Paul Trapnell, a professor of psychology at the University of Winnipeg, agreed that claiming particular national character traits can support certain motives: differentiating a population from other cultures and building its self-esteem.

“So we’ll try to see ourselves as different from Americans and the differences we’ll latch onto are the differences that also serve our desire to think good about ourselves,” said Trapnell, one of three Canadian researchers who contributed data to the study.

What he found interesting was how homogenous the notion of the “typical Canuck” was across the country.

“The views that persons in Vancouver have about Canadians are very similar to the views that Nova Scotians have about Canadians,” Trapnell said. “So we do possess a somewhat loosely organized but shared perception of what our national character is like, even though that shared perception doesn’t turn out to be a real one.”

What another country does on the world stage or on home soil may also contribute to national stereotypes, suggested psychologist Delroy Paulhus of the University of British Columbia, who also took part in the study.

“Canadians confuse typical Americans with their country’s foreign policy, which seems belligerent,” Paulhus said by e-mail. “Or Canadians extrapolate the higher rate of crime in the U.S. to infer typical character.”

Whatever the reasons, typecasting an entire people can be dangerous, the authors say, leading to prejudice, discrimination and persecution.

“Clearly it tells us that we need to be very cautious about making generalizations about groups of people, any kind of groups of people,” McCrae said. “Because often those generalizations are unfounded.

“Instead, what we have to do is remind ourselves that we’re dealing with individuals, and regardless of what their nationality or their age or their gender, we should look at their personality as it is in themselves.”

Study of National Personalities
The Personality and National Character Study is in Science Magazine (subscription required)