Person,symbol, sociality: Towards a social psychology of cultural dynamics

Contemporary research on personality and culture has successfully mapped out major cultural differences in personality profile. However, in order to investigate the dynamic process by which culturally shaped personalities are formed, maintained, and transformed, sociality or the totality of social processes that mediate the culture–personality relationship need to be examined. A research program of a social psychology of cultural dynamics is outlined, and a computer simulation is described as an example of this metatheoretical orientation. This connectionist-based simulation suggests that there exists a physically realizable system that can generate both individual differences and culture from a stream of social interaction episodes among multiple actors. The importance of sociality in personality and culture research is emphasized.