1973) in his classic research displayed photographs of
people with six basic emotions to natives of different continents. He found that
happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise were the six basic emotions
which were universally recognized by people belonging to various cultures.
3.3.3. Five Factor model of Personality
A fascinating question is whether there is a universal structure of personality,
such as the five factor model, or whether different factorial models exist in
different cultures (Larsen & Buss, 2005).
Researchers are divided in their findings and conclusions. Researchers with the
first approach i.e. five factor model is universally applicable have done various
PSYCHOLOGY Paper No 5: Personality Theories
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studies such as ‘Transport and test’ in which
they translated Big five inventory in various
languages and administered it in countries such as France, Holland, Philippines.
Using this strategy they have been able to find that five factor structure of
personality is general across cultures (McCrae et.al., 1998).
Researchers with the second approach i.e. Five factor structure of personality is
not universal have replicated the ‘transport and test’ study and found that five
factor model was understood by natives who were relatively high in general
cognitive abilities (Toomela, 2003).
4. Differences between Eastern, particularly Indian and Western
culture vis-à-vis Personality
4.1 Individualism VS Collectivism
In western culture, individuality is the most important value and relatedness comes
second i.e. a person has a choice to whether to make certain relationships with other
people or not (Tamura & Lau, 1992). As it is essentially a work and activity centered
culture, relationships such as marital, family, friends, colleagues and so on have to be
developed by working for these on the basis of shared commonalities (Pande, 1968).
In the West the relationships to society are viewed from an ‘egocentric perspective’ in
contrast to ‘sociocentric perspective’ of the east. In eastern cultures, a person is an
embedded instrument in relationships (Shweder and Bourne, 1982; Strathern, 1992).
4.2 Child rearing practices
Culture impacts personality tremendously through the child rearing practices. Roland
(1980) highlights differences in early child rearing practices between Western and the
Indian culture. In the West, children are expected to have their own voices, preferably
different from that of their parents (Dwivedi, 1996b). For adolescents leaving home is
considered as a very important developmental task (Lau, 1990). On the other hand,
Eastern culture gives emphasis to Dependability. The atmosphere of home is
characterized with indulgence, physical proximity, common sleeping arrangements,
immediate gratification of needs and sometimes prolonged babyhood. This kind of a
well-knit culture leads to an inner sense of security and strength. “Indians have a very
tolerant attitude towards children even under the most difficult circumstances” (Kumar,
1992). From the western point of view this can often be seen as a culture of spoilt
children.
4.3. Nuclear and Extended family dynamics
In India, children spend most of their formative years with their grandparents. Many
families of brothers have common residence, ritual activities and cooking arrangements.
There are joint celebrations of religious festivals, family rituals and traditional
ceremonies to keep the family ties intact. With changing times such pure form of joint
families are reducing and rather ‘intergenerational families’ have become more common;
wherein the parents live together with one of their grown up children.
According to Kumar (1992) “One might think that an indulgent and tolerant approach to
child rearing would result in very naughty children. However it doesn’t, Indian children
are generally quite well behaved. Actually Indian children do not need to throw tantrums
to seek attention as they get so much already from a host of relatives that they have.”
PSYCHOLOGY Paper No 5: Personality Theories
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However, in the western culture the elderly wants to
remain self-reliant and independent, they do not want
to become dependent on their children. Children also do not feel the need to look after
their parents as they have not seen their parents taking care of their own parents. And vis-
a-vis the children once grown up should not be monetarily dependent on their parents.
4.4. Expression of Emotions
Westerners believe in self-expression i.e. direct and clear communication. Indians on the
other hand tend to express feelings in such a way that it doesn’t hurt or harm anyone.
They emphasize on indirect and metaphorical communication. According to the theory of
‘Rasa’, in the Indian culture emotions are grounded not only in the self but also in play,
music, food and scent. The purity of food in terms of emotional and moral sense is more
important than its nutrient value (Dwivedi, 2000b). As learning from Eastern way of
method of emotional expression, the postmodern therapeutic framework has begun to
place a greater value on indirect communication clearly acknowledging and utilizing its
enormous therapeutic and protective powers (Bowen and Robinson, 1999; Dwivedi,
1997c, 2000c; Smith and Nylund, 1997).
4.5. Pathology and Coping Strategies
There is a rise in Narcissistic disorders in the West.
“Protect yourself from the demands of others and take care of yourself first’. Even where
no pathological problem exists, narcissistic traits of grandiosity and idealisation are
encouraged as behaviour norms...Faced with diminished sense or responsibility, more and
more of us have turned inward, increasingly towards self-fulfillment...Now, however,
important part of our society regards narcissism as a goal, not a problem. Many who feel
they are living according to the norms of society now end up in therapy confused over
their feeling of emptiness, isolation, and desperation” (Solomon, 1990, pp. 30-31).
Moving on to coping strategies, Olah (1995) found that adolescents in European
countries more frequently reported assimilative coping strategies (attempts to change the
environment to their own benefit eg., problem focused, task oriented, confrontative etc.)
than boys and girls in India and Yemen, who preferred emotion focused solutions (eg.,
accommodative).
6. Summary
Both heredity and environment influence human personality. Culture plays a significant
role in the domain of environment. Researchers have found significant inter-culture
differences in personality as well as similarities in personality of people belonging to
same culture.
However, research has also found individual variations within the same culture. Thus,
there are both prevalent personality types in each culture as well as individual variability
(Verónica Benet-Martínez & Shigehiro Oishi, 2006).
Emic (culture-specific) and etic (transcending culture) are the constructs that have led to
three differing positions held by anthropologists and social psychologists in terms of
importance of commonalities in human nature and emphasis on cultural context in
studying human behavior; Absolutism, Relativism and Universalism.
PSYCHOLOGY Paper No 5: Personality Theories
Module No 35: Culture and Personality
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Cultural Personality Psychology generally has three
key goals: 1.To find out the causes underlying the cultural diversity; 2.To find out how
human psychology moulds culture; and 3.To find out how culture shapes human
psychology (Fiske et al., 1997)
There are three models that can explain personality across cultures. Firstly, Evoked
culture, it means that every culture have certain environmental characteristics that lead
the people there to develop a unique personality. Secondly, transmitted culture i.e. the
beliefs and values of the ancestors of a cultural society pass on from generation to
generation making their thoughts and actions unique. And lastly, Cultural Universals,
there are certain aspects of personality that are universally accepted through varied
cultures.
There are significant differences in eastern and western cultures, such as the west has
‘egocentric perspective’ while the east has ‘socio centric perspective’. Child rearing
practices are quite different which have a major impact on a person’s personality, also in
east, unlike west, extended family scenario is common. They differ to the extent of
differently expressing their emotions. Due to all these differences the incidence of
psychopathology and form of coping strategies also differ in these cultures.
PSYCHOLOGY Paper No 5: Personality Theories
Module No 35: Culture and Personality
