A paper published on 'national character'

[tomoyoichijouji.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if this counts as discussion material but it was just too 'appropriate' for that to scare me off. (Also in a kind of extension of the post a while before about views on nation's stereotypes.)

Science gets the last laugh on ethnic jokes
Study shows that real personalities don’t match national stereotypes
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9598717/

Some snippets of the article for interest-piquing:

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If national stereotypes aren’t rooted in real experiences, then where do they come from?

One possibility is that they reflect national values, which may emerge from historical events. For example, many historians have argued that the spirit of American individualism has its origins in the experiences of the pioneers in the Old West.
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The authors found that in most of the countries, the two personality profiles that were based on information from real people matched each other reasonably well. But they were significantly different from the stereotype profile.

“There was essentially no agreement between people’s perceptions of the typical personality [in their culture] and what we actually measured,” McCrae said.

The one exception was Poland, where the ratings from volunteers provided a better-than-usual match between typical and real personalities, suggesting the volunteers were better at seeing past stereotypes to perceive people as they really are.

Perhaps in heaven, the therapists are Polish.
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Yeah, that's a reference to the "In heaven...In hell" quote that's posted at the beginning of the article, and was also the topic of a scanslation if my memory serves me.

As further discussion prodding, I might bring this up -- do the Nations embody 1) the general feelings and mindset of their country's people at any particular time, 2) the stereotypes held about that country that, according to the above study, would not likely match an average citizen of said country? or of course the obvious 3) both in some fashion.

My two cents says that perhaps the 'personality' of the Nation ends up matching to the stereotype, and their actions end up matching history. Or perhaps the 'national stereotype' is merely how other Nations typify them, and how they may even typify themselves, when in reality they're all very complex and multifaceted? *is at risk of sounding literarily pretentious XP*

Thoughts anyone?

Comments

[nittle-grasper.livejournal.com]

Huh, fascinating article. I'd like to see the results of the personality profiles of the countries they tested though. The WSJ did a mapping of personalities with the U.S. states, which was pretty interesting to browse through, so maybe they'll release their world cultures study somewhere =D

[mumumugen.livejournal.com]

I would go for the eclectic answer to your question: all of the above, in a way.

Nation-tans are, in part, embodiments of their people. They are the feelings of their nationals.
Nation-tans are, in part, embodiments of how their people perceive them. They are the *idea* their nationals have of them, including, sometimes, fantastic perceptions.

They are both truth and stereotype.

IN WHICH I COULD COMPLETELY MISS THE POINT...

[notedible.livejournal.com]

I would have to agree with you on your two cents. Its really complicated because any type of stereotyping is going to be perceived as negative in one way or another. So with a series like Hetalia or any other personification of a nation there is always going to be nay-says and then the ones who would agree.

Like: Well America is not always so positive / Or: American is positively portrayed due to the roots of its creation. It was a nation created off of the idea of freedom and therefore he is happy to have his freedom.

Simplistic, but it can be argued either way?

[parzi.livejournal.com]

Hmm...I personally like to think that ideally the Nations are 1), embodying the average mindset of it's people. Though that would certainly make life confusing for larger, more heterogeneous nations (no wonder Russia and the US are kind of crazy). But since the comic is written by one person, even a well traveled one (well I just assume he is, since he's at least been to two different countries) there are going to be some stereotypes due to his experiences or gaps in his knowledge.

That's what makes the fanfics and such for this fandom so cool, I think. People that are more experts on certain nations than the original author can make them much deeper. For example, I think he does a pretty good job on America, but Canada is only somewhat like all my Canadian friends. But the fanfic Canada tends to be spot on quite a lot; I love reading them.

[insomniel.livejournal.com]

I always understood it better if you ask, "What makes this character recognizable and unique for a reader who may not be familiar with the country?" To answer that, the author uses recognizable and unique information about the country to construct their personality, which means he incorporates stereotypes that other people have of that nation, whether or not it is politically correct.

For example, if America acted like what his people are really like, well, he'd probably act like every nation that ever immigrated to America and then some and he would seem like a poorly developed and inconsistent schizophrenic character. Even though I know of few Americans who look/act exactly like Alfred America, I can still recognize him as America and not say, Britain Jr.

So pretty much, I think these particular nation-tans were created this way for the sake of art and story-telling. After all, you can interpret all of the (male) countries as female and their interactions could be different but still within the realm of accuracy. That's my 2 cents.

[viva-la-yaoi.livejournal.com]

I agree with what the mod and the others have said, but I also think that part of the nation's personalities are just that; their very own personalities. After all, while they're not completely human, they do have a bit of their own personality.

Take for example North Italy: Because of his experience with HRE, he doesn't like to be left alone. It has nothing to do with Italian people being clingy, it's just one of North Italy's little quirks. Did that make sense?

Well, that's my two cents.

[cal-reflector.livejournal.com]

Hetalia's representations usually express one outstanding trait at a time. If Hetalia was in manga form, the characters would have to be more complex, reconciling all the different facets of their personalities. Many countries/entities would exhibit schizophrenic symptoms at different times of their history. Personification would break down. A 4-koma lets the author keep things simple, because in a 4-koma there is just enough space to present one "characteristic" at a time.

Ex: America trying to find other countries on an American map.
Ex: Britain cursing Germany
Ex: Hungary in love with Austria (only at one moment in history, if any)
Ex: Chibi-Italy beating the Turks (Venice: Weak on land, invincible at sea)
Ex: Switzerland's miserly ways.
Ex: Prussia as the year-round powerful aggressor (only twice prior to WWI)

Off topic, but

[relker.livejournal.com]

"Perhaps in heaven, the therapists are Polish". Felix as a therapist. Oh god.

Fascinating stuff here, otherwise.