african cultural values and personality factors among rural and urban dwellers in ghana this thesis

147 Pages·2016·2.66 MB·English

AFRICAN CULTURAL VALUES AND PERSONALITY FACTORS
AMONG RURAL AND URBAN DWELLERS IN GHANA

THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA,
LEGON
BY
ELIZABETH ANOKYEWAA SARFO
(10227695)
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE
AWARD OF MPHIL PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE
JULY 2015
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
DECLARATION
This is to certify that this thesis is the result of research carried out by ELIZABETH
ANOKYEWAA SARFO towards the award of the MPhil Clinical Psychology in the
Department of Psychology, University of Ghana.

………………………………
Elizabeth Anokyewaa Sarfo
(Student)

Date…………………………

……………………………………
Professor C. Charles Mate-Kole
(Principal Supervisor)

Date………………………………

...…………………………………….
Dr Kingsley Nyarko
(Co-Supervisor)

Date.....................................................

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African personality factors among Akans in Ghana

DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to our African fathers and mothers who have fought tirelessly for all
Africans.

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African personality factors among Akans in Ghana

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I owe every singular honour first to the Almighty God for his protection and guidance
throughout this study. I wish to sincerely express my profound gratitude to my supervisor Prof.
C. Charles Mate-Kole for his guidance, mentorship and advice and the supervision of my thesis.
I say God richly bless you. I also express sincere gratitude to Dr. Kingsley Nyarko, my second
supervisor for his patience and careful guidance from the commencement through to the
completion of this work.
I am also grateful to all the lecturers of Department of Psychology, University of Ghana for the
knowledge they have impacted into me during my study at the department.
I also owe a depth of gratitude to Dr Joana Salifu Yendork for her assistance and
encouragement. I owe a depth of gratitude to you. I also am grateful to Stella Dzifa Monu
Awudi, and Daniel Fordjour for the pressure, and encouragement you gave me.
My special thanks go to all my participants for both the qualitative and quantitative study.
My unreserved appreciation goes to my parents Mr. K. A. Sarfo and Miss Veronica Boadi as
well as my siblings who have supported me both financially and in prayers.
Finally but not the least, I am grateful to all my friends and loved ones for their assistance in the
course of my Programme.

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African personality factors among Akans in Ghana

ABSTRACT
The present study investigated factors and values that influence the development of personality
in the Akan concept, the extent to which the Akan theory of day name determines personality
of an individual. In addition, it sought to determine the relationship between the Big Five
personality factors, the Africentric worldview and the Akan personality factors. The study is a
mixed methods design. The first part is a qualitative study that involves an in-depth interview
with eight participants with age range between 40 and 100 years. The second part, is a
quantitative study where questionnaires were administered to one hundred conveniently
sampled participants from two Akan communities comprising 60 rural and 40 urban dwellers.
Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data which revealed that personality among
the Akan is defined by the cognitive (‘nusu1’) and behavioural (‘banb4’) aspect of the
individual. Factors believed to affect personality include social, biological and supernatural
factors. Results from the qualitative data was used to develop a questionnaire used to test the
personality of participants from rural and urban areas. The Ten Item Personality Inventory
adapted from the Big-Five was administered was used to test the Big Five personality index
among participants. Africentric Worldview Scale was used to test the Africentric worldview of
participants. Overall, there was significant difference on the emotional stability subscale of the
Ten Item Personality Inventory. A principal component analysis of the Africentric Worldview
Scale confirmed the spiritual subscale. Further, other factors emerged in contrast to previous
findings. Implications of the findings was discussed.

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African personality factors among Akans in Ghana

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENT PAGE
DECLARATION ........................................................................................................................ i
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. iv
DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................................................... iii
CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................................ 1
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background of Study ........................................................................................................... 1
1.1.1 The Eurocentric Concept of the Person......................................................................... 5
1.1.2The African Concept of the person and personality ....................................................... 7
1.1.3 African Concept of Personality based on Day Name .................................................... 8
1.1.4 The Big Five Personality ............................................................................................... 9
1.2 Problem Statement ............................................................................................................. 10
1.3 The Aims and Objectives of the Study .............................................................................. 11
1.4 Relevance of the Study ...................................................................................................... 12
CHAPTER TWO ..................................................................................................................... 14
LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................ 14
2.1 Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................................... 14
2.1.1 The Africentric Worldview ......................................................................................... 15
2.2 Review of Related Literature ............................................................................................. 20
2.3 Rationale for Current Study ............................................................................................... 32
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African personality factors among Akans in Ghana

2.4 Research Questions for Qualitative Part of the Study ....................................................... 33
2.5 Statement of Hypotheses for the Quantitative Part of the Study ....................................... 33
2.6 Operational Definition of Terms ........................................................................................ 35
CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................................. 37
METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................. 37
3.1 Research Design................................................................................................................. 37
3.2 Research Settings ............................................................................................................... 39
3.3 Population and Participants................................................................................................ 41
3.4 Instruments ......................................................................................................................... 45
3.5 Pilot study .......................................................................................................................... 47
3.6 Role as Researcher ............................................................................................................. 48
3.7 Validity and Reliability of Qualitative Results .................................................................. 49
3.8 Ethical Issues ..................................................................................................................... 51
3.9 Procedure ........................................................................................................................... 52
3.10 Data Analyses .................................................................................................................. 53
CHAPTER 4 ............................................................................................................................ 55
RESULTS ................................................................................................................................ 55
4.1 QUALITATIVE RESULTS .............................................................................................. 55
4.1.1 Qualitative Findings .................................................................................................... 55
4.1.2 Demographic Characteristics for Qualitative Study.................................................... 56
4.1.3 Meaning and Concept of Personality (“suban”) .......................................................... 56
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African personality factors among Akans in Ghana

4.1.4 Factors Affecting the Development of ‘Suban’ or Personality ................................... 59
4.1.5 Social Factors .............................................................................................................. 60
4.1.6 Biological Factors ....................................................................................................... 65
4.1.7 Supernatural Factors .................................................................................................... 66
4.2 Summary of Qualitative Results ........................................................................................ 76
4.3 QUANTITATIVE RESULTS ........................................................................................... 77
4.4 Preliminary Analysis .......................................................................................................... 77
4.5 Hypotheses Testing ............................................................................................................ 82
4.6 Summary of Qualitative and Quantitative Findings .......................................................... 92
CHAPTER FIVE ..................................................................................................................... 95
DISCUSSION .......................................................................................................................... 95
5.1 Discussion of Findings ....................................................................................................... 95
5.2 Limitations ....................................................................................................................... 105
5.3 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 105
5.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 107
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 109
APPENDICES ....................................................................................................................... 121
APPENDIX A .......................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
APPENDIX B ........................................................................................................................ 121
APPENDIX C ........................................................................................................................ 125
APPENDIX D ........................................................................................................................ 126
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African personality factors among Akans in Ghana

APPENDIX E ........................................................................................................................ 128
APPENDIX F......................................................................................................................... 134
APENDIX G .......................................................................................................................... 135

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African personality factors among Akans in Ghana

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 Hypothesised Model……………………………………………………….36
Figure 4.1 Observed Conceptual Model……………………………………………….95

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