Culture

and the
Individual
Enculturation, Socialization & Personality
Kimberly Porter Martin
Personality
-characteristics of an individual
resulting from the interaction
of genetics, socialization,
enculturation and life
experience.
 Personality Trait

• A lasting characteristic attributed

to persons in varying amounts of
strength.

Fiske, 1971
 Anthony F.C. Wallace

Societies deal with individual differences

in personality in two general ways:

1. They enculturate and socialize

children, shaping them to suit cultural
expectations
2. They provide alternative roles that
accommodate different personalities
Enculturation Vs. Social Stratification
The Enculturation, Socialization and
Personality PowerPoint ( this one!)
focuses on enculturation and
socialization of individuals to try to shape
them to cultural ideals.
The Social Stratification and Personality
PowerPoint will deal with how society
shapes personality and the kinds of roles
it provides for individuals with different
personalities.
 Personality Models
• Measures of personality are based on
models of the range of and importance of
specific personality traits.
• Studying measures gives us insight about
the emic views of the culture in which the
measures were.
 The Big Questions
• To what extent • If some personality
are we using traits are completely
ethnocentric outside the experience
measures? of the researcher,
• To what extent – How will the researcher
are we know what to look for?
measuring – How will the researcher
ethnocentric know how to measure
concepts. them?
Big Five Personality Model
 Western Culture’s Big Five
• The Five Factor Model (FFM)
– Conscientiousness
• Persistence and reliability
• Goal directedness
– Agreeableness http://www.personalitytest.net/c
• Compassion, warmth gi-bin/ipipneo1.cgip://
• Gentle and sensitive
– Openness to Experience
• Curiosity and imagination
– Extraversion
• Positive attitude
• Seeks stimulating social interaction
– Neuroticism
• Emotional instability
• Anxiety and hostility
Kagitcibasi’s Three Family Styles
Independent family
» Afluent, educated, middle class
» Nuclear family units
» Smaller families
» Independence, self-sufficiency, uniqueness training
Interdependent family
» Agrarian,
» Children help w/ subsistence, care for aging parents
» Intergenerational closeness, extended families
» Obedience training
Psychological interdepence family
» Emotional interdependence between family members
» Socialized for family loyalties
» Childrearing for a combination of autonomy within the context
of family loyalty
» Compromise between the other styles
Eysenck Personality Model (EPQ)
Western Culture

• Three qualities:
1. psychoticism*
2. extroversion
3. neuroticism

Psychoticism = aggression and interpersonal hostility. Predisposes for

mental illness/schizophrenia.
 Chinese Personality
Assessment Inventory (CPAI)
• Added a sixth dimension to the Big Five:
– Interpersonal Relatedness (importance of
harmony, face and relationship orientation)
• Openness dimension missing from CPAI
– Interpersonal Relatedness (importance of
harmony, face and relationship orientation)

Found in China, Hawaii and Singapore.

Western “blind spot” with regard to personality traits
 Variability in Scale Results
• Locally derived measures are better
• Some traits overlap, but not predictable
• Sometimes traits dropped or added
• Other times blended into different
variations
 Examples of Indigenous
Personality Models
Ubuntu – Africa – “a person is a person
through other persons”
•Senegal – three layers of a person:
1.shell (body)
2.physiological functioning
3.psychological existence
4.spiritual existence
Sow’s African Model
Indian Jiva Personality Model
 Examples of Indigenous
Personality Models
• Japanese Amae = passive love and
dependence as an infant has for its
mother.
• Permeates Japanese culture throughout
the lifespan.
• Creates an expectation of passive
connection to all others in the group.
• Concealed amae leads to mental illness.
 Examples of Indigenous
Personality Models
• Bambara
– A symbolic system
– Person is not separate from spirit world,
human community and/or ecological context.
– Sixty dimensions or elements in pairs, one
male and one female.
• Thought-reflection
• Speech-authority
• Future-destiny
 Value Systems
• Kluckhohn and Strodbeck
• Hofstede
• Locus of Control
 Kluckhohn & Strodbeck’s
Values Matrix (Item Examples)
Culture Type 1
The Innate Most people can’t be trusted.
Nature of
Humans
The Human Life is largely determined by
external forces, such as God
Relationship to fate or genetics. A person
Nature can’t surpass the conditions life
has set.
Time Humans should learn from
history and attempt to emulate
Orientation the glorious ages of the past.
Modality of It is enough to just be. Its not
necessary to accomplish great
Human Activity things in life to feel your life
has been worthwhile
Human’s Some people are born to lead
others. There are “leaders”
Relationship to and “followers” in this world.
Others
Culture Type 2
There are both good and evil
people in the world and you
have to check people out to find
out which they are.
Humans should, in every way,
live in harmony with nature.
The present moment is
everything. Lets make the most
of it. Don’t worry about
tomorrow. Enjoy today.
The human purpose for being
placed on this earth is for our
own inner development.
Whenever I have a serious
problem, I like to get the advice
of my family or close friends in
how best to solve it.
Culture Type 3
Most people are basically pretty
good at heart.
The human challenge is to
conquer and control nature.
Everything from air conditioning
to the green revolution has
resulted from our having met
this challenge.
Planning and goal setting make
it possible for humans to
accomplish miracles. A little
sacrifice today will bring a better
tomorrow.
If people work hard and apply
themselves fully, their efforts will
be rewarded.
All people should have equal
rights, and we should all have
complete control over our own
destiny.
 Kluckhohn & Strodbeck’s
Values Matrix (Core Value)
Culture Type 1 Culture Type 2 Culture Type 3
The Innate
Nature of People are inherently evil. People are a mixture of good People are inherently good.
Humans and evil.

The Human
Humans are subjugated to Humans should live in harmony Humans should dominate nature
Relationship to nature. with nature
Nature
Time
Orientation Past oriented. Present oriented. Future oriented.

Modality of
Human Activity Being. Becoming. Doing.

Human’s
Lineal/hierarchical relationships Collateral relationships Individualism is more important
Relationship to predominate. predominate. than relationships.
Others
 Hofstede’s Value Dimensions
• 1. POWER DISTANCE
• The degree of inequality between a less
powerful person and a more powerful other
(Mulder 1977).
• The distance at which boss/supervisor and
employee comfortably function within a given
society.
• The boss's style of decision making along
with employees level of fear about disagreeing
with superiors.
 Hofstede’s Value Dimensions
• 2. UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE
• The tolerance for uncertainty in a
society, coped with in society by
technology, law and religion, and in
organizations by technology, rules and
rituals.
 Hofstede’s Value Dimensions
• 3. INDIVIDUALISM
• The relationship between the individual
and the collectivity in which prevails in a
given society.
• The degree to which the individual is
valued over the group, or the group is
valued over the individual.
 Hofstede’s Value Dimensions
• 4. MASCULINITY
• The degree to which a society focuses
on assertion and competition as opposed
to nurturance and the development and
maintenance of relationships.
 Locus of Control
• Who or what controls your life?

– External = outside forces that you do not

control or influence

– Internal = you are empowered to make

changes and choices in your life. You have
control of your own life.