Standing out in Canada and Japan

The need for separation or individuation is held to be a prime motive in Western psychology. Varied accounts of the meaning of selfhood in Japan indicate that separation may be much less important-or as important-for understanding the construction of self-identity in that culture. We focus here on personal distinctiveness, one vehicle for separation from others. We propose that the desire for distinctiveness is not absent or negligible in Japan, but is subject to more constrained expression than in the West. The results of two studies comparing Japanese and Canadian students suggest that Japanese are less desirous of standing out for their own sake and more likely to experience this form of distinctiveness as aversive. The results also suggest that although Japanese and Canadians derive positive distinctiveness from much the same sources, Japanese are less gratified by this type of experience.     

Motivation and performance: Uncertainty regulation in Canada and Japan

In a field study involving university students from Canada and Japan, we tested hypotheses from the theory of uncertainty orientation (Sorrentino and Roney in The uncertain mind: Individual differences in facing the unknown. Psychology Press, Philadelphia 2000). Consistent with previous research, those possessing an uncertainty orientation that matched their culture’s predominant style of uncertainty regulation perceived a better student-classroom fit than those who did not match their culture’s predominant style of uncertainty regulation. More importantly, we predicted and found that actual course grades varied as a function of the culture’s style of uncertainty regulation in interaction with the participant’s uncertainty orientation and achievement-related motives. Implications of these findings and applied relevance are discussed.     

The Relationship Between Collective Self-Esteem and Self-Construal in Japan and Canada

Abstract

The study examined the relationship between various facets of collective self-esteem (R. Luhtanen & J. Crocker, 1992) and independent and interdependent self-construals (H. R. Markus & S. Kitayama, 1991) among students in Japan and Canada. The results suggested that individuals with highly interdependent self-construals regarded social group memberships as self-defining, regardless of culture. Individuals with independent self-construals judged their groups positively and felt they were worthy members of their groups and that others evaluated their groups positively. Canadians who evaluated their social groups favorably may be members of groups that permitted them to be independent. In contrast, individuals in Japan who judged their groups favorably may be members of groups that promoted interdependence in addition to independence.     

The relationship between collective self-esteem and self-construal in Japan and Canada.

The study examined the relationship between various facets of collective self-esteem (R. Luhtanen & J. Crocker, 1992) and independent and interdependent self-construals (H. R. Markus & S. Kitayama, 1991) among students in Japan and Canada. The results suggested that individuals with highly interdependent self-construals regarded social group memberships as self-defining, regardless of culture. Individuals with independent self-construals judged their groups positively and felt they were worthy members of their groups and that others evaluated their groups positively. Canadians who evaluated their social groups favorably may be members of groups that permitted them to be independent. In contrast, individuals in Japan who judged their groups favorably may be members of groups that promoted interdependence in addition to independence.     

Revolutions, Samurai, and Reductons: The Parodoxes of Change and Continuity in Iran and Japan

This paper assesses policies for managing cultural diversity in Iran and Japan, with particular focus on the treatment of women as a cultural minority. Following social reducton theory, the distinction between rates of cultural change at macro- and microlevels is highlighted. It is argued that macro political and economic changes have taken place fairly rapidly, but micro changes in everyday social practices have changed much more slowly. The latter, it is argued, are structured by social reducton systems, which can act to slow down societal change. This insight is used to cast light on the situation of women and other minorities in North America.     

Religion and Partisanship in Canada

Using a survey of three thousand Canadian adults conducted by the Angus Reid Group in the autumn of 1996, we examine the continuing role of religion in shaping partisan preferences. We find that traditional religious alignments still have some impact, but are being reshaped by both religious and political developments. We find that Evangelical Protestants are drawn toward the new Reform Party, Mainline Protestants still tend toward the Progressive Conservatives, and Catholics—both English‐and French‐speaking—remain the bulwark of the Liberal Party. The New Democratic Party, however, finds its greatest resonance among secular Canadians, and the Bloc Quebecois is strongest among nominal, rather than practicing, French‐speaking Catholics. In multivariate analysis, these religious variables stand up well against other influences in explaining partisan preferences.     

Selectivity and immigration in Canada

One perennial policy question in Canada concerns the kind of immigrants Canada should admit. Should it be those with the best prospects of fast economic assimilation in the labour market?. This research note sketches the earnings outcomes of immigrants associated with different admission categories. Specifically, we examine two databases. The Immigration Data Base (IMDB) provides information on admission categories by linking immigration, administrative records with income tax files. The Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) is a longitudinal sample that provides a comprehensive profile of immigrants and native-born Canadians. The IMDB and SLID datasets provide valuable information on the economic outcomes of immigrants in quite different ways.     

Looking a Hundred Years Back: Remarks on the Concept of "Wishing" in Psychoanalysis

While the concepts of "wish" and "wish fulfillment" have indeed remained central since the start of classical psychoanalysis, they are only weakly anchored both in theory and practice. It has become common today for psychoanalysts to use the term "to wish" in the sense of "to want" or "to intend." As a first step, it will be emphasized that "wish" should not be constructed along the lines of "intention." An examination of the relationship of "wish" to "wish fulfillment" is then followed by an evaluation of its practical significance for psychoanalysis and for our understanding of mental life in a general sense. Turning to an example dream sequence, we will arrive at the psychoanalytic core of the issue: the assumption of hidden, non-obvious, non-recognizable wish fulfillment scenarios. At this point in the discussion, a method of access will be sketched out - the dramaturgical approach - that, although it makes use of the idea of free association, does so in a manner that diverges from Freud's original recommendation.     

Parental Preferences for Sex of Children in Canada

This study examines parental preferences for sexof children in Canada using data from the 1984 CanadianFertility Survey. A high percentage of surveyparticipants (37%) report British as their ethnicorigin, 24% report French, and 39% belong to all othercategories combined. Forty per cent of participantsreport an income of less than $25,000, 41% an incomebetween $25,000 and $50,000, and 19% an income greater than $50,000. Attitudinal and birth timingmeasures are used to assess sex preferences at differentparities. Both measures indicate that the primarypreference is for at least one child of each sex. The birth timing measure indicates that neitherboys nor girls are preferred as first-born children bywomen and their husbands/partners. The attitudinalmeasure shows that sons are preferred as first-born children among women with a sex preference.However, the greater percentage of zero-parity womenhave no sex preference for their first-born child.Furthermore, the greater percentage of women at every parity express no sex preference.     

Time for Change

Metaphysical theories of change incorporate substantive commitments to theories of persistence. The two most prominent classes of such theories are endurantism and perdurantism. Defenders of endurancestyle accounts of change, such as Klein, Hinchliff, and Oderberg, do so through appeal to a priori intuitions about change. We argue that this methodology is understandable but mistaken—an adequate metaphysics of change must accommodate all experiences of change, not merely intuitions about a limited variety of cases. Once we examine additional experiences of change, particularly those in (special) relativistic circumstances, it becomes clear that only a perdurance account of change is adequate.     

Tools for Change

Abstract

This paper discusses the ways in which one may incorporate political action into a client's therapy process so the client may incorporate it into her/his life. A framework for defining this as ethical, therapeutic and necessary to the client is presented. A number of suggestions for helping clients and therapists to become more politically active, as well as vignettes demonstrating how this might work with clients in the therapy process are provided.     

Gun availability and use of guns for murder and suicide in Canada

The accidental death rate from guns in Canada was associated with the percentage of guns used by suicides and on homicide victims except for elderly persons.     

Religiosity and Subjective Wellbeing in Canada

Using the Canadian Ethnic Diversity Survey, I explore how religiosity associates with self-reported levels of wellbeing. The overall association of religious intensity with subjective wellbeing is found to be statistically significant, positive and small. When the impact is allowed to vary by religious group, it appears that Catholics and Protestants are very similar in how religiosity impacts their subjective wellbeing; the association is statistically significantly stronger for Canadian Muslims; and Canadian Jews are the closest group to religious nones. Surprisingly, among different dimensions of religious commitment, the intensity of religious belief is found to be the driver of the overall positive association, across religious groups. Finally, when Canadian population is divided into linguistic groups, religious involvement emerges as a negative predictor of French Canadians’ subjective wellbeing.     

Political Psychology in Canada

Although a number of political psychologists are active in Canada, there has been relatively little self-conscious development of the field. This article brings together contributions from political science and social psychology in Canada in an attempt to identify aspects of Canadian distinctiveness in the field of political psychology, notably the balance between mainstream and eclectic tendencies.