Editing Emic and etic (section)

==Definitions==
"The emic approach investigates how local people think...".<ref name="kottak"/> How they perceive and categorize the world, their rules for behavior, what has meaning for them, and how they imagine and explain things. "The etic (scientist-oriented) approach shifts the focus from local observations, categories, explanations, and interpretations to those of the anthropologist.  The etic approach realizes that members of a culture often are too involved in what they are doing... to interpret their cultures impartially. When using the etic approach, the [[ethnographer]] emphasizes what he or she considers important."<ref name="kottak">Kottak, Conrad (2006). ''Mirror for Humanity'', p. 47. McGraw-Hill, New York. {{ISBN|978-0-07-803490-9}}.</ref>

Although emics and etics are sometimes regarded as inherently in conflict and one can be preferred to the exclusion of the other, the complementarity of emic and etic approaches to anthropological research has been widely recognized, especially in the areas of interest concerning the characteristics of human nature as well as the form and function of human social systems.<ref>Jingfeng, Xia (2013). ''An Anthropological Emic–Etic Perspective on Open Access Practices'' Academic Search Premier.</ref>

{{Quote |...Emic knowledge and interpretations are those existing within a culture, that are 'determined by local custom, meaning, and belief' (Ager and Loughry, 2004: n.p.) and best described by a 'native' of the culture. Etic knowledge refers to generalizations about human behavior that are considered universally true, and commonly links cultural practices to factors of interest to the researcher, such as economic or ecological conditions, that cultural insiders may not consider very relevant (Morris et al., 1999).}}

Emic and etic approaches of understanding behavior and personality fall under the study of [[cultural anthropology]], which states that people are shaped by their cultures and their subcultures, and we must account for this in the study of personality.  One way is looking at things through an emic approach. This approach "is culture specific because it focuses on a single culture and it is understood on its own terms."  As explained below, the term "emic" originated from the specific linguistic term "phonemic", from ''[[phoneme]]'', which is a language-specific way of abstracting [[speech sound]]s.<ref>{{Citation | last1 = Friedman | first1 = Howard S | first2 = Miriam W | last2 = Schustack | title = Personality: Classic Theories and Modern Research | place = Boston | publisher = Pearson Allyn & Bacon | year = 2012 }}.</ref><ref>{{Citation|url=http://psychology.geckos.sis.org.cn/2011/10/using-one-or-more-examples-explain-emic-and-etic-concepts-akane/ |title=Using one or more examples explain emic & etic concepts |last=Akane |publisher=SIS |place=[[China|CN]] |date=October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121203103812/http://psychology.geckos.sis.org.cn/2011/10/using-one-or-more-examples-explain-emic-and-etic-concepts-akane/ |archive-date=2012-12-03 }}.</ref>

* An emic account is a description of behavior or a belief in terms meaningful (consciously or unconsciously) to the actor; that is, an emic account comes from a person within the culture.  Almost anything from within a culture can provide an emic account.
* An etic account is a description of a behavior or belief by a social analyst or scientific observer (a student or scholar of anthropology or sociology, for example), in terms that can be applied across cultures; that is, an etic account attempts to be 'culturally neutral', limiting any ethnocentric, political or cultural bias or alienation by the observer.

When these two approaches are combined, the "richest" view of a culture or society can be understood. On its own, an emic approach would struggle with applying overarching values to a single culture. The etic approach is helpful in enabling researchers to see more than one aspect of one culture, and in applying observations to cultures around the world.