Personality psychology seeks to understand the nature, determinants, and consequences of individual differences in patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Cross-cultural research on personality is important because individual differences may reflect, in part, the cultural contexts in which personalities develop. Indeed, a more comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural contexts of personality will be achieved when personality dimensions and processes are investigated across a broad range of diverse cultures. In the absence of such studies, we may too easily presume—in some cases erroneously—that knowledge gained in particular cultural contexts will be universally applicable to all people.
Cross-cultural studies enable us to test the generalizability of personality theories, concepts, and measures; the possible need for more culture-specific concepts and methods; and the potential for integrating universal and culture-specific elements. Such studies can benefit both the science and practice of psychology by extending knowledge beyond the Western and educated populations that still dominate much psychological research. With increasing globalization and immigration—and the concomitant need for greater intercultural understanding—these efforts take on even greater significance. As the chapters in Personality across Cultures reveal, many aspects of personality are shared by people in all cultures, perhaps reflecting our shared biological heritage and universal human needs. At the same time, it is clear that many personality processes are conditioned on the natural and cultural environments within which they emerge.
The goal of Personality across Cultures is to provide readers with a fairly thorough picture of the current status of knowledge in the field as well as promising directions for future research. The chapters are organized into three volumes, drawing on the distinctions made by Robert R. McCrae, Paul T. Costa, Jr., Dan P. McAdams, Jennifer L. Pals, and others between dispositional traits, characteristic adaptations, and the biological, ecological, and cultural contexts of personality. Volume 1, titled Trait Psychology across Cultures, focuses on the cross-cultural study of dispositional traits, which refer to broad and relatively stable dimensions of individual differences such as extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability. Many psychologists view such traits as biologically based basic tendencies or temperaments. Chapters in Volume 1 address the extent to which trait structure is universal versus unique across cultures; the accuracy or meaningfulness of trait comparisons across cultures; trait consistency and validity; the situations across which traits are manifested; and methodological issues dealing with bias and equivalence in cross-cultural personality research. Volume 2, titled Culture and Characteristic Adaptations, focuses on the relationship between culture and other important aspects of personality—including the self, emotions, motives, values, beliefs, and life narratives, which account for additional individual differences and may result from the interaction of basic tendencies and environmental influences, including culture. Other chapters in Volume 2 address the cross-cultural generalizability of personality types (e.g., how traits are configured within individuals) and aspects of personality and adjustment associated with bilingualism/biculturalism and intercultural experiences. Finally, Volume 3, titled Evolutionary, Ecological, and Cultural Contexts of Personality, focuses on evolutionary, genetic, and neuroscience perspectives on personality across cultures and ecological and cultural influences and dimensions.
A book set on personality across cultures should include contributions reflecting a diversity of theoretical perspectives and contributors representing a diversity of cultures. In the field of culture and personality, four theoretical perspectives have typically been delineated—cross-cultural, indigenous, cultural, and evolutionary. However, the boundaries between these perspectives can be fuzzy, some researchers incorporate multiple approaches, and the perspectives are increasingly viewed as complementary rather than incompatible. Research conducted from a cross-cultural perspective typically includes comparisons of multiple (and sometimes many) cultures, with an eye toward cross-cultural universals—for example, in the structure or organization of personality—or cultural differences amidst these universals. In a typical study, cross-cultural researchers transport existing personality constructs and measures to new cultural contexts to compare their structure, mean levels, and correlates—reflecting an etic or universalistic approach. Indigenous psychologists generally advocate a culture-relativistic perspective and emphasize the need to formulate theory, constructs, and methods that reflect local cultural contexts—reflecting an emic or indigenous approach. Indigenous psychologists typically draw on native languages, cultural informants, or local psychological or philosophical literatures to identify, elaborate, and, in some cases, measure personality concepts that are relevant in a specific culture. Cultural psychologists, like indigenous psychologists, typically endorse a culture-relativistic perspective. Conceptions of personality and self are viewed as socially constructed and hence variable across cultures. In a typical study, two or three cultures that differ in more independent versus interdependent construals of the self—often represented by North American and East Asian countries, respectively—are compared, with associated cultural differences anticipated in various self and emotion processes and models of motivation or agency. Finally, although evolutionary psychologists have traditionally focused foremost on evolved, universal aspects of human nature (e.g., mate selection, negotiation of status hierarchies, coalition formation), they have increasingly proposed evolutionary and genetic explanations of cultural and individual differences relevant to personality.
Although the three volumes in Personality across Cultures are not directly organized around these alternative theoretical perspectives, readers will find that each perspective is well represented in various chapters. Cross-cultural perspectives are particularly well represented in Volume 1, with its focus on dispositional traits, but are also prominent in Volume 2 chapters on values, religiosity, and personality types and in some of the Volume 3 chapters that relate ecological and cultural dimensions to personality traits. Indigenous perspectives are most prominent in the chapters on indigenous personality structure and measurement in Volume 1. Cultural psychology perspectives are most prominent in Volume 2 chapters that relate culture to conceptions of the self, emotions, and motivation and in Volume 3 chapters on naïve dialecticism and self versus dignity cultures. Finally, evolutionary biological perspectives are most prominent in the first three chapters of Volume 3—which address evolutionary, genetic, and neuroscience perspectives on personality across cultures. In sum, while no claims are made for comprehensive coverage of the field, the 31 chapters in Personality across Cultures provide substantial coverage of all major theoretical perspectives and incorporate the main topics, issues, and constructs currently addressed in the field.
Cultural diversity among the chapter contributors was also sought, although the primary basis for contributor invitations was the authors’ expertise in topics deemed important to include in the book set. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the institutional base for most cross-cultural research on personality, the majority of the 65 contributors are affiliated with universities in North America, Europe, and Asia, although 18 different countries are represented by these institutions. Additional diversity is reflected in the cultural heritages of the various authors. Research reported in the various chapters refers to cultural samples from every continent except Antarctica. Indeed, the cultural diversity of the research reported in the book set is very representative of the available literature on the topic.
While research on culture and personality has been conducted by psychologists since at least the first half of the 20th century, it has accelerated considerably since the mid-1980s (see the historical overview in Volume 1, Chapter 1). Indeed, the current vitality of the field is indicated by the significant number of reviews that have appeared in recent years in journal articles or as single chapters. However, there is a need to bring together the diverse topics and theoretical perspectives on personality across cultures in a single resource. Personality across Cultures represents the first extensive treatment in a multivolume book set and should provide interested readers with an excellent handbook on the topic.
A. Timothy Church