International Study and Personality: Higher Cross-Cultural Comfort Indicates Larger Transcultural Leaps
Sarah Crain- Missouri State University
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Melissa Fallone
This correlational study explores personality traits, risk-taking behavior, and study abroad location choice as tools to develop a method for students to choose a suitable study abroad program. This study required four questionnaires measuring these respective variables. Students higher in Agreeableness and Open-Mindedness showed higher cross-cultural comfort. They were more likely to choose to study in cultures further from their own, and they showed more risk-taking behavior. Looking into preferences based on personality traits will likely improve students’ placement in their study abroad programs, leading to higher satisfaction rates and easier cultural adjustment.
Great project, Sarah! Will you be continuing this line of research? If so, what will you be studying next?
Thanks for your comment! A large part of the reasoning behind this research topic is the fact that a majority of study abroad participants choose places in Europe (Western Europe, to be more specific). If I were to go forward, I would like to focus on how media (or the US education system) portrays countries in the ‘global north’ and ‘global south’ and its effects on biases for/against certain places.
Hi, Sarah! This is a really interesting study and I enjoyed your presentation! I think it’s fascinating that you are able to use your personal interests/experiences to guide your research and the positive, practical implications that will follow it. I was wondering what some of the characteristics are of the Cultural Difference Comfort Scale you created (i.e., how many questions, if it’s measured using a Likert-type scale, example of a question included on the questionnaire)? If you don’t mind sharing. Again, this seems like a great project, and I wish you the best of luck on your future studies connected to this one!!
Hi Daisi! Thank you for your comment. Here are a few examples of the questions. There are 17 total. We scaled them from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = agree strongly.
I am comfortable around people who don’t speak my first language.
I feel energized in new environments.
I could easily get around a new city by myself.
I like trying new foods.
I am comfortable using public transportation.
Sarah! Thank you for sharing this research! I find this really interesting, as I am personally very interested in travel and in personality psychology. What was your favorite part about this study? Did you find anything unique or surprising in your study of previous literature or even from your own results? Again, great job!
Hi Alyssa! Thanks for your support 🙂 My favorite part about this study has been learning about the personality traits associated with different regions of the world. For the third measure, the Cultural Similarity Measure, I wrote three different scenarios that were anonymous in location but were influenced by places I’ve either been to or I’ve researched. I enjoyed writing this part!
Most surprising and exciting in the literature was the correlation between the MBTI and the Big Five. I was initially interested in the MBTI (which is what I used to assess the types in my study abroad group), but I didn’t find much research on it and travel. Past research did show that Intuition of the MBTI positively correlated with Open-mindedness of the BF. Feeling (MBTI) positively correlated with Agreeableness (BF). Those in my study abroad group were mostly NF types, which aligns with the research question I then developed about Agreeableness/Openmindedness correlated with travel far from American culture.