bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mollifier Representation in Non-Constant-Sum Games
Authors: Michener H. Andrew , Macheel Greg B. , Depies Charles G. , Bowen Chris A.
Published: March 2007

This article reports an experimental test that juxtaposes the von Neumann-Morgenstern characteristic function v(S) against the homomollifier function h(S) proposed by Charnes et al. (1978). The test was conducted in the context of 5-person cooperative sidepayment non-constant-sum games with nonempty core. Experimental results show that payoff predictions by various solution concepts (the Shapley value, the nucleolus, the 2-center) computed from the homomollifier are more accurate than predictions by the same solutions computed from the characteristic function. Supplementary analyses of data show that the payoff function x(S) is more closely approximated by the homomollifier h(S) than by the characteristic function v(S). These findings are interpreted as indicating that the homomollifier is more useful than the characteristic function for purposes of predicting payoffs in non-constant-sum games.
Attitudes toward a South African Liberation Movement
Authors: Heaven Patrick , Stones Chris , Bester Coen
Published: March 2007

The present investigation sought to determine attitudes toward the African National Congress (A.N.C.) among groups of black and white South African university students, especially because the A.N.C. was outlawed in South Africa. Results indicate that, among the white Afrikaans speaking group, negative attitudes toward the A.N.C. were not associated with authoritarianism, conformity, or racial prejudice. By contrast, the English speaking group with negative attitudes toward the A.N.C. was observed to score high on a measure of patriotism and to conform to group norms. Among the black students there were strong pressures on those with anti-A.N.C. attitudes to conform. The results are analyzed in the light of the current situation in South Africa.
Strategies for Eliciting Cooperation from an Adversary
Authors: Patchen Martin
Published: March 2007

Experimental, computer-simulation, and inter-nation studies concerning effective strategies for eliciting cooperation from an adversary are reviewed. The laboratory and inter-nation studies are consistent in indicating that a policy of general reciprocity, combined with the use of unilateral cooperative initiatives to break out of lock-ins on mutual competition, generally is effective in gaining an adversary's cooperation. The conditions under which this strategy is likely to be effective are examined also.
An Evaluation of the “Balance of Power” Simulation
Authors: Mandel Robert
Published: March 2007

This article reviews “Balance of Power,” a microcomputer simulation of the struggle for global domination between the United States and the Soviet Union. Published by Mindscape, Inc., in the fall of 1985, the game encompasses a broad range of military, diplomatic, and economic strategies for superpower interaction in a tight bipolar system. This study analyzes the simulation from the vantage point of its value as a serious dynamic model of the international system. After providing an overview of the game and placing it in the context of other international relations simulations, the article examines its purposes and uses and evaluates it according to a series of traditional simulation benchmarks.
International Conflict
Authors: Lamare James W.
Published: March 2007

This article explores the impact of international conflict on public opinion. The case under scrutiny is New Zealand, which, through its recent ban on nuclear ship visits, has become entangled in a controversy with its ANZUS treaty partners—Australia and the United States. Public opinion on nuclear issues has been collected in New Zealand since before the ban went into effect; data from the period encompassing 1983 through 1986 are analyzed. Immediately after the conflict began, New Zealanders rallied to the support of their government's policy. Feelings about the United States' position on this issue hardened. Support for the ban has, however, weakened and become structured along social and political lines of cleavage. A model which estimates the sources of nuclear opinion in New Zealand is presented.
Defense Alliances and International Trade
Authors: Jones Philip R.
Published: March 2007

The objective of this note is to illustrate the impact of defense alliances on international arms trade. By differentiating between the income and price effects that are associated with the formation of international alliances, it is possible to consider the involvement of alliance member countries in international arms trade. The availability of a world market for armaments enables alliance members to encash the spillover benefits created by alliance formation. When alliance members make a significant contribution to world trade, the impact upon the international terms of trade affects the gains from membership. Should allied countries engage in trade management, they may affect the distribution of such membership benefits. An analysis of interalliance trade in armaments suggests a distinction between world efficiency and alliance efficiency. Allied countries exporting armaments may have an incentive to trade with other allies at a reduced price rather than trade with the rest of the world.
War and Systemic Capability Reconcentration
Authors: Thompson William R. , Rasler Karen A.
Published: March 2007

Historical-structural analyses of world politics tend to emphasize the theoretical significance of a handful of wars that over the past several hundred years have demarcated important changes in systemic structure. However, analysts do not fully agree on which wars have constituted the benchmarks of structural change and transition. Nor do they agree completely on the definitional criteria to be employed in identifying such wars. In addressing these questions, we review and discuss the similarities and differences found in five definitions of systemic war. We also respond to a recent critique of the definitional practice of stressing war consequences. Moreover, an empirical validation of the long cycle of global leadership perspective's choice of global wars is undertaken by assessing the impact of a slate of candidate wars on nearly 500 years of fluctuations in systemic capability concentration.
Shaping Foreign Policy Opinions
Authors: Jordan Donald L. , Page Benjamin I.
Published: March 2007

Increasing evidence of connections between public opinion and U.S. foreign policy-making suggests the importance of determining what influences shape the collective foreign policy preferences of the public. A data set involving repeated measures of public opinion and content analyses of TV news broadcasts before and between opinion surveys is used to estimate the impact of news stories from various sources on opinion. Reported statements and actions by media commentators, allegedly nonpartisan “experts,” opposition party figures, and popular (but not unpopular) presidents have the largest estimated effects, while the impact of other sources is negligible. Despite ideas about the “two presidencies” and the like, the process of shaping opinion on foreign policy does not appear substantially different from that affecting domestic policy preferences. Some implications for the democratic control of foreign policy are discussed.
The Anglo-German Naval Rivalry and Informal Arms Control, 1912-1914
Authors: Maurer John H.
Published: March 2007

The last stage of the Anglo-German naval arms race before the First World War provides a valuable case study for the evaluation of current theories about the development of cooperation between intensely competitive states. After 1912 the naval competition between Britain and Germany resembled a game of prisoners' dilemma, as decision makers in both countries concluded that they benefitted from reciprocal restraint in battleship-building programs. Another striking feature of the naval rivalry in this period is that a modified version of a tit-for-tat strategy, devised by none other than Winston Churchill, who then served as first lord of Britain's Admiralty, played a critical role in controlling the competition. This essay analyzes the domestic political, diplomatic, and strategic factors that promoted mutual restraint in the battleship-building programs of Britain and Germany. Another purpose of this essay is to explore the limits of cooperation and to examine why this informal understanding on naval armaments did not lead to a significant improvement in Anglo-German relations.
The Origins of Democracy in Agrarian Society
Authors: Midlarsky Manus I.
Published: March 2007

Three models for the development of democracy in agrarian society during the period from 1973 to 1987 are examined empirically. Building on accounts of the development of democracy in ancient Athens and prior systematic studies, it is suggested that agricultural density is related to land inequality, which in turn leads to increased political rights in formerly tribal/hereditary polities. The second model centers on political violence as a consequence of this land inequality, which in turn leads to increased political rights after some violent political upheaval. The third model suggests urbanization and trade begin the process, and in turn economic development then leads to increased political rights. Support is found for the Athenian and economic development models, therefore emphasizing that political violence receives the least empirical confirmation. Most important for the origins of democracy in agrarian society is the robust influence of land inequality on political rights, discovered under a variety of analytic conditions.
Community Mediation in South Korea
Authors: Sohn Dong-Won , Wall James A.
Published: March 2007

This study complements and replicates an earlier one by comparing Korean community mediation in the city with that in the village. Reports from 34 city and 19 village mediators indicate that village mediators do handle more disputes. However, the techniques employed—both the types and frequency of use—differ slightly between the city and village.
The Indo-Pakistani Arms Competition
Authors: Oren Ido
Published: March 2007

The author applies to South Asia a theory of armament that he developed in the context of the superpowers' arms rivalry. The empirical findings are consistent with the results for the superpowers' case: India and Pakistan are found to have matched high levels of armaments with low levels and vice versa. Such results are analytically similar to empirical evidence on alliances showing that states, including India and Pakistan, often ally with the stronger against the weaker side. In both cases the evidence contradicts conventional wisdom on power balancing, internal and external, respectively. The authors' theory explains this otherwise anomalous phenomenon: states use strength not just as an indicator of capability but also of intentions: given the same amount of hostile behavior, weak states appear more aggressive than strong ones. Hence, if states worry about intentions more than about power, they would be attracted to stronger states precisely because of their strength, not despite it.
Faces of Internationalism in a Transitional Environment
Authors: Wittkopf Eugene R.
Published: March 2007

In the post-Vietnam Cold War environment, two dimensions—cooperative internationalism and militant internationalism—came to characterize the foreign policy beliefs of American leaders and the mass public. Although grounded in Cold War concepts and challenges, evidence from opinion polls in the transitional period to a post-Cold War world suggests that the cooperative and militant faces of internationalism persist. Furthermore, because they parallel realism and idealism, as competing orientations toward global problems, the two dimensions and the fourfold typology of foreign policy beliefs they define may help to understand the intersection of attitudes toward traditional security issues and the welfare issues that may dominate future global and national agendas. Preliminary evidence is used to probe the argument that hard-liners on national security issues will evince nationalistic and protectionist sentiments on environmental and trade issues. Contrariwise, accommodationists on security issues are hypothesized to be semisovereigns on environmental issues and half loafers on trade issues. Internationalists are most likely to embrace free trade, and isolationists will continue to shun U.S. involvement across all security and nonsecurity issues areas.
Environmental Influences on Democracy
Authors: Midlarsky Manus I.
Published: March 2007

The origins of autocracy in hydraulic civilization and the threat of war emerging from many land borders lead to an examination of two environmental sources of democracy—rainfall and sea borders. Karl Wittfogel's theory of Eastern autocracy arising from the need for centralized irrigation systems is generalized to include rainfall as a correlate of democracy. Findings concerning the absence of warfare between democracies are used to reverse the causal arrow and suggest that warfare is inimical to democratic development. Four ancient civilizations, Sumer, Mesoamerica, Crete, and China, are examined for the existence of early democracy and its inhibition by the onset of widespread warfare. Rainfall and sea borders as two dimensions of minimized environmental threat are tested systematically in a multivariate analysis, along with two societal variables, land inequality and economic development. The two environmental variables as well as the two societal variables are strongly associated with the political rights index, a measure of democracy. The additional and independent significance of a third societal variable, agricultural density, in one of the analyses, suggests connections with another theory of early democracy emerging from a technoecological perspective.
War And Politics in Ancient China, 2700 B.C. to 722 B.C.
Authors: Cioffi-Revilla Claudio , Lai David
Published: March 2007

The authors report the first findings on the origins and evolution of war and politics in ancient China (Legendary, Xia [Hsia], Shang, and Western Zhou [Chou] periods), from ca. 2700 B.C. to 722 B.C. The main findings are as follows: (1) warfare in China began, at the latest, by 2193 B.C. (first historical Chinese civil war) or 2146 B.C. (first interstate war), more than 4,000 years ago, and has continued unabated; (2) warfare patterns varied significantly across periods but in measurable ways, similar to earlier long-range findings for other regions; (3) warfare onsets increased across periods, particularly during the Zhou period, reaching a peak frequency of approximately 10% of the modern world frequency (1816-1980 A.D.); (4) war onset was mostly inhibited (opposite of contagious), symptomatic of stability and restraint; and (5) the highest stability occurred during the Shang epoch and the lowest during the Xia and Western Zhou periods. The results support the comparative, universal properties of warfare, both cross-polity and cross-temporally.
Similarity of the Relations between Marital Status and Subjective Well-Being Across Cultures
Authors: Diener Ed , Gohm Carol L. , Suh Eunkook , Oishi Shigehiro
Published: March 2007

In a sample of 59,169 persons in 42 nations, relations between marital status and subjective well-being were found to be very similar across the world. Although cultural variables were found to alter the size of certain relations between marital status and subjective well-being, the effect sizes were very small. Specifically, in terms of life satisfaction, the benefit of marriage over cohabitation was greater in collectivist than in individualist nations. In terms of positive emotions, the benefit of being married over being divorced or separated was smaller in collectivist than in individualist nations. In addition, in terms of negative emotions, the benefit of being married over being divorced or separated was smaller in nations with a high tolerance for divorce. Finally, the relations between marital status, culture, and subjective well-being did not differ by gender. Because of the small size of the effects of the cultural variables, the authors concluded that the relations between marital status and subjective well-being are very similar across the world.
Limiting the Scope of Moral Obligations to Help
Authors: Baron Jonathan , Miller Joan G.
Published: March 2007

Two studies compared the judgments of U.S. and Indian students regarding the obligation to save someone’s life by donating bone marrow. Indians were more likely to consider donation to be morally required, even when the needy person was a stranger “on the other side of the world.” Both groups limited obligations to help out-group members, but Americans also limited obligations to help in-group members from the same town. Indians regarded donating more highly when it arose from duty, whereas Americans regarded donating more highly when it went beyond the requirements of duty. Both groups distinguished acts and omissions and treated special obligations as agent general. Although Indians tend to perceive greater obligation, norms in both cultures limit the scope of obligations.
Youth Centrism and the Formation of Political Orientations in Adolescence and Young Adulthood
Authors: ter Bogt Tom F. M. , Meeus Wim H. J. , Raaijmakers Quinten A. W. , Vollebergh Wilma A.M.
Published: March 2007

In a longitudinal design the parent-child resemblance and mutual transmission of two kinds of attitudes were studied: Tolerance of Alternative Lifestyles (cultural conservatism) and wish for Equality of Income and Property (economical conservatism). Four categories of adolescents were defined, ranging from strong youth centrist to strong non-youth centrist. Adolescent youth centrism concerns a fervent identification with peers and peer culture combined with distrust and loathing of the adult world and its institutions. At Time 1 (T1), the strong youth centrists do not set themselves apart. It is the group of strong non-youth centrists differentiating themselves by resembling their parents’ cultural conservatism far more than other young people do. During adolescence, youth centrists take over and communicate cultural conservatism in much the same way as their peers. With regard to economic conservatism, no significant differences were found at T1. During adolescence, however, strong youth centrists slightly increase the dissimilarity between their economic views and those of their parents, whereas strong non-youth centrists work to increase similarity in those orientations.
Majority Acculturation Orientations Toward “Valued” and “Devalued” Immigrants
Authors: Montreuil Annie , Bourhis Richard Y.
Published: March 2007

The Interactive Acculturation Model was recently proposed to better account for relations between immigrant and dominant host majority members depending on their respective acculturation orientations. The Host Community Acculturation Scale (HCAS) was used to measure the following five acculturation orientations toward “valued” and “devalued” immigrants: integrationism, assimilationism, segregationism, exclusionism, and individualism. Results obtained with Quebecois francophone host majority members ( N = 637) showed that integrationism and individualism were the preferred orientations, whereas assimilationism, segregationism, and exclusionism were least endorsed. However, integrationism and individualism were more strongly endorsed for “valued” than “devalued” immigrants, whereas assimilationism, segregationism, and exclusionism were more strongly endorsed for “devalued” than “valued” immigrants. Degree of contact with immigrants was not related with the acculturation orientations of host majority francophones. The five acculturation orientations were clearly distinguished by the psychological profiles of respondents, thus confirming the construct validity of the HCAS scale.
A Cross-National Comparison of Some Social Patterns of Urban Pedestrians
Authors: Berkowitz William R.
Published: March 2007

An observational study of urban pedestrians in six national groupings was undertaken to provide quantitative cross-cultural data on various social behaviors in a naturalistic setting. At 155 sampling points in shopping, park, and entertainment areas within major cities in 3 Moslem countries (Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan), England, West Germany, Sweden, Italy, and the United States, E recorded grouping, interaction, and physical contact patterns of 21, 316 pedestrians by sex and five estimated age categories. In representative major findings, national tendency to form groups was in the order given above, there were few national differences in interaction frequency, and Italians, West Germans, and Englishmen contacted more than Americans, Swedes, and Moslems.
A Theoretical Analysis of Cross-Cultural Research in Cognitive Development: Piaget's Conservation Task
Authors: Furby Lita
Published: March 2007

Cross-cultural studies of the conservation of continuous quantities are reviewed and the conservation task is analyzed into three essential components. A theoretical framework is presented for interpreting cross-cultural studies of conservation, and the applicability of such a framework to existing empirical results is demonstrated. The importance of this and similar cross-cultural analyses to a theoretical understanding of the development of cognitive processes is discussed.
Some Correlates of University Performance in a Developing Country: The Case of Ethiopia
Authors: King Michael , King Johanna
Published: March 2007

Language background, educational background, and scores on a variety of achievement and aptitude tests were examined for their relation to the first semester performance of 1, 123 freshman students at the Haile Selassie I University in Ethiopia. Among the test data, proficiency in English language skills was most strongly related to university grades. Scores from tests requiring skill in the official Ethiopian language, Amharic, predicted poorly to university performance, and tests of mathematic-numerical ability showed moderate to weak predictive utility. The only language or educational background data related to performance was educational mobility, the students' tendency to move to areas of greater educational resources during their pre-university education. This mobility was interpreted as reflecting strong motivation for education, a factor which deserves further research attention.
Oedipus East and West: An Exploration Via Manifest Dream Content
Authors: Grey Alan , Kalsched Don
Published: March 2007

The frequency of opposite-sex figures in the dreams of 45 female and 51 male Indian university students is found to vary in relation to cultural and subcultural factors. When compared with a large sample of American dreams, the gender-counts of Indian dream-characters is found to differ significantly in a direction explainable by the greater sexual segregation in India. Moreover, when the sex ratio of dream characters for all subjects are correlated with their scores on a specially devised "Transitionalism Index" a significant positive relationship is found between dream contact and indications of daily interaction. It is also found that predictions of preference for the male or female parent which are based on dependency motivations coincide more closely with dream data than do those assuming a sexual motivation. The findings are interpreted as supporting a phenomenological-cultural theory of dreams rather than a classical psychoanalytic one. They are seen as a challenge to previous claims that the sex-ratio of dream characters is cross-culturally ubiquitous and consistent in psychological meaning.
The Social Readjustment Rating Scale: A Cross-Cultural Study of Malaysians and Americans
Authors: Woon Tai-Hwang , Masuda Minoru , Wagner Nathaniel N. , Holmes Thomas H.
Published: March 2007

Two hundred sixty-six Malaysian medical students were compared with 195 selectively matched Americans on the Social Readjustment Rating Questionnaire. There was a remarkable concordance (Spearman's rho ranged from. 97 to. 91) between the Malaysian and American samples as well as between discrete subgroups in the Malaysian sample in the manner in which they established a relative order of magnitude to changes in life events. Some interesting and profound differences resulting from cultural variations were also observed. Attitudes of the Malaysians toward infringement of laws, the idea of romantic love and thus relationship between spouses seem to differ significantly from the American sample. Malaysians scored significantly higher on items pertaining to personal habits, religious activities, attitudes toward work, and financial security. Differences among Malaysian subgroups (race, religion, sex, year of medical class, and generation Malaysian) were discussed.
Tribal Stereotypes among Ethiopian Students
Authors: Ziegler Michael , King Michael , King Johanna M. , Ziegler Suzanne M.
Published: March 2007

Ethnic stereotyping by Ethiopian students of four important ethnolinguistic groups (the Amhara, Tigre, Galla, and Gurage) was investigated. The method used was a modification of the Katz and Braly technique for assessing generality of stereotypes. The tendency to stereotype both one's own and other groups was quite marked, and there was considerable overlap between in-group and out-group description. Where there were discrepancies, the in-group evaluation was more positive and the out-group evaluation more negative. Individuals showed consistent differences in tendency to stereotype. Some of the stereotypic adjectives used support earlier, European descriptions; others indicate that Ethiopian students' attitudes reflect the country's movement towards modernization and Westernization.
The Impact of Culture Change on Schizophrenia in Israel
Authors: Ramon Shulamit
Published: March 2007

This Israeli-based study considered the hypothesis that culture change, as a social process, can influence a family involved in this process to the point that one of its offspring exhibits schizophrenic behaviour. The sample consisted of forty triads (parents and their young adult son) divided into four groups according to the variables of country of origin (Poland and Yemen) with and without a schizo - phrenic offspring. Interactions between cultural deviance and defects in communication was assumed. It was hypothesized that the group of families of schizophrenics expected to be higher on the cultural deviance score (Yemen) would be lower on defects in communication than the comparable group (Poland). Measures of the two interacting variables were derived from TAT stories given by each triad as a group. The findings confirm the hypothesis and thus allow the conclusion that, at present, defects in communication are conducive to cultural deviance in families of the SchizophrenicYemen group.
The D 48 As a Measure of General Ability among Adolescents in Israel
Authors: Handel Amos
Published: March 2007

The D 48 was administered to four samples of adolescents in Israel: one sample of 557 boys from grades 7 to 11 and three samples of seventh-grade pupils with n's of 127, 950, and 161. The results showed a progressive increase of D 48 means from grades 7 to 11 and concurrent validities of .46 to .59 against different criteria of seventh-grade scholastic achievements. Highly similar validity coefficients were found in other countries. Cross-culturally equivalent data were also found for the correlation of the D 48 with the Progressive Matrices and for the order of difficulty of the D 48 items. The results support the suitability of the D 48 as a cross-cultural measure of general ability in terms of these circumscribed aspects and suggest the promising potential of tests similarly based on a cross-culturally common background of perceptual experience.
Toward a Transnational Classification of Crime and Deviance
Authors: Newman Graeme R.
Published: March 2007

A Norm Resistance Scale was constructed to measure four main aspects of deviance perception: the respondent's definition of the act as criminal or deviant; the intensity of the respondent's reaction; his preferences for official societal sanctions; and his general opinion concerning decriminalization. The scale was administered to urban and rural samples from five countries selected to represent a diverse array of political, social, economic, and cultural factors. Evidence was found for general agreement concerning the extent to which the control of a wide variety of deviant acts might be resisted. However, when cross-cultural comparisons were made for specific acts, wide differences were found both across countries and within countries, and the cross-country differences were the greater. Factor analysis was used to investigate similarity in underlying structure of deviance perception across countries. Although the data were not conclusive, they did suggest that two important factors-deviance protest and moral indignation-were operating on differing levels across all countries.
Developmental Trends in Directionality of Drawing in Jewish and Arab Israeli Children
Authors: Lieblich Amia , Ninio Anat , Kugelmass Sol
Published: March 2007

Jewish and Arab Israeli children (n = 484), attending pre-kindergarten to eighth grade, were required to copy a vertical and a horizontal line. Partial samples were also tested using the WPPSI. It was found that Jewish and Arab children were similar in their preference for top-bottom directionality, but in copying the horizontal line Jewish children used mostly a left-right and Arab children used mostly a right-left stroke. Correlations with the WPPSI indicated that starting from the right was correlated with higher intelligence for Arabs and with lower intelligence for Jews. The significance of these findings is discussed in the context of the writing requirements of the Hebrew and Arabic languages.
The Intellectual Development of Yoruba Children
Authors: Lloyd Barbara B. , Easton Brian
Published: March 2007

In reexamining Yoruba children from educated (ELITE) and traditional (OJE) families after five years, we find that those growing up in a privileged environment showed increasingly superior mental age scores. A partial replication of the original study from Yoruba children of 31/z to 7 years confirmed the original findings of highly significant age and background effects. Analysis of the nine age groups in the second stage also yielded a significant age and family background interaction. The predictive power of the 1968 scores, transformed as intelligence quotients, was examined in a regression analysis. An unexpected result was the failure of the 1968 scores for boys to predict performance in 1973. The regression coefficients for both ELITE and OJE girls were significantly greater than zero. Although these findings might suggest biological determinants, these are difficult to specify-as are any aspects of socialization which would be similar in both ELITE and OJE families but which would differentiate the treatment of boys and girls.
Understanding and Misunderstanding Individual Modernity
Authors: Inkeles Alex
Published: March 2007

A number of issues have arisen from the publication of Becoming Modern by Inkeles and Smith. This paper raises each issue in turn and attempts to support the major assertions of that study. Included are the reasons for studying the individual, the role of personality characteristics, the personal features of modernity, the universality and empirical status of the concept, some sources of individual modernity, relationships between modernity, stress, and alienation, the contrast between modernity and traditionalism, and the consequences of individual modernity for one's society.
Symmetry in Pattern Reproduction by Scottish and Kenyan Children
Authors: Bentley Alastair M.
Published: March 2007

Bukusu and Scottish school children were asked to reproduce tachistoscopically-exposed dot patterns showing different types of symmetry. Comparison of the errors revealed that both samples were able to make use of the symmetrical properties of a pattern to aid recall. Significant cross-cultural differences were found between the samples in their responses to nonsymmetrical patterns, the Bukusu sample making more errors. It was hypothesized that the latter result reflects differences in the cognitive styles of the two samples.
Sociocultural Antecedents of Magical Thinking in a Modernizing African Society
Authors: Erinosho Olayiwola A.
Published: March 2007

Despite the consensual adherence to a magico-mythical orientation in Africa, it was hypothesized that a deeper fear of bewitchment is likely to exist among persons with low as opposed to those who enjoy high levels of social functioning. A community survey involving 771 adult respondents in an urban and a rural area in Western Nigeria was under-taken. Socioeconomic background data and indices of the social functioning level of the respondents were collected. The index for level of social functioning was derived on the basis of recognized Yoruba normative patterns. Stepwise regression analysis was used to investigate the predictive factors of the fear of bewitchment. A deeper fear of bewitchment appears to exist in the urban but not in the rural subgroup. Some of the items which constitute the social functioning index also appear to predict the fear of bewitchment.
Culture, Category Width, and Attributions
Authors: Detweiler Richard A.
Published: March 2007

The functional relationship among culture, category width (a cognitive individual difference variable), and social attributions was examined. Since these variables have not all been investigated in the same study previously, it has not been possible to build an adequate model of the relationships among them. Trukese and American subjects were administered a new, cross-culturally applicable measure of category width and were then presented with paragraphs describing an interaction between two men. Attributions about the men were elicited. Analyses indicated that the best general model of the relationship among culture, category width, and attributions is one in which category width mediates cultural effects: culture influences category width which in turn influences attributions. This result indicates the potential power of category width in cross-cultural research and the importance of a model-building approach to understanding the reasons for the effects of culture on psychological phenomena.
Maternal Beliefs about Vitamin Efficacy in Four U.S. Subcultures
Authors: Johnston Maxene , Sarty Merrill E.
Published: March 2007

Widespread use of supplemental vitamins continues in the absence of clear scientific evidence of efficacy. Observations in a variety of pediatric health settings suggest that their use may be based on expectations rooted in a variety of culturally based attitudes and beliefs. Mothers of well babies in four ethnic groups answered questionnaires, indicating their expectations of vitamin efficacy. We called those expectations aligned with organized Western medicine "Scientific"; those with less apparent basis in fact were termed "Magic." Black mothers expressed more Scientific responses than EMAs and Anglos, but the effects were contributed solely by data from mothers of girls. Spanish-speaking mothers of girls expressed significantly more Magic expectations than the Anglos and the English-speaking Mexican-Americans (EMAs); the Blacks and the EMAs expressed more than the Anglos. Mothers of boys showed no interethnic differences. Results reflect a strong interaction between ethnicity and sex of child.
Bilingualism and Interlingual Interference
Authors: Durga Ramanand
Published: March 2007

The hypothesis of interlingual interference was tested by employing the network model of the semantic memory. Ninety-three true-false propositions were presented to English monolinguals and Spanish-English bilingual subjects. Two variables were measured: the reaction time to the true-false items, and the semantic judgment. It was found that subjects operating in a monolingual context performed equally well. However, the performance of subjects operating in a dual language context was significantly impaired. Difference in hierarchical organization of the semantic memory for the two languages was an important factor in determining interlingual interference.
Racial Identification, Preference, and Self-Concept
Authors: George Deborah M. , Hoppe Ronald A.
Published: March 2007

A two-phase study was undertaken to test white and Canadian Indian school-children for racial identification and self-concept. The objective was to establish attitudinal patterns and correlations using children in grades two, four and six at two schools (one integrated and one not). The first phase, using a picture test to measure preference, rejection, and identification found significant age, race, school, and sex differences in both preference and rejection. The second phase, using a short measure of self-concept, found sex, age, and school differences. Significant correlations between the two measures were found at the young age levels. Overall, with a few exceptions, the significant age, sex, race, and school differences were consistent with the conclusions drawn from previous research.
Cognitive and Psychomotor Skills in India
Authors: Sinha Durganand
Published: March 2007

Results of research conducted in India on perceptual, cognitive, and psychomotor skills are selectively reviewed and assessed. An emphasis is given to research conducted by Indian psychologists and by and large reported in Indian periodicals. Perceptual and cognitive processes are analyzed and discussed, as are measures in these psychological areas that have been used clinically for an understanding of differential performance. Developmental studies are also discussed, followed by a consideration of cross-cultural studies run in India. A critique of most previous research strategies suggests that they (1) have not been entirely innovative, (2) have not taken full advantage of the vastness of India and her numerous sociocultural groups, and (3) should serve as guides for future theoretical and applied research in India concerning the development of cognitive, perceptual, and psychomotor skills for use in educational, agricultural, and other programs.
Toward the Idea of a Cultural Psychology
Authors: Price-Williams Douglass
Published: March 2007

Amplification of the key term `culture" is advocated for the field of cross-cultural psychology. A model drawn from the study of semiotics suggests the way in which this can be done in cross-cultural psychology. The pursuit of what is meant by culture helps us to merge with the parent discipline, and goes beyond the aspect of comparison into the notion of a cultural psychology. Various tendencies within the mainstream of psychology itself are discussed, which would point to the direction of a meeting ground in which cross-cultural psychology could find more breadth and depth of meaning.
Protective Self-Presentation in Malaysian and Australian Individuals
Authors: Schumaker Jack F. , Barraclough Robert A.
Published: March 2007

The present study employed the Concern for Appropriateness Scale (CFA; Lennox & Wolfe. 1984) in comparing protective self-presentation in 159 Australian and 125 Malaysian subjects. Australian subjects scored significantly higher than did Malaysian subjects on total CFA and the two subscales measuring cross-situational sariabilitv of behavior and attention to social comparison information. Malaysian subjects of' Indian descent did not differ significantly from those of Chinese descent on total CFA or either subscale. No significant differences were found on the basis of nationality or ethnicity. The findings are discussed in terms of possible cultural differences that are involved in determining concern for appropriateness and the extent of behavioral adaptation to social situations.
Sequence of Transitivity, Conservation, and Class Inclusion in an African Culture
Authors: Mwamwenda Tuntufye S. , Mwamwenda Bernadette B.
Published: March 2007

To examine the order in which transitivity, conservation, and class inclusion emerge from a non-Western cultural perspective, two studies were carried out in Gaborone, Botswana, and in Botswana as a whole, involving 659 children in Standards (Grades) 2 and 3. In both studies the predominant sequence of emergence was transitivity, conservation, and class inclusion; this finding supports the existence of a decalage of the three concepts in a non-Western culture.
Portuguese Children's Knowledge of Sex Stereotypes
Authors: Neto Felix , Williams John E. , Widner Sabina C.
Published: March 2007

Williams and Best's (1982) study of the development of sex-stereotype knowledge among young children in 24 countries was extended to Portugal. Subjects were 444 children (5-, 8-, and 11-year-olds), with each age group evenly divided by gender, and each age/gender group evenly divided into three levels of socioeconomic status (SES). Subjects were administered the Sex Stereotype Measure II (SSM II) in which children select between male and female silhouettes as the person described in brief stories containing highly sex-typed psychological characteristics (aggressive, emotional, etc.). The results of the study indicated a regular increase in sex-stereotype knowledge across the age range studied, an increase in sex-stereotype knowledge with increasing SES, a greater knowledge of female stereotype traits than male stereotype traits, and tendencies for the effects of age and SES to be more dramatic for male than for female stereotype items. Results were compared with previous findings in Brazil and other Latin American countries, and with the findings from Williams and Best's 24-country study.
Preliminary Findings on Asian Americans
Authors: Ahn Toupin Elizabeth S. W. , Son Linda
Published: March 2007

The findings of this study support the popular stereotype that the Asian-American college student is a "model minority" who tends to major in the sciences. This study also raises questions about the potential damage this stereotype has on young Asian Americans. Asian-American students compared with non-Asian-American students on intellectual abilities and socioeconomic background were (a) less likely to graduate than their matches, (b) more likely to be placed on academic probation, (c) have a lower grade point average, and (d) withdraw from the university than their non-Asian matches.
Academic Status and Ethnicity as Determinants of Social Acceptance
Authors: Schwarzwald Joseph , Hoffman Michael A.
Published: March 2007

How academic and ethnic considerations combine in the determination of social acceptance was assessed in a short-term longitudinal study. Most previous research suggests that the influence of these status characteristics should aggregate in an additive fashion. Potential shifts were examined in the use of these characteristics in judgments regarding social acceptance across the school year. Seventh-grade Israeli students (N = 721) entering integrated junior high schools responded at the beginning and end of the academic year to the Interpersonal Relationship Assessment Technique. Both academic standing and ethnicity influenced interpersonal acceptance consistently across the school ear, but academic considerations had markedly greater impact. The demographic overlap of these two dimensions in the student population could lead to an inflated estimate of ethnic bias. Furthermore, students tended to express less ethnic bias toward classmates of high academic status.
An Examination of Stereotypes of Chinese and Europeans Held by Some New Zealand Secondary School Pupils
Authors: Walkey Frank H. , Chung Ritacchi-Ying
Published: March 2007

Attitudes of the dominant European community toward Chinese in New Zealand have undergone major changes during this century, from denigration as undesirable immigrants to acceptance as a successful minority. The present study identifies and compares the salient dimensions of the current stereotype of Chinese and Europeans. Responses of 318 Chinese and European secondary school pupils showed that the stereotypes held by the two groups were very similar. Both placed Chinese in a positive position on a work ethic dimension characterized by expressions such as hard working and successful and in a relatively neutral position on an individual versus social control dimension. By contrast, Europeans were seen by both groups as somewhat less positive on the work ethic dimension and rather more individually than socially controlled.
The Cross-Cultural Perspective in the Study of Personality
Authors: Church A. Timothy , Lonner Walter J.
Published: March 2007

In this article, we examine the rationale for cross-cultural studies of personality, (including the search for cultural universals). Note the uncertain cross-cultural relevance of mainstream personality theories, and address current cross-cultural research on the following personality-relevant topics: personality structure and assessment, implications of individualism-collectivism for traits and their measurement, values and beliefs, emotions and subjective well-being, and motivation. Some of the best support for cross-cultural universality has been obtained in studies of the five-factor model of personality, the content and structure of values, a limited number of basic emotions, and higher order mood dimensions. Topics that need to be studied further include the following: (a) how to separate the many factors that influence personality scores across cultures, (b) the degree of cross-cultural comparability of the nomological nets of personality dimensions, and (c) the integration of trait-psychology and cultural-psychology perspectives.
Exploration of the Ethnic Identity among Russian-Speaking Immigrant Adolescents in Finland
Authors: Jasinskaja-Lahti Inga , Liebkind Karmela
Published: March 2007

This study examined the process of ethnic identity exploration among Russian-speaking immigrant adolescents in Finland. The ethnic identity of immigrants was assessed by ethnic self-identification, referring to social categories in which individuals claim membership, as well as by degree of identity, indicating the personal meaning associated with these social categories. There were clear differences in the importance that these immigrants gave to the Russian and Finnish components of their ethnic identity at different stages of their residence in Finland but not in their ethnic self-identification, which remained stable over time. Through these results, the importance of distinguishing different aspects of ethnic identity (identification of and identification with) was further emphasized. The results empirically verify and specify the various stages of the process of ethnic identity exploration among young immigrants.
Strategies for Resolving Interpersonal Conflicts in Adolescence
Authors: Haar Birgit Friederike , Krahé Barbara
Published: March 2007

Preferred strategies for responding to interpersonal conflicts in adolescence were analyzed as a function of cultural background (Indonesia vs. Germany) and gender in a study involving 261 adolescents from the two countries. Respondents were presented with three scenarios describing interpersonal conflicts in different role relationships. Following each scenario, they were asked to choose one of three strategies for dealing with the conflict: a confrontational response, a submissive response, or a compromise-oriented response. As predicted, there were significant differences in terms of preferred conflict resolution strategies. Confrontational responses were more prominent among German adolescents than among Indonesian adolescents, whereas the reverse pattern was found for submissive responses. Preferred conflict resolution strategies varied in both cultural groups as a function of the role relationship with the conflict partner. No gender effects were found in any of the analyses.