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Try this personality inventory from SRI. Read the comments for non-American users of this test. What, if anything, does this suggest to you about the role of culture in personality testing? This test fairly suggests that non-Americans should regard their results as non-valid: not all tests are as fair. You are taking this test just for fun (or for educational value). Can you think of situations in which culture bias in personality testing may have more serious consequences? (hint: think of forensic or legal uses of testing).
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THis was a neat questionarrie as well. It seemed that they only asked afew different types of questions those about mechanics, and those about fellings. When they asked questions about working with your hands there were only things with wood or metal, there was not mention of crafts, such as cross stiching or sewing.

When considering what results I got, when I read them I wasn't sure what it meant, then I read the thing about only for the US it made sense. I think that when only taking into account one countries bias in a test, it can make a big mistake. When in legal processes, it is crazy. My friend once went down to Texas and was thrown in jail for being in a bar, she was 20. I haven't seen anything in Canada that someone who is underage going to jail at all, it is usually blamed on the bar owner or bouncer. I found this weird, because sure if the person had a fake ID they are partially at fault, but to go to jail, that is crazy.

We are always hearing horror stories how, someone goes to another country and gets thrown in jail, for something that is minor or not even considered illigeal in our country. What I would like to know is it our responsibility as a tourist to know every little law in a city, town, country that we are visiting, or can it be considered, nothing and get off on a technicality????? Can someone help me out with that please?

Taking this test reinfoced the fact that culture plays an important role in testing for me. The final result sugested that I like to read playboy and play pool more than 10 times a week. Ha! You guys may not know me but I can honestly say that I do neither of these things. Since the result was so inacurate, it says one of two things to me. One is that it is just a really bad test or two, that I am cultured much differently than Americans. I think that it is really important that they give you the information that if you are not an American, your results are not valid. Many times tests like these don't take into consideration that different cultures have different norms, beliefs etc...and the results can be misleading. An example of a biased question on this questionaire is, "a woman's life can only be fulfilled if she can provide a happy home for her family". This statement may say something about a person who holds this view if you have been raised with the American culture but if you are an Arib, the way you answer may say nothing about personality, only culture.

I think in regards to Jep's question, ignorance is not a valid plea in another country when you are in trouble for not following rules and laws. If a cop pulled you over in Tehran for not wearing a head dress, I think your chances of getting away with the, "I didn't know" scam would not hold water.

I'll have to com back with insite on the second part of the question. Need time to think!

This test worked okay for me. But I really don't think that we are so different from americans. We watch all their television and movies, and listen to their music. Those influences are so strong today on young people that I think that children are almost american themselves.

Its easy to understand some differences between some cultures, but no so easy with others. I would't even consider checking the local laws if I were going to any western country just because I would have assumed that we are pretty much similiar. But other cultures, like in asia and the middle east have very different values than our own. What is commonly accepted here may not be tolerated there.

I disagree with Mike that Canadians are not that different than Americans. It's true that we share a lot of the same entertainment and media coverage but there are many cultural differences even from state to state and province to province. Travelling has allowed me to experience it. Just watching the guests on Jerry Springer leads me to believe that Americans are very different. (ha! ha!) That of course is a stereotype with which I don't honestly agree!!

The only thing I could think of for personality tests having serious implications is if a man was suspected of the murder of his wife and he happened to come from a culture which believes that women are second class citizens, this belief might reflect in a personality test and it could be held against him because this is not a norm in Canada.

That is a good call Ivanka, about the man on trial for murder, that totally makes sense and I would have never thought about it. GOod thinking.

As for the difference between Americans and Canadians, I'm not to sure what to say. I haven't traveled all that much to see it personally, but I don't think that we can be overly different from them. I agree with Mike that I wouldn't probably go checking on the laws when I went over there. But on the other had just because we are similar with entertainment etc. doesn't mean that we are the same with other things, although I wouldn't exactly know what, because of my lack of travelling and experience.

I think that it would be a tough call to say how different or similar we actually are from Americans unless you were to go and live down there for a larger amount of time.

SUMMARY

Through our posts we discussed the importance of considering culture in personality testinng, recognizing cultural differences and the effect of biased questioning.

We talked about the questions on the VALS questionaire and how some seemed to be limiting in terms of interests and feelings. We also pointed out one particularilly culturally-biased question that 's purpose was to determine personality but did not take into consideration a common cultural norm of Arab people. This question was, "a woman's life can only be fulfilled if she can provide a happy home for her family".

We discussed laws, expectations, and culture in different parts of the world and how these differ. Some examples of different cultures that we talked about are Texas, the Middle East, Asia, and Tehran. Two oppinions were raised about the differences between Americans and Canadians. One was that because we share the same media coverage and entertainment we can't be that different. Another oppinion was that culture is distinguishable from stste to state and province to province and ultimately between the two countries. It was also mentioned that some cultural differences are more distinguishable than others and that a large amount of exposure to different societies is sometimes necessary to be able to pick these differences out.

It seemed to be an important consideration of the makers of the test to let us know that the results would not be valid if we are not US citizens. This fact could account for an off-base result.

We discussed the serious implications of culture-biased personality testing and came up with a fictional example of a man being suspected of his wife's murder. If this man's culture enforced the idea that women are secondayy citizens, this might reflect in a personality test and be held against him without taking his environmental influence into consideration.