Chapter 11 - Culture & Personality

A set of vocabulary-style flashcards derived from lecture notes on Cultural Personality Psychology, covering individualism, collectivism, cognitive differences, and cross-cultural Big 5 variations.

Culture

Consists of the customs, values, and behaviours characteristic of a nation, ethnic group, social class, or specific group.

WEIRD bias

A trend where most psychological research is conducted on participants from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) countries, making them not representative of all people.

Socialization

The process through which children learn cultural norms; for example, Canadian parents asking for children's opinions to help with self-expression.

Mutual Constitution Model

A model suggesting that individuals and cultures shape one another.

Individualism

A cultural system favoring the needs of self over the group, commonly found in Canada, the U.S., and Western Europe.

Collectivism

A system placing the needs of others and society first, promoting the idea of mutual interdependence; common in East Asia and Latin America.

High-activation positive emotions

Emotions such as excitement that are valued in individualistic cultures.

Low-activation emotions

Emotions such as serenity that are valued in collectivistic cultures.

Internal attributions

A focus on the person's character, which individualistic cultures tend to focus on.

External attributions

A focus on the surrounding situation, which collectivistic cultures tend to focus on.

Geography Theory (Cultural Origins)

Suggested by Jared Diamond, this theory posits that animals in Europe led to agriculture and math/writing advances, while rice farming in Asia required collective labour, emphasizing collectivism.

Pathogens (Cultural Origins)

A theory suggesting that areas with high historical vulnerability to infectious disease tend to emphasize conformity and rules (quarantines) to minimize spread.

Object vs. field

A perceptual and cognitive difference where Westerners focus on the primary object and East Asians focus on the surrounding field/topics.

Perspective-taking

A skill that people in collectivistic societies are better at compared to those in other cultures.

Self-enhancement

The desire to maintain an unrealistically positive self-concept, which is much higher in individualistic cultures.

Group-serving Bias

A form of self-enhancement that extends to one's family or social groups.

Subcullus

Groups that report the highest self-esteem, likely due to a more individualistic subculture as a defense to prejudice.

Relational Mobility

The ability to move between relationships, which is easier in modern individualistic cultures to assist with self-presentation.

Reference Group Effect

A research issue where people rate themselves according to others in their culture rather than against a universal standard.

Extraversion (Cultural Trends)

A trait found to be higher in individualistic, low power-distance, and moderate climate countries.

Agreeableness Perception

While self-reports show little difference between the U.S. and Canada, perceptions by outsiders suggest Canadians are more agreeable.

Conscientiousness Paradox

Asian nations often have low self-reported conschenkowe but high behavioral measures.

Uncertainty avoidance

A practice in countries with high neuroticism where formal rules are created around ambiguity to minimize it.

Openness to Experience (Recent Trends)

Higher in moderate climates and lower among socio-economic and highly educated groups in the recent generation, with students showing less inhirst of morning of life and abstract ideas.