the chapters in the three volumes, organized around salient topics that are
presently being investigated. Third, I provide brief summaries or comments
for each topic and, in a concluding section, note areas where knowledge
appears to be more versus less definitive.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Early Conceptions of Human Diversity
Jahoda and Krewer (1997) reviewed ideas about human diversity from
classical Greek and Roman antiquity through the Enlightenment period
(see also Jahoda, 1993). They described the dominant ideology regarding
human diversity during classical antiquity as one of ethnocentrism and lim-
ited interest in other peoples. Nonetheless, they also noted the emergence
and need for ethnographic descriptions during the expansion of the Greek
and Roman empires. The idea of environmental determinism, including
the influence of climate, as an explanation for human diversity was also pro-
posed. For example, Poseidonus (135–51 BC) referred to the dominant
psychological feature characterizing each cultural group’s institutions and
habits—for example, the purported reflection, moderation, and control of
southern peoples (including Greece and Rome) versus the purported emo-
tionality, passion, and courage of northern peoples—an approach that
foreshadowed the configurationist ideas associated with the culture-and-
personality school during the first half of the 20th century. During the
Renaissance, waves of exploration, conquest, and trade brought increasing
interest in accounts of other peoples, but these accounts were largely
descriptive, biased, and stereotypical.
The Enlightenment period brought a shift toward more scientific study of
culture and peoples based on systematic observation and critical reflection.
According to Jahoda and Krewer (1997), the emphasis on reason as the
essential feature of all humans led to assumptions regarding the unity and
equality of mankind—a belief later referred to as the “psychic unity of man-
kind” and adopted by many current cross-cultural psychologists (see Jahoda,
1993, regarding the origins of this concept). Others, however, endorsed a
more relativistic stance that viewed the human mind as shaped by, and
deeply embedded within, sociocultural contexts—a perspective currently
emphasized by cultural
psychologists1
(e.g., Heine, 2001; Markus &
Kitayama, 1991, 1998). Language was seen as playing a prominent role in
understanding the “mentality” of different peoples. For example, Wilhelm
von Humboldt—sometimes viewed as the founder of “Völkerpsychologie”
(Folk Psychology)—argued that people who share a language develop a sim-
ilar subjectivity or worldview—a proposal anticipating the later Sapir-Whorf
hypothesis (Whorf, 1956).
Personality across Cultures 5
