Differences in Personality Between Japanese and English

Abstract

Results are reported of testing male and female university students (N 1957), male and female schoolchildren (N = 6116) and male and female psychotic inpatients (N = 420) in both Japan and England with the PEN Personality Inventory, which purports to measure the independent personality dimensions of Psychoticism (P), Extraversion (E), and Neuroticism (N) The hypothesis tested was based on the findings of R. Lynn, derived from an intercorrelational study of demographic data, that Japanese, of all the populations tested, were the most introverted and the second most neurotic. No predictions were made for P. The results indicated support for the hypothesis; Japanese scored very significantly higher than English on N and also on P; they scored lower on E. Japanese psychotics, like English, scored higher on P than normals, but again the Japanese psychotics scored higher than the English on this variable. The results indicate support for Lynn's findings, and may also be regarded as supporting the validity of his methodology. The data do not throw any light on the question of the origin of the observed differences, which might be due to genetic, cultural, or joint genetic and cultural influences.