Title: Cultural Understandings of Personality | Introduction to Psychology
Headings: Cultural Understandings of Personality
Cultural Understandings of Personality
Learning Objectives
PERSONALITY IN INDIVIDUALIST AND COLLECTIVIST CULTURES
APPROACHES TO STUDYING PERSONALITY IN A CULTURAL CONTEXT
Summary
Question #1
Self Check Questions
Critical Thinking Question
Answers
Glossary

Content: 2011). The third approach to cross-cultural studies of personality is the combined approach, which serves as a bridge between Western and indigenous psychology as a way of understanding both universal and cultural variations in personality (Cheung et al., 2011). Summary
The culture in which you live is one of the most important environmental factors that shapes your personality. Western ideas about personality may not be applicable to other cultures. In fact, there is evidence that the strength of personality traits varies across cultures. Individualist cultures and collectivist cultures place emphasis on different basic values. People who live in individualist cultures tend to believe that independence, competition, and personal achievement are important. People who live in collectivist cultures value social harmony, respectfulness, and group needs over individual needs. There are three approaches that are can be used to study personality in a cultural context, the cultural-comparative approach, the indigenous approach, and the combined approach, which incorporates both elements of both views.