PSY 3126 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Individualism, Neuroticism, Ingroups And Outgroups
28 Apr 2018
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October 11, 2017
Self and Personality
Self-Descriptors Across Cultures
Types of self-descriptors
-Personal characteristics: descriptor is an enduring, abstract trait (ex. creative, athletic, intelligent)
-Role or membership: descriptor implicates others or describes a relationship (ex. mother, younger sister, friend,
coach, mentor)
-Other
Patterns of using personal characteristics vs. roles and memberships varies across cultures
-The aspects of yourself that you deem most important varies across cultures
Ex. Study compared American undergraduates to people in Kenya
-Divided Kenyans into Nairobi undergrads (most Westernized), Masai and Samburu (small, rural tribes)
-Found that American undergraduates are most likely to use personal characteristic self-descriptors, followed by
Nairobi undergrads
-Masai and Samburu were least likely to describe themselves using personal characteristics and were more likely to
characterize themselves in terms of their roles and memberships within their groups
-NB: this pattern has been found in many other non-Western contexts (ex. Chinese, Koreans, Malaysians, Indians,
Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cook Islanders, other Africans)
Ex. Study compared Chinese and Danish in an fMRI
-Danish: found that the same area of the brain was activated when considering both personal attributes and social
roles
•Area typically involved in self-judgment
-Chinese: different areas of the brain were activated when considering personal attributes and social roles
•Chinese thoughts about their social roles involved more of a region that is involved in understanding other
people’s beliefs
-The self-perceptions of people in these two cultures were associated with different patterns of brain activity
Independent vs. Interdependent Views of the Self
Markus and Katayama (1991): the self is organized differently across cultures
Two ways of viewing the self:
-Independent view of self: self derives its identity from its inner attributes, which are perceived to be stable across
situations and across the lifespan
•Identity is unique: no other individual possesses the same configuration of attributes
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•They are self-contained: they’re perceived to arise from the individual and not from interactions with others
•They are significant: regulate behaviour
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-Notice that the individual circle is self-contained - no overlapping areas
•Signifies that independent individuals experience their identities as largely distinct from their relationships
-Attributes (x’s) are unique to the individual
-Circle around the individual is in tact (not dashed) - the self is stable
-In-group membership is more flexible - major distinction is between self and other
•Signified by the dashed line around the in-group
•New relationships can be formed and old relationships can be dissolved without having a large impact on
an independent person’s perception of their identity
•Will have a greater amount of trust overall
-Interdependent view of the self: self is a relational entity that is connected to and sustained by relationships with
others, behaviour is contingent upon perception of others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions
•Identity is reflexive: depends upon the context (since how you describe yourself depends upon the people
involved)
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-Individual circle overlaps with others - much more dependent on interactions with others
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-Attributes (x’s) are both unique to the individual and dependent upon others
-Circle surrounding the individual is dashed: identity is much more fluid depending upon the social context
-Circle surrounding the in-group is solid: in-group membership is much more rigid
•Major distinction is between in-group and out-group
•Hard to get into the in-group, but also rare to leave the in-group
•Will have a greater amount of trust within the in-group, but less trusting of out-group members
-NB: these aren’t mutually exclusive, but different cultures prime different views of the self
•Ex. Individualistic societies are predisposed to the independent self, but they still have views of the self that are
interdependent
Neural basis for differing views of the self: asked participants to say how much certain adjectives were descriptive of
themselves or of their mothers
-Chinese groups: same brain areas were activated when describing the self vs. their mother
•Little distinction between self and mother
•Significant in-group relationships form a core part of their self-concept
-Western groups: different brain areas were activated when describing the self vs. their mother
•Great distinction between self and others
Individualism and Collectivism
Individualistic cultures tend to emphasize independent aspects of the self (relatively more)
-Value distinctiveness and self-reliance
-“The squeaky wheel gets the grease” - values speaking up and being independent
Collectivistic cultures tend to emphasize interdependent aspects of the self (relatively more)
-Close relationships, group memberships
-“The nail that sticks out gets struck down” - values social harmony and conformity
Hofstede individualism index: was able to generate a ranking of cultures in how much they endorsed and valued
personal autonomy, assertiveness, etc. (individualism)
-Found that US is the most individualistic country in the world - big emphasis on self-freedom, individual rights,
pursuing your dreams
-Canada is the 4th most individualistic culture, behind the UK and Australia
-Most individualistic cultures tend to be Western and Northern Europe and countries that were previously part of the
British Empire
-Most collectivistic cultures tend to be in Latin America, Africa, and Asia - represents the majority of the world’s
population
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Document Summary
Personal characteristics: descriptor is an enduring, abstract trait (ex. creative, athletic, intelligent) Role or membership: descriptor implicates others or describes a relationship (ex. mother, younger sister, friend, coach, mentor) Patterns of using personal characteristics vs. roles and memberships varies across cultures. The aspects of yourself that you deem most important varies across cultures. Study compared american undergraduates to people in kenya. Divided kenyans into nairobi undergrads (most westernized), masai and samburu (small, rural tribes) Found that american undergraduates are most likely to use personal characteristic self-descriptors, followed by. Masai and samburu were least likely to describe themselves using personal characteristics and were more likely to characterize themselves in terms of their roles and memberships within their groups. Nb: this pattern has been found in many other non-western contexts (ex. Native americans, puerto ricans, cook islanders, other africans) Study compared chinese and danish in an fmri.
