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Whether language shapes cognition has long been a controversial issue. The present research adopts a functional approach to examining the effects of language use on personality perception and dialectical thinking. We propose that language use activates corresponding cultural mindsets, which in turn influence social perception, thinking, and behavior. Four studies recruited Chinese- English bilinguals ( N = 129 in Study 1, 229 in Study 2, 68 in Study 3, 106 in Study 4) and used within-subjects and between-subjects design, written and behavioral reports, and self- and other perceptions. The four studies converged to show that Chinese- English bilinguals exhibit higher dialectical thinking and more variations in self- and observer ratings of personality when using the Chinese language than when using English. Furthermore, dialectical thinking predicted more self- and other-perceived variations in personality and behavior across bilingual contexts. These results highlight the important role of culture in understanding the relations between language and cognition, and attest to the malleability of personality perception and dialectical thinking within and across individuals in response to culture-related linguistic cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation examined the impact of bicultural identity, bilingualism, and social context on the psychological adjustment of multicultural individuals. Our studies targeted three distinct types of biculturals: Mainland Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong, Filipino domestic workers (i.e., sojourners) in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese college students. Individual differences in Bicultural Identity Integration (BII; Benet-Martínez, Leu, Lee, & Morris, 2002 ) positively predicted psychological adjustment for all the samples except sojourners even after controlling for the personality traits of neuroticism and self-efficacy. Cultural identification and language abilities also predicted adjustment, although these associations varied across the samples in meaningful ways. We concluded that, in the process of managing multiple cultural environments and group loyalties, bilingual competence, and perceiving one's two cultural identities as integrated are important antecedents of beneficial psychological outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has established the structural robustness of the Big Seven across samples and targets. In this study we analyze a diverse pool of Spanish personality terms to assess the cross-cultural and cross-language robustness of the Big Seven model. Trait terms were culled from an unabridged Spanish dictionary following the nonrestrictive selection criteria previously used by Tellegen and Waller. Self-ratings on 299 descriptors by 894 Spanish university students yielded a seven-factor solution that was clearly recognizable--with important cultural-specific differences--as the Big Seven. These indigenous dimensions were compared with factors from Spanish-translated Big Seven and Big Five questionnaires. Our results demonstrate that the Big Seven are cross-culturally and cross-linguistically robust personality dimensions that are not subsumable by the Big Five. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]