Do different nationalities have different psychological characteristics? This question is often avoided as being too controversial, but it is squarely faced in this illuminating comparative study, first published in 1985. Dean Peabody focuses principally on six nations: Britain, Germany, France, Italy and the two world powers, Russia and America, where extensive empirical studies have been conducted to ascertain what ordinary people judge to be national characteristics (often dismissed as 'national stereotypes'). These results are compared and contrasted with those from social scientific accounts of 'national character', and there is a perhaps surprising level of agreement between the two. Moreover, as Professor Peabody's systematic cross-national survey demonstrates, the psychological characteristics of different nationalities do differ in fundamental ways.
Contents
Preface; Acknowledgements; introduction; Part I. Judgements about National Characteristics: 1. National characteristics and group judgements; 2. Characteristics of persons; 3. Judgement principles; 4. The empirical study: design and method of analysis; 5. Overall results; Part II. National Character and Results for Separate Nationalities: 6. National character; 7. The English; 8. The Germans; 9. The French; 10. The Italians; 11. The Russians; 12. The Americans; 13. North and south Italians: a regional substudy; 14. Northern Europeans; 15. Southern and eastern Europeans; 16. The Phillippines results revisited; Part III. Conclusions: 17. Conclusions: national characteristics; 18. Conclusions: judgements about national characteristics; Appendices; References; Subject index; Index of names.
Printer friendly version