Personality Psychology in Africa

Personality in African cultural heritage settings is defined by psycho-behavioral predispositions for relational interdependence with social others. It is an instrument for personhood or relational being-ness person styles or preferences are likely primary pathways for translating personality into personhood oriented actions. The person styles of introverted, organized, practical, thinking, and spiritual were prioritized by teenagers and from several African communities, suggesting the validity of person styles as expressive personality. Lexical approaches to studying personality in African culture settings yielded a nine-cluster structure comprising Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Facilitating, Conscientiousness, Integrity, Intellect, Openness, Relationship Harmony, and Soft-heartedness. The content defining these personality attributes has a strong cultural nuancing and with a good representation of relational expressions.