Culturally relevant personality assessment

Throughout history, different systems have been developed to classify personality traits. Early systems were based on physiognomy, phrenology, facial and skeletal features, body types, or body fluids. More scientific studies of personality in psychology began in the early twentieth century when objective personality tests were developed with proven psychometric properties. Most of these tests were grounded in theories and research from Western cultures. As personality research and assessment are increasingly adopted in other non-Western cultures, questions have been raised about the cultural relevance of the existing theories and measures. In this chapter, we review the stages of cross-cultural personality assessment in psychology to address the issue of cultural relevance in personality assessment, and illustrate how indigenously derived measures, such as the Cross-Cultural Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI-2) originating from the Chinese cultural context, can supplement the assumptions of universal models of personality in providing a more comprehensive understanding of personality in cultural contexts.