Seminar and practice 28.11.2017. Culture and personality. Ethnic stereotypes and prejudices

1. Seminar and practice 28.11.2017

Culture and personality
Ethnic stereotypes and prejudices

2. Steps

• 1. Exercise “Collect the Theory“
• 2. Discussion: the arguments "for" and "against"
• 3. Ethnic stereotypes - exercise "Guess Who We're Talking About"
• 4. Ethnic stereotypes - the Cooperative Map Exercise
• 5. Prejudices - exercise Childhood memories

3. Instructions for Exercise “Collect Theory“

• 1. You have cards with the names of theories, the names of the
researchers and the descriptions of the basic ideas of the theories.
• 2. You need to collect a puzzle: the name of the theory, researchers and
basic ideas.
• 3. Some cards are superfluous
• You have 10 minutes

4. Instructions for Exercise “Collect Theory“

• 4. Give the collected theories to the group that is on the right for
evaluation:
• 1 point per each fully correct “collected puzzle”
• 0.5 point per each partly correct “collected puzzle”: contain not the all
necessary parts or include some wrong parts
• 0 point per each fully wrong “collected puzzle”

5. «Culture and Personality» School

- This American anthropological school was established in the 1930’s.
- Ruth Benedict
- Margaret Mead
- Abram Kardiner
- The main question on which the researchers of this approach sought the answer
was: “How an individual’s personality is shaped by the ambient culture?”
• - The researchers of this approach sought for common aspects that would
characterize different peoples by their cultures. The study of culture and
personality tried to understand the growth and development of personal or social
identity

6. The Concept of Basic Personality

• - Ralph Linton
• - Abram Kardiner
• - This theory refers to a particular type of integration of the individuals
in their cultural environment on the basis of the common socialization
experience of this ethnic community members and their personal
characteristics.
• - The researchers of this theory found the following causal line:
Primary Institutions (Including subsistence type, household form, and
child rearing) Basic personality (Including shared anxieties,
defences, and neuroses) Secondary institutions (Including religion
mythology, and folklore)

7. Modal Personality Theory

• - Cora DuBois
• - Ralph Linton
• - This theory explores the most frequent type encountered in the
sample and doesn’t assume that most of the society members share the
same personality structure
• - The researcher analyzed the Alorese society and hypothesized that
the personality of an adult is shaped by the ways in which infants and
young children are treated. How children are fed, when they are
weaned, how much affection they receive: all these issues would shape
personality.

8. National Character The Yellow Peril

• R.Benedict
• This theory describes the national character of the Japanese
• The researchers found the following personality traits in this culture:
fanatical devotion to the Emperor, immediate willingness to change
the side when they are captured, devotion to ingroup, guilt in a
childhood, face in an adulthood, strong willing to repay both for
benefits and insults

9. Escape from Freedom

• - E.Fromm
• - E.Erikson
• - This theory describes the national character of the Germans
• - Researchers analyzed of Hitler’s personality and behavior, the
reasons for submission of the German people to Hitler’s dictatorial
rule.
• Researchers have found that the authoritarian personality (extremely
obedient to authorities, contemptuous to subordinates, feel anxious to
democratic institutions) is a particular feature of this people

10. National Character Drama

• Clyde Kluckhohn
• This theory described the national character of the Russians
• The researcher found two types of personality: traditional Russian
personality («oral - expressive», warm, expansive, trusting,
responsive, identification with primary group-personal loyalty,
emphasis on «dependent passivity» ) and ideal Soviet personality
(«anal – compulsive», formal, controlled, distrustful, onspirational;
loyalty directed upward to superiors, emphasis on «instrumental
activity»)

11. The Lonely Crowd

• - David Reisman
• - G.Gorer
• - This theory helps to understand American society
• - This theory opened exciting new dimensions in our understanding of
the psychological, political, and economic problems that confront the
individual in contemporary American society.
• - The researcher noted the following national characteristics: rejection
of European ancestry, equality and resistance to authority, constant
necessity to prove masculinity

12. Five-Factor Model of Personality

• Robert R. McCrae
• Paul T. Costa, Jr.
• John O. P
• Researchers believe that personality descriptors can be consistently grouped into a small number of
factors.
• The most widely used measure of this theory is Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R)
• Neuroticism (emotional instability, anxiety, hostility), Extraversion (positive emotions, sociability),
Openness to experience (curiosity, imaginativeness, sophistication), Agreeableness (sensitivity,
gentleness, warmth) , Conscientiousness (persistence, goal-directness, dependency, self-discipline
• The results of the studies in different cultures supported the universality of the structure stated in
this theory. Although the case for additional, indigenous factors is still discussed by some writers, it
seems likely that this theory itself can be found in any culture.

13. Non-Western Concepts of Personality

• - Indian conceptions
• - A.C. Paranjpe
• - Concept of JIVA is similar to personality
• - The researcher identified following structure elements of JIVA
concept:
• Experince of bliss, Intellect, self-image, self-representation, «Mind»
that coordinates sensory functions, «Breath of life», physiological
processes, Body

14. Facework-concept

• Penelope Brown and Stephen C. Levinson
• Face is a projected image of one’s self in a relational situation.
• A different degree of selfhood is projected into the public image
known as ‘face’
• According to this concept for Individualistic cultures: Consistency
between private and public self-image is very important, Face is an
intrapsychic phenomena, Self is ideally free, Facework emphasizes
perceiveing one’s own autonomy; for Collectivistic cultures The Self
is a situationally and relationally based concept, Self is codified
through the active negotiation of facework, Self is never free

15. Questions for group discussion: the arguments "for" and "against"

Questions for group discussion:
the arguments "for" and "against"
• The Modal Personality Theory explains the cross-cultural
characteristics of the personality more extensively than the Concept of
Basic Personality
• There are practically no distinctions between national stereotypes and
a national character
• Many studies of personality conducted by non-western psychologists
are based on western scientific traditions.

16. Exercise "Guess Who We're Talking About"

Exercise "Guess Who We're Talking About"
1. Generous, patient, simple-minded, unorganized, broad soul, likes to drink,
fair, open
2. Polite, reserved, pedantic, uncommunicative, cold-headed, conservative,
accurate, conscientious, elegant
3. Aggressive, greedy, vindictive, lazy, brash, dishonest, immoral, rude
4. Elegant, gallant, talkative, lying, charming, depraved, mean, frivolous,
5. Accurate, pedantic, executive, economical, uninteresting, meticulous,
restrained, persistent, workable
6. Talented, kind, fair, hardworking, charming, strong, confident, honest
7. Proud, faithful to traditions, respecting the elders, revengeful, , hospitable,
slightly arrogant

17. Ethnic stereotypes – the Cooperative Map Exercise

• Draw a map of ideal city on a blank sheet of
paper.
• On the map note neighborhoods (and their
demographic characteristics), cultural and
historic sites, and anything which might be of
interest to a foreign visitor.
• The notations may be made in any combination
of words, pictures, or symbols.

18. Childhood memories  

Childhood memories
Nellie Choi, a high school student at a Russian school, wrote in her diary such a story.
"There are 28 students in my 8th class. Many of the students have known each other since the age of 6-7. The class was cohesive,
and we knew each other so much that we could easily distinguish the handwriting of everyone. Although we grew up together, we
had our own "outcasts". From the second grade, a small group of "elite" students spent a lot of time chasing two or three
"outcasts". I was one of these outcasts, although I don’t know why. In most cases, those are bullied who are in a bad physical form
(not athletic), or read too much, or wear the wrong clothes, or belong to another race. But in my class we all read a lot and we all
struggled with sport. We were also brought up with respect for a different races or cultures. Usually people become "outcasts"
when they differ from the majority in something. But in my class there were no big differences in anything. It seemed like the
group itself needed outcasts to exist.
The group's rejection was not explicit. It was manifested for example in a muffled chuckle when I was saying something or in
rolling their eyes when I turned around. If I was outside the ground then when I approached a group of other students there, they
often became silent. Sometimes somebody didn’t have enough time to notice me, and I could catch a scrap of joke addressing me.
I also remember something else. There were other children (Anya Ivanova, Shamil Gakaev, Yasha Gurevich)in our class, who
were rejected as well as me. Some of them tried harder than me to be accepted by the group, and that attempts gave many reasons
for jokes.
One day during lunch time I sat alone, watching some basketball game. One of the most popular girls in our class came to me and
said that she wanted to show me something that, according to her, I would not want to miss. We went together to the corner of the
ground, three or four other girls were there. One of them read loud some excerpts from a small book. They said that the book was
Anya Ivanova's diary. I sat down with them and, literally cacked myself laughing. I heard my voice barely distinguishable among
others. Now, looking back, I wonder how I could have mocked Anya, although I knew well what it was like to be the laughing
stock. I would like to say that if I were in this situation now, I would have acted differently, but to be honest, I'm not sure. It is
often more important to be accepted by others than to be self-approved even if this acceptance ends quickly.

19. Childhood memories

• 1.What did you feel after reading this story?
• 2. How did Nellie realize that her classmates rejected her?
• 3. What was the best way for Nelly to react to the fact that classmates were
treating her?
• 4. In your opinion, what did Nellie feel, watching how classmates were treating
other children?
• 5. Bring at least two options for Nelly's possible behavior when she saw how
classmates bully other children? Which option is better and why?
• 6. How did Nelly explain her involvement in mockery on other children?
• 7. What were her options for behavior when she was invited to have a dig at Anya
Ivanova? Which option is better and why?
• 8. Sometimes people don’t do things that they think to be right. Why do they
behave so?