Cross-Situational Self-Consistency in Nine Cultures: The Importance of Separating Influences of Social Norms and Distinctive Dispositions

We assessed self-consistency (expressing similar traits in different situations) by having undergraduates in the United States (n = 230), Australia (n = 220), Canada (n = 240), Ecuador (n = 101), Mexico (n = 209), Venezuela (n = 209), Japan (n = 178), Malaysia (n = 254), and the Philippines (n = 241...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality & social psychology bulletin 2017-07, Vol.43 (7), p.1033-1049
Main Authors: Locke, Kenneth D., Church, A. Timothy, Mastor, Khairul A., Curtis, Guy J., Sadler, Pamela, McDonald, Kelly, Vargas-Flores, José de Jesús, Ibáñez-Reyes, Joselina, Morio, Hiroaki, Reyes, Jose Alberto S., Cabrera, Helena F., Mazuera Arias, Rina, Rincon, Brigida Carolina, Albornoz Arias, Neida Coromoto, Muñoz, Arturo, Ortiz, Fernando A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Australia
Canada
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Culture
Ecuador
Female
Humans
Injunctions
Interpersonal Relations
Japan
Malaysia
Male
Mexico
Norms
Personality
Philippines
Social Norms
Social Perception
Social psychology
Social situations
Undergraduate students
United States
Venezuela
Well being
Young Adult
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Summary:We assessed self-consistency (expressing similar traits in different situations) by having undergraduates in the United States (n = 230), Australia (n = 220), Canada (n = 240), Ecuador (n = 101), Mexico (n = 209), Venezuela (n = 209), Japan (n = 178), Malaysia (n = 254), and the Philippines (n = 241) report the traits they expressed in four different social situations. Self-consistency was positively associated with age, well-being, living in Latin America, and not living in Japan; however, each of these variables showed a unique pattern of associations with various psychologically distinct sources of raw self-consistency, including cross-situationally consistent social norms and injunctions. For example, low consistency between injunctive norms and trait expressions fully explained the low self-consistency in Japan. In accord with trait theory, after removing normative and injunctive sources of consistency, there remained robust distinctive noninjunctive self-consistency (reflecting individuating personality dispositions) in every country, including Japan. The results highlight how clarifying the determinants and implications of self-consistency requires differentiating its distinctive, injunctive, and noninjunctive components.
ISSN:0146-1672
1552-7433
DOI:10.1177/0146167217704192