Piotr Szarota

A six-factor structure of personality-descriptive adjectives: solutions from psycholexical studies in seven languages.

Standard psycholexical studies of personality structure have produced a similar 6-factor solution in 7 languages (Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Polish). The authors report the content of these personality dimensions and interpret them as follows: (a) a variant of Extraversion, defined by sociability and liveliness (though not by bravery and toughness); (b) a variant of Agreeableness, defined by gentleness, patience, and agreeableness (but also including anger and ill temper at its negative pole); (c) Conscientiousness (emphasizing organization and discipline rather than moral conscience); (d) Emotionality (containing anxiety, vulnerability, sentimentality, lack of bravery, and lack of toughness, but not anger or ill temper); (e) Honesty-Humility; (f) Intellect/Imagination/Unconventionality. A potential reorganization of the Big Five factor structure is discussed.

Lingua Franca of Personality Taxonomies and Structures Based on the Psycholexical Approach

Data sets from seven original trait taxonomies from different languages, American English, Dutch, German, Hungarian, Italian, Czech, and Polish, are used for a cross-cultural study. The taxonomic procedures, involving culling trait terms from the various lexicons and the construction of representative samples of trait terms, are briefly discussed. Factor structures, presumably Big Five structures, within these languages, based on ratings from an average of about 640 subjects on an average of approximately 430 trait variables per language, are used for comparison. Congruence coefficients are calculated for the corresponding factors in the different languages, based on their independent positions and on their positions after rotations, using the American English solution as target. In a relative sense, the congruences show replicability of the first four American English, Big Five factors in the other languages.

Only Three Factors of Personality Description Are Fully Replicable Across Languages : A Comparison of 14 Trait Taxonomies

We tested the hypothesis that only 3 factors of personality description are replicable across many different languages if they are independently derived by a psycholexical approach. Our test was based on 14 trait taxonomies from 12 different languages. Factors were compared at each level of factor extraction with solutions with 1 to 6 factors. The 294 factors in the comparisons were identified using sets of markers of the 6-factor model by correlating the marker scales with the factors. The factor structures were pairwise compared in each case on the basis of the common variables that define the 2 sets of factors. Congruence coefficients were calculated between the varimax rotated structures after Procrustes rotation, where each structure in turn served as a target to which all other structures were rotated. On the basis of average congruence coefficients of all 91 comparisons, we conclude that factor solutions with 3 factors on average are replicable across languages; solutions with more factors are not.

Taxonomy and Structure of the Polish Personality Lexicon

We identified 1839 person‐descriptive adjectives from a Polish dictionary, and 10 judges classified those adjectives into five descriptive categories. Two hundred ninety adjectives (16 per cent) were classified by most judges as ‘Dispositions’ (i.e. relatively stable personality traits and abilities). We examined the structure of those 290 adjectives in self‐ratings from 350 respondents. In the five‐factor solution, two dimensions closely resembled Big Five Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, and two others represented rotated variants of Extraversion and Emotional Stability. The fifth factor was dominated by Intellect, containing little Imagination and no Unconventionality content. A six‐factor solution closely resembled the cross‐language HEXACO structure (but with ‘Intellect’ rather than ‘Openness to Experience’). Analyses of 369 peer ratings revealed five‐ and six‐factor solutions nearly identical to those of self‐ratings. Copyright

The NEO Five-Factor Inventory in Czech, Polish, and Slovak Contexts

The principal aim of this chapter is to investigate the validity and the generalized applicability of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) across three different countries and languages. These countries represent West Slavic branches of the Indo-European languages. We first examine the psychometric characteristics of the NEO-FFI (reliabilities, factor structure of the items, and congruence coefficients). Next, we compare four instruments proposed to measure the five personality dimensions, namely the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, the Five-Factor Personality Inventory, the Big Five Questionnaire, and the Czech Big Five Markers. We report data regarding their reliability and convergent and discriminant validity using multitrait-multimethod analysis and structural equation modeling. Finally, we compare Czech, Polish, and Slovak adolescents on the scales of the NEO-FFI.

The World at 7:00: Comparing the Experience of Situations Across 20 Countries

The purpose of this research is to quantitatively compare everyday situational experience around the world. Local collaborators recruited 5,447 members of college communities in 20 countries, who provided data via a Web site in 14 languages. Using the 89 items of the Riverside Situational Q-sort (RSQ), participants described the situation they experienced the previous evening at 7:00 p.m. Correlations among the average situational profiles of each country ranged from r = .73 to r = .95; the typical situation was described as largely pleasant. Most similar were the United States/Canada; least similar were South Korea/Denmark. Japan had the most homogenous situational experience; South Korea, the least. The 15 RSQ items varying the most across countries described relatively negative aspects of situational experience; the 15 least varying items were more positive. Further analyses correlated RSQ items with national scores on six value dimensions, the Big Five traits, economic output, and population. Individualism, Neuroticism, Openness, and Gross Domestic Product yielded more significant correlations than expected by chance. Psychological research traditionally has paid more attention to the assessment of persons than of situations, a discrepancy that extends to cross-cultural psychology. The present study demonstrates how cultures vary in situational experience in psychologically meaningful ways.

Do Only Fools Smile at Strangers? Cultural Differences in Social Perception of Intelligence of Smiling Individuals

Studies on social perception reveal that on many dimensions, smiling individuals are perceived more positively in comparison with non-smiling individuals. The experiment carried out in seven countries (China, Germany, Iran, Norway, Poland, USA, and the Republic of South Africa) showed that in some cultures, smiling individuals may be perceived less favorably than non-smiling individuals. We compared ratings of intelligence made by participants viewing photos of smiling and non-smiling people. The results showed that smiling individuals were perceived as more intelligent in Germany and in China; smiling individuals were perceived as less intelligent than the (same) non-smiling individuals in Iran. We suggest that the obtained effects can be explained by the cultural diversity within the dimension of uncertainty avoidance described in the GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) project by House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, and Gupta.

Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals

Smiling individuals are usually perceived more favorably than non-smiling ones—they are judged as happier, more attractive, competent, and friendly. These seemingly clear and obvious consequences of smiling are assumed to be culturally universal, however most of the psychological research is carried out in WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) and the influence of culture on social perception of nonverbal behavior is still understudied. Here we show that a smiling individual may be judged as less intelligent than the same non-smiling individual in cultures low on the GLOBE’s uncertainty avoidance dimension. Furthermore, we show that corruption at the societal level may undermine the prosocial perception of smiling—in societies with high corruption indicators, trust toward smiling individuals is reduced. This research fosters understanding of the cultural framework surrounding nonverbal communication processes and reveals that in some cultures smiling may lead to negative attributions.

When is a lie acceptable? Work and private life lying acceptance depends on its beneficiary

ABSTRACT In this article we show that when analyzing attitude towards lying in a cross-cultural setting, both the beneficiary of the lie (self vs other) and the context (private life vs. professional domain) should be considered. In a study conducted in Estonia, Ireland, Mexico, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden (N = 1345), in which participants evaluated stories presenting various types of lies, we found usefulness of relying on the dimensions. Results showed that in the joint sample the most acceptable were other-oriented lies concerning private life, then other-oriented lies in the professional domain, followed by egoistic lies in the professional domain; and the least acceptance was shown for egoistic lies regarding one’s private life. We found a negative correlation between acceptance of a behavior and the evaluation of its deceitfulness.

It is better to smile to women: Gender modifies perception of honesty of smiling individuals across cultures

Social perception studies have revealed that smiling individuals are perceived more favourably on many communion dimensions in comparison to nonsmiling individuals. Research on gender differences in smiling habits showed that women smile more than men. In our study, we investigated this phenomena further and hypothesised that women perceive smiling individuals as more honest than men. An experiment conducted in seven countries (China, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Republic of South Africa and USA) revealed that gender may influence the perception of honesty in smiling individuals. We compared ratings of honesty made by male and female participants who viewed photos of smiling and nonsmiling people. While men and women did not differ on ratings of honesty in nonsmiling individuals, women assessed smiling individuals as more honest than men did. We discuss these results from a social norms perspective.