Table of Contents
CHAPTER 6: SELF AND PERSONALITY.................................................................................................2
6.1 WHO AM I?.....................................................................................................................................2
6.2 INDEPENDENT VS INTERDEPENDENT VIEWS OF SELF..................................................................................2
6.3 RELATIONS WITH INGROUPS AND OUTGROUPS........................................................................................2
6.4 INDIVIDUALISM AND COLLECTIVISM.......................................................................................................3
6.5 TIGHTNESS AND LOOSENESS................................................................................................................3
6.6 HETEROGENEITY OF INDIVIDUALS AND CULTURES.....................................................................................3
6.7 GENDER AND CULTURE.......................................................................................................................3
6.8 SOME OTHER WAYS THAT CULTURES DIFFER IN THE SELF-CONCEPT..............................................................4
6.9 IMPLICIT THEORIES REGARDING THE NATURE OF THE SELF..........................................................................4
6.10 PERSONALITY..................................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 8: MOTIVATION.................................................................................................................6
8.1 MOTIVATIONS FOR SELF-ENHANCEMENT AND SELF-ESTEEM.......................................................................6
8.2 MOTIVATIONS FOR FACE AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT..................................................................................6
8.3 RELIGION AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION............................................................................................7
8.4 AGENCY AND CONTROL......................................................................................................................7
8.5 MOTIVATIONS TO FIT IN OUR TO STICK OUT............................................................................................8
CHAPTER 9: COGNITION AND PERCEPTION........................................................................................9
9.1 ANALYTIC AND HOLISTIC THINKING........................................................................................................9
9.2 ATTENTION......................................................................................................................................9
9.3 UNDERSTANDING OTHER PEOPLE’S BEHAVIORS........................................................................................9
9.4 REASONING STYLES..........................................................................................................................10
9.5 TOLERATION OF CONTRADICTION........................................................................................................10
9.6 CREATIVE THINKING.........................................................................................................................10
9.7 TALKING AND THINKING....................................................................................................................10
9.8 EXPLICIT VERSUS IMPLICIT COMMUNICATION........................................................................................10
9.9 LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY.....................................................................................................................11
CHAPTER 10: EMOTIONS.................................................................................................................12
10.1 WHAT IS AN EMOTION?.................................................................................................................12
10.2 DOES EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE VARY ACROSS CULTURES?......................................................................12
10.3 EMOTION AND LANGUAGE..............................................................................................................12
10.4 CULTURAL VARIATION IN KINDS OF EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE..................................................................12
10.5 CULTURAL VARIATION IN SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING AND HAPPINESS..........................................................13
CHAPTER 11: INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION AND CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS.......................................14
11.1 INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION...........................................................................................................14
11.2 CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS....................................................................................................................14
,Chapter 6: Self and personality
6.1 Who am I?
- People all over the world are able to think of themselves in terms of both abstract
psychological attributes and concrete roles and relationships. However, the degree to which
they view themselves in these two separate ways varies significantly across cultures.
o Some cultures encourage people to focus on their enduring inner attributes, such as
personality traits, attitudes, or abilities, as a means to understand themselves.
o Other cultures encourage people to focus on connections with others by considering
themselves in terms of concrete roles, relationships, and group memberships.
- Study: Explored this among Kenyans and Americans by asking people to describe themselves
with the Twenty-Statements Test -> I am _______.
o Personal characteristics as self-description: Americans 48% - Kenyans 2%.
o Social identity as self-description: Americans 7% - Kenyans 60%.
6.2 Independent vs interdependent views of self
- Independent self: : Model of the self in which identity is thought to come from inner
attributes that reflect a unique essence of the individual and that remain stable across
situations and across the lifespan. Self is distinct from others.
o Self is experienced as distinct from others.
o Key aspects of the self, lie within the individual.
o Self is bounded and stable.
o Ingroup boundaries permeable -> new relationships can be formed, and old
relationships can be dissolved without having a large impact on the person’s identity.
- Interdependent self: : Model of the self in which individuals are perceived not as separate
and distinct entities but as participants in a larger social unit, where identity is contingent
upon key relationships with ingroup members. Others are an extension of the self.
o The self, overlaps considerably with an individual’s significant relationships.
o Key aspects of the self are based on significant relationships.
o The self has a fluid identity, is situation-relevant, and unstable.
o Solid ingroup-outgroup border -> you do not easily become ingroup member, nor
does ingroup dissolve easily.
- Self-concept in the brain: Cultural differences in the self-concept are not just theoretical,
they can also be observed in brain activation patterns.
o Study: English-speaking expats in China or Chinese-native participants were
instructed to consider how well traits characterized themselves or their mothers.
Chinese participants’ brain activation did not differ when thinking of
themselves or their mothers -> represent themselves and their mothers as
not that distinct (interdependent self).
Western participants, activated different brain regions -> represent
themselves and their mothers in distinct ways (independent self).
6.3 Relations with ingroups and outgroups
- Why would we expect to see people with independent and interdependent selves having
different views toward ingroups and outgroups?
o Interdependent selves: The boundary distinguishing ingroups from outgroups is
particularly salient for members of interdependent cultures. It is not easy for
outgroup members to become ingroup, and it is rare for a member of the ingroup to
lose a privileged status and fall into the outgroup category.
o Independent selves: The boundary distinguishing ingroups from outgroups is less
consequential to self-construction for those with independent selves, and it should
hence be experienced as rather fluid and permeable.
, 6.4 Individualism and collectivism
- Individualistic cultures: People participating in individualistic cultures are more likely to
elaborate on independent aspects of themselves, and they come to feel distinct from others
and emphasize the importance of being self-sufficient.
- Collectivistic cultures: People participating in a collectivistic culture are more likely to attend
to interdependent aspects of their self-concepts, such as their close relationships and group
memberships.
- Hofstede: Explored values related to individualism. He was able to map out the world in
terms of its individualism by calculating an individualism score for each of the 40 countries.
o Collectivistic cultures likely to encompass more than 80% of the world’s population.
- The links between socioeconomic status and individualism are strong enough that periods of
economic growth tend to be linked with growing rates of independence and recessions with
increasing interdependence.
6.5 Tightness and looseness
- Characterizes how strong cultural norms are and how tolerant cultures are of deviant
behavior, has been found to predict many psychological phenomena, such as a prevention
focus, impulse control, and self-regulation.
6.6 Heterogeneity of individuals and cultures
- It is much simpler to refer to people as though they had either an independent or an
interdependent construal of self. In reality, people cannot be categorized so cleanly into
these discrete categories; rather, the experience of self appears to follow a continuum.
- One important determinant of how often people experience themselves as independent or
interdependent is the situations they encounter on a daily basis.
o Situations that highlight independent aspects of the self will be more frequently
encountered when participating in an individualistic culture, in which cultural
practices emphasize personal goals over collective ones.
- Cultures, too, are highly variable and are resistant to simple categorization.
o When we say a culture is individualistic we mean that, on average, people in that
culture are exposed to cultural messages that make them think in independent ways.
6.7 Gender and culture
- A number of researchers have concluded that the features of interdependent identities seem
more characteristic of women than of men, and likewise, the features of independent
identities seem more characteristic of men than of women.
Culture and gender equality: There are cultural differences in how people view gender equality.
- People in some cultures believe that women should be treated the same as men; in others,
people believe that men should be granted more rights, privileges, and power than women.
- Males have significantly more traditional gender views than females, probably because
traditional gender views benefit men more than women.
- In Christians are more likely to have egalitarian gender views, Muslims are associated with
more traditional gender views.
Gender and essentialism: Another way to consider how culture influences people’s perceptions of
gender is to determine which gender identity is viewed to be more essentialized. Which gender do
you think has fewer flexible ways of being expressed in socially approved ways?
- Most Americans do not seem to find it disturbing or unusual for women to present
themselves like men or to participate in stereotypically male behaviors.
o Americans do not essentialize female gender identity to a great degree.
- Many Americans do find it disturbing or unusual for men to present themselves as women
or to participate in stereotypically female behaviors.
o Americans view male identity to be less changeable and thus more essentialized.
CHAPTER 6: SELF AND PERSONALITY.................................................................................................2
6.1 WHO AM I?.....................................................................................................................................2
6.2 INDEPENDENT VS INTERDEPENDENT VIEWS OF SELF..................................................................................2
6.3 RELATIONS WITH INGROUPS AND OUTGROUPS........................................................................................2
6.4 INDIVIDUALISM AND COLLECTIVISM.......................................................................................................3
6.5 TIGHTNESS AND LOOSENESS................................................................................................................3
6.6 HETEROGENEITY OF INDIVIDUALS AND CULTURES.....................................................................................3
6.7 GENDER AND CULTURE.......................................................................................................................3
6.8 SOME OTHER WAYS THAT CULTURES DIFFER IN THE SELF-CONCEPT..............................................................4
6.9 IMPLICIT THEORIES REGARDING THE NATURE OF THE SELF..........................................................................4
6.10 PERSONALITY..................................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 8: MOTIVATION.................................................................................................................6
8.1 MOTIVATIONS FOR SELF-ENHANCEMENT AND SELF-ESTEEM.......................................................................6
8.2 MOTIVATIONS FOR FACE AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT..................................................................................6
8.3 RELIGION AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION............................................................................................7
8.4 AGENCY AND CONTROL......................................................................................................................7
8.5 MOTIVATIONS TO FIT IN OUR TO STICK OUT............................................................................................8
CHAPTER 9: COGNITION AND PERCEPTION........................................................................................9
9.1 ANALYTIC AND HOLISTIC THINKING........................................................................................................9
9.2 ATTENTION......................................................................................................................................9
9.3 UNDERSTANDING OTHER PEOPLE’S BEHAVIORS........................................................................................9
9.4 REASONING STYLES..........................................................................................................................10
9.5 TOLERATION OF CONTRADICTION........................................................................................................10
9.6 CREATIVE THINKING.........................................................................................................................10
9.7 TALKING AND THINKING....................................................................................................................10
9.8 EXPLICIT VERSUS IMPLICIT COMMUNICATION........................................................................................10
9.9 LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY.....................................................................................................................11
CHAPTER 10: EMOTIONS.................................................................................................................12
10.1 WHAT IS AN EMOTION?.................................................................................................................12
10.2 DOES EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE VARY ACROSS CULTURES?......................................................................12
10.3 EMOTION AND LANGUAGE..............................................................................................................12
10.4 CULTURAL VARIATION IN KINDS OF EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE..................................................................12
10.5 CULTURAL VARIATION IN SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING AND HAPPINESS..........................................................13
CHAPTER 11: INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION AND CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS.......................................14
11.1 INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION...........................................................................................................14
11.2 CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS....................................................................................................................14
,Chapter 6: Self and personality
6.1 Who am I?
- People all over the world are able to think of themselves in terms of both abstract
psychological attributes and concrete roles and relationships. However, the degree to which
they view themselves in these two separate ways varies significantly across cultures.
o Some cultures encourage people to focus on their enduring inner attributes, such as
personality traits, attitudes, or abilities, as a means to understand themselves.
o Other cultures encourage people to focus on connections with others by considering
themselves in terms of concrete roles, relationships, and group memberships.
- Study: Explored this among Kenyans and Americans by asking people to describe themselves
with the Twenty-Statements Test -> I am _______.
o Personal characteristics as self-description: Americans 48% - Kenyans 2%.
o Social identity as self-description: Americans 7% - Kenyans 60%.
6.2 Independent vs interdependent views of self
- Independent self: : Model of the self in which identity is thought to come from inner
attributes that reflect a unique essence of the individual and that remain stable across
situations and across the lifespan. Self is distinct from others.
o Self is experienced as distinct from others.
o Key aspects of the self, lie within the individual.
o Self is bounded and stable.
o Ingroup boundaries permeable -> new relationships can be formed, and old
relationships can be dissolved without having a large impact on the person’s identity.
- Interdependent self: : Model of the self in which individuals are perceived not as separate
and distinct entities but as participants in a larger social unit, where identity is contingent
upon key relationships with ingroup members. Others are an extension of the self.
o The self, overlaps considerably with an individual’s significant relationships.
o Key aspects of the self are based on significant relationships.
o The self has a fluid identity, is situation-relevant, and unstable.
o Solid ingroup-outgroup border -> you do not easily become ingroup member, nor
does ingroup dissolve easily.
- Self-concept in the brain: Cultural differences in the self-concept are not just theoretical,
they can also be observed in brain activation patterns.
o Study: English-speaking expats in China or Chinese-native participants were
instructed to consider how well traits characterized themselves or their mothers.
Chinese participants’ brain activation did not differ when thinking of
themselves or their mothers -> represent themselves and their mothers as
not that distinct (interdependent self).
Western participants, activated different brain regions -> represent
themselves and their mothers in distinct ways (independent self).
6.3 Relations with ingroups and outgroups
- Why would we expect to see people with independent and interdependent selves having
different views toward ingroups and outgroups?
o Interdependent selves: The boundary distinguishing ingroups from outgroups is
particularly salient for members of interdependent cultures. It is not easy for
outgroup members to become ingroup, and it is rare for a member of the ingroup to
lose a privileged status and fall into the outgroup category.
o Independent selves: The boundary distinguishing ingroups from outgroups is less
consequential to self-construction for those with independent selves, and it should
hence be experienced as rather fluid and permeable.
, 6.4 Individualism and collectivism
- Individualistic cultures: People participating in individualistic cultures are more likely to
elaborate on independent aspects of themselves, and they come to feel distinct from others
and emphasize the importance of being self-sufficient.
- Collectivistic cultures: People participating in a collectivistic culture are more likely to attend
to interdependent aspects of their self-concepts, such as their close relationships and group
memberships.
- Hofstede: Explored values related to individualism. He was able to map out the world in
terms of its individualism by calculating an individualism score for each of the 40 countries.
o Collectivistic cultures likely to encompass more than 80% of the world’s population.
- The links between socioeconomic status and individualism are strong enough that periods of
economic growth tend to be linked with growing rates of independence and recessions with
increasing interdependence.
6.5 Tightness and looseness
- Characterizes how strong cultural norms are and how tolerant cultures are of deviant
behavior, has been found to predict many psychological phenomena, such as a prevention
focus, impulse control, and self-regulation.
6.6 Heterogeneity of individuals and cultures
- It is much simpler to refer to people as though they had either an independent or an
interdependent construal of self. In reality, people cannot be categorized so cleanly into
these discrete categories; rather, the experience of self appears to follow a continuum.
- One important determinant of how often people experience themselves as independent or
interdependent is the situations they encounter on a daily basis.
o Situations that highlight independent aspects of the self will be more frequently
encountered when participating in an individualistic culture, in which cultural
practices emphasize personal goals over collective ones.
- Cultures, too, are highly variable and are resistant to simple categorization.
o When we say a culture is individualistic we mean that, on average, people in that
culture are exposed to cultural messages that make them think in independent ways.
6.7 Gender and culture
- A number of researchers have concluded that the features of interdependent identities seem
more characteristic of women than of men, and likewise, the features of independent
identities seem more characteristic of men than of women.
Culture and gender equality: There are cultural differences in how people view gender equality.
- People in some cultures believe that women should be treated the same as men; in others,
people believe that men should be granted more rights, privileges, and power than women.
- Males have significantly more traditional gender views than females, probably because
traditional gender views benefit men more than women.
- In Christians are more likely to have egalitarian gender views, Muslims are associated with
more traditional gender views.
Gender and essentialism: Another way to consider how culture influences people’s perceptions of
gender is to determine which gender identity is viewed to be more essentialized. Which gender do
you think has fewer flexible ways of being expressed in socially approved ways?
- Most Americans do not seem to find it disturbing or unusual for women to present
themselves like men or to participate in stereotypically male behaviors.
o Americans do not essentialize female gender identity to a great degree.
- Many Americans do find it disturbing or unusual for men to present themselves as women
or to participate in stereotypically female behaviors.
o Americans view male identity to be less changeable and thus more essentialized.
