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Manner of Speaking
Joined: 09 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 1:30 am Post subject: Canadians, Americans Equally Assertive: Study |
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We aren't who we like to think we are
Perception rarely meets reality: Study
Canadians, Americans equally assertive
BILL TAYLOR, The Toronto Star
How do you get 50 Canadians out of a swimming pool?
"Everybody out of the pool, please ..."
Don't you believe it. And don't believe, either, that the only time Canadians get really obstreperous is when someone dares suggest we're just like Americans. It turns out we are just like Americans!
While the typical Canadian believes that the typical Canadian is submissive and the typical American believes the typical American is assertive, a new study — done by Americans so it surely must be right, mustn't it? — shows there's very little difference in our personalities. The National Institute on Aging, based in Bethesda, Md., asked 4,000 people in 49 countries to describe a typical member of their own culture. Researchers then compared the answers with independent scientific assessments.
According to the Profiles of Culture project, published in the prestigious journal Science, they were almost always wrong. Perception rarely lived up to reality. "People should understand that we are all prone to these kinds of preconceptions and likely to believe that they are justified in our experience," says project leader Robert McCrae. "In fact, they are often unfounded stereotypes."
Unfounded or not, they can quickly take on a life of their own; "cultural phenomena, transmitted through media, hearsay, education, history and jokes," the study says. "However, national character also has a much darker side. When stereotypes of national or ethnic groups are unfavourable, they can lead to prejudice, discrimination or persecution."
Social scientists have long been skeptical about the accuracy of national stereotypes but this may be the first comprehensive study to show that they were right. Still, the report says, self-perception may not tell us much about the people themselves but it does say something about their culture.
In another example of national self-unawareness, people in India see themselves as unconventional "and open to a wide range of new experiences." The reality: "More conventional than people elsewhere in the world."
Swiss of German origin describe themselves as "high in conscientiousness." Indonesians do not. In fact, says the study, Indonesians are every bit as conscientious. Australia is one of the few nations that seems to have a handle on itself — extrovert.
Canadians can describe themselves as "pleasant" until they're a pleasant shade of blue in the face. But the study reveals that North Americans as a whole — us and them — are, in fact, a little above the world average in assertiveness.
So, yes, people in other countries probably do complain about pushy Canadian tourists. Now might be a good time to take the Maple Leaf off your backpack.
And get back in the swimming pool.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&inifile=futuretense.ini&c=Page&cid=968332188492&pubid=968163964505 |
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Sooke
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Location: korea
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 6:58 am Post subject: |
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good article.
we really are very similar. I think we 're closer regionally than nationally. For example, being from God's country (BC-duh) I feel I have more in common (speech patterns, attitude, pot smoking) with Americans from Washington state, Oregon, or Northern California than I do with Canadians from the Maritimes or Toronto. Just a few things, like the CBC and Hockey Night in Canada string us together. Have you ever seen the Nine Nations of North America?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Nations_of_North_America
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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Sooke, could your map suggest that Maritimers have more in common with me, a Mainer, than with a Quebecois?  |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:14 am Post subject: |
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I like that map.. here is a another picture from the wikipedia:
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Pligganease
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Location: The deep south...
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:23 am Post subject: |
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| I cannot agree with that map. It puts my home in the same region as Louisiana, and I refuse to be a part of anything with French heritage. |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:33 am Post subject: |
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| Pligganease wrote: |
| I cannot agree with that map. It puts my home in the same region as Louisiana, and I refuse to be a part of anything with French heritage. |
That's not too bad: it makes me Mexican. |
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HapKi
Joined: 10 Dec 2004
Location: TALL BUILDING-SEOUL
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:02 am Post subject: |
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| Bread Basket looks like utopia. Self-contained argriculture, grazing lands, Mississippi and Missouri River waterways. Only a matter of time before they're brutally attcked and over-run by the iron fortress of The Foundery. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:36 am Post subject: |
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Only a matter of time before they're brutally attcked and over-run by the iron fortress of The Foundery.
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You are about a century and a half late in getting the news. We were colonized by Chicago and the railroads in the 1800's. |
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HapKi
Joined: 10 Dec 2004
Location: TALL BUILDING-SEOUL
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:56 am Post subject: |
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so true, so true...
Amtrak goes right through my grandparents small Iowa town, straight from Chicago. |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 5:34 am Post subject: |
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I'm part of THE FOUNDRY.
Makes sense actually.. Michigan does not feel 'midwestern' as its often attributed to.. it feels and IS very industrial. Actually going to other 'foundry' towns like Philadelphia for example feels like Detroit. Chicago is also an 'anomoly' of the stereotypical midwest.. its also in The Foundry. In addition to that, cities like Cleveland, Buffalo, Milwaukee, New Jersey.. all has that same feel as Michigan. Definetely The Foundry type stuff.
My favorite areas of the Nine Nations would be Islands, Mexamerica and Ecotopia. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:14 am Post subject: |
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I live in "Mexamerica"? No way in hell anyone will ever get Guatemala and Mexico to merge, or El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, either, for that matter. And Texans are going to let their state be split three ways?
In any case, assume someone accomplishes all that. Let's make the capital San Jose, Costa Rica. That would be a cool country, even though I think we'd need to take Silicon and Napa Valley and the Canal Zone from the wusses in Ecotopia and the Islands to round off our economic viability.
Silicon Valley, Napa Valley, southern California, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Houston, Mexican oil, the canal, all the Mesoamerican ruins, and all the coffee and bananas we could ever want, then, not to mention hot Latinas to the left and the right. We'd be in pretty damn good shape. Adios Bible Belt and East Coast stiffs.
This is better than Risk. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 8:30 pm Post subject: |
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Amtrak goes right through my grandparents small Iowa town, straight from Chicago.
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I could be your granny's neighbor. I'm from near Ottumwa, Radar O'Reilly's hometown. |
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HapKi
Joined: 10 Dec 2004
Location: TALL BUILDING-SEOUL
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Mount Pleasant- south-east Iowa, where Governor Vilsack (sp?) is from. |
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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:36 pm Post subject: |
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Here's more of the article thanks to another link from Yahoo (the newspaper is now requiring membership to view.)
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In the study, nearly 4,000 people from 49 cultures were given surveys and asked to describe a typical member of their own culture.
The surveys measured five criteria that many psychologists believe are accurate measures of an individual's personality:
How outgoing someone is (extroversion),
How cooperative and altruistic they are (agreeableness),
Whether they're disciplined and structured (conscientiousness),
How often they experience negative emotions like anxiety or sadness (neuroticism),
How open they are to new ideas and experiences (open-mindedness).
When the reports were compared to another survey that asked participants to rate themselves and people they knew who were of the same nationality, the two reports didn't match.
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This result doesn't measure a country's "personality." There is not an ounce of data about actual behaviour. It's about perceptions of the country as a whole, and perceptions of acquaintances. I think it's garbage. It drives me crazy when a journal calling itself "Science" publishes a piece like this when the study is riddled with obvious bias, and lame operational definitions. Of course a person would describe themselves and "someone they know" in a way that is distorted by social desirability. What if the acquaintance is a friend? This would lead to even more rose-coloured glasses.
When someone takes the time to actually record some data on this instead of comparing surveys, please let me know. |
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