Influence of Culture on Personality



Influence of Culture on Personality

Abstract

Ecologies shape cultures; cultures in?uence the development of personalities. There are both universal and culture-speci?c aspects of variation in personality. Some culture-speci?c aspects correspond to cultural syndromes such as complexity, tightness, individualism, and collectivism. A large body of literature suggests that the Big Five personality factors emerge in various cultures. We reviewed links between ecology and culture, and cultural syndromes and personality. In addition, we identi?ed dimensions of socialization that are related to cultural syndromes, such as the emphasis on child independence found in individualist cultures and the emphasis on dependence found in collectivist cultures. In addition to the signi?cant ?ndings that continue to emerge at the cultural level of individualism and collectivism, sophisticated theories and methodologies are being developed to understand the personal characteristics of idiocentric and allocentric individuals within a culture.

Individualism And Collectivism Culture

In individualist cultures, individual uniqueness and self-determination is valued. A person is all the more admirable if they are a "self-made man" or "makes up their own mind" or show initiative or work well independently. Collectivist cultures, on the other hand, expect people to identify with and work well in groups which protect them in exchange for loyalty and compliance. (Triandis, 2002)

Paradoxically, individualist cultures tend to believe that there are universal values that should be shared by all, while collectivist cultures tend to accept that different groups have different values.

Many of the asian cultures are collectivist, while anglo cultures tend to be individualist.

This can often have an impact on the amount of time a given task may take. For example a market research firm conducted a survey of tourist agencies around the world. The questionnaires came back from most countries in less than a month. But the agencies in the asian countries took months to do ...