Project description
Personality and mental health development in Africa
Psychological science relies on evidence from Western industrialised nations. Sub-Saharan Africa has a larger share of the world’s population but is the least represented region in psychology. The ERC-funded PALS project will create a six-country pan-African longitudinal study to generate the data needed to distinguish between universal and culturally-specific aspects of human psychology, and to renew the field with ideas from this diverse region. PALS draws on a network of African scholars to include young adult participants from 100 ethnolinguistic groups from rural villages, informal settlements as well as urban areas across eastern, western and southern Africa. Participants will complete surveys twice a year on personality, mental health and cultural values. Quantitative data will be complemented by in-depth interviews.
Objective
Current psychological science relies predominantly on evidence from Western industrialized nations, a small minority of the world’s population. This limits the generalizability of findings and obscures how psychology is shaped by socio-cultural context. Longitudinal studies, which clarify how psychological phenomena develop and their antecedent factors, are absent outside wealthy countries. I propose to create the Pan-African Longitudinal Study (PALS) to generate the missing data most needed to elucidate the co-constitution of culture and the mind and to distinguish universal from culturally-specific aspects of psychology. In this large-scale longitudinal study I will overcome obstacles to longitudinal studies in low-income countries to test: (1) the lifespan development and role of the socio-cultural context on (a) mental health, (b) personality traits, and (c) religious engagement, and (2) the role of culture in (a) motivation, (b) values, and (c) beliefs. PALS will cover the key period of young adulthood with samples of 1,500 participants in each of Namibia, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Ghana and Nigeria, including over 100 ethnolinguistic groups and the rural villages and informal settlements left out of online research. PALS will provide valuable data that maximises scientific impact by balancing emic (bottom-up, localized) evidence from an underrepresented region for new distinctions, with etic (imported, universal) variables for global comparison. Quantitative surveys at six-month intervals will be supplemented with qualitative interviews and focus groups to explore local beliefs and idioms of distress. These new data and perspectives will advance knowledge on causal mechanisms and the ways the socio-cultural context shapes the mind, address areas of stagnant development in global mental health, inform debates across domains of psychology, and update long-held beliefs in the field based on limited data sources, to renew and revitalise psychological science.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
You need to log in or register to use this function
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
8006 Zurich
Switzerland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.