THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE AND SEX ON THE PERCEPTION OF PERSONS 1

University students in the U.S. and Ethiopia described individual members of designated groups. The descriptions were content analyzed to determine the cultural differences in the frequencies with which the members of the two cultures used each content category. Strong cultural differences were found, which were consistent regardless of the group membership of the individuals being described. The most significant of the differences involved the Ethiopans' stress on the categories “Opinions and Beliefs” and “Interpersonal Interactions”, and the Americans' emphasis on “Abilities and Knowledge”. While the Ethiopian sample included only males, the American sample included both males and females, allowing an analysis of the sex differences in the American data. This analysis revealed that the American males used the “Abilities and Knowledge” category more than the American females (although the American females still used this category far more than the Ethiopians), while the American females stressed “Interpersonal Interactions” (although not to the extent that the Ethiopians did). The differences found in the study are discussed in terms of the cultural forces which make particular categories of perception relevant in perceiving another person.