PERSONALITY AND PERSON PERCEPTION IN AFRICA

The paper reviews personality and social behavior in Africa. Three distinctive components of the people inhabiting present-day sub-Saharan Africa are identified: (1) traditional persons who are yet little affected by modernization, (2) transitional persons, and (3) modern individuals. The socialization of traditional and transitional persons can be illustrated in the form of a model in three dimensions: the authority dimension (vertical, diachronic, historic); the group dimension (horizontal, synchronic, social); the body – mind – environment dimension. Various personhood attributes are identified along the three dimension such as that the traditional person is socialized primarily by people, while the modern person is socialized primarily by objects. By being exposed to people, the traditional person will develop more social intelligence than technological intelligence.