The_Liquid_Laser
Glowy Goopy Goodness
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2007
- Messages
- 3,376
- MBTI Type
- ENTP
I don't see a problem with attaching a "cultural personality" to a country.
See, the national personality is not derived directly as the "sum of its parts" where "parts" = individuals.
What contributes to national personality is its actual history, its past and current interactions with other nations and how it fits into the larger world culture/economy, its own economic and political systems, the religious faiths that are prominent, its view and support of science/tech, etc.
Those are the "components" of the national personality, and individuals regardless of type might influence these things over time but usually are forced to conform to some degree.
I'd essentially agree to this. Furthermore I would add that I think certain personality traits are socially reinforced as either "good" or "bad" depending on the culture. For example I would see introversion as positively reinforced in Japan while extraversion is positively reinforced in Italy. This doesn't mean that the percentages of introverts or extraverts are significantly different in either country, but it might mean that extraverts are encouraged to be more subdued in Japan while introverts are encouraged to be more outgoing in Italy.
I would say over the last 50-75 years in the US alone we have see a gradual shift from SJ behavior/attitudes to SP attitudes.
I'd actually say the opposite. The western frontier is an SP ideal. It represents freedom and a lack of order. Furthermore during WWII American soldiers were praised for their ability to improvise and get equipment repaired quickly on the move instead of waiting for things to be done in an official procedure. These are SP traits, and Americans stood out from Europeans because of these traits. Now that there is no more land (on Earth) to explore and conquer, and our current states are all largely industrialized I think the SP dream has essentially dried up. Furthermore having the most wealth and military power has driven the US towards more conservative SJ behavior so that we will preserve what we have.
What would you ENTPs do without straw men?
What would you INTJ's do if you had to actually explain yourselves instead of making blanket statements which are meaningless without further elaboration?