13.3: Personality

Learning Objectives

1. Differentiate between temperament and personality.
2. Explain how temperament contributes to personality development.
3. Describe how biological maturation and early caregiving experiences shape personality traits over time.
4. Explain how cultural norms influence the development and expression of personality traits.
5. Examine the influence of gender norms on personality development and trait expression across various cultures and historical periods.

Temperament does not change dramatically as we grow up, but we may learn how to work around and manage our temperamental qualities. Temperament may be one of the aspects of ourselves that remains constant throughout development. In contrast, personality, defined as an individual’s consistent pattern of feeling, thinking, and behaving, is the result of the continuous interplay between biological disposition and experience.

Personality also develops from temperament in other ways (Thompson, Winer, & Goodvin, 2010). As children mature biologically, temperamental characteristics emerge and change over time. A newborn is not capable of much self-control, but as brain-based capacities for self-control advance, temperamental changes in self-regulation become more apparent. For example, a newborn who cries frequently doesn’t necessarily have a grumpy personality; over time, with sufficient parental support and increased sense of security, the child might be less likely to cry.

In addition, personality is composed of many other features beyond temperament. Children’s developing self-concept, their motivations to achieve or to socialize, their values and goals, their coping styles, their sense of responsibility and conscientiousness, as well as many other qualities, are encompassed in personality. These qualities are influenced by biological dispositions, but even more by the child’s experiences with others, particularly in close relationships, that guide the growth of individual characteristics. Indeed, personality development begins with the biological foundations of temperament but becomes increasingly elaborated, extended, and refined over time. The newborn that parents gazed upon thus becomes an adult with a personality of depth and nuance. ³

Culture and Personality

The term culture refers to all the beliefs, customs, ideas, behaviors, and traditions of a particular society that are passed through generations. Culture is transmitted to people through language as well as through the modeling of behavior, and it defines which traits and behaviors are considered important, desirable, or undesirable.

Within a culture, there are norms and behavioral expectations. These cultural norms can dictate which personality traits are considered important. The researcher Gordon Allport considered culture to be an essential influence on traits, defining common traits as those that are recognized within a particular culture. These traits may vary from culture to culture based on differing values, needs, and beliefs. Positive and negative traits can be determined by cultural expectations: what is considered a positive trait in one culture may be considered negative in another, thus resulting in different expressions of personality across cultures.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): A family from a non-Western culture. Image by Theodor Goutas on Unsplash.

Considering cultural influences on personality is important because Western ideas and theories are not necessarily applicable to other cultures (Benet-Martinez & Oishi, 2008). There is considerable evidence that the strength of personality traits varies across cultures, and this is particularly evident when comparing individualist cultures (such as those found in Europe, North America, and Australia) with collectivist cultures (such as those found in Asia, Africa, and South America). Individualist cultures tend to emphasize the importance of independence, competition, and personal achievement. In contrast, people who live in collectivist cultures tend to value social harmony, respect, and the needs of the group over individual needs. These values influence personality in different but substantial ways; for example, Yang (2006) found that individuals in individualist cultures displayed more personally oriented personality traits, whereas those in collectivist cultures displayed more socially oriented personality traits. ⁵

Gender and Personality

In much the same manner that cultural norms can influence personality and behavior, gender norms (the behaviors that males and females are expected to conform to in a given society) can also influence personality by emphasizing different traits between different genders.

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): A female infant wearing stereotypically feminine clothing and accessories. Image by Abdullah Shakoor on Pixabay.

Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): A male infant wearing stereotypically masculine clothing. Image is licensed under CC0 1.0.

Ideas of appropriate behavior for each gender (masculine and feminine) vary among cultures and tend to change over time. For example, aggression and assertiveness have historically been emphasized as positive masculine personality traits in the United States. Meanwhile, submissiveness and caretaking have historically been held as ideal feminine traits. While many gender roles remain unchanged, others evolve over time. In 1938, for example, only 1 out of 5 Americans agreed that a married woman should earn money in industry and business. By 1996, however, 4 out of 5 Americans approved of women working in these fields. This type of attitude change has been accompanied by behavioral shifts that coincide with changes in trait expectations and shifts in personal identity for men and women. ⁸

References, Contributors and Attributions

3. Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

5. Lifespan Development - Module 4: Infancy by Lumen Learning references Psyc 200 Lifespan Psychology by Laura Overstreet, licensed under CC BY 4.0

8. Lifespan Development - Module 4: Infancy by Lumen Learning references Psyc 200 Lifespan Psychology by Laura Overstreet, licensed under CC BY 4.0

Benet-Martínez, V., & Oishi, S. (2008). Culture and personality. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 542–567). Guilford Press.

Yang, K. S. (2006). Indigenous personality research: The Chinese case. In U. Kim, K. S. Yang, & K. K. Hwang (Eds.), Indigenous and cultural psychology: Understanding people in context (pp. 285–314). Springer.