bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Research Design and Estimator Choices in the Analysis of Interstate Dyads
Authors: Bennett D. Scott , Stam Allan C.
Published: March 2007

Researchers face three basic questions when testing theoretically driven hypotheses. First is research design: for example, what population should be analyzed, what sample should be drawn from that population, and what cases should be excluded from the sample? What statistical estimator should one use? What set of control variables should one employ? Results drawn from several permutations of the Correlates of War Militarized Interstate Dispute data set are compared using three statistical models. For some theories and variables (international institutionalism—intergovernmental organization and alliance membership; realism—balance of power; expected utility theory—international interaction game equilibria), research design and estimator choices substantially influence the findings. For others (trade and democratic peace theory), the relationship between the dependent and independent variables is relatively impervious to research design and estimator choices.
Strategic Interaction and Conflict
Authors: Ladner Robert
Published: March 2007

Direct communication between parties is impossible in some conflict situations, and interactants must employ other means of conveying messages to deescalate the conflict or to sucker their opponents into costly maneuvers. Strategic interaction occurs when action displays by one party are to be taken as meaningful communications by the other. Interpretation of these displays depends on cultural or experiential background expectancies, which must be taken into account in the production of strategic displays as well. An Arab-Israeli paradigm illustrates the ways in which display sequences and interpretive procedures are manipulated by interactants to affect the dominant strategy of the fully interdependent games and ultimately affect the outcome of the conflict for the players.
Disagreement in Bargaining
Authors: Malouf Michael W.K. , Roth Alvin E.
Published: March 2007

This study reports an experiment designed to test the predictive value of Axelrod's measure of conflict of interest. The results support the conclusion that Axelrod's measure is a good predictor of the time required to reach agreement in a given bargaining game, but that it is not a good pedictor of the frequency with which disagreements will be observed in a given game. The theoretical implications of this conclusion are discussed.
The Bakke Decision
Authors: Jacobson Cardell K.
Published: March 2007

Two theoretical models make contradictory predictions about attitudinal reactions to dramatic events in society that affect race relations. The proximity-resistance model predicts increased resistance, affected by important events that favor blacks, from whites. This model also predicts lessened hostility when the events favor whites. The social-adjustment model, on the other hand, predicts that the people most affected by ongoing events will change their attitudes toward consistency with the expected changes. These two models are tested in an examination of public reactions to the Bakke decision on affirmative action programs. Data collected in national surveys by the Louis Harris polling organization in 1976 and in 1978 after the well-known Bakke case are used to examine attitudinal changes by specific demographic groups—those least and those most affected by the changes. The results are interpreted as supporting, in general, the social-adjustment model.
Rewards and Punishments as Selective Incentives
Authors: Oliver Pamela
Published: March 2007

Apex games place weak players in the formal equivalent of a multiperson prisoner's dilemma in which each weak player must choose between competing against the other weak players for the opportunity to coalesce with the strong player or cooperating with the other weak players to produce a jointly preferable outcome. Punishments, not rewards, are predicted to be effective for enforcing cooperation by the weak players. Fifty-four groups of four subjects each played the weak role in a five-person apex game with a confederate playing the apex (strong) role in a 3×3 design with factors of low, medium, and high levels of rewards and punishments available as incentives. As predicted, punishments but not rewards had a significant impact on increasing cooperation. Despite this effect, many groups experienced harmful effects of punishment availability that increased the risk of retaliatory spirals. It is concluded that a second-order dilemma may be seen in prisoner's dilemmas, since punishments are both necessary for enforcing cooperation and detrimental to that cooperation.
Indian and Canadian Behavior in Two-Person Power Games
Authors: Carment D. W. , Alcock J. E.
Published: March 2007

Two experiments are reported that contrast the behavior of East Indian and Canadian university students in two different two-person “power” games. In the first study each participant could affect the other's outcomes but one was able to exert more control than the other. It was found that both advantaged and disadvantaged Indians were less generous than their Canadian counterparts and that disadvantaged subjects, in both cultures, were less generous than advantaged subjects. Also, the Indians were more likely than the Canadians to “retaliate” after the other had withheld points but the Canadians were more responsive to retaliation. In the second study, the advantaged subject could not affect the disadvantaged subject's outcomes but the disadvantaged subject could, at his discretion, donate points to the advantaged subject who could place himself in a position to accept or avoid them. In this situation the disadvantaged Canadians were less generous than the disadvantaged Indians and the advantaged Indians avoided the “donation” more often than the advantaged Canadians. The relationship of these results to previous comparisons between the two cultures are noted and factors that may account for the observed differences are discussed.
International Escalation and the Dollar Auction
Authors: O'neill Barry
Published: March 2007

Two players bid for a dollar on the condition that both the loser and the winner must pay the bids, although only the winner will receive the dollar. Collusion or threats are excluded; bids must be in units of nickels; and a player does not bid in a situation in which bidding and not bidding would lead to the same payoff. We derive a formula for the players' rational strategies, which implies, for example, that when both have $2.50 available, the first bidder should open by bidding $.60 and the other should remain silent. The fact that rational players would not bid against each other shows that unlike the Prisoners' Dilemma, the dollar auction is not innately a trap, but exploits some irrationality in the bidders' behavior. The dollar auction resembles international escalation in that the governments in conflict commit resources that will not be returned. Some points of difference in the two situations are listed and discussed.
Violent Schools—Unsafe Schools
Authors: Haas Michael
Published: March 2007

The article presents eleven theories advanced to explain school crime, the subject of the inconclusive Safe Schools Study coordinated by James Samuel Coleman, then collects 90 statistical measures across the 215 public schools in one of the most violent school districts in the United States—the statewide district of Hawaii—so that each theory can be tested with at least one indicator. Data are intercorrelated, factor analyzed, and a stepwise multiple regression is run on variables corresponding to each empirically distinct form of school disorder. The data suggest that efforts to mainstream students are needed to bring a sense of community to the students of public schools, whether through racial desegregation or through proper classification of the abilities of immigrant and local students.
Solving Public Good Problems in Competition Between Equal and Unequal Size Groups
Authors: Rapoport Amnon , Bornstein Gary
Published: March 2007

Forty-eight groups participated once in an intergroup conflict in which two groups of equal or unequal size competed for the provision of step-level (binary) public goods. The study included a two-factorial design with preplay communication versus no preplay communication defining one dimension, and equal group size versus unequal group size defining the other. The decision to contribute or not toward the provision of the good was made privately and anonymously. Both the relative group size and communication conditions affected the level of contribution. The findings support a model predicting that within-group discussion results in a two-person game between the two groups, each of which uses the maximin criterion to designate a number of contributors. This criterion does not necessarily maximize group reward, enhance contribution, or guarantee efficient provision of the good.
The Political Values of Lebanese Maronite College Students
Authors: Khashan Hilal
Published: March 2007

The objective of this article was to identify the political values of Lebanese Maronite college students. The data come from a nationwide survey that covered the entire university system in Lebanon during winter 1988. The examination focused on five exploratory variables related to the pursuit of long-term career opportunities, distinct group consciousness, intergroup relations, nationalistic tendencies, and democratic orientation. The findings point to overwhelming preference for pursuit of work and residence outside Lebanon, positive intragroup solidarity and cohesion, and strong attachment to Maronite leaders and political symbols along with a feeling of distinction from all other Lebanese groups. Respondents manifested negative attitudes toward most Lebanese religious groups, particularly the Muslim. Most expressed a strong sense of Lebanese nationalism and were eager to identify themselves with the Phoenician and Greco-Roman heritage. Finally, the responses yielded low marks for the democraticness scale.
Toward a Theory of International Norms
Authors: Goertz Gary , Diehl Paul F.
Published: March 2007

This article looks conceptually and empirically at how international norms influence state behavior. Using the decolonization norm as an example, guidelines are developed for the conceptualization, measurement, and testing of international norms and their effects on state behavior. In particular, the role of norms vis-à-vis self-interest and power politics concerns are discussed.
Reciprocating Influence Strategies in Interstate Crisis Bargaining
Authors: Leng Russell J.
Published: March 2007

The findings of a quantitative analysis of the effectiveness of reciprocating influence strategies in militarized interstate crises (MICs) suggest that the success of reciprocating strategies in MICs is related to (1) withholding cooperative initiatives until after the reciprocating party has demonstrated its resolve, (2) the use of carrot-and-stick influence attempts and responses combining firmness with flexibility, and (3) overcoming ambiguity through overt communication of intentions. Reciprocating influence strategies are most likely to be employed by democratic states either defending the status quo or following a change in the status quo in their favor through a fait accompli. When reciprocating strategies are employed against different types of influence strategies, the outcomes are consistent with the intersection of the decision rules of the influence strategies employed by the two sides.
Predicting the Severity of Great Power War from Its Extent
Authors: Moul William Brian
Published: March 2007

Shortly after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990 and shortly before Operation Desert Storm in January 1991, Cioffi-Revilla forecast that the battle fatalities of an Iraq-United Nations war would be between 100,000 and a million or so, depending on the number of belligerents. The lower estimate presumes four states were to fight; and the higher one presumes ten states were to fight. Whatever the accuracy of the forecast, this article examines the historical reliability of the relationship on which the forecast rests. The apparent linear relationship between the extent and severity of great power war over 1816-1990 is illusory.
Conflict And Cooperation in International Relations
Authors: Majeski Stephen J. , Fricks Shane
Published: March 2007

Neorealist theories of international relations, particularly when formalized as noncooperative games, have difficulty accounting for substantial cooperation between nation-states, perhaps because neorealists have underestimated the role of communication between states. To address this issue, the authors developed an experiment in which nation-states, represented as groups, can communicate. Two groups of three human subjects interacted for 10 iterations of a prisoner's dilemma (PD) game and an altered version of the game. The authors conducted 79 of these 10 iteration trials and tested the effects of communication and a withdrawal option on groups' ability to cooperate. Results indicate that groups cooperate more and defect less when they can communicate. Most groups appear to be motivated by fear of the opponent; communication appears to be a good mechanism for alleviating fear. However, a small but significant number of groups are motivated by greed; communication is not very effective in these situations.
Foreign Policy Crises and the Resort to Terrorism
Authors: O'brien Sean P.
Published: March 2007

This study tests the validity of opposing arguments regarding superpower state sponsorship of international crises by exploring the linkages between the monthly foreign policy crisis behavior of nation-states and the occurrence of international terrorism over a 228-month period from 1968 to 1986 using data drawn from ITERATE 2 and 3 and the International Crisis Behavior (ICB) data sets. Using time-series ARIMA modelling techniques, superpower involvement in international crises, attitudes toward superpower crisis intervention, and the victory and defeat patterns of democracies and nondemocracies are considered for their short-term and long-term influences on the amount and occurrence of international terrorism in the global system. The analysis lends support to the view that the Soviet Union and other authoritarian regimes are more likely than the U.S. and other democracies to resort to international terrorism as a foreign policy tool.
Democracies Really Are More Pacific (in General)
Authors: Benoit Kenneth
Published: March 2007

Current consensus in the field of democratic peace research holds that democratic states go to war in general no less than nondemocratic states. The author challenges this consensus by reevaluating the main empirical studies on which it rests, using information that previous studies ignored and statistical techniques unused or even unknown at the time. The results indicate that from 1960 to 1980, democratic nations were less involved in military conflict than other regime types. Estimates of this relationship are robust to different operational definitions of both war and democracy, to the addition of control variables for other possible correlates of war, and to the application of different statistical techniques. This indicates that lack of previous significant findings have less to do with the data than with the methods used to analyze them.
Democracy and Battlefield Military Effectiveness
Authors: Reiter Dan , Stam Allan C.
Published: March 2007

Why do democracies win the wars they fight? The authors explore this question by examining whether the armies of democratic states fight with higher military effectiveness on the battlefield, testing two general propositions: that the higher legitimacy of democratic states spurs superior individual soldiering and that democratic militaries are likely to have higher organizational efficacy. The authors test their propositions on a comprehensive set of major battles from 1800 to 1982, using data compiled by the Historical Evaluation and Research Organization. The authors find that the armies of democratic states tend to fight with marginally better logistics, substantially better initiative, and superior leadership. They also find that all three of these advantages dwindle as wars lengthen and interpret the results as indicating that although soldiers are not more willing to die for democratic governments, the emphasis on individual initiative in democratic culture generates important advantages on the battlefield.
Culture in the Cockpit
Authors: Merritt Ashleigh
Published: March 2007

Survey data collected from 9,400 male commercial airline pilots in 19 countries were used in a replication study of Hofstede’s indexes of national culture. The analysis that removed the constraint of item equivalence proved superior, both conceptually and empirically, to the analysis using Hofstede’s items and formulae as prescribed, and rendered significant replication correlations for all indexes (Individualism-Collectivism .96, Power Distance .87, Masculinity-Femininity .75, and Uncertainty Avoidance .68). The successful replication confirms that national culture exerts an influence on cockpit behavior over and above the professional culture of pilots, and that “one size fits all” training is inappropriate.
Individualism and Collectivism in the Personal Meaning System of Elderly Adults
Authors: Westerhof Gerben J. , Dittmann-Kohli Freya , Katzko Michael W.
Published: March 2007

Two problems in cross-cultural research are the increasingly complex definitions of individualism and collectivism and the relation between culture and self. A cultural psychological perspective on the construction of meaning can address both problems. In attributing meaning to self and life, people appropriate cultural values so that even the most authentic level of experience, the self, is culturally constituted. People are expected to use different attributes of individualism and collectivism in qualitatively different ways in relation to age-specific life contexts. The meaning of self and life was studied among American and Congolese elderly by the use of a sentence completion task. Each group showed a qualitatively different constellation of individualism and collectivism beyond cultural differences in the level of individualism and collectivism.
Integration and Acculturation of Cooperative Behavior among Blackfoot Indian and Non-Indian Canadian Children
Authors: Miller A. G.
Published: March 2007

Teams of boys from an integrated elementary school played a game on the Madsen Cooperation Board which, while permitting either cooperative or competitive behavior, rewarded cooperative behavior. Indian teams, allwhite teams, and integrated teams all showed a similar pattern of behavior on the game. This pattern was markedly different from the behavior patterns which have been demonstrated for either Blackfoot or white children from nonintegrated schools. The behavior of all the groups from the integrated school was midway between that of nonintegrated white and Blackfoot children in terms of the frequency of cooperative responses. The data are discussed in terms of acculturation and the effects of integrated schooling.
Group Influence on Individual Behavior across Cultures
Authors: Klauss Rudi , Bass Bernard M.
Published: March 2007

Differences among cultures with regard to the effects of group conformity pressures and influence on individual behavior have been reported in several previous studies. The current study analyzes responses of managers from thirteen different countries who participated in management training programs around the world. Results indicated that West German and Swiss managers were particularly high in conformist type response patterns while British and Austrian managers ranked lowest among the countries represented. Japanese managers revealed a complex pattern with a noticeable anti-conformist tendency-a finding that has been reported in previous research.
Economic Development and Belief in Locus of Control among Factory Workers in Four Countries
Authors: Reltz H. Joseph , Groff Gene K.
Published: March 2007

Factory workers from a developed Western country (the United States), a developed oriental country (Japan), a developing Western country (Mexico), and a developing oriental country (Thailand) were tested on Rotter's Internal-External Control scale. Items were grouped for analysis into four categories proposed as meaningful in cross-cultural research: leadership and success; respect; politics; luck and fate. Comparisons of the percentage of external responses by category showed workers from the two developed countries as more internal on leadership and success than workers from the two developing countries, and workers from the two oriental countries as more external on respect than workers from the two Western countries. Other significant intercountry differences were found on the remaining categories.
U.S. and British Self-Disclosure, Anxiety, Empathy, and Attitudes to Psychotherapy
Authors: Todd Judy L. , Shapira Ariella
Published: March 2007

U.S. and British Ss (total n = 152) responded to the following scales: Jourard's Self-Disclosure Scale, Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, Hogan's Empathy Scale, and Attitudes to Psychotherapy by Fischer and Turner. U.S. Ss were predicted to be more self-disclosing and more positive to psychotherapy than the British. High self-disclosure was predicted to relate to low anxiety and high empathy for U.S. Ss but not for British Ss, and to positive attitudes to psychotherapy. U.S. Ss were more self-disclosing, empathic, and favorable to psychotherapy than the British. Predicted interactions between nationality and self-disclosure were not confirmed.
Estimating the Ages of Children in Nonliterate Populations
Authors: Kirk Lorraine
Published: March 2007

Due to problems in determining the specific ages of children in societies where age records are inaccurate or nonexistent, an alternative age estimation technique is described. This technique involves observation of the exact stage of tooth eruption at each position in the mouth, making possible simultaneous utilization of a wide variety of known dental landmarks in making age judgments. The method, in a pilot study, produced a correlation of .92 between estimated and actual ages within a sample of 131 children in Ghana. This correlation exceeds those found using other age estimation procedures.
Levels of Obedience among U.S. and East African Children on an Experimental Task
Authors: Munroe Robert L. , Munroe Ruth H.
Published: March 2007

Eighteen peri-urban East African (Kikuyu) and twenty suburban middle-class U.S. children aged five to nine were tested for obedience. Within each sample, every child was directed to carry out both a prescriptive and a proscriptive task by his own mother and by another sample child's mother. No differences were found for the proscriptive task (not touching toys), and all but two children in each sample were fully obedient. However, on the prescriptive task (picking up of blocks), a significantly larger proportion of the East African children were fully obedient, and, as a group, they obeyed at a significantly faster rate than the U.S. children. The finding corroborates expectations, based on ethnographic evidence, about the strong compliance training to which sub-Saharan societies subject their children.
Measurement of Intersubject Variations in Categorizations
Authors: Truex Gregory F.
Published: March 2007

There are two primary approaches to measuring intersubject variations in sorting objects into categories. The first approach measures subject differences from a standard categorization. The second approach directly compares pairs of individual subject's sorts. Variations in sorts of rural Mexican-Spanish "have" verbs were analyzed using both approaches. The second approach revealed a consistent structure for a subset of the subjects not revealed by the first approach.
Structural Tightness and Cross-Cultural Research
Authors: Boldt Edward D.
Published: March 2007

Traditional,simple/complex" typologies for categorizing societies have proven inadequate to allow a meaningful ordering and interpretation of data generated by cross-cultural research. Another dimension of social structure is gradually coming into focus to amend this inadequacy, namely structural tightness/looseness. As presently conceived, however, it is not entirely clear what the structural referents of tightness/ looseness are, resulting in some ambiguity in the literature utilizing the concept. In order to achieve greater conceptual clarity, therefore, a definition of tightness is proposed which recognizes role relatedness (rather than diversity) as its major structural referent, and specifies one particular dimension of relatedness (the imposed and received nature of role expectations) as primary in determining degree of tightness.
Reflections on Trends in Cross-Cultural Research
Authors: Triandis Harry C.
Published: March 2007

This review examines trends in cross-cultural research during the 1969-1979 period relative to the 1949-1969 period. Shifts in theoretical as well as methodological emphases are detected, and possible reasons for these changes are explained. Special attention is given to work on cognition, perception, aesthetics, attitudes, and to extrapolations to the next ten years of research.
The Acquisition of Conservation
Authors: Arnold Marjorie R. , Armah Kwaku , Cox David L.
Published: March 2007

This study investigated the effects of age, schooling, and parental profession on the acquisition of conservation by Ghanaian children. Subjects were 120 girls, ages 6-7, 8-9, and 10-11 years. Half the subjects were from traditional-profession homes (making and selling products in the marketplace) and half from non-traditional-profession homes (clerical positions). Also, half the subjects attended school and half were unschooled. All subjects were given two tasks measuring conservation of continuous quantity (liquid and solid substances). Results were that older subjects scored significantly higher than younger subjects and the traditional-profession group scored higher than the nontraditional group. Surprisingly, unschooled subjects tended to perform better than schooled subjects. Results were interpreted as contrasting the effects of a rich natural environment with a relatively less stimulating school experience.
Perceived Decision-Making Influence in Turkish Migrant Workers' and German Workers' Families
Authors: Schonpflug Ute , Silbereisen Rainer K. , Schulz Jorg
Published: March 2007

According to Bott (1971), families involved in social support networks show more traditional patterns of role segregation in their authority structure than more isolated families. This hypothesis was tested with samples consisting of 40 Turkish migrant workers' families and 72 German workers' families. The samples were matched in level of education, income, professional status, and mother's work. Bott's hypothesis was not confirmed, because conjugal partners' mutual ratings of influence were not affected by the level of perceived social support. The findings, however, reveal a cross-cultural difference with respect to the familial authority structure in the two sampics. Turkish conjugal partners reported role segregation in the domain of family issues, but joint decision making in the domain of children's issues, whereas the reverse pattern was reported by German conjugal partners. Furthermore, Turkish parents restrict their children's influence to the children's own affairs, whereas German parents accept their children as participating members with influence in the family.
American Indian Adolescent Drug Use and Socialization Characteristics
Authors: Swaim Randall C. , Oetfing Eugene R. , Thurman Pamela Jumper , Beauvais Fred , Edwards Ruth W.
Published: March 2007

The socialization variables of family strength, religious identification, school adjustment, family sanctions against drug use and peer associations correlate with youth drug abuse. A path model testing the relationships between these variables among Anglo youths has shown that peer drug associations mediate the influence of the other factors and that with minor exceptions peers are likely to be the dominating force in youth drug abuse. The current study applied the same path model to a group of American Indian youths and the findings were replicated with two important exceptions. Peer drug associations, although still dominant in the model, were not as highly correlated with drug use for Indian youths, and family sanctions against drugs had a direct influence on drug use in addition to an indirect influence. Differences in family dynamics among American Indian youths may account for the findings; they may associate more with and learn about drug use from same-aged siblings and other relatives in the extended family, and they may have a greater number of adult family figures to apply sanctions against drug use.
Cross-Cultural Psycholinguistic Field Research
Authors: Rudmin Floyd W.
Published: March 2007

A central task of cross-cultural psychology is to compare conceptualizations underlying social institutions. This study introduces new methodology for the comparison of aboriginal and Western conceptions of ownership and property. Matched samples of Cree and English-Canadian adults reported on the meanings of 25 verbs of ownership and possession. The psycholinguistic methods of semantic similarity judgment were free recall, card sort, unidimensional scaling, and hypothetical explanation to a child. Results showed Cree to have a vocabulary of ownership comparable to that of English speakers. The meaning of own was substantially similar in the two languages, but the Cree concept emphasized wanting, needing, and deserving, and the English speakers emphasized demonstrating the right of possession. Ten methodological lessons were drawn for future cross-cultural field research, foremost being the benefits of multiple measures and the use of conservative nonparametric analyses.
Acquisition of Managerial Values in The People'S Republic of China and Hong Kong
Authors: Birnbaum-More Philip H. , Wong Gilbert Y. Y. , Olve Nils-Goran
Published: March 2007

The four managerial values of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and individualism measured by self-reports from 350 managerial trainees in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Hong Kong provided the database for this research. The results indicate support for the convergence theory proposition that managerial values converge with increased industrialism. Further analysis revealed that it was the younger PRC managerial trainees who had values that were closest to those of Hong Kong managers of all ages.
Maternal Expectations of Child Development in India, Japan, and England
Authors: Joshi Mary Sissons , Maclean Morag
Published: March 2007

Maternal expectations of child development were compared in India, Japan, and England. Fifty mothers from both India and Japan, and 70 mothers from England were asked to indicate the age at which they expected a child to achieve competence in 45 tasks, reflecting education/self-care, compliance, peer interaction, communication, emotional control, and environmental independence competencies. On average, competence was expected at a slightly earlier age in Japan than in England, and altogether later in India. However, differences between cultures were domain specific. Japanese expectations only exceeded English expectations in the education/self-care and environmental independence domains. Indian expectations were significantly later than Japanese and English expectations in all domains except environmental independence, where they were later than Japanese but earlier than English expectations.
Gender Differences in the Interpretation of Social-Sexual Behavior
Authors: Pryor John B. , Desouza Eros R. , Fitness Julie , Hutz Claudio , Kumpf Martin , Lubbert Karin , Pesonen Outi , Erber Maureen Wang
Published: March 2007

Numerous studies have found gender differences in judgments about sexual harassment. However, most previous research has been conducted on U.S. samples only. The present research examines gender differences in judgments about sexual harassment from a cross-cultural perspective. College students from Australia, Brazil, Germany, and the United States were asked to judge the degree to which a specific interaction between a student and a professor described in varying hypothetical scenarios might be considered sexual harassing and to provide a brief definition of sexual harassment. In some conditions, U.S. women judged specific interactions as more harassing than U.S. men. However, this pattern did not emerge in student samples from other countries. No within-culture gender differences in students' definitions of sexual harassment were obtained, although the results revealed considerable cross-cultural differences. The relevance of these findings for understanding the "reasonable woman" standard in legal proceedings is discussed.
Meta-Analysis of Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Cognitive Test Performance
Authors: Vijver Fons Van De
Published: March 2007

A meta-analysis of cross-cultural comparisons of cognitive test scores published between 1973 and 1994 is presented. Larger performance differences were found in cross-national than in intranational (cross-ethnic) comparisons. There was a strong age bias, with an overrepresentation of primary-school-age children. Five models to explain cross-cultural differences in cognitive performance were examined. First, these differences showed a positive relationship with differences in affluence of the cultural groups. Second, performance differences increased with chronological and educational age. Third, only in intranational studies were performance differences positively related to the complexity of stimuli. Fourth, performance differences were larger on common Western tasks than on locally developed non-Western tasks. Finally, performance differences were not larger for abstract thinking than for other cognitive domains. Cross-cultural performance differences were better predicted by task characteristics in intranational comparisons and by population characteristics in cross-national comparisons.
Cultural Orientation and Alcohol-Type Preferences among Adolescents in Four Sociocultural Subgroups in Zimbabwe
Authors: Eide Arne H. , Acuda Stanley Wilson , ROYsamb Espen
Published: March 2007

A classroom survey among 3,061 secondary school students in four different socio-cultural subgroups was conducted in Zimbabwe. Structural equation modelling was applied to explore the relationship among sociodemographic variables, school children's cultural orientation, and alcohol-type preferences. A model with local and global orientation as mediators explained 17% of the variance in reported use of imported alcohol types and 2.4% of the variance in use of traditional alcohol types. Global cultural orientation was positively associated with reported experimenting with, and use of, both imported and traditional alcohol types, whereas local orientation was negatively associated with use of imported alcohol types and positively associated with use of traditional alcohol types.
The Role of Culture Theory in Cross-Cultural Training
Authors: Bhawuk Dharm P. S.
Published: March 2007

In a multimethod evaluation of cross-cultural training tools, a theory-based individualism and collectivism assimilator (ICA), compared to a culture-specific assimilator for Japan, a culture-general assimilator for sensitizing people to cultural differences, and a control group, was found to have significant effects on a number of criterion measures, such as the Intercultural Sensitivity Inventory, the Category Width Scale, attribution making, and satisfaction with the training. The findings show promise for theory-based culture assimilators.
The Social Evolution of Consciousness
Authors: Earley Jay
Published: March 2007

This article describes a new model for understanding the social evolution of consciousness and its relationship to the contemporary world situation. It begins with an overview of the model, followed by an account of how consciousness has evolved over five eras of human history. It then uses the model to explain the current crisis we are facing during the transition from the modern era to the next historical era. It discusses solutions to this crisis, which involve changes in consciousness as part of our continuing evolution.
In Pursuit of Energy
Authors: Wilson Stephen R.
Published: March 2007

Although bits and pieces of the practice and theory of yoga have been accepted by Western psychology in recent times, little is known about the daily lives of those who have committed themselves to practicing yoga under the guidance of a guru while living in a yoga ashram. This article describes how the guru disciple relationship and the structure of the ashram set up conditions that foster personal and spiritual growth in residents of an ashram in the United States. It also discusses the meaning of the concept "energy" within the yogic tradition and how it is used among residents to refer to their personal growth. Data suggest that growth occurs because residents are encouraged by theyogic lifestyle to strengthen and maintain their personal energy levels. Furthermore, they learn to accept changes in energy (peaks and depressions) without resorting to the escape and avoidance tactics most people use to minimize the intensity of such experiences. The article also shows how the various mundane problems encountered in communal living can be used to further spiritual growth.
Reflective Learning
Authors: Boyd Evelyn M. , Fales Ann W.
Published: March 2007

Reflective learning is the process of internally examining and exploring an issue of concern, triggered by an experience, which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self, and which results in a changed conceptual perspective. We suggest that this process is central to understanding the experiential learning process. In this article, we describe the process of reflective learning as identified through analysis of three distinct sets of data, including sequential interviews, single interviews, and written questionnaires, using three separate samples. The sequential interviews revealed a pattern of becoming aware of one's own reflective learning patterns and deciding to use them consciously. Then, the six stages in the reflective learning process are abstracted and described. Implications of the process for personal change and growth, for facilitating learning from experience and changing perspectives, and for further research are also discussed.
Experiential Focusing
Authors: Hinterkopf Elfie
Published: March 2007

Research has shown that clients successful in therapy have the ability to focus as measured by the Experiencing Scale. Gendlin has developed a method for teaching this skill, and calls it focusing. In this article an alternative program is outlined in which greater specificity is achieved for training focusing. Focusing is broken into specific components that are taught as single units and later integrated into a meaningful whole. "Prefocusing" instructions were added to insure that people have the basic experiential skills necessary to learn focusing. By following the instructions outlined in this article, time and energy are saved for both trainer and student during the training process, and training becomes instrinsically rewarding for the student.
Health and the Inner and Outer Sky
Authors: Duhl Leonard J.
Published: March 2007

Viewing health beyond the concept of the absence of disease has to do with the way we feel and interact with everything around us. When we have the ability to use all of our senses and all aspects of our body, mind, and soul to sort out knowledge, beliefs, concepts, and memories, this wholeness becomes the totality of the universe. In this article, using the sky as the symbol of universal vastness, openness, and nearly unimaginable meaning, the author postulates that this universe cannot be separated from self, health, and the health of all who live. He refers to this concept as inner and outer space-the inner and outer sky. Using personal experiences as well as the experience of others and "primitive" and spiritual traditions, he describes a state of "excruciating aliveness" that is an integrating and health-giving joy. Although he feels that most of us are so caught up in the exigencies of modern times we have created a pathology, a sense of disconnection, he believes that many of us carry secrets of this ecstatic experience that are not part of our daily accepted rational, cognitive, analytical worlds and in them we sense our connectedness to all that exists that affects our lives and well-being.
The Deified Self
Authors: Schneider Kirk J.
Published: March 2007

This article is an existential-phenomenological ("centaur level")1 response to Ken Wilber's concept of deified or ultimate consciousness. Ultimate consciousness, according to Wilber, is the supreme expression of human awareness. It is the point at which highly developed people (i.e., mystics) totally transcend space and time, and are aware (at once) of all perspectives in the universe. Three areas of this concept are evaluated and questioned: the human capacity to achieve ultimate consciousness, the relevance of ultimate consciousness for human problems, and the final appeal of ultimate consciousness. The author concludes that the concept of ultimate consciousness is (1) presumptuous and most probably unachievable for human beings; (2) even if achievable, irrelevant to people's day-to-day concerns; and (3) ultimately monotonous and uninteresting (if not terrorizing and overwhelming). A plea is made for a more realistic view of consciousness, one in which boundaries permit optimal freedom of expression.
The Influence of Inner State on Self-Reported Long-Term Happiness
Authors: Aron Elaine , Aron Arthur
Published: March 2007

No set of external variables or life events has been found to account for more than about 20% of an individual's reported long-term happiness. Therefore, this article considers lines of evidence suggesting that a large amount cf the variance is accounted for by inner, background conditions such as perception and response set-probably influenced by age and experience, and by more basic physical conditions, especially lack of fatigue. Happy moods are also associated with an hypothesized at-rest, background condition. Bringing that background state to the foreground might increase self-reported long-term happiness.
The Near-Death Experience as an Event in Consciousness
Authors: Quimby Scott L.
Published: March 2007

A consciousness model of the near-death experience (NDE) is developed that incorporates the work of Tart (1975), Wilber (1980), Grof (1984), and Grosso (1984). This model views the NDE as an altered state of consciousness triggered by the threat of imminent physical death. The individual is propelled without warning into modes of consciousness containing psychic and spiritual elements representing higher-order developmental stages but bearing the particular stamp of a death-related archetype. In temporarily visiting stages closer to full completion of his or her developmental possibilities, powerful but unfamiliar potentials may be activated that can be fully actualized only through sustained spiritual work.
Self Psychology as a Bridge between Existential-Humanistic Psychology and Psychoanalysis
Authors: Tobin Stephan A.
Published: March 2007

This article on psychoanalytic self psychology attempts to show how it incorporates the depth, complexity, thoroughness, and broad applicability of psychoanalysis with the philosophical and scientific postulates of existential-humanistic psychology. Such major existential-humanistic ideas as holism, phenomenology, ontology, field theory, free will, and an emphasis on values and ideals are shown to be fundamental to self psychology. The author also demonstrates how the concepts of transference and countertransference are redefined in a way that makes these invaluable aids to therapeutic work compatible with existential-humanistic precepts. Some important recent developmental research is brought into the discussion and shown to be relevant to the work with adult therapeutic clients. Finally, the author articulates some important advantages of self psychology over existential-humanistic psychotherapies as well as ways in which self psychology theorists could profit from reading important existential-humanistic writers.
The Use of Poetry and Ritual with Troubled Adolescents
Authors: Meiffren Michel
Published: March 2007

Poetry is a way to access a dimension of being that is usually concealed. Ritual is a perennial method to make fruitful contact with that same deeper, more encompassing, dimension that inspires our humanity. Poetry and ritual are thus tools that adolescents who have lost their way and find themselves in residential treatment programs can be encouraged to learn to use to articulate and begin to alleviate their anxiety and despair in the face of alienating discourses that appear to have the power to define their selves. This article capitalizes on the popularity of the hit movie Dead Poets Society to reinforce insights into the need for a balanced education of young people that would include learning how to connect with the sacred in and around them. It also picks up where the film "Dead Poets Society" fell short and shows how participants in a ritual such as a poetry circle can and must be trained to follow specific steps that insure that no harm will come to them as a result of the activation of deep-seated energies during the meetings. A brief account of how the model was applied in the context of a psychiatric hospital for adolescents is offered.
The Process of Change
Authors: Gross Stanley J.
Published: March 2007

Despite the importance of lifestyle change in the pursuit of health and happiness, there are few global formulations of how it is achieved. Vlrginia Satir, family therapy innovator, artist in becoming more fully human, and former president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, often spoke on the process and stages of change in her training workshops. This article discusses her formulation of the change process in the context of contemporary research and theory.
Context and Meaning in Writing Case Reports
Authors: Bugental James F. T.
Published: March 2007

Three frequently encountered difficulties with writing about clinical interviews without setting forth adequate context are briefly described and illustrated with citations to a recent critique of an article in this journal. These problems are changing the level of abstraction, imputing motivations to those described, and urging a favorite therapeutic maneuver without demonstrating awareness of the merits of alternatives.
The Active Client: Therapy as Self-Help
Authors: Bohart Arthur C. , Tallman Karen
Published: March 2007

A model of how therapy works is proposed that locates the source of therapeutic change in the client, while the therapist is the provider of opportunities, ideas, and experiences. Ultimately all therapy is self-help. This model is contrasted with the medical-like model of therapy as treatment and hopes to account for research findings of equal effectiveness among different therapies. Although the active client model developed from existential-humanistic ideas, it can be compatible with all approaches.
Purposeful Self: Accessing Sensory Motifs as Empowerment in Flow States and Clinical Interventions
Authors: Feeney Don J.
Published: March 2007

The idea is presented that each human being has an inherent life purpose operating as a basic guide. As we live true to this purpose, we experience harmony, joy, and empowerment. IT access and experience life purpose, we need to attend to our sensory systems (i.e., visual, auditory, and kinesthetic) as manifest in flow states. An individual's purpose is primarily expressed in what may be called a sensory motif, a unique way of combining and organizing his or her senses manifesting that person's unique character. Sensory motifs are highly visible in flow states. Use of sensory motifs as clinical interventions is illustrated in five clinical cases. It is concluded that to live with purpose and meaning in one's life involves discovering and gaining access to one's sensory motif.