Cultural Psych: Chapter 6

Self and Personality

Independent view of self

• Self derives its identity form inner attributes:

  • Distinct form their relationships

  • Stable across situations and life span

  • Unique, self-contained, and coherent

  • Fluid between ingroups and outgroups

Interdependent view of self

• The individual is a relational entity who is fundamentally connected to, and sustained by, a number of significant relationships

  • Model views themselves as being defined by social relationships and roles

  • Behavior depends on the perceptions of others’ thoughts/feelings/actions

  • Identity is experienced as somewhat fluid and permeable, and the role the person occupies in a situation, and the experience itself will vary accordingly

  • People do not easily become ingroup members, nor do close relationships turn into outgroup relationships

Individualism + independent view of self

• Individualistic cultures

  • encourage thoughts and behaviors fostering independent self-concepts

  • Value distinctiveness from others and being self-sufficient

Collectivism + interdependent view of self

• Encourage thoughts and behaviors fostering interdependent self-concepts

• Value close relationships and group members

Higher SES + individualism/independent self

• In Iceland higher SES predicts higher individualism and middle-class American parents emphasize importance of teaching children self-direction

  • because financial and material resource availability reduces a person’s physical + social dependence on others

Lower SES + collectivism/interdependent

• In Iceland lower SES predicts higher collectivism and working-class Americans parents emphasize conforming to authority figures

  • because limited access to material resources and financial security makes interpersonal reliance a necessity for survival

High gender egalitarianism

women should be treated the same as men (Finland, Germany)

Low gender egalitarianism

men should be granted more rights, privileges, and power than women (Pakistan, Nigeria)

Shifting cultivation

• soil is dug up with a tool similar to a garden hoe and women do most of the agricultural work

• More egalitarian gender roles

Plow cultivation

• a large animal pulls a plow, which is generally controlled by a man

  • women tend not to participate in labor outside and focus on domestic matters

  • children stay with women due to the dangers of being around plows

• the places that adopted the plow are low on gender egalitarianism and female labor force participation today

Self-consistentency

• The drive to keep our thoughts, beliefs, values, and actions aligned with our personal self-concept

  • In a study when participants described themselves while in different contexts with a professor and a fellow student

    • Japanese participants varied in their self-descriptions depending on the context

    • American participants responded similarly across contexts

Cognitive Dissonance

• a distressed feeling from observing ourselves behaving inconsistently

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• Because we are motivated to be consistent, when we observe our own inconsistencies leads to distress

• Self-consistency motivates us toward dissonance reduction (attempts to resolve distress)

  • changing behaviors to match attitudes

  • changing attitudes to no longer appear to be inconsistent

Different cultures show dissonance reduction differently

• Canadians rationalized their decisions after making a choice for themselves

• Japanese rationalized decisions after making a choice for someone else

• North Americans appear to aspire toward self-consistency, where EA are more concerned with being consistent with others

Subjective self-awarness

• taking the perspective of the subject

• an “I” perspective that is focused on the outside world, not the self

• usually independent self

  • less concerned with others’ assessment of us

Objective self-awareness

• Experiencing the self as the object

• a “me” perspective that is forced to focus inward and conscious of how others see and evaluate us

• usually interdependent self

  • more concerned with others’ assessments

Incremental theory of self (growth mindset)

• belief that abilities and traits are malleable and can change or improve

  • focus on efforts and strategies use

  • generally characteristic of people with interdependent sense of self (Asian cultures)

Entity theory of self (fixed minset)

• belief that abilities and traits are largely fixed and resistant to change, reflecting innate features of the self

  • blame one’s own innate lack of abilities

  • generally characteristic of people with independent sense of self (North Americans)

Five-factor model of personality

OCEAN:

1.) Openness to experience

2.) Conscientiousness

3.) Extraversion

4.) Agreeableness

5.) Neuroticism

Openness to experience

creativity and curiosity about the world

Conscientiousness

responsible, dependable, self-discipline

Extraversion

outgoing, social, dominant

Agreeableness

warm, pleasant, considerate

Neuroticism

emotional instability and unpredictability