Culture

1
Culture Personality

• Kimberley A. Clow
• kclow2_at_uwo.ca
• http//instruct.uwo.ca/psychology/257e-570
• Office Hour Thursdays 2-3pm
• Office S302

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Outline

• What is Culture
• Approaches to Culture
• Comparative Approach
• Emic vs. Etic
• Types of Culture
• Evoked
• Transmitted
• Universal
• Summary

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How Do We Compare?

• In some ways
• We are like all other people
• We are like some others
• We are like nobody else
• How does culture shape who we are?

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What is Culture?

• Definitions
• Shared system 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
• The way people understand their world and make
  sense of it through a shared system of meaning

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Why Study Culture?

• Reasons
• Discover whether concepts of personality that are
  prevalent in one culture are also applicable in
  other cultures
• Discover whether cultures differ in the levels of
  particular personality traits
• Discover whether the factor structure of
  personality traits varies across cultures
• Discover whether certain features of personality
  are universal

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Approaches to Culture

• How to handle cultural differences
• Denial
• Deconstructionism
• Comparative Approach
• Three Major Types of Cultures
• Evoked Culture
• Transmitted Culture
• Cultural Universals

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Culture in Personality Theories

• Psychodynamic Approach
• Freuds Theory
• Jungs Archetypes
• Learning Approach
• Allport
• Culture is part of what it means to be a person
• Trait Approach
• Do factors hold up across cultures?

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Comparative Approach

• Etic
• Universal
• Objective
• Outsiders view

• Emic
• Specific
• Subjective
• Insiders view

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An Example

• Personality in Spain
• Do people use the same personality traits in the
  U.S. and Spain?
• Emic Approach
• Indigenous assessment of personality
• Spanish personality adjectives
• Etic Approach
• Imported assessment of personality
• Translated Big Five questionnaire

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Resulting Factors
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Circumplex Model of Affect
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Etic vs. Emic
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Evoked Culture

• A way of considering culture that concentrates on
  phenomena that are triggered in different ways by
  different environmental conditions
• A universal underlying mechanism
• Environmental differences in activating that
  underlying mechanism
• Example
• Southern Culture of Honor

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Southern Culture of Honor
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Transmitted Culture

• Representations (ideas, values, beliefs,
  attitudes) that exist originally in at least one
  person's mind that are transmitted to other minds
  through observation or interaction with the
  original person
• Might explain cultural differences in
• Morals Values
• Self-Concepts

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Etiquette East vs. West

• Displays of Temper
• Tone of Voice
• Modesty vs. Pride
• Laughing
• Compliments
• Using First Names

• Touching
• Disclosures
• Offensive Gestures
• Agreeing
• Formality
• Face

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The Self
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Structural Framework - USA
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Structural Framework - Japan
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Independent Self
Father
Mother
Self
Co-Worker
Sibling
Friend
Friend
Friend
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Interdependent Self
Father
Mother
Self
Co-Worker
Sibling
Friend
Friend
Friend
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Individualism vs. Collectivism
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Variation Within Cultures
Individualism
Collectivism
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VERTICAL
USA
India
COLLECTIVISTIC
INDIVIDUALISTIC
Israel?
Sweden
HORIZONTAL
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Cultural Values

• Hofstede studied IBM employees in 50 different
  countries
• Found four cultural value dimensions
• Power Distance
• Canada vs. India
• Uncertainty Avoidance
• Japan vs. Hong-Kong
• Individualism / Collectivism
• US vs. China
• Masculinity / Femininity
• Brazil vs. Mexico

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A Different Take

• Trompenaars
• Individualism vs. Collectivism
• US vs. China
• Universalism vs. Particularism
• Germany vs. Hong-Kong
• Neutral vs. Affective Relationships
• Japan vs. Mexico
• Specific vs. Diffuse Relationships
• Achievement vs. Ascription
• UK vs. India

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Cultural Universals

• Attempt to identify features of personality that
  appear to be universal, or present in most or all
  cultures
• Some Examples
• Gender Stereotypes
• Emotion
• Personality Factors

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Emotional Expressions
Universality in Emotional Expressions
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Summary

• Cultural psychology studies the influence of
  cultural factors on peoples personality
• Every approach to personality needs to account
  for cross-cultural differences
• Global cross-cultural differences do not imply
  uniformity within each culture
• Subcultures do exist!
• Individual differences are also present