Modal Personality in the Bahamas

Abstract

Modal personality of a colonial people evolving toward independence was investigated. The research was presented as Phase I of a longitudinal study of behavioral adaptation to sociopolitical change. A questionnaire and 40-item Sentence Completion Test, tapping aggression, anxiety, authority relations, dependency, interpersonal attitudes, values, and aspirations were administered to a representative sample of 160 Bahamian adults. Passivity, hostility/acquiescence toward authority, internalization of anger, lack of achievement orientation, and a strong emphasis on interpersonal relations and psychological equilibrium, with a concurrent de-emphasis of economics, were modal characteristics. Despite significant differences in percentage response, groups differentiated by age, sex, SES, education, and father-absence were alike in central tendency. Comparative data from Thailand and the Philippines were presented. The relationship of modal personality to historical factors, and its implications for sociocultural change, were also discus sed.