TY - JOUR

T1 - The Well-Being Benefits of Person-Culture Match Are Contingent on Basic Personality Traits

AU - Gebauer, Jochen Eberhard

AU - Eck, Jennifer

AU - Entringer, Theresa M.

AU - Bleidorn, Wiebke

AU - Rentfrow, Peter J.

AU - Potter, Jeff

AU - Gosling, Samuel D.

PY - 2020/10

Y1 - 2020/10

N2 - People enjoy well-being benefits if their personal characteristics match those of their culture. Thisperson-culture match effectis integral to many psychological theories and-as a driver of migration-carries much societal relevance. But do people differ in the degree to which person-culture match confers well-being benefits? In the first-ever empirical test of that question, we examined whether the person-culture match effect is moderated by basic personality traits-the Big Two and Big Five. We relied on self-reports from 2,672,820 people across 102 countries and informant reports from 850,877 people across 61 countries. Communion, agreeableness, and neuroticism exacerbated the person-culture match effect, whereas agency, openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness diminished it. People who possessed low levels of communion coupled with high levels of agency evidenced no well-being benefits from person-culture match, and people who possessed low levels of agreeableness and neuroticism coupled with high levels of openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness even evidenced well-being costs. Those results have implications for theories building on the person-culture match effect, illuminate the mechanisms driving that effect, and help explain failures to replicate it.

AB - People enjoy well-being benefits if their personal characteristics match those of their culture. Thisperson-culture match effectis integral to many psychological theories and-as a driver of migration-carries much societal relevance. But do people differ in the degree to which person-culture match confers well-being benefits? In the first-ever empirical test of that question, we examined whether the person-culture match effect is moderated by basic personality traits-the Big Two and Big Five. We relied on self-reports from 2,672,820 people across 102 countries and informant reports from 850,877 people across 61 countries. Communion, agreeableness, and neuroticism exacerbated the person-culture match effect, whereas agency, openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness diminished it. People who possessed low levels of communion coupled with high levels of agency evidenced no well-being benefits from person-culture match, and people who possessed low levels of agreeableness and neuroticism coupled with high levels of openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness even evidenced well-being costs. Those results have implications for theories building on the person-culture match effect, illuminate the mechanisms driving that effect, and help explain failures to replicate it.

KW - person-culture match

KW - culture

KW - basic personality traits

KW - Big Two

KW - Big Five

KW - open data

KW - open materials

KW - SELF-ESTEEM

KW - PEOPLE HAPPY

KW - RELIGIOUS PEOPLE

KW - HYPOTHESIS

KW - CONTEXTS

KW - MOTIVES

KW - OTHERS

KW - NORM

KW - LIVE

U2 - 10.1177/0956797620951115

DO - 10.1177/0956797620951115

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 32926800

VL - 31

SP - 1283

EP - 1293

JO - Psychological Science

JF - Psychological Science

SN - 0956-7976

IS - 10

M1 - 0956797620951115

ER -