We know that there are cross-cultural differences in psychological variables, such as individualism/collectivism. But it has not been clear which of these variables show relatively the greatest differences. The Survey of World Views project operated from the premise that such issues are best addressed in a diverse sampling of countries representing a majority of the world’s population, with a very large range of item-content. Data were collected online from 8,883 individuals (almost entirely college students based on local publicizing efforts) in 33 countries that constitute more than two third of the world’s population, using items drawn from measures of nearly 50 variables. This report focuses on the broadest patterns evident in item data. The largest differences were not in those contents most frequently emphasized in cross-cultural psychology (e.g., values, social axioms, cultural tightness), but instead in contents involving religion, regularity-norm behaviors, family roles and living arrangements, and ethnonationalism. Content not often studied cross-culturally (e.g., materialism, Machiavellianism, isms dimensions, moral foundations) demonstrated moderate-magnitude differences. Further studies are needed to refine such conclusions, but indications are that cross-cultural psychology may benefit from casting a wider net in terms of the psychological variables of focus.

Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on the cross-situational consistency of behavior, and the predictive validity of traits, were tested in a daily process study in the United States (N = 68), an individualistic culture, and the Philippines (N = 80), a collectivistic culture. Participants completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and a measure of selfmonitoring, then reported their daily behaviors and associated situational contexts for approximately 30 days. Consistent with trait perspectives, the Big Five traits predicted daily behaviors in both cultures, and relative (interindividual) consistency was observed across many, although not all, situational contexts. The frequency of various Big Five behaviors varied across relevant situational contexts in both cultures and, consistent with cultural psychology perspectives, there was a tendency for Filipinos to exhibit greater situational variability than Americans. Selfmonitoring showed some ability to account for individual differences in situational variability in the American sample, but not the Filipino sample."…an implicit promise of trait theories is to account for consistency across a range of situations." (Moskowitz, 1994, p. 921) "In personological formulations, the person should at least be stable over time and across situations that are very similar" (Diener & Larsen, 1984, p. 872) © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Address correspondence to: A. Timothy Church, Ph.D., Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling Psychology, Cleveland Hall, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2136, E-mail: church@mail.wsu.edu; Phone: (509) Fax: (509) 335-6961. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript"…the functional value of consistency is less clear for East Asian selves (Heine, 2001, p. 886)."Personality is less evident in collectivist cultures than it is in individualistic cultures, because the situation is such a powerful determinant of social behavior." (Triandis, 1995, p. 74).As illustrated above, trait and cultural psychologists offer a range of views regarding the prediction and consistency of trait-relevant behavior. In discussing these differences in emphases or expectations, it is useful to distinguish trait and cultural psychology perspectives. While acknowledging the role of situational influences, trait psychologists anticipate a degree of cross-situational consistency of behavior, and predictive validity of traits, in all cultures. In co...

Multiculturalism and polyculturalism are two lay theories of culture that have been associated with some similar intergroup attitudes and behaviors. But other than the studies of Rosenthal and Levy in the United States, there have been no studies that directly distinguish between these two lay theories. In this study, we use confirmatory factor analysis procedures to show that multiculturalism and polyculturalism represent two distinct latent constructs among our 1,730 participants in six Asian cultural groups (China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines). Moreover, we show that essentializing race is associated with endorsement of multiculturalism (but not polyculturalism) in five cultural groups (except Hong Kong). The results provide strong cross-cultural empirical evidence for the distinction between the two lay theories and, more importantly, point to aspects of the lay theory of multiculturalism that relate to why it is sometimes associated with stronger stereotyping and prejudice toward minority cultural groups.

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