 32. Culture and Personality  691
dictable environments. Schmitt et al. (2009) 
indeed found that cultural differences in 
emotional investment (e.g., “loving” “affec -
tionate”) and attachment styles were system -
atically associated with the United Nations’ 
Human Development Index. Consistent 
with the evolutionary hypothesis, dismissive 
attachment style was associated with sexual 
permissiveness among men but not among 
women; however, this gender difference was 
not present in many nations in Africa and 
East Asia (Schmitt & Jonason, 2015).
Related to evolutionary theories, socio- 
ecological  explanations for cultural differ -
ences in personality has been offered. For 
instance, Schug, Yuki, and Maddux (2010) 
found that Americans are more likely to 
self- disclose than are Japanese, and that this 
cultural difference can be explained by re -
lational mobility (how easily one can form 
new relationships and exit from old relation -
ships; see Oishi, Schug, Yuki, & Axt, 2015, 
for review). Fischer and Van de Vlirt (2011) 
explored climatic challenge as a key to un -
derstanding cultural differences in subjec -
tive well-being (see also Gelfand et al., 2011, 
for cultural differences in perceived norms). 
They found that among poor nations, cli -
matic harshness is inversely associated with 
subjective well-being (the harsher the cli -
mate, the lower the subjective well-being). In 
contrast, climatic harshness is not associated 
with subjective well-being among wealthy 
nations, because climatic harshness can be 
alleviated by various modern technologies. 
Combining the life-  history theory with the 
ecological theory, Sng, Neuberg, Varnum, 
and Kenrick (2017) found that residents of 
highly densely populated nations show a 
slow life (later marriage, having a child later 
in life) than residents of sparsely populated 
nations.
The person–  culture fit theory has also 
gained some popularity. For instance, 
promotion-  oriented individuals are hap -
pier in nations in which the dominant mode 
is promotion than in nations in which the 
dominant mode is prevention (Fulmer et al., 
2010). Likewise, although extraverts were 
higher in self-  esteem in 106 nations, the as -
sociation was stronger in extraverted nations 
than in introverted nations (Gebauer et al., 
2015). Finally, individuals high in openness 
to experience are happier if they live in cen -tral areas (more ethnically diverse, densely 
populated areas) of London, whereas agree -
able individuals are happier if they lived in 
peripheral areas of London (Jokela et al., 
2015; see also Bleidorn et al., 2016, for 
person–  city fit effect in the United States).
Notable  Developments
We summarize below the new developments 
in culture and personality research, mostly 
circa 2008 (please see Benet-Martínez & 
Oishi, 2008, for an earlier review).
Methods
There have been numerous and excit -
ing methodological developments. First, 
the increasing availability of large, often 
internet-  based, data from a wide range of 
countries has clearly facilitated a surge in 
cross-  cultural personality studies. Many 
new studies on culture and personality have 
used large international data, using Internet 
(Gebauer et al., 2015), Gallup Global Polls 
(Diener, Tay, & Oishi, 2013), the European 
Social Survey (Saris, Knoppen, & Schwartz, 
2013), and World Values Surveys (Gere & 
Schimmack, 2017). This is a welcome devel -
opment, as statistical power is a key to repli -
cability (Schimmack, 2012).
Second, several researchers have utilized 
non-self-  reports such as informant reports 
(Kim, Schimmack, & Oishi, 2012) and 
naturalistic facial expressions (Matsumoto, 
Keltner, Shiota, O’Sullivan, & Frank, 2008; 
Tracy & Matsumoto, 2008). Some research -
ers used semistructured interviews (Galinha, 
Garcia-  Martin, Gones, & Oishi, 2016; Val -
chev, Van de Vijver, Nel, Rothmann, & Mei -
ring, 2013) and free association (Oishi, Seo, 
Koo, & Miao, 2011; Uchida & Kitayama, 
2009). This methodological diversity is criti -
cal to deepening our understanding of issues 
at the interface of culture and personality.
Third, the use of sophisticated statistics 
has also increased. For instance, Lenton, 
Slabu, Bruder, and Sedikides (2014) utilized 
latent class analysis to study experiences of 
authenticity across cultures and found that 
East Asians and South Asians reported fewer 
experiences of extraordinary authenticity 
compared to Westerners. Davidov, Dülmer, 