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Running head: PERSONALITY AND CULTURE 1

PERSONALITY AND CULTURE

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PERSONALITY AND CULTURE 2

Abstract

This essay explores how personality and culture relate to the personality development of a

person in different environments and how they live with each other. It also gives strong

emphasis to the role played by culture on the outcomes of the personality of individuals in the

society. The culture of an individual goes a long way in determining the person’s character as

stated in this essay. There is a definite distinction between characters depending on their

cultures and this determines how they relate to each other, how their perception of the world

is and also what is of importance to them. This paper also seeks to prove the significance of

culture and cultural practices to the development of a person’s personality at large. A person

from individualistic community focuses on achieving goals and self-fulfillment while one

from a collectivist community puts the community first and the interests of the community

are given priority before anything else.

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PERSONALITY AND CULTURE

Introduction

Thesis statement: While we cannot single out one psychological factor when determining

causes of our behavior and perception and perception of the world, research has shown that

culture plays a significant role in the outcome of our personality.

The purpose of this paper is to relate personality and culture to personality development.

Personality development is a gradual process of self-fulfillment where a person gains

important behavioral patterns and attitudes that make him or her unique. This development

process is achieved through interactions, understanding the person’s culture and the

environment one is exposed to.

Personality and culture are two important concepts that are entwined together and determine

a person’s behavior and also how he or she perceives the world. Culture plays a key role in a

person’s character and in understanding his or her personality. There is a definite difference

in the attitude of individuals depending on their cultures whether from a communism or

individualistic culture. This paper also discusses the role culture plays in human development

and as history points out, at no time in memorial has humanity existed without a particular

way of life that is distinct and unique to him or her. The culture and psychology of an

individual are dependent on each other and this goes a long way in providing emphasis on the

importance of understanding the history and culture of a particular community where an

individual is from. This way of life is a key concept in our quest of understanding character

development and the personality at large.

Personal interactions with people from different diversities come with different challenges,

during interactions, one may notice that the perception of an individual about life, religion,

and priorities are different from his or her own perspectives. Being quick to comprehend the

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culture that one is from will help to understand the personality of the person and determine

whether he or she is from an individualistic culture or collectivist culture.

This key argument shows the significance of culture in the personality development of an

individual.

A definite difference in the attitude of collective cultures in comparison to that of

individualistic cultures exits.

This is key in determining the outcome of one’s personality. The way of life of people

is key in the development and outcome of one’s habits and perceptions about different things.

Individualistic cultures comprise of societies that prioritize individualism and self-fulfillment.

This cultures emphasize mostly on a sole individual in the entire group and is characterized

by independence instead of being identified in a group. Ambitions and accomplishments of

oneself are what strikes an individual most in this culture. Collectivist cultures, on the other

hand, are cultures that lay much emphasis on achievements within the entire community. This

culture is based on prioritizing the needs of a community over an individual’s needs or set

goals. This fosters unity within the community and people work as one to achieve their goals.

The differences between this two cultures have cultivated different mindset of individuals

concerning personal conduct and way of life hence the personality developed. Psychologists.

the cognitive process of understanding the attitude of individuals from this two cultures is key

in understanding the personality of the individuals and the role played by our cultures on

peoples’ personalities as recognized by psychologists (text, P 10).

Individualistic cultures as seen have more focus on individual success and

achievements. Individuals needs are given a forefront and great attention; hence the

individuals’ needs more often surpass the needs of the entire group. Such as profound

academic achievement or high employment profiles. (Way, Liberman, P, 205). When

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comparing the individualistic and collectivistic cultures, it’s quite obvious to notice the

attitude shift in individuals. Folks from individualistic cultures feel being “good” is by being

autonomous, robust and firm. They even don’t seek help in times of need and go at it all

alone. The attitude developed by such individuals is very different from one from a

collectivism background. The personality developed from such an individual is way different

from other cultures and hence the perceptions of life are different. Moreover, the behavior

and character of such individuals are aslo different and they may find it difficult to work with

other individuals in achieving a common goal (Kastanakis and Voyer 2014). Psychologists

have also recognized that individuals from individualistic cultures describe themselves in

relation to their unique dispositions, charismas, and their traits and do not focus much on

interdependence but rather focus on their own independence. For example, an individual from

this culture may be described as independent, kind and athletic. Relating this character to the

personality development of an individual would much help understand the role played by

culture outcome of the person’s personality.

Collectivist cultures do not pose much of emphasis on personal achievements but

nurture a culture that lays much emphasis on achieving the common necessary basic needs of

a community such as food, shelter, and clothing. The individuals in the collectivist group are

all responsible for contributing to achieving these needs in contrast to individualism where

only one individual provides all the needs (Triandis, 2018). The attitude developed by an

individual from this community is that of togetherness and believe that together they stand

but separated they fall. The characters and behaviors developed by individuals due to this

attitude is that of always relying on each other and putting the interest of the clan first. They

also center on promoting selflessness, working as a group and best strive to do what is best

for society. Individuals from this collectivists group hence develop similar personalities and

can work together but are different from those from individualistic groups. Attitude

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developed from this two different cultures hence has a big role to play in determining the

personalities of these individuals.

People and culture are interconnected

At no time in our rich history have human beings existed without being related to

history. A case has been developed that customs and human mind are interdependent but

aren’t regarded as independent (McCrae, 2009, P, 206). The way we think or act is greatly

influenced by our upbringing in our different cultures. According to psychology, only but a

handful of psychological configurations are universal the rest are different and unique. For

example, some patterns are similar to Europeans and Americans but not to Africans such as

the mode of dressing. One major distinguishing factor that has been identified by the

psychologist is the difference amongst independence and interdependence in our general

ways of reasoning and thinking. Talking a close look at this we can articulate a hypothesis on

how our cultures influence our personalities.

How we view or perceive the world relies prominently on our mindsets developed

from our cultures. The “Me” vs “We” mindset arises from these dispositions about

independence or interdependence in our cultures. This has two ways of thinking about

oneself. In one way, one considers himself or herself as an independent person whose sole

purpose is to achieve his or her own desires in life (Heine, 2015). The other way of thinking

involves a person thinking as an inter-reliant(interdependent) entity whose sole concentration

is on how he or she can suitably fit in a particular group. What people see can be biased

sometimes due to the difference in our own cultural practices, environments or even

sometimes goals set to be achieved. For example, Researchers have proven that people

residing in western countries are quick in noticing changes in the crucial features of an image

contrary to other people from other countries. This is due to the environments that people live

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in and this has a great deal on how they perceive things. This shows that dissimilarities in the

cultures replicate the default mindset that a given culture would be likely to embrace.

This “Me” vs “We” mindset arises due to the environment which plays a key role.

While collectivists main ideology is togetherness and working together, it doesn’t necessarily

mean big when it comes to an individual. For example, someone could come from a family of

10 people whom all hate each other and only look out for themselves. On the contrary,

another person could come from a small family of a single mother and his sibling and could

establish a “We” mentality to help best for their family and any other people in the

community.

Human psychology could also be identified in terms of the functioning of a cultural

animal (McCrea, 2009, P, 206). Understanding human psychology sometimes poses a

challenge if we rule out the role played by culture on our psyche. Culture plays a big role in

how our mind deals with our behaviors and social constructs. The ability for our brains to

deal with adoption of long-lasting engagements in cultural tasks such as being born in a

family of priests or taxi drivers. As we can see cultural practices plays a big role in how our

brains perceive this environment and how we get used to this. In addition, how we perceive

and comprehend our own characters depends on our own cultural background, our way of life

and what we were raised up doing. This brings up the concept that symbolizes human beings

as ‘cultural animals’ since what a person is used to doing is what will, in the end, define how

he relates with people, reacts to the environment and how the personality of the person is

developed. Humans and cultures are therefore intertwined together and function as unit hence

the role played by culture in our lives and personal behavior.

The difference in personalities, perceptions and what is of importance to us.

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When meeting and establishing communications with a person from a different

culture, you may notice that their personality may be much different from your own. This

case may be similar to how they perceive life and also their view on what is important to

them. This is so because it is difficult to tell one’s characters in the collectivists cultures than

in the case of individualistic cultures. The cicumstances in individualistic cultures is a great

influence on the characters of the individual’s social life (Church, 2000, P 652). The forms,

sentiments, and behaviors of a person in individualistic culture are of great value and always

of extraordinary significance hence the strong personality that is gained by the individual.

The configuration of intuitions and habits of a person in a collectivists culture is however

different and not so much valued since individuals’ sole obligations is to the interest of the

community at large. These two personalities from this two different cultures are valued

differently hence play a big role in development and understanding of peoples’ culture which

of course plays a big role in determining the personality of the individual.

From observing these collectivists vs individualistic cultures, we come to an

understanding that humans in the collectivist cultures have similar personalities such as being

a family person and friend of the people while those in individualistic cultures have more

originality to their personalities which makes their personalities stronger. The concept of

personality is also thought to be a manifestation of the Western epitomes regarding

individualism (Hsu, 1985, P, 24) Western ideals of personalities seem to undermine

collectivism and hence it is seen antagonistic in the collectivists’ cultures and hence even

sometimes rarely thought of. The personality developed by individuals from these two

communities is because of the different ways in which each of their cultures values

individualism. Interacting with people whose foundations are based on western ideals of

individualism would make a person figure out how different his or her culture is from the

others. Individualistic cultures also believe that personality is a byproduct of independence.

PERSONALITY AND CULTURE 9

This is true by the fact that during the process of being independent the “Me” concept comes

into play and the person develops a personality of reliance oneself.

conclusion

In conclusion, much information on how culture influences our behavior and

personality have been laid out. The “Me” and “We” is of different importance in some

cultures. The “We” attitude is much important in other cultures than the “Me” attitude which

is non-existent in these cultures. In contrast, there is a great emphasis on finding purpose

outside of your tribe and having your own identity in individualistic cultures. This extremely

common in western civilizations and personal success is sought after with vigor. However,

this is not the case though in other civilizations where there is much emphasis on what is

good for the tribe. In both this two cases, the disposition affects the attitude, behavior, and

personality of an individual.

PERSONALITY AND CULTURE 10

References

Burger, J. M. (2014). Personality (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth-Thomson Learning.

ISBN-13: 9781285740225

Church, A. T. (2000). Culture and Personality: Toward an Integrated Cultural Trait

Psychology. Journal Of Personality, 68(4), 651-703.

Heine, S. J. (2015). Cultural psychology: Third International Student Edition. WW Norton &

Company.

Hsu, F. L. K. (1985). The self in cross-cultural perspective. In A. J. Marsella, G. De Vos, &

F. L. K. Hsu (Eds.), Culture and self (pp. 24–55). London: Tavistock.

Kastanakis, M. N., & Voyer, B. G. (2014). The effect of culture on perception and cognition:

A conceptual framework. Journal of Business Research, 67(4), 425-433.

McCrae, R. R. (2009). Personality profiles of cultures: Patterns of ethos. European Journal Of

Personality, 23(3), 205-227. doi:10.1002/per.712

Triandis, H. C. (2018). Individualism and collectivism. Routledge.

Way, B. M., & Lieberman, M. D. (2010). Is there a genetic contribution to cultural

differences? Collectivism, individualism and genetic markers of social sensitivity. Social

Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience, 5(2/3), 203-211. doi:10.1093/scan/nsq059

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