The Acceptance of "Barnum" Personality Interpretations by Japanese,Japanese-American,and Caucasian American College Students

Abstract

Native Japanese, Japanese-American, and Caucasian American students at universities in Japan and Hawaii were compared on their acceptance of Barnum personality statements. The Barnum descriptions were filled with personality clich6s and were presented to the subjects as having been interpreted by "several clinical psychologists" from the Ss' Rorschach protocols. The results indicated that all three groups were equally and highly likely to endorse these descriptions as being true of themselves even when attempts were made to control for compliance effects. The findings were discussed with reference to similar acculturation influences in terms of mass media and course content self-concept learning experiences among university students. Finally, the utility of intra-and intercultural personality assessment was considered in terms of the high base rate Barnum statement acceptance.

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