Research Paper on Culture and Personality

Introduction

Different people have different personalities. Learning people's personalities is essential since it helps one in defining how people relate. The study of personalities is crucial since it helps in assisting people to understand each other. Depending on one's character, and the environment raised in, personality in people differs. This is the reason why some individual are extroverts while others are introverts. Personality study is significant for it lays an essential foundation for collaborative relationships which contribute to successful completion of projects in an organization (LeVine, 2018). The research focuses on the causes of different personalities in individuals and the different types of personality tests that are used in accessing individuals. Scholars, for example, David Funder have attempted to explain people's personalities in their studies. According to Funder, personality is a person's behavioural characteristics of thoughts and emotions (Funder 2015). The research questions in this paper include: Are personality difference attached to the cultural difference? What kind of personality tests are used to access people?

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Research Design

A research design is significant since it gives the researcher ideas on the research methods to incorporate during the study (Goodwin & Goodwin, 2016). The research design used in this research is sampling a specific number of people. The research is a personality study needs to integrate people from different cultures to differentiate their personalities and build a conclusion on the factors contributing to the differences. The setting is in different societies, and the study is set to observe individual behaviour. The rationale for choosing the design method was solidly based on the research question, which seeks to understand whether personality differences are caused by cultural differences and the way one was raised. Therefore, the study will study around seventy people from different cultural backgrounds and it is set to be done using interviews and observation. The sampling process will involve willing participants, and it will be done on a personal basis. The participants will hold in-depth talks with the researcher to provide their experiences, personal and professional interests and their knowledge. The data provided will be compared, and a conclusion about the participants' personality differences will be given. Another form of research that is set to be used in this study is the use of scholarly works that discuss personality review (Goodwin & Goodwin, 2016). The research will be conducted on the previous literature on personality study to provide the researcher with knowledge of prior works findings.

Data Collection Methods

The methods of data collection used in this study are direct observation, document review, in-depth interviewing and participants in the setting. To start with direct observation, the researcher visited various societies where he engaged with different people while observing their personality. This is done to help an observer differentiate the different characters, thoughts, and emotions depicted by various people differently. Direct observation was done while people were carrying out their daily tasks. Another method of collecting data that was used is in-depth interviewing where willing participants were engaged on a face-to-face platform and asked several questions. Among the questions were if they think their cultural backgrounds have affected their personality. While carrying out the interviews, the interviewer was also given the role of observing the participants behaviour to note any personal observations. Willing participants were taken to the same venue where they were given several similar tasks meant to test their personality. The reason for participants from different cultures being tasked similarly was to note how each of them handled the task different from others. This helped in noting down the differences in their personality while handling the tasks. Document review was done at the end of the data collection process (LeVine, 2018). This involved going through scholarly works of different authors who have researched on personality differences. This will help in understanding personality from another level, and also help in comparing the results and other authors' results

Data Resources Managing, Recording and Analyzing

The data collected was kept by the observer. Every observer and interviewee was given a data sheet where all observations and questions answered would be recorded. All data was recorded during the time of the interviews, participation and direct observation. It was recommended that this is done to get first-hand data that was not altered (Kwan & Herrmann, 2015). The resources used during data recording were pieces of paper, pens and the time spared to collect data. The data was managed by storing it in clean files. Every researcher was responsible and accountable for the data they collected. The researcher then came together and analyzed the data, pointing out the similarities and differences.

From the research, it was found out that culture shapes an individual's personality. It influences the manner in which someone behaves, perceives, learns, and lives (Kwan & Herrmann, 2015). It was noted the personality aspects differ across different cultures. A good example was an observation between an American and an Asian on the concept of self. The two differ in that the American culture promotes oneself as an independent being. That means that during childhood, American Children describe themselves regarding their achievement. In Asian cultures, the view of self is promoted as interdependent therefore making children from these cultures to describe them regarding their groups.

There are several personality tests for accessing individuals. The most common is Myers Brigs commonly referred to as (MBTI). It describes an individual's personality based on introversion, extraversion, sensing, feeling, thinking, judging, and perceiving (Soleimani et al., 2018). Results obtained from this tests place a person into one among the sixteen personality types. Another tool for measuring personality is the big five which contains five major personality dimensions used by most researchers when accessing an individual's personality (Antonci et al., 2015).

Limitations

From the study, it was learned that cultural difference makes a significant contribution to an individual's personality. Differences in personality are brought by the manner in which one was raised. During the research, the major challenge was getting willing participants for observation, and interviewing. Most people resisted the two even with a much in-depth explanation of why the research was being conducted. Also, in some societies, the researchers were chased away depicting too much hostility. A lot of time and resources were used during this research. It was learned that due to people possessing different personalities, there is a need to understand the personality of anyone close to us to avoid acting in a manner that is unfavourable to anyone (Antonci et al., 2015). This assignment is beneficial for future personal, professional gain. Being a psychology major, the research is significant in helping me understand why people perceive things the way they do and the behaviours and characteristics they show. It is also essential as it has helped me in understanding the types of personality tests used to access people and this is related to my profession.

References

Antoncic, B., Bratkovic Kregar, T., Singh, G., & DeNoble, A. F. (2015). The Big Five Personality-Entrepreneurship Relationship: Evidence from Slovenia. Journal of Small Business Management, 53(3), 819-841.

Funder, D. C. (2015). The personality puzzle: Seventh international student edition. WW Norton & Company.

Goodwin, C. J., & Goodwin, K. A. (2016). Research in psychology methods and design. John Wiley & Sons.

Kwan, V. S. Y., & Herrmann, S. D. (2015). The interplay between culture and personality. APA handbook of personality and social psychology, 4, 553-574.

LeVine, R. A. (2018). Culture, behaviour, and personality: An introduction to the comparative study of psychosocial adaptation. Routledge.

Soleimani, N., Nagahi, M., Nagahisarchoghaei, M., & Jaradat, R. M. (2018). The Relationship between Personality Types and the Cognitive-Metacognitive Strategies.