Psychology 2035A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Individualism, Psychological Testing

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2035A/B
• Professor: Alvin Segal

Document Summary

People"s beliefs about national character, which often fuel cultural prejudices, turn out to be inaccurate stereotypes when investigated by researchers. Personality often studied in relation to two cultural syndromes: Individualism : involves putting personal goals ahead of group goals and defining one"s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group memberships. Collectivism : involves putting group goals ahead of personal goals and defining one"s identity in terms of the groups to which one belongs. Individualism and collectivism foster cultural disparities in self-enhancement, which involves focusing on positive feedback from others, exaggerating one" s strengths, and seeing oneself as above average. These tendencies tend to be pervasive in individualistic cultures but less common in collectivist cultures, where the norm is to reflect on one " s shortcomings. Spotlight on research: individualism, collectivism, and self-insight. Holier than thou phenomenon tendency for people to claim that they are more likely to engage in socially desirable behaviors than their peers are.