686 
Personality is shaped by both genetic and 
environmental factors; among the most 
important of the latter are cultural influ -
ences (C. Kluckhohn & Murray, 1948). 
Culture  comprises shared meaning systems 
that provide the standards for perceiving, 
believing, evaluating, communicating, and 
acting among those who share a language, 
a historic period, and a geographic location 
(Triandis, 1996). As the simple and yet com -
pelling opening quotation illustrates, our 
overall sense of self is often, at its most basic 
level, rooted in our awareness of the cultural 
group(s) to which we belong. Certainly, at -
tributes such as culture and nationality re -
late to events and qualities that are seen by 
many as essential to one’s own and others’ 
self- definition, such as birthplace, citizen -
ship, collective history, and learned cultural 
norms and values.
Culture is transmitted through language, 
media messages, cultural practices and in -
stitutions, values and artifacts, and through 
the modeling of behavior (Triandis, 2007). 
Social scientists have recognized for decades 
that these influences have substantial psy -chological effects on individuals. However, 
culture does not have a deterministic influ -
ence on individuals’ behavior. Rather, its in -
fluence is interactive and probabilistic (e.g., 
Allport, 1961; A. Leung & Cohen, 2011; 
Mendoza-Denton & Mischel, 2007; Oishi, 
2004). Rohner’s (1984) metaphor compar -
ing culture to a game (with various rules) 
and people to its players clearly illustrates 
this point. Players can pick from different 
strategies and options, and sometimes even 
violate or modify the rules if they think they 
can get away with it. In other words, the de -
gree to which players follow the rules differs 
across individuals, depending on their per -
sonal preferences, moods, and understand -
ing of specific situations. This variation 
results in a great deal of within-  culture het -
erogeneity and individual differences in the 
degree to which people endorse, internalize, 
and utilize particular “rules,” that is, norms 
and values (for a discussion of these impor -
tant definitional issues, including the finding 
that values often differ more within-  culture 
than across-  cultures, see Chiu, 2014; Mor -
ris, 2014).CHAPTER 32
Culture and Personality
Current Directions
Shigehiro  Oishi  
Kostadin Kushlev  
Verónica  Benet -Martínez
I am Homo sapiens,  I am American.
—Paul rOzin  (2003, p. 281)