Personality and Values of Pre-independence and Post-independence Malaysians

After Malaya achieved its independence in 1957 and after the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the country went through a lot of changes politically, socially and economically. The country had developed leaps and bounds physically especially in terms of its infrastructure and there were also changes in its people in so many aspects especially educational and economic levels. From a country that was little known in other parts of the world, it is now known practically all over the world, although Malaysia is a relatively small country. With all those changes and developments in the country one could expect some psychological and social changes amongst its people. Thus, this study aimed to identify the differences in personality and values both terminal and instrumental of pre-independence and post-independence Malaysians. A total of 552 respondents participated in this study comprising of 261 born before 1957 and 291 born after 1957. NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) was used to measure personality and Rokeach Value Survey was employed to measure terminal and instrumental values. Results showed that there were significant differences in certain constructs of personality and certain aspects of terminal and instrumental values of the two groups of Malaysians.