Chapter 13 – Cultural Variation in Experience, Behaviour, and Personality

Culture and Psychology

Individuals may differ from each other because the belong to different cultural groups

Members of some groups may differ from others in distinctive ways

Cross -Cultural Universals vs Specificity

Universal Human Nature vs Cultural Specificity

What is Culture?

Psychological attributes of groups including customs, habits, beliefs, and values that shape
behaviour and life patterns, language modes of thinking and fundamental views of reality.

Cultural group can be defined by: Ethnicity, nationality and language

Differences are learned, not innate

Enculturation- Picking up the culture you were born in

Acculturation – Picking up the culture of a new home

Cultural differences not down to genetics bc cultures are not just ethnic

The Importance of Cross-Cultural Differences

Three reasons:

Cross Cultural Understanding – Behaviours vary widely across cultures. A normal behaviour
in your home country can get you killed somewhere else.

Generalisability of Theory and Research – The more cross-cultural research we do the

stronger the discipline becomes

Varieties of Human Experience – Culture imposes a set of lenses through which to view the
world Triandis.

Characteristics of Cultures

Etics The universal components of an idea or concept

Emics The culturally specific version of that idea or concept
Tough and Easy – Cultures with easy nature allow more freedom for the individual, tougher
cultures only see a few paths as valuable.

Achievement and Affiliation – Achievement based cultures industrialise faster than

affiliation cultures. Causality?

Complexity – Affluent cultures assume they are most complex, but this could be ignorant.

Tightness and Looseness – Deviation from ‘proper’ behaviour. Dense homogenous cultures
are tighter, diffuse diverse populations are looser. Sometimes measured by the
pervasiveness of left handedness.

Head Vs Heart – American selective migration. Head cities had more creative people than
heart ones.

Collectivism and Individualism -

Collectivism – Japan self means “my part of the shares living space” Relationships with
others

Individualism – USA “I AM THE MAIN CHARACTER” Self-esteem

Personality and Collectivism – Greater emphasis on personality in Individualist countries.

Collectivist – value social hierarchy,

Self-Regard – Less important to collectivist cultures. Failure treated differently

Sociability, and
- Collectivist -> more social. Individualists spend less time with more people and
collectivists spend more time with fewer people.

Emotion
- Indv – more self-focused emotions coll – other focussed emotions
- Love marriage vs arranged marriage
-
Motivation
Coll – losing face important
Indv – focus on achievement - doing well for self-more important than losing face
Risk/ reward orientation – coll risk
Indv – will self-enhance to look better

Behavioural Consistency – Self-determination, Indv- -cause of behaviour is within person,

BC represents mental health in west, not in east. Indv more emotionally consistent than col,
Despite this relative consistency remains.
Verticality and Compassion (Triandis & Gelfand, 1998)

Caution about Collectivism/Individualism: The Japanese Case

This distinction does not mean they’re completely differen. There are a lot of similarities.
These dimensions can be reductive.

Honour, Face, and Dignity (Leung & Cohen 2011)

Better distinction than Collectivism/Individualism?

West are Dignity cultures, individual is valuable in their own right, own values most
important.

Honour cultures – Insults are important because of weak protective infrastructure, showing
weakness could signal vulnerability and put you at risk

Face cultures – Hierarchy, humility and harmony are culturally important, people protect
each other’s social image.

Cultural Assessment and Personality Assessment

1. Assessing the degree to which average levels of specific traits vary between cultures
2. Assessing the degree to which traits that characterise people in one culture can
meaningfully characterise people in another.
Comparing the same traits across Cultures

Usually done by measuring the big 5 across cultures

Differences can also exist across subcultures

(Rentfrow et al, 2013) Variation across the US classified into 3 categories:

Friendly and conventional

Relaxed and creative
Temperamental and uninhibited

Differences have incredibly varied consequences from lower corruption to higher suicide
depending on the traits.

Different Traits for Different Cultures?

Can the big 5 be used across cultures? Translation makes this hard. May miss vital
components of. Some cultures

This can be solved by developing trait scales endogenously, to see if the same traits emerge

China created the CPAI which identified 7 traits only three of which fit the big five

Do different cultures think differently?

Holistic Perception of the Self – Neural activation when thinking about close family in china
is same as just self in USA. Collectivism/Individualism again

Independent Thinking – Americans do more independent thinking, Asians more rigid

methodical memorisation. Another interpretation is that there is more diligence preceding.
Independent though in Asians and they prefer not the think and talk at the same time.

Values

The Search for Universal Values

Finding Universal Values would have 2 implications:

1. A universal value would be a “real” one that we could have confidence in
2. Common values could be used to settle cultural disputes by compromise

Schwartz and Sagive identified 10 values:

- Power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, understanding,

benevolence, tradition, conformity, security
- Two dimensions: Openess to change/conservatism and Slef transcendence/self
enhancement
Cultural Differences in Values

Individualist: liberty, freedom of choice, rights individual needs

Collectivist: Obligations, reciprocity, and duties to group

Can see differences between subcultures too. Eg abortion reasoning

The Origins of Cultural Differences

Avoiding the Issue

Deconstructionism – any answer is coming through a cultural filter and is therefore not
objective

The Ecological Approach

Triandis (1994)

Oishi and Graham (2010)

Ecology can shape culture through incentive structures leading to personality and
behaviour.

Cultural Differences from Genetics?

No. Don’t do it. 1. Differences are small at most 2. Traits are weaker predictors at the
cultural level than individual. 3. Perple vary wildly within cultures. 4. There are many
explanations beside genes

Culture/personality is chicken/egg

Challenges and New Directions for Cross Cultural Research

Ethnocentrism – Cultural observations come through your own cultural filter

The Exaggeration of Cultural Differences

1. Cultural psych is in the business of finding differences

2. Significance tests instead of effect sizes. Large populations make
3. Outgroup Homogeneity bias
Cultures and Values

Beware of sliding into cultural relativism – FGM etc

Subcultures and Multiculturism – We keep trying to simplify as cultures become more

complex fractures and overlapping

The Universal Human Condition

Sartre: Everyone must exist, work, relate to others and die.

We have more in common than not.