NIA Study Debunks National Stereotypes

Travel Blog  •  Michael Yessis  •  10.10.05 | 11:14 AM ET

Canadians are not overly submissive. Americans are not hyper assertive. Indians are not unconventional. And Czechs are not antagonistic and disagreeable. So says a fascinating study by scientists at the National Institute on Aging, a division of the National Institutes of Health, published in the October 7 issue of the Science (subscription only). According to the NIA news release, Antonio Terracciano and Robert R. McCrae asked 3,989 raters to describe the “typical” member of their own culture.

When researchers compared the average trait levels to the stereotypes, there was no agreement. For example, Americans believe the typical American is very assertive, and Canadians believe the typical Canadian is submissive, but in fact Americans and Canadians have almost identical scores on measures of assertiveness, a little above the world average. Looking at other personality traits, the researchers found that Indian citizens type themselves as unconventional and open to a wide range of new experiences, but measurements of personality show that they are more conventional than the rest of the people in the world. Czechs believe that Czechs are antagonistic and disagreeable, but when personality is actually observed, Czechs score higher than most people in the world on measures of altruism and modesty.

It begs the question: Why do these stereotypes exist? Forbes reporter Ed Edelson asked McCrae. “I’m not sure we know the answer, but we think it has to do with folklore, the books we read and the opinions we hear,” McCrae said. “Somehow these ideas take on a life of their own.”

According to the NIA release, McCrae and his colleagues will extend their line of cross-cultural research back into adolescence and examine age stereotypes around the world.

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