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,
– How will the researcher
• To what extent
know what to look for?
are we
– How will the researcher
measuring
know how to measure
ethnocentric
them?
concepts.
Big Five Personality Model
Western Culture’s Big Five
• The Five Factor Model (FFM)
– Conscientiousness
• Persistence and reliability
• Goal directedness
http://www.personalitytest.net/c
– Agreeableness
gi-bin/ipipneo1.cgip://
• Compassion, warmth
• 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
Culture Type 2
Culture Type 3
The Innate
Nature of
Humans
Most people can’t be trusted.
There are both good and evil
people in the world and you
have to check people out to find
out which they are.
Most people are basically pretty
good at heart.
The Human
Relationship to
Nature
Life is largely determined by
external forces, such as God
fate or genetics. A person
can’t surpass the conditions life
has set.
Humans should, in every way,
live in harmony with nature.
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.
Time
Orientation
Humans should learn from
history and attempt to emulate
the glorious ages of the past.
The present moment is
everything. Lets make the most
of it. Don’t worry about
tomorrow. Enjoy today.
Planning and goal setting make
it possible for humans to
accomplish miracles. A little
sacrifice today will bring a better
tomorrow.
Modality of
Human Activity
It is enough to just be. Its not
necessary to accomplish great
things in life to feel your life has
been worthwhile
The human purpose for being
placed on this earth is for our
own inner development.
If people work hard and apply
themselves fully, their efforts will
be rewarded.
Human’s
Relationship to
Others
Some people are born to lead
others. There are “leaders”
and “followers” in this world.
Whenever I have a serious
problem, I like to get the advice
of my family or close friends in
how best to solve it.
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
Humans
People are inherently evil.
People are a mixture of good
and evil.
People are inherently good.
The Human
Relationship to
Nature
Humans are subjugated to
nature.
Humans should live in harmony
with nature
Humans should dominate nature
Time
Orientation
Past oriented.
Present oriented.
Future oriented.
Modality of
Human Activity
Being.
Becoming.
Doing.
Lineal/hierarchical
relationships predominate.
Collateral relationships
predominate.
Individualism is more important
than relationships.
Human’s
Relationship to
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.