Department of Human Resource Management, University of Pretoria.
Department of Culture Studies, Tilburg University.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2018 Mar;114(3):465-481. doi: 10.1037/pspp0000129. Epub 2017 Jan 16.
The cross-cultural universality of behavior's consistency and predictability from personality, assumed in trait models though challenged in cultural psychological models, has usually been operationalized in terms of beliefs and perceptions, and assessed using single-instance self-reports. In a multimethod study of actual behavior across a range of situations, we examined predictability and consistency in participants from the more collectivistic Black ethnic group and the more individualistic White group in South Africa. Participants completed personality questionnaires before the behavior measurements. In Study 1, 107 Black and 241 White students kept diaries for 21 days, recording their behaviors and the situations in which they had occurred. In Study 2, 57 Black and 52 White students were video-recorded in 12 situations in laboratory settings, and external observers scored their behaviors. Across both studies, behavior was predicted by personality on average equally well in the 2 groups, and equally well when using trait-adjective- and behavior-based personality measures. The few cultural differences in situational variability were not in line with individualism-collectivism; however, subjective perceptions of variability, operationalized as dialectical beliefs, were more in line with individualism-collectivism: Blacks viewed their behavior as more variable than Whites. We propose drawing a distinction between subjective beliefs and objective behavior in the study of personality and culture. Larger cultural differences can be expected in beliefs and perceptions than in the links between personality and actual behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record
跨文化的行为一致性和可预测性源于人格，这在特质模型中是假设的，尽管在文化心理模型中受到挑战，但通常是通过信念和感知来操作的，并使用单一实例的自我报告进行评估。在一项涉及多种情境的实际行为的多方法研究中，我们考察了南非更具集体主义的黑人族群和更具个人主义的白人族群参与者的可预测性和一致性。参与者在行为测量之前完成了人格问卷。在研究 1 中，107 名黑人学生和 241 名白人学生连续 21 天写日记，记录他们的行为和发生行为的情境。在研究 2 中，57 名黑人学生和 52 名白人学生在实验室环境中的 12 个情境中被录像记录，外部观察员对他们的行为进行评分。在这两项研究中，人格平均能很好地预测这两个群体的行为，使用特质形容词和行为基人格测量时也能很好地预测行为。情境可变性方面的少数文化差异与个人主义-集体主义不符；然而，可变性的主观感知，即辩证信念，与个人主义-集体主义更相符：黑人认为自己的行为比白人更具可变性。我们建议在人格和文化研究中区分主观信念和客观行为。在信念和感知方面，文化差异可能比人格与实际行为之间的联系更大。
