Lin, Hanzhang
Description
Whether personality is stable or flexible, and whether it can
shift as a function of environmental factors such as changes in
people’s experiences, roles and social relations has been
debated widely in personality and social psychology. Some
personality researchers fiercely defend the idea that personality
is genetically determined and relatively stable across
situations, there is fluidity early in life but not later. There
are other personality scholars who...[Show more] are interested in personality
change and when and how it happens. Emerging empirical evidence
suggests that age, life events, new roles, language and cultural
change can be associated with significant personality change.
Several theoretical frameworks have been proposed to address this
personality variability across contexts. Commitment to social
roles, or voluntary and repeated engagement in cultural practices
can lead to personality change over time. Switching between role
identities or cultural mindsets can also trigger personality
variability across contexts. Coming from a social identity
perspective, the present research argues that personality is not
only an outcome of person factors in interaction with situations,
but is related to meaningful group memberships and associated
norms, values and beliefs which can shape the person and as these
change, and identities change so to can personality processes.
The constructs of identification and salience are both crucial in
understanding how the group shapes who we are and in explaining
variability in our self-concepts across contexts.
Across four studies, the present thesis aims to highlight the
social identity perspective as an integrative framework in
understanding personality variability, and to investigate the
role of social identification and salience in explaining
personality variability. The first study examined language
effects on self-reported personality among bilingual Australian
Chinese individuals (N =24), and the role of identification in
this cultural accommodation. Measures of Australian
identification and Chinese identification, and personality were
completed by the same individual across a short time frame in
both English and Chinese. Language effects were evident on
Extraversion which was significantly higher in the English
language condition compared to the Chinese condition.
Participants’ level of Australian identification significantly
predicted both Extraversion and Neuroticism. This study indicates
that social identification is related to personality responses.
In the second study, the role of identification was explored in
cultural frame switching. Sixty-two Australian Chinese bicultural
individuals completed personality measures twice after being
exposed to Australian cultural icons and Chinese cultural icons
with the order of this priming counterbalanced. Participants
reported higher levels of Openness after the Chinese cultural
mindset priming compared to the Australian one, and both
Australian and Chinese identification predicted personality
dimensions. Both Study 1 and 2 provide evidence that is in line
with predictions that social identification plays a role in
personality responses. In Study 3 the role of identity was
examined by manipulating whether Australian or Chinese social
identity was made salient. The methodology also was improved
through the inclusion of both self-report and behavioural ratings
of personality. Results suggest that salient identity can impact
on personality responses such that people’s self-definition and
behaviour varies depending on which social self (Australian or
Chinese) is salient in a given situation. In the final study,
rather than utilising participants who had already acquired
different national and ethnic identities (Australian and
Chinese), the process of acculturation and its impact on
personality across time was assessed. New Zealand citizens (N =
2349) reported personality, ethnic identification and patriotism
(as a proxy for national endorsement) each year over four phases
of data collection. Results indicated that ethnic identification
and patriotism predicted both baseline personality levels and its
change over time. Over time those who highly endorsed New Zealand
changed in ways that fitted with the typical personality profiles
of New Zealanders (as Westerners). This pattern was not observed
for those participants who highly identify with their Asian
ethnic group.
Across these studies what we find is a pattern of results that is
broadly consistent with hypotheses based on the social identity
perspective. The importance of this work is that there is
evidence of personality variability across contexts and that
social identity processes impact on personality and behaviour.
Not only does the thesis expand the social identity perspective
to the domains of personality processes and cross-cultural
psychology, it also is argued that this perspective offers a
pathway to integrate existing theory and research on personality
variability that has centred on life experiences and new roles,
language and cultural mindsets. Another strength of the thesis is
the diversity of methods that are used including
within-participants designs, experimental manipulations and
longitudinal four-wave survey. The theoretical and empirical
implications of this research are presented in the final chapter,
as well as recommendations for future research.
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