News about character:
“The Inaccuracy of National Character Stereotypes,” Robert R. McCrae, Wayne Chan, Lee Jussim, Filip De Fruyt, Corinna E. Löckenhoff, Marleen De Bolle, Paul T. Costa Jr., Martina Hřebíčková, Sylvie Graf, Anu Realo, Jüri Allik, Katsuharu Nakazato, Yoshiko Shimonaka, Michelle Yik, Emília Ficková, Marina Brunner-Sciarra, Norma Reátigui, Nora Leibovich de Figueora, Vanina Schmidt, Chang-kyu Ahn, Hyun-nie Ahn, Maria E. Aguilar-Vafaie, Jerzy Siuta, Barbara Szmigielska, Thomas R. Cain, Jaret T. Crawford, Khairul Anwar Mastor, Jean-Pierre Rolland, Florence Nansubuga, Daniel R. Miramontez, Veronica Benet-Martínez, Jérôme Rossier, Denis Bratko, Iris Marušić, Jamin Halberstadt, Mami Yamaguchi, Goran Knežević, Danka Purić, Thomas A. Martin, Mirona Gheorghiu, Peter B. Smith, Claudio Barbaranelli, Lei Wang, Jane Shakespeare-Finch, Margarida P. Lima, Waldemar Klinkosz, Andrzej Sekowski, Lidia Alcalay, Franco Simonetti, Tatyana V. Avdeyeva, V. S. Pramila, Antonio Terracciano, epub Journal of Research in Personality, August 22, 2013. (Thanks to investigator Neil Martin for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, from a variety of nations, explain:
“Previous work suggesting that national character stereotypes are inaccurate has been criticized on several grounds. In this article we (a) provide arguments for the validity of assessed national mean trait levels as criteria for evaluating stereotype accuracy; and (b) report new data on national character in 26 cultures from descriptions (N=3,323) of the typical male or female adolescent, adult, or old person in each. The average ratings were internally consistent and converged with independent stereotypes of the typical culture member, but were weakly related to objective assessments of personality.”
Detail from the study:
