Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

The rationale for, and steps for executing, an emic (culture-specific) strategy in the identification and assessment of personality dimensions in non-Western cultures is discussed. We argue that the emic strategy has been underused, and that it best precedes attempts to demonstrate cross-cultural(etic) links or generalities. Four steps in the emic strategy are described: (1) identification of emic concepts, (2) generation of culture-relevant items to assess emic concepts,(3) emic validation of emic dimensions, and (4) relating emic and imposed-etic dimensions in a search for etic or universal dimensions. In a Philippine illustration of these steps, emic personality dimensions (scales) tapping Filipino college students' emic concepts of healthy personality showed variable links to existing U.S. personality dimensions, which in turn showed only fair generalizability to the Philippine setting.

Emic and imposed-etic strategies were applied to the assessment of intelligence in rural Philippine children. Emic (culture-specific) measures assessed children's "intelligence" as conceptualized by rural adults. We concluded that Western-type (imposed-etic) tests measure a concept of intelligence that only partially overlaps emic conceptions. The imposed-etic measures were better than the emic measures as predictors of school performance, which could be viewed as an imposed-etic criterion. Most indigenous (emic) competencies showed no relationship to school performance. Thus what is "intelligent" in everyday barrio functioning ("everyday intelligence') is distinct from "academic intelligence."

Using both free-response and ratings methods, we investigated the effects of language of data collection on healthy personality concepts obtained from Filipino bilinguals. We found substantial comparability in Filipino college students' healthy personality concepts as elicited by Tagalog (a native language)and English free-response questionnaires. Importance ratings of equivalent Tagalog and English characteristics for healthy personality were also similar. Some consistent language differences were found across the two methods, and some of these support a cross-cultural accommodation interpretation of language effects (i.e., that language differences reflect underlying cultural value differences). Greater diversity and refinement of healthy personality concepts were provided in the native language. However, because healthy personality concepts in the two languages did not totally overlap, use of both languages may be advantageous for comprehensive personality descriptions.

It is argued that the impressively high factor congruence coefficients observed in cross-cultural studies with the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire cannot be taken as sufficient evidence for the "similarity" or "essential identity" of these factors in the cultures concerned. Arguments presented by Eysenck (1986) to challenge this viewpoint are refuted. The conclusion by Bijnen, Van der Net, and Poortinga (1986) that cross-cultural comparisons of factor scores on the EPQ are likely to be affected by cultural bias is upheld.

This research examines cross-cultural differences in the social behavior of American and Indonesian children. A sample of 36 Indonesian children (27 boys and 9 girls) were observed in a neighborhood of Jakarta during outdoor play activity, and 36 American children (18 girls and 18 boys) matched for age with the Indonesian children were observed in Los Angeles, California. Children of both samples were observed for four 5-minute periods using a continuous-coding observational procedure that recorded the presence and order of preselected social behaviors, ratings of social play level, and the subject's affect. Sex and age of play group companions and play activity content and context were also noted. Multivariate analysis showed cultural differences in age composition of the play groups. Indonesian children tended to interact in mixed-age groups. However, children in both cultures tended to interact in same-sex groups. Results also supported Hartup's hypothesized symmetrical-asymmetrical nature of same- and mixed-age social interaction.

In a study using American college students, Seligman, Abramson, Semmell, and Baeyer (1979) found support for the learned helplessness model of depression. A replication with Filipino college students points to the possible confounding influence of overall attributional style. Restated in such a way as to isolate and remove this confounding factor, the learned helplessness model is supported by the Philippine data, and the model holds for affective and somatic as well as psychological symptoms. We applied the restated model to a new sample of American college students and found results consistent with those in the Seligman study. However, the predictability of the model for our American sample extends to affective and psychological, but not somatic, symptoms of depression.

This research investigates cultural variation in pain inference by quantifying the amount of pain attributed to nine conditions, by means of Thurstone's technique of paired comparisons. Subjects were selected from four cultural groups residing in Western Canada: the Canadian (Anglophone), the Ukrainian, the East Indian, and the Hutterite. Inter group differences were found in both the rank ordering and the quantitative evaluation of the painfulness of nine conditions. The authors conclude that the amount of pain inferred or attributed to these conditions is culturally learned.

The basic premise of this cross-national study was that political-cultural-historical orientations can combine to produce stress-buffering moderator variables. A total of 380 American and Polish college students were subjected to a series of measures in which the Americans scored higher on internal locus of control and social support, and the Poles scored higher on external locus of control, anxiety, and depression. As hypothesized, internal locus of control buffered stress among Americans, in line with their presumed individualistic privatistic orientation. However, the expected stress-buffering power of social support among the Poles, with their presumed collectivistic-institutional orientation, did not materialize. The latter finding is discussed in terms of the social stratification and competition for limited resources that mark the current Polish political scene.