Do People Adopt a Different Personality When They Speak English?

Do people adopt a different personality when they speak English?

Graduation Thesis

Presented to

the Faculty of the Department of

English Language and Literature

Notre Dame Seishin University

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirement for the Degree

Bachelor of Arts

by

Miho Oka

2014

1

Contents

Abstract3

Chapter One: Personality and personality change when people change language5

1.1 Introduction5

1.2 Personality types6

1.2.1 Comments on the Big 59

1.2.2 Previous research9

1.3 Research questions11

1.4 Summary12

Chapter Two: The Questionnaire13

2.1 Introduction 13

2.2 The questionnaire13

2.2.1 Introduction to the questionnaire13

2.2.2 Method13

a) Subjects13

b) Thequestionnaire13

c) Procedure15

2.3 Results15

2.3.1 Subject English level15

2.3.2 Subjects personality in English and Japanese20

2.4 Summary22

Chapter Three: Discussion23

3.1 Introduction23

3.2 Summary of the result23

3.3 Discussion of the result23

3.3.1 Analysis of relationships between personality and English level23

3.3.2 Analysis of relationships between English level and consciousness of personality change 25

3.3.3 How does the subjects’ personality change when they speak English?26

3.4 Answering the research questions27

3.5 Implications28

3.6 Limitation of the questionnaire28

3.7 Further research28

3.8 Conclusion29

References30

Appendices32

1

Abstract

Today, there are 4 billon people who use English as a second language, and 8 billion people who can use English as foreign language, so English is an important language in the world. Moreover, many people think if they are proficient in another language, they can have an advantage; for example, they can get good jobs, make a lot of friends, so there are many bilingual people in the world.Also, it is said that the proportion of bilingual is 60～75% of the world’s population, so there are a lot of people who can speak two languages. Do they feel and act in the same way in two languages, and do they have the same personality in two languages?

The aim of this thesis was to examine if and how people who speak English as second language change their personality when they speak English and Japanese. In Chapter One, we looked personality types and previous research about personality changes. Then, in Chapter Two, we looked at questionnaire structure and overall results. The questionnaire consisted of two sections. Section 1 asked about subjects’ background. Section 2 asked about theirpersonality when they speak Japanese and English. We classified personality into five types; Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness. The questionnaire results came from 26 female subjects at Notre Dame Seishin University students who belong to English Department. Finally, we discussed and analyzed subjects’personality change when they speak English and Japanese. From the questionnaire results we could find a lot of people who speak English as second language change their personality when they speak Japanese and English.

The result of questionnaire showed us that Japanese people who speak English are friendly and they can speak without care in English, but in Japanese they are careful and quiet, so a lot of people have positive thinking for speaking English.Therefore,it is important for Japanese who speak English as second language to speak English more easily and have opportunity they can communicate in English.

Chapter One: Personality and personality change when people change language

1.1Introduction

Today, globalization is expanding in various fields in the world. People think if they are proficient in another language, they can have an advantage; for example, they can get good jobs, make a lot of friends, so there are many bilingual people in the world.

It is said that the proportion of bilingual is 60～75% of the world’s population, so there are a lot of people who can speak two languages. Do they feel and act in the same way in two languages, and do they have the same personality in two languages?

Some people feel they change their personality when they speak another language.

Anarticle on ABC News (2008) shows bicultural people may unconsciously change their personality when they switch languages, according to a US study on bicultural Hispanic women. The another research byNairan Ramirez-Esparza and colleagues (2006)shows the personality of bilinguals changes depending on which language they use.

These articles and research show bicultural or bilingual people switch their personality more easily than mono-cultural or monolingual people. This thesis focuses on whether monolingual people switch their personality when they speak English as a second language. If so, how does their personality change when they speak English and Japanese? Moreover, do they themselves notice their personality changes when they speak English? In this chapter, we will look at general idea of personality and previous research.

1.2 Personality types

Nowadays, there are a lot of models of personality type, but the Five Factor Model has become an established theory among a lot of researchers who try on personality. This is five characteristic parameters called The Big Five (Goldberg,1990,1992)and the idea is features of human personality can be captured comprehensively and fully. There are some personality check tests based on the Big Five. Let us look at them in detail below.

1)Extraversion

This type is characterized by excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness and high amounts of emotional expressiveness.

Extraverts enjoy being with people and they are often full of energy and express their emotions easily. They tend to be outgoing, and enthusiastic individuals who like talking and being the center of attention. Extraverts don’t hesitate to join in activities and they have self-confidence which enables them to try new experiences.

Extraversion / Energy,
Positive emotions,
Surgency
Assertiveness
Sociability
The tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others
Talkativeness

2)Agreeableness

This personality includes the attributes like sympathy, affection, trust, altruism, kindness, affection and other pro-social behaviors.

This personality dimension includes attributes such as trust and kindness. Agreeable individuals tend to try to get along with others. Therefore, they often are helpful and considerate.

Agreeableness / Be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic toward others
Trusting and helpful

3)Conscientiousness

The common features often seen in this type is high levels of thoughtfulness, good impulse control, goal-directed behaviors, organized, planful and mindful of details.

Conscientiousness / Self-discipline
Act dutifully
Planned rather than spontaneous behavior
Organized
Dependable

4)Neuroticism

This trait is expressed by the nature like instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, tenseness and sadness.

People who have a high score on Neuroticism might experience mainly specific negative feelings such as anxiety, anger or depression. They are also emotionally reactive and their reactions tend to be more intense than others. They tend to be often in a bad mood.

Neuroticism / Experience unpleasant emotions easily such as anger, anxiety, depression, and vulnerability
Refers to the degree of emotional stability and impulse control
Low pole emotional stability

5)Openness

This trait includes characteristics such as imaginative, insightful and having wide interests.

Open individuals are said to be intellectually curious, appreciative of art, and sensitive to beauty. They tend to be compared to closed people and more aware of their feelings.

Openness / Appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, curiosity, and variety of experience
Reflects the degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity and a preference for novelty and variety
Imaginative
Independent
Depicts a personal preference for variety of activities over a strict routine

1.2.1 Comments on the Big 5

Being extrovert can beuseful to speak English, because these people are friendly, talkative, so maybe they can enjoy speaking English. On the other hand, people with Neuritucismmay not be good for speaking English, because they may be anxious, so they maybe afraid of making mistakes.

The article “The Big 5 Aspects of personality” reported a psychometric study that shows “Extraverts enjoy being with people, are full of energy, and often experience positive emotions. They tend to be enthusiastic, action-oriented, individuals who are likely to say ”Yes!” or “Let’s go!” to opportunities for excitement. In groups they like to talk, assert themselves, and draw attention to themselves.” on the other hand, “ Neurotics may experience primarily one specific negative feeling such as anxiety, anger, or depression, but are likely to experience several of these emotions. People high in neuroticism are emotionally reactive. They respond emotionally to events that would not affect most people, and their reactions tend to be more intense than normal. They are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult. Their negative emotional reactions tend to persist for unusually long periods of time, which means they are often in bad mood. These problems in emotional regulation can diminish a neurotic’s ability to think clearly, make decisions, and cope effectively with stress.

1.2.2 Previous research

This section shows how some people feel they change personality when they change language.

Luna, Ringberg, and Peracchio (2008) studied groups of Hispanic women, all of whom were bilingual, but with varying degrees of cultural identification. They found that biculturals switched frames more quickly and easily than bilingual monoculturals and the women classified themselves as more assertive when they spoke Spanish than they spoke English. They also had significantly different perceptions of women in ads when the ads were in Spanish versus English. The authors said “ in the Spanish-language sessions, informants perceived females as more self-sufficient and extroverted.”

Collins (2011)discovered that native Chinese subjects who were also fluent in English seemingly became “ more assertive, extroverted, and open to new experiences” when using their second language. The researcher arguesthose are all traits more typical of English speakers than Cantonese, suggesting a link between language and personality traits. This apparent link was strengthened further depending on who they were speaking to. If the subjects spoke English to a Caucasian interviewer as opposed to a Chinese interviewer, these “English-speaking” personality traits became even more pronounced. Based on all this, the researchers conclude that personalities are fluid and can be heavily affected by the language a person is speaking.

Nairan Ramirez-Esparza and colleagues (2006) assessed the personality of dozens of people in America and Mexico who were fluent, current users of both English and Spanish. Participants twice completed a questionnaire based on the Big Five personality dimensions of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness and neuroticism-once in English and once in Spanish. Across the three separate samples,the researchers observed the same pattern. When the participants completed an English version of the questionnaire, they tended to score higher on extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, and slightly lower on neuroticism, compared with when they completed the Spanish version. However, they said it’s important to note that the overall shape of participants’ personalities did not change profoundly depending on which language they used. The researchers explained “Thus, an extravert does not suddenly become an introvert as she switched language; instead a bilingual becomes more extraverted when she speaks English rather than Spanish.”

The research with bilinguals was consistent with a study of thousands of monolingual participants who speak only Spanish, or only English, that showed English speakers tend to score higher on extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness.

1.3Research questions

As we saw above, there are different kinds of personality and changing personality in different language. From now, in Chapter Two we will research if Japanese people change their personality when they speak English through a questionnaire.

The research questions are:

1. Is there any relationship between English level and personality change?
2. Do people notice they adopt a different personality when they speak English?
3. Do people adopt different personality in English and Japanese?

1.4 Summary

In this chapter, we looked at the general opinion and previous research about personality change by switching language. Bi-cultural or bilingual people change their personality easily when they switch language. In Chapter Two, we will look at the results of questionnaire about this, and in Chapter Three, we will discuss whether Japanese people change their personality when they speak English as a second language.

1

Chapter Two: The Questionnaire

2.1 Introduction

In Chapter One, we looked at personality types and the advantages and disadvantages of each type of personality. We also discussed whether people change their personality when they speak another language. In this chapter, we will see if they adopt different personality when they speak English by looking at the results from a questionnaire.

2.2 The Questionnaire

2.2.1 Introduction to the questionnaire

The purpose of this questionnaire is to find out whether they adopt different

personality when they speak English as second language.

2.2.2 Method

a) Subjects

26subjects from Notre Dame Seishin University participated in this research. All the subjects were in Department of English Language and Literature, and all of them were female. They were juniors or seniors, so they have studied English for at least nine or ten years. The results were used to find out if they change their personality when they speak English as a second language.

b) The questionnaire

The first section of the questionnaire focused on thesubjects’ background. They answer their STEP grade or TOEIC score, how many years they study English, whether they like English, they speak English outside class, they hesitate to speak English, and they have confidence to speak English. The second section of the questionnaire was about their personality when they speak Japanese and English.First, they answered whether they think their personality change when they speak English, subjects who answer Yes described how their personality changes when they speak English.

For example

・Do you like English? Yes / No
・Do you speak English outside class? Yes / No
・Do you hesitate to speak English? Yes / No
・Do you think your personality changes when you speak English? Yes / No
→if “Yes” how does your personality change?

In the second section, subjects chose a number from 1 to 5 to express their personalities. The number 1 is more so in Japanese, the number 3 is not change, the number 5 is more so in English. There were twenty types assessed in the questionnaire, which were mostly based on the Big Five factors. These types are Extraversion, agreeableness, Consciousness, Neuroticism and Openness. The reason why these questions were chosen was to know that if they change their personality when they speak English and Japanese.

For example

← →
friendly friendly
in Japanese in English
I feel more friendly in Japanese / 1 2 3 4 5 / I feel more friendly in English

If subjects choose 1, it means they are more friendly in Japanese; on the other hand, if subjects choose 5, it means they are more friendly in English. If subjects choose 3, it means their friendliness doesn’t change in Japanese and English.

c) Procedure

The subjects answered 12questions by choosing the best answer from the

choices and describing their opinions. We limited subjects to only junior and senior subjects who belonged to the English department at Notre Dame Seishin University. There was no time limitation to complete this questionnaire. The subjects could answer this questionnaire anytime, anywhere. The subjects were all Japanese and they answered the Japanese version of the questionnaire. The data were put in Excel and analyzed. The questionnaire is in the appendix.

2.3Results

In this section, we will look at the results of the questionnaire. First, we will look at first section to know subjects’ English level and background. Secondly, we will look at second section to find out thesubjects’ personality in English and Japanese.

2.3.1Subjects English Level

Table 1 shows the number of subjects who have STEP grade and that which grade the subject have.

Table 1: Data for the subjects’ STEP grade

STEP grade / 2 / Pre-2 / No
1)Which grade do you have? / 16 (59%) / 2
(7%) / 9
(33%)

According to Table 1, 18subjects have a STEP grade and 9subjects don’t. 16subjects who have had STEP test had grade 2 and 2 subjects have STEP grade Pre-2. In Table 2, we asked the subjects whether they have taken TOEIC or not, and shows the subjects’ English level.

Table 2: Data for the number of subjects who have taken TOEIC and the subjects’ English level

Yes / No
2)Have you ever taken TOEIC? / 24 / 2
TOEIC score / 900～800 / 800～700 / 700～600 / 600～500 / 500～400
1 / 5 / 9 / 8 / 0

According this table, 24 subjects have taken TOEIC and 2 subjects haven’t taken TOEIC.The data for subjects’ English TOEIC level was shown. According to Table 2, 1 subject had 900～800 TOEIC score, 5 subjects had 800～700 TOEIC score, 9 subjects had 700～600 TOEIC score, 8subjects had 600～500 TOEIC score.

Table3: Data for the number of subjects speak English outside class in a day

3)How much time do you speak English outside class in a day? / 0-30 minutes per day / 22 subjects
30 minutes- 1hour per day / 3 subjects
1 hour – 3 hours per day / 1 subject

According to Table4, 22 subjects speak English 0-30 minutes per day, 3 subjects speak English 30 minutes- 1hour per day, and 1 subject speaks English 1-3 hours per day.

Table 4: Data for the number of subjects who feel more comfortable when you speak English with people you know well than people you don’t know well?

Yes / No
4)Do you feel more comfortable when you speak English with people you know well than people you don’t know well? / 17 / 9

According to Table 4, 17 subjects think they feel more comfortable when they speak English with people they know well than people they don’t know well; on the other hand, 9 subjects think they don’t change comfortableness when they speak English with people they know well than people they don’t know well. Therefore, a lot of people feel more comfortable when they speak English with people they know well than people they don’t know well.

Table 5.1 Data for the number of subjects who think the characteristic of English affect their personality