Difference in Personality Construct Between the West and East

Abstract

Objectives

There have been lots of psychological studies on the difference between the West and East; however, it was mainly focused on the cultural and social outlook rather than the personality perspective of the individuals. The difference in personality construct between the West and East needs to be examined with objective and validated instruments.

Methods

We used Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI) along with Sasang Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). SPQ measures the psychological traits with three subscales of behavior (SPQ-B), cognition (SPQ-C) and emotionality (SPQ-E) based on the Yin-Yang and traditional Korean medicine. We analyzed the correlation between TCI, NEO-PI and SPQ with 104 college students in Korea (age, 28.8±4.8; male/female, 52/52).

Results

The personality structure of SPQ showed distinctive features with emotionality (SPQ-E) which generally perceived as concurrent with behavior and cognition. SPQ-B/SPQ-C were correlated negatively with TCI Harm-Avoidance (r=-0.542 and -0.387) and NEO-PI Neuroticism (r=-0.285 and -0.340), however SPQ-E positively with Harm-Avoidance (r=0.283) and NEO-PI Neuroticism (r=0.398). In addition, SPQ-B/SPQ-C were correlated positively with TCI Novelty-Seeking (r=0.355 and 0.369) and NEO-PI Extraversion (r=0.67, 0.283), but SPQ-E not significant with them.

Conclusion

The disparities in personality construct might be originated from difference in the definition of emotionality; the West accentuates the emotional stability, however the East emphasizes the level of emotional activity. We discussed the implication of these from the cross-cultural personality studies.