On the irrelevance of child rearing practices for the formation of personality. An analysis of childhood, personality, and values in two African communities

Abstract

Using data gathered during nearly four years of field work among the Fulbe of Upper Volta and their ex-slaves the Riimaaybe, the author argues that the major differences between the dominant personality types of these two groups cannot be due to child rearing practices because those practices are identical. He then accounts for the differences by taking personality to the portrayal of one's sense of self and the latter to derive chiefly from perception of one's location in the social structure. The implications of this analysis are drawn upon to elucidate the reasons why it is so widely believed that parental practices are of crucial importance to character formation.