Is Personality Culturally Shaped?

Cross-cultural studies of personality have shown cultural similarities and differences in themanifestation of personality traits. In interpreting cultural differences in personality traits,we should consider not only the experiences of people in different cultures, but also themeasures adopted and the cultural orientations of researchers themselves. Evolution and genetics are believed to have brought about differences in personality traits as determined by the biological sex of a person. As explained by the Theory of Sexual Selection, males compete to attract females, so men are more likely to be aggressive and competitive than women. However, nowadays we may see that more and more women become aggressive in competing against other women for a man.Our culture greatly contributes to the development of our beliefs and values. For this reason, both cultural psychologists and social anthropologists believe that culture affects one's personality. In addition, gender differences also influence the personality traits a person possesses. Cultural psychologists have noted that some aspects of personality differ across cultural groups. For example, Americans and Asians have slightly different conceptions of self. American culture promotes a view of the self as independent. American children tend to describe themselves in terms of personal attributes, values, and achievements, and they learn to be self-reliant, to compete with others, and to value their uniqueness. Topics that need to be studied further include the following: (a) how to separate the many factors that influence personality scores across cultures, (b) the degree of cross-cultural comparability of the nomological nets of personality dimensions, and (c) the integration of trait-psychology and cultural-psychology perspectives.

https://explorable.com/culture-and-personality

http://ccr.sagepub.com/content/38/1/52.short?rss=1&ssource=mfc

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