National character refers to a characteristic common personality of the people of a nation.[1][2] National character has been studied within the fields of anthropology, sociology, and psychology.[3] The question of whether analysis and descriptions of national characters express meaningful content, as opposed to comprising inaccurate stereotypes, is controversial.[4][5] Most of the research on national character has focused on the content, stability, accuracy, and origins of national character stereotypes.[2] A 1985 cross-national study of national character found fundamental differences between the psychological profiles of the respective national populations of France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, and the United States.[2] Some studies comparing national character stereotypes with assessed personality traits find a moderate relationship between stereotype and reality, while others have found perceptions of national character to be unfounded and poorly related.[2][6] Academic interest in national character peaked around World War II, with two anthropologists in 1969 identifying 1935 to 1945 as the field's seminal period, and declined in the decades that followed due to changes in academic thought.[7] Jerome Braun wrote in 2014 that "the study of national character nowadays is considered somewhat old-fashioned because the most famous period devoted to this study, the period immediately after World War II, eventually reached a point of exhaustion, intellectual and otherwise, as studies were attacked for superfic and bias on the part of the researchers."[8]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "National Character | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
- ^ a b c d Realo, Anu; Allik, Jüri (2020), "National Character", in Zeigler-Hill, Virgil; Shackelford, Todd K. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 3099–3101, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_475, ISBN 978-3-319-24612-3, retrieved 2024-02-28
- ^ McCrae, Robert R.; Terracciano, Antonio (August 2006). "National Character and Personality". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 15 (4): 156–161. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2006.00427.x. ISSN 0963-7214. S2CID 4978062.
- ^ Inkeles, Alex (2017-07-12). National Character: A Psycho-Social Perspective. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-50373-0.
- ^ Turner, David A. (2022-04-26), "National Character", Comparative Education, Brill, pp. 118–178, ISBN 978-90-04-51808-7, retrieved 2024-02-29
- ^ Terracciano, A.; Abdel-Khalek, A. M.; Ádám, N.; Adamovová, L.; Ahn, C.-k.; Ahn, H.-n.; Alansari, B. M.; Alcalay, L.; Allik, J.; Angleitner, A.; Avia, M. D.; Ayearst, L. E.; Barbaranelli, C.; Beer, A.; Borg-Cunen, M. A. (2005-10-07). "National Character Does Not Reflect Mean Personality Trait Levels in 49 Cultures". Science. 310 (5745): 96–100. Bibcode:2005Sci...310...96T. doi:10.1126/science.1117199. ISSN 0036-8075. PMC 2775052. PMID 16210536.
- ^ Clark, Terry (October 1990). "International Marketing and National Character: A Review and Proposal for an Integrative Theory". Journal of Marketing. 54 (4): 66–79. doi:10.1177/002224299005400406. ISSN 0022-2429. S2CID 167991385.
- ^ Braun, Jerome (2014-01-30). "Is the Study of Attitudes Sufficient for the Study of National Character? Putting the Work of Alex Inkeles in Context". Comparative Sociology. 13 (6): 748–772. doi:10.1163/15691330-12341328. ISSN 1569-1322.