Invited Symposium : Cross-Cultural Assessment Conveners :

1. European Association of Psychological Assessment11th European Conference on Psychological Assessment, Riga, Latvia, August 31st - September 3rd, 2011 Invited Symposium: Cross-Cultural Assessment Conveners: Itziar Alonso-Arbiol, University of the Basque Country & Fons van de Vijver, Tilburg University

2. Incorporating Emics within Etic Parameters: Conceptual and Methodological Tools for Cross Cultural Assessment Peter Weinreich University of Ulster United Kingdom p.weinreich@ulster.ac.uk peter@identityexploration.com (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

3. Self and identity: requires a new approach for their psychological assessment • In cross-cultural assessments of personality traits well-established psychometric methods are effective, as indicated in the paper by Fons Van de Vijver that is to follow this one. • Identity is another subject matter altogether, whereby developmental and transitional changes characterise identity processes, that progress with biographical experiences in socio-historical and cultural contexts. (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

4. Self and identity: a new approach for their psychological assessment • Whereas personality traits are conceived as being enduring characteristics, identity processes have individuals as active agents attempting to make sense of themselves from childhood onwards in social worlds that are in flux. • Evidently a radically different approach is required for the assessment of identity processes. • Nevertheless, there is no incompatibility between personality assessment and identity assessment. (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

5. Etic/emicdilemma • Etic/emic dilemma with respect to identity processes: a theory-driven approach • The assessment of psychological dimensions and processes postulated as being cross-cultural universals – etics – given that culturally specific interpretations characterise the indigenous psychologies of local cultures – emics (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

6. Universal psychological issues: alternative indigenous discourses • Although having recognisable features across cultures, different conceptions of psychological issues - anorexia nervosa, gender and professional identity, primordial sentiments about ethnicity and nationality - will be expressed in alternative discourses peculiar to the respective indigenous psychologies, which may not have immediately translatable equivalents across cultures (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

7. ‘Self’ and ‘identity’ as fundamental features of being-in-the-world • Notions of self and identity exist universally across cultures, but how ‘self’ and ‘identity’ are manifested differs greatly from culture to culture • What elements constitute ‘self’ and ‘identity’ range from highly individualistic values and beliefs (Western) to ‘self’ embedded in kin networks and ‘identity’ specified by position within specific kinship relationships (South Asian) (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

8. Tools for assessing culturally specific self and identity processes • The conceptual and methodological tools of the Identity Structure Analysis (ISA) conceptual framework • Weinreich, P., & Saunderson, W. (Eds.) (2003) Analysing Identity: Cross-Cultural, Societal and Clinical Contexts. London & New York:Routledge/Taylor & Francis (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

9. Etics incorporating emics • ISA: a natural and practical integration of the emic with the etic (etics incorporating emics) • for which ethnographic input about indigenous psychologies is fundamental (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

10. Key concepts • The foundations of ISA derive from a number of extant theoretical approaches to the developmental and social psychology of issues of self and identity (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

11. Psychodynamic approach…identity over the lifespan through identifications Symbolic Interactionism…identity through communication Self-Concept, Social Identity and Self-Esteem…identity through society Construal and Appraisal…identity by way of idiosyncratic personal constructions Cognitive-affective Consistency Theory…identity subject to emotional and cognitive pressures Social Anthropology and Indigenous Psychologies…identity located in cultural context The fundamental issue of ‘agency’ : Rom Harré – the agentic self (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

12. ISA concepts • Macro concepts, such as ‘identity’ and aspects of identity, such as ‘ethnic identity’ and ‘gender identity’ • Micro concepts, such as ‘elemental identification’, ‘aspirational identification’ and ‘ego-involvement’ with some other (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

13. Definition of identity (macro) • A person's identity is defined as the totality of one's self-construal, in which how one construes oneself in the present expresses the continuity between how one construes oneself as one was in the past and how one construes oneself as one aspires to be in the future (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

14. Definition of ethnic identity (macro) • One’s ethnic identity is defined as that part of the totality of one’s self-construal made up of those dimensions that express the continuity between one’s construal of past ancestry and one’s future aspirations in relation to ethnicity (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

15. Definition of elemental identification (micro) • Anelemental identificationis defined as being an identity of a characteristic attributed to the other and experienced in oneself • This definition holds for any culture, i.e., cross-culturally universal (etic) • It is simultaneously culturally specific (‘characteristic’ is emic) (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

16. Identification with another: two modes • Aspirational – identification over the longer term, in respect of desired or unwanted characteristics (two aspects) • Empathetic – identification in the immediate here and now, as manifested in one context after another (context sensitive) (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

17. Definition of aspirational identification: aspect 1 • Definition of idealistic-identification with another (micro) • The extent of one’s idealistic-identification with another is defined as the similarity between the qualities one attributes to the other and those one would like to possess as part of one’s ideal self-image (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

18. Definition of aspirational identification: aspect 2 • Definition of contra-identification with another (micro) • The extent of one’s contra-identification with another is defined as the similarity between the qualities one attributes to the other and those from which one would wish to dissociate (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

19. Definition of empathetic identification with another (micro) • The extent of one’s current empathetic identification with another is defined as the degree of similarity between the qualities one attributes to the other, whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’, and those of one’s current self-image • May modulate according to context (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

20. Integration of the emic and the etic • The definitions are cross-culturally universal (etic) and are parameters standardised to range from zero (no identification) through to unity (complete identification) • They also incorporate the culturally specific (emic) characteristics that characterise indigenous values and beliefs (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

21. Indigenous psychologies • All cultures possess ‘indigenous psychologies’ that are the working dominant understandings that underpin people’s everyday interactions and communications • [These may be investigated scientifically within a culture, giving rise to ‘scientific’ formulations of indigenous psychologies] (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

22. Ethnographic discourses • In South Asian cultures ‘izaat’ and ‘caste’ are summary terms for the complex indigenous psychological imperatives of everyday relationships that are central to conceptions of self and identity - they have no direct psychological or societal equivalents in western cultures • No straightforward translation and back-translation for these terms is possible (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

23. Incorporating emic discourses • In the example of South Asian cultures, the ISA definitions directly incorporate people’s emic discourses around ‘izaat’ and ‘caste’, as they are used to characterise both themselves and others in the community (whether appraised favourably or unfavourably) • With the ISA approach, no translation of ‘izaat’ and ‘caste’ discourses is necessary for scalar etic parameters of identity (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

24. Etic parameters • If the ISA definitions reference emic characteristics, how is it possible that they can at the same time be etic? Are they not simply culturally specific? • They are indeed culturally specific in terms of their incorporation of emic characteristics of indigenous psychologies • However, as parameters they are standardised to etic scales (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

25. Example: empathetic identification with another • Recap: The extent of one’s current empathetic identification with another is defined as the degree of similarity between the qualities one attributes to the other, whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’, and those of one’s current self-image (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

26. Empathetic identification: Emic qualities – etic parameter • The emic qualities of one’s current self-image constitute the agent’s reference appraisal in a particular social context • The agent appraises the other as possessing various qualities that may or may not overlap with those of one’s current self-image (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

27. Etic standardisation • When there is no overlap between self-appraisal and appraisal of the other, then (according to the ISA definition) the agent has no empathetic identification with the other, which is therefore indicated by zero • When the overlap is total, the agent empathetically identifies with the other completely, which is indicated by unity (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

28. Etic scalar properties • Generally, an agent’s empathetic identification with another will be somewhere between zero and unity (between 0.00 and 1.00), such that, for example, 0.75 would indicate that the agent empathetically identifies quite closely with the other, whereas 0.25 would represent only a small degree • The standardised etic parameter (with emic content) ranges from 0.00 to 1.00 (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

29. Example of moderate empathetic identification with father (South Asia) • In Mumbai a Hindu son has adopted some up-to-date ideas about marriage partners, agreeing to an arranged marriage only on condition that he is able to get to know and approve personally the prospective woman concerned, that is, without supervision. This would be an instance of only moderate empathetic identification (say, 0.65) with his traditional father, with whom he shares other attributes (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

30. Example of moderate empathetic identification with father (Great Britain) • In London a secular son is living with his long-term partner without getting married, while his devout Christian father believes in the sanctuary of marriage. As with the Mumbai case, he moderately empathetically identifies (again, say, 0.65) with his traditional father, in terms of other shared attributes (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

31. Mumbai compared with London: son’s empathetic identification with father • The emic aspect of empathetic identification is evident in both cases in accordance with the respective indigenous psychologies of mainstream peer cultures in Mumbai and London • In both instances, a similar intergenerational difference is evident, indicated by the scalar etic parameter denoting the same, only moderate, degree of empathetic identification with father (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

32. Integration of the emic (content) with the etic (scalar parameter) • On the basis of theorising about processes of identity development in biographical and socio-historical context, the ISA approach is theory driven. It thereby provides etic concepts (such as empathetic identification with another) that are unambiguously defined, which place emic values and beliefs at the centre of the conceptualisation. Internal standardisation procedures enable etic parameters that have scalar cross-cultural comparability (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

33. Further ISA concepts in respect of ‘entities’ • Conflicted identification with another • Identity diffusion (overall extent and spread of conflicted identifications with others) • Ego-involvement with another • Evaluation of another • Ego-involvement with self • Evaluation of self (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

34. Further ISA concepts in respect of ‘constructs’ • Polarity of a construct (indicating which of contrasting discourses is favoured) • Structural pressure on a construct (referencing compatibilities between cognition and affect maintaining stable usage that may be undermined by incompatibilities) • Emotional significance of a construct (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

35. ISA process postulates • Being a theoretical conceptualisation about identity processes, ISA provides a series of postulates about: • Appraisal and reappraisal of self and others • Benign and malign identification processes • Resolution of conflicted identifications • Change in aspirations, values and beliefs over time (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

36. Powering ISA in practice • After appropriate ethnographic work in the targeted culture, a customised ‘identity instrument’ is created which consists of emic ‘themes’ and significant ‘domains’ of self, others, groups, agents and institutions • ‘Themes’ are evoked in terms of emic discourses and texts, presented as ‘bipolar constructs’ • ‘Domains’ are represented by appropriate ‘entities’ (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

37. Emic appraisal of self and others • By way of the customised identity instrument, the participant uses the emic discourses (constructs) to appraise and characterise self and others (entities) • Construal of one’s ideal self indicates the characterisations to which the person aspires, thereby providing evidence of favoured discourses – with corresponding evaluative connotations that derive from the person’s biographical experiences within the relevant indigenous culture (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

38. ‘Culture’ as societal process • Evaluative connotations of discourses are empirically assessed for each individual: they are not assumed or imposed by the investigator • Hence, as well as being sensitive to the discourses of indigenous psychologies, ISA is able to ascertain alternative perspectives within a community, as when cultural values and beliefs are debated and changes occur over time (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

39. ISA in practice: algorithms for ISA concepts • All ISA definitions of psychological concepts are translated into algorithms that are isomorphic with the definitions • Customised identity instruments enable participants to appraise their social worlds within the context of an indigenous psychology (emic) (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

40. ISA in practice: ‘ipseus’ computer software • The dedicated ipseus software uses the algorithms to: • Operationalise the ISA concepts (e.g., empathetic identification with another) to become parameters of identity, the magnitudes of which are ascertained for each person • Internally standardise, to each person’s particular usage of discourses, the etic scalar properties for each parameter (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters

41. Conclusion For the analysis of identity processes, we have, using ISA concepts, a natural integration of emic characteristics of identity with etic parameters of identity; Individual and cultural values are ascertained for each person idiographically using customised identity instruments; Societal cultural and subcultural values are assessed nomothetically as commonalities across respective individual persons. September 2011 (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters 41

42. References • Weinreich, P., & Saunderson, W. (Eds.) (2003) Analysing Identity: Cross-Cultural, Societal and Clinical Contexts. London & New York:Routledge/Taylor & Francis • Weinreich, P., & Ewart, S. (2007) ipseuscomputer software for identity exploration. Belfast: Sycadex Ltd • Weinreich, P. (2009). ‘Enculturation’, not ‘acculturation’: Conceptualising and assessing identity processes in migrant communities. International Journal of Intercultural Relations. 33, 124–139 • http://www.identityexploration.com (c) Weinreich 2011: Incorporating emics within etic parameters