Abstract:
The present study investigates the differences between 3 ethnocultural groups in
South Africa in the use of traits and contextual information for personality
descriptions and the interaction of these differences with social distance from the
target person and with personality domains. Semistructured interviews asking for selfand
other-descriptions were conducted with 1,027 Blacks, 84 Coloureds and Indians,
and 105 Whites, representing the country’s 11 official languages. In Part 1 we found
similarities in the total set of categories used most often for personality description
across the 3 groups—traits, behaviors, preferences, and perceptions (over 86%),
which were context-free (over 66%)—as well as substantial differences between the
groups in the relative use of these categories. In Part 2 we found that distance from
the target person plays a role in cross-cultural differences in trait use and
contextualization. In Part 3 we found significant interactions of culture with the use of
traits and contextual information across agency–communion and 9 indigenous South
African personality clusters similar to the Big Five. The responses of Blacks
confirmed expectations for collectivistic groups (fewer traits and more
contextualization), of Whites for individualistic groups (more traits and less
contextualization), and Coloureds and Indians had an intermediate pattern. The results
are discussed in the framework of the trait and cultural psychology perspectives on
personality.
