Culture and Personality: A Long Past, but a Short History Fons J. R. van de Vijver www.fonsvandevijver.org

Overview •

1. What is culture and personality?

•

2. How to Study Culture—Personality Link? • •

3. SAPI Project: Personality in South Africa

• • •

•

A Short History Emic-Etic Approaches to Personality

Background Current State

4. Prospects and Conclusions

1. Culture and Personality • How would your personality be if you would have grown up in rural Kenya/Shangai/…?

History • Current studies build on a long tradition • Field with a long history and a short past – Started with Freud – Taken up in anthropology • Psychological anthropology • Freudian theory first systematic theory of personality • Culture as “personality writ large”

– Voluminous literature

Rethinking Psychological Anthropology Continuity and Change in the Study of Human Action, Second Edition

Philip K. Bock (1999)

4

Problems of Early Approaches • Methodologically often poor studies: – Evidence often impressionistic – No serious study of interrater issues

– Mead (Coming of Age in Samoa, 1928):

• “[s]he emphatically criticized the neurosis-inducing nuclear family, including the stress of Christian monogamy, and used her Samoan material to demonstrate an alternative to premarital chastity...”

– Freeman (Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth, 1983): • Challenged all of Mead's major findings. All Samoan women emulated the taupou system and Mead's informants denied having engaged in casual sex as young women, and claimed that they had lied to Mead

2. Emic-Etic Distinction • Pike (1967): – "Emic“: an emic account comes from a person within the culture; indigenous perspective • E.g., what is extroversion in rural Zambia?

– "Etic“: account is a description of a behavior or belief by an observer, in terms that can be applied to other cultures • E.g., is the structure of extroversion universal?

• Long considered to be conflicting

Cross-Cultural Personality Models Universality (etic approach) Using imposed etic concepts emphasizes universals or core similarities in all human beings Are the imposed etic personality constructs universally applicable?

Cultural specificity (emic approach)  Utilizes a culture-specific orientation - emic concepts  Indigenous and culturally relevant constructs may be missing  Are there personality characteristics that are important to the understanding of personality in the local culture that have been left out in Western measures?

Personality: Evidence for Universality • Evidence largely based on two lines of research • 1. Five-Factor Model (Costa, McCrae)

– Five factors: Neuroticism, Extroversion, Openness, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness

• 2. Three-Factor Model (Eysenck)

– Three factors: Extroversion, Neuroticism, Psychoticism

Evidence for Cultural Specificity

• Many examples in literature • South-African concept of Ubuntu –“Meaning” • "humanity towards others" • "I am because we are" • "A person 'becomes human' through other persons" • "A person is a person because of other persons"

Emic versus Etic? • Personality is neither completely universal, nor completely culture-specific • Emic and Etic instead of Emic vs. Etic • How can we combine the two? – Much evidence in cross-cultural psychology that basic structure of psychological functioning is universal, but manifestations can differ across cultures

3. Study of Personality in South Africa • Why South Africa? – Multicultural and multilingual society • English as lingua franca

– Current availability of personality inventories • Personality instruments are imported, usually from the US or UK • No culture-informed personality instruments available

• Legal framework: Employment Equity Act 1998: “Psychological testing and other similar assessments of an employee are prohibited unless the test or assessment being used a) has been scientifically shown to be valid and reliable; b) can be applied fairly to all employees; and c) is not biased against any employee or group.”

• Project has two aims – Scientific: enlarge insight in culture—personality relationship in a mixed Western--non-Western context – Societal: develop instrument that is adequate for all ethnic groups

SAPI Project: South African Personality Inventory

Financially supported by NRF and SANPAD

•

The SAPI, an acronym for South African Personality Inventory, is a project that aims to develop an indigenous personality measure for all 11 official languages in South Africa. Participants are Byron Adams (University of Johannesburg and Tilburg University, the Netherlands), Deon de Bruin (University of Johannesburg), Karina de Bruin (University of Johannesburg), Carin Hill (University of Johannesburg), Leon Jackson (North-West University), Deon Meiring (University of Pretoria and University of Stellenbosch), Alewyn Nel (North-West University), Ian Rothmann (North-West University), Michael Temane (North-West University), Velichko Valchev (Tilburg University, the Netherlands), and Fons van de Vijver (North-West University and Tilburg University, the Netherlands).

Languages of South Africa Afrikaans English isiNdebele isiXhosa isiZulu Sesotho sa Leboa Sesotho Setswana siSwati Tshivenda Xitsonga No language dominant

Language Zulu Xhosa Afrikaans English

% Language 22.70% Sotho 16.00% Tsonga 13.50% Swati 9.60% Venda

% 7.60% 4.50% 2.50% 2.40%

Northern Sotho

9.10% Ndebele

2.10%

Tswana

8.00% Other languages

1.60%

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_South_Africa

How to Study Implicit Personality Models? • Psycholexical approach – What is important about personality is laid down in language (Goldberg) – Use dictionaries (e.g., de Raad)

• Variation on psycholexical study approach – Not dictionaries, but interviews were used – Dictionaries available, yet • Exhaustiveness not documented • Everyday usage may not well be reflected in dictionaries

Stages of the Project Qualitative Stage 1 – Identifying personality structure in an indigenous, comparative study – Generating items

– Piloting items/scales Quantitative Stage 2 (work in progress)

Method •Participants •Adults from all eleven language groups •Sample guidelines: Socio-economic Status, Education (low, medium, High), Males/Females, Age (18-35 yrs & 35 older)

•Interview done in own language •Instrument •Person descriptions of familiar persons •Your own personality – Describe yourself •Your best friend of the same sex •Your best friend from the opposite sex •A parent

Example: Venda Data QUESTIONS ITEMS VENDA RESPONSE

ENGLISH RESPONSE Discriminative - favour other children than others selfish - doesn't like to share food with others Did not encourage his children to school He was unable to deal with his problems

1

1 Vha na tshitalula

1

2 2

1 Vha na tseda Vho vha vha si na 1 thuthuwedzo Vho vha vha sa koni u 1 tandulula thaidzo Vho vha vha si na dzangalelo na zwithu 1 zwa mudzimu Ha pfi -Ha tanganedzi ngeletshedzo dza 2 vhanwe vhathu U a thogomela vha 2 lushaka lwa hawe Ha bviseli khagala muhumbulo wawe na 2 vhupfiwa 2 U na vhudifhinduleli

2

2 Ha tati dzi khaedu

3 3

Tshitalula - Vho vha vha Discriminative - favour other 3 tshi talula vho mazwale daughter in laws than others 3 Zwitshele Likes to gossip

3

Influence the grand-children to believe evil gods

1 1

1

2 2

3 Thuthuwedzo mmbi

Did not believe in God Stubborn - Doesn't take other people 's advices Caring - Takes good care of his family Doesn't show his feelings and or express his mind Responsible Risk taker - Not afraid of challenges

Stages in Qualitative Data Analysis • Phase 0: Preparing

– Preparation (translating, remove nonpersonality data, take synonyms together, collating data)

• Phase 1: Consultation

– Language Expert Consultation – Discussions in research group • Phase 2: Analysis – Conceptual Cluster Analysis

• condensing 53,000 responses to a much smaller number • retaining as much information as possible • Create homogeneous clusters

Phase 1 Language Expert Consultation • Around 120 interviews target language - translated into English (approx. 52,000 responses) • Completed excel data sheet - scrutinized by a language practitioner expert in the target language • A new excel file with changes by the language expert

Phase 2: Cultural Experts Venda

Ndebele

Sesotho

Afrikaans

Tsonga

Setswana

Zulu

Seswati

Xhosa

Sepedi

Condensing the Data

Facets

abusive (34)

Categorising

Cleaning

Response in English

Response in Ndebele

abusive

abused

He is abused

Uhlukulumezekile epilweni

abusive

abused him

he abused him even when abuse was not there

kade ambuser lokha ingekho

abusive

abuses me

He abuses me

Uyangi hlukumeza

abusive

Abusive person

An abusive person

Umuntu ohlukumezako

Phase 3 Conceptual Cluster Analysis • Process of condensing data: 1. 53,000 responses 2. 550 subfacets 3. 188 facets 4. 37 subclusters (defined) 5. 9 clusters

SOFT-HEARTEDNESS

RELATIONSHIP HARMONY Hostility Meddlesomeness

Conflict Seeking

Interpersonal relatedness

Gratefulness

Amiability

Egoism

Active support

Approachability

Empathy

EXTRAVERSION

INTELLECT

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS Dominance Expressiveness

Sociability Positive emotionality

Dedication Achievement Orientation

Thoughtlessness

Self-discipline

Emotional Control Emotional Sensitivity

Courage Neuroticism Balance

Skillfulness

Reasoning Social Intellect

Orderliness

FACILITATING

EMOTIONAL STABILITY Ego Strength

Aesthetics

INTEGRITY

OPENNESS Materialism

Epistemic curiosity

Guidance Broadmindedness

Openness to experience

Integrity Fairness

Encouraging others

Cluster: Relationship Harmony Subcluster Approachability

Facet Accommodating Approachable

Conflict-Seeking

Arrogant Flexible Humble Open for Others Proud Stubborn Tolerant Welcoming Argumentative Provoking Troublesome

Example Response (Language)

Addressed us in English so we could understand (Xhosa) She is approachable, I could speak to her about anything (S Sotho) He thinks he is better than all the other people (N Sotho) Flexible to situation (Tswana) She is a humble and down to earth person (Ndebele) Accepts people for who and what they are (English) Is proud and thinks of herself better than others (Swati) Was stubborn, did not listen to anybody (Tswana) Tolerant (Afrikaans) Welcoming – to everyone (Venda) Likes to quarrel (Xhosa) Provocative and calls people names (Swati) Creates tension for nothing (Zulu)

Interpersonal Relatedness

Meddlesomeness

Appeasing Constructive Cooperative Forgiving

If she made you angry she will come to your house and apologise (N Sotho) Shares constructive ideas (Xhosa) Works well with others (Tswana) She holds no grudges (Tsonga) Maintains a good relation with others (Venda)

Good Relations with Another Peaceful

He likes peace amongst people (N Sotho)

Peacekeeping Well-Mannered Gossiping Interfering

He likes to bring peace where there is misunderstanding (Ndebele) Doesn’t ask nicely (Afrikaans) A person who spreads rumours about other people (S Sotho) Likes to interfere in other people’s business (English)

Cluster: Soft-Heartedness Active Support

Amiability

Egoism

Community Involvement (11/143) Heedful Helpful Protective Solving Problems of Others Supportive Friendly Irritating Kind Likeable Pleasant Stern Generous Greedy Jealous Self-Centered Selfish

There is one person who is always looking after the community (Zulu) She listens when you talk to her (S Sotho) Is helpful when you are in need (Swati) Protective (Xhosa) If I have a problem, she knows how to solve it (Ndebele) I like to give people my support (Tswana) She is a friendly person (Tsonga) He is annoying and irritating (S Sotho) Kind (Venda) He is loved by everyone (S Sotho) He was a nice person to live with (Zulu) Always serious, not smiling (Xhosa) One who is generous and gives food when asked (Swati) Greedy (Afrikaans) A person who is jealous of other people’s possessions (Zulu) All revolves around her, she thinks (English) Wants everything for himself (Xhosa)

Empathy

Gratefulness Hostility

Agreeing Caring Compassionate Considerate Humane Loving Respectful Satisfying Others Appreciative Grateful Abusive Aggressive Critical Cruel Delinquent Denigrating Distrustful Exploiting Intimidating Verbally Aggressive Wrathful

Agreeable (Tswana) Cares about other people (English) She feels pity for you when you are in trouble (N Sotho) Considers others’ feelings (Afrikaans) He is good-natured and shows humanity (Swati) Loving and caring – concerned about my life (Venda) He respects other people (Tsonga) Makes people happy all the time (Xhosa) She doesn’t appreciate the good of other people (Ndebele) He is not thankful for what people do for him (N Sotho) Abusive – physically and emotionally (English) He is aggressive and likes fighting (Tswana) He likes criticising others (Tsonga) He is a cruel person (S Sotho) Mugged people (Xhosa) Likes to belittle others (Venda) He mistrusts people (English) Uses other people (Afrikaans) People were afraid of him (N Sotho) Swears at his parents (Zulu) Is wrathful and scolds especially when you have disappointed her (Swati)

In Words,… • Considerable overlap with Big Five Model – Neuroticism/Emotional Stability – Extraversion – Conscientiousness

• Yet,

– Openness split up (Openness and Intellect) – Agreeableness split up and broader in our study (Relationship Harmony and Soft-Heartedness) – Integrity added (cf. HEXACO model) – Facilitating as additional cluster

• Structure to be confirmed in quantitative work

Additional Analyses • Interest in salience of clusters per group and in traitedness – Literature (Church): behavior is seen as more trait based (“traited”) in individualistic countries and as more situational (less traited) in collectivistic countries

1. Categories of Personality Description and Contextualization Category Description content Trait Reified trait (virtue) Behavior Preferences & perceptions

Competency Emotional state Role Role-fitting Relational state Social identity Supernatural belief Other-referring Similarities & opposites Peripheral to personality a Others, uncodable a Description contextualization Domain Temporal & situational General relational Specific relational Composite

Examples

cheerful, helpful (has) sense of humor, respect makes jokes, cares likes, wants, willing to, believes/thinks, hopes, expects knows, understands, is able to (is, gets) afraid, irritated (like) a father to me (not) a good father always there, on good terms, close to me Christian, Zulu believes in ancestors people respect him, we do things together we are similar, is like me divorced, tall, taxi driver, lives in Soweto she is the reason I left school, friends are no good helps with house chores when, if, sometimes, on certain occasions with, to (people, others) with, to (her husband) respectful to people when they come to work

• Loglinear analysis of frequencies of responses per category and culture • Main interest in interactions

Black P

Category

Coloured & Indian

SR

P

SR

White P

SR

Description content Trait

.34

Reified trait (virtue)

.02

Behavior

.29

Preferences & perceptions

.26

Competency

.02

Emotional state

.01

Role

.01

Role-fitting

.01

Relational state

.01

Social identity

.01

Supernatural belief

.00

Other-referring

.03

Similarities & opposites

.00

-17.22 -5.33 7.13 18.19 -1.47 -0.49 -0.45 -1.13 -0.68 3.20 2.88 -1.90 -2.13

.50 .03 .25 .08 .02 .02 .01 .01 .01 .00 .00 .05 .01

12.72 2.38 -1.74 -21.08 2.34 2.81 2.47 2.36 3.82 -4.17 -2.99 7.35 2.98

.64 .05 .16 .07 .02 .01 .00 .01 .01 .00 .00 .03 .01

Traits more common among Whites, behaviors and preferences more among Blacks

31.62 11.17 -16.23 -26.58 1.59 -1.28 -1.07 0.71 -1.71 -4.28 -4.50 -1.79 2.67

Description Contextualization Black Category

P

SR

Coloured & Indian P

SR

White P

SR

Context-free

.66

-8.02

.76

5.75

.85

14.87

Domain

.02

-0.14

.03

2.82

.02

-2.16

Temporal & situational

.04

3.93

.03

-2.65

.02

-7.43

General relational

.10

7.01

.05

-8.83

.05

-9.61

Specific relational

.14

8.08

.10

-3.46

.05

-17.06

Composite

.04

5.56

.02

-4.49

.01

-9.87

Contextualization more common among Blacks than among Whites (in line with traitedness perspective)

Summary • Both on cluster and facet level, Blacks favor social-relational descriptions, Whites favor personal-growth descriptions, with Indians in the middle – Note: core agreeableness facets (approachable, flexible, friendly) relatively more salient among Whites • Tentative interpretation: characteristics more salient for functioning in groups with many contacts with outgroup members

4. Prospect

1. Culture and Personality: The Next Stage • What would be topics of incoming PhD students? • New topics in culture and personality will emerge, building on current themes – Personality in other domains than self-reports – Social aspects of personality – Border between personality and social psychology will become more vague

2. Cross-Cultural Psychology in Sweden Country

2011

Country

2011

Finland

67936 Thailand

19008

Iraq

55846 United Kingdom

18113

Poland

42743 China (excluding Hong Kong) 15494

Denmark 40468 Iran (Islamic Republic of)

14301

Norway

34812 Afghanistan

12710

Somalia

33003 Turkey

12352

Finland

67936 Romania

10150

Germany 27755

• Total number of immigrants (including second generation) = 1,858,000 ( 19.8% of total population, which is similar to most other Western European countries)

• Relevance of cross-cultural studies in Sweden obvious, yet… • Few studies in Sweden of – Adequacy of existing instruments for immigrant groups – Acculturation

• How do immigrants deal with their ethnic and Swedish culture?

• Sweden not a big country on “the cross-cultural psychology map” – Norway and Finland more present

General Conclusion • Qualitative stage yielded a rich data set – Emic notably in the social-relational domain

• Further quantitative work needed and in progress • Approach suitable in many other countries – Professionalism requirements demand psychologists to be sensitive to cross-cultural differences

Thank you very much for your attention www.fonsvandevijver.org