Japanese body image: Structure and esteem scores in a cross‐cultural perspective

Culture appears to affect body image in general and body esteem in particular, yet do cultural differences in these constructs concern with factorial structure or merely the magnitude of their manifestation? This study examined what body parts and functions the body esteem of young Japanese adults consists of, and assessed its relation with several other construals of the self. A secondary goal was to compare scores of body esteem in Japan with data previously obtained for people of similar age and background in diverse cultures, such as the USA, Hong Kong, and Israel. The primary contention of this study was that body image might vary notably across different cultures. Because of cultural differences in the self, and indirectly also due to physiognomic variation, members of various cultures may differ in the way they conceive their own body, have divergent body ideals, and ultimately experience different feelings toward their body. The subjects were 569 Japanese undergraduates who filled in the Body Esteem Scale (BES) as well as measures of self‐esteem, body consciousness, and social anxiety. Findings show fairly similar structure of body esteem to that found in the USA, but lower ratings of body esteem among Japanese than among their American, Chinese, and Israeli counterparts. In addition, findings indicate a large gender difference on the total BES score: Men expressed higher body esteem than women. Among both genders, however, body esteem correlated positively with self‐esteem and body consciousness, but negatively with social anxiety. It is suggested that the structure similarity between Japanese and American body esteem is the result of universal human mating patterns as well as similar personality structure. The reason for the lower Japanese body esteem may involve general tendency for self‐effacement and social anxiety. Further causes for the lower scores, which may concern broader cultural and historical perspectives, are briefly discussed.     

Using functional near‐infrared spectroscopy to assess social information processing in poor urban Bangladeshi infants and toddlers

Children living in low‐resource settings are at risk for failing to reach their developmental potential. While the behavioral outcomes of growing up in such settings are well‐known, the neural mechanisms underpinning poor outcomes have not been well elucidated, particularly in the context of low‐ and middle‐income countries. In this study, we measure brain metabolic responses to social and nonsocial stimuli in a cohort of 6‐ and 36‐month‐old Bangladeshi children. Study participants in both cohorts lived in an urban slum and were exposed to a broad range of adversity early in life including extreme poverty, malnutrition, recurrent infections, and low maternal education. We observed brain regions that responded selectively to social stimuli in both ages indicating that these specialized brain responses are online from an early age. We additionally show that the magnitude of the socially selective response is related to maternal education, maternal stress, and the caregiving environment. Ultimately our results suggest that a variety of psychosocial hazards have a measurable relationship with the developing social brain.     

Female physical attractiveness in Britain and Japan: a cross‐cultural study

Two purported cues to female physical attractiveness are body mass index (BMI) and body shape as measured by the waist‐to‐hip ratio (WHR). This study examined the relative contribution of both cues in two culturally distinct populations. Eighty‐two male participants from Britain and Japan were asked to rate a set of images of real women with known BMI and WHR. Results showed that BMI is the primary determinant of female physical attractiveness, whereas WHR failed to emerge as a significant predictor. Results also showed that there were significant differences in preferences for physical attractiveness, with Japanese participants preferring images of women with significantly lower BMIs than Britons. Finally, results showed that the Japanese are more reliant on body shape than Britons when judging physical attractiveness. The findings are discussed in terms of evolutionary psychological explanations of mate selection, and sociocultural theories which emphasise the learning of preferences in social and cultural contexts. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Kinship and altruism: A cross‐cultural experimental study

Humans are characterized by an unusual level of prosociality. Despite this, considerable indirect evidence suggests that biological kinship plays an important role in altruistic behaviour. All previous reports of the influence of kin selection on human altruism have, however, used correlational (rather than experimental) designs, or imposed only a hypothetical or negligible time cost on participants. Since these research designs fail either to control for confounding variables or to meet the criteria required as a test of Hamilton's rule for kin selection (that the altruist pays a true cost), they fail to establish unequivocally whether kin selection plays a role. We show that individuals from two different cultures behave in accordance with Hamilton's rule by acting more altruistically (imposing a higher physical cost upon themselves) towards more closely related individuals. Three possible sources of confound were ruled out: generational effects, sexual attraction and reciprocity. Performance on the task however did not exhibit a perfect linear relationship with relatedness, which might reflect either the intrusion of other variables (e.g. cultural differences in the way kinship is costed) or that our behavioural measure is insufficiently sensitive to fine‐tuned differences in the way individuals view their social world. These findings provide the first unequivocal experimental evidence that kinship plays a role in moderating altruistic behaviour. Kinship thus represents a baseline against which individuals pitch other criteria (including reciprocity, prosociality, obligation and a moral sense) when deciding how to behave towards others.     

The cross‐cultural generalizability of personality types: a Philippine study

Research on personality types was extended to a non‐Western culture, the Philippines. In two large samples of Filipino college students, cluster analyses of self‐rated trait adjectives revealed interpretable three‐cluster solutions (i.e. types) for each gender. The types differed on indigenous measures of ego resiliency and ego control and exhibited sensible configurations of Big Five traits, indigenous Filipino traits, and behavioural indicators. Most types were interpretable in terms of the concepts of ego resiliency and ego control of Block and Block ( 1980 ) and resembled types identified in other cultures. Two of three male and female types were fairly comparable and some types replicated across data sets. The results provided some support for the cross‐cultural comparability of personality types and for typological research in general. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social axioms and values: a cross‐cultural examination

The relationships between social axioms, general beliefs that people hold about the social world, and values, defined as desirable goals for life, were examined in five cultural groups. Results show that the correlations between social axioms and Schwartz's (1992) values are generally low, suggesting that they represent two distinct types of construct. Based on a structural equation modelling approach, results further show that generally speaking, the five axiom dimensions are related to the value types in a meaningful and interpretable manner, and that these relationships are generally similar across the five cultural groups. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Poverty in developing nations: a cross‐cultural attributional analysis

A survey of anti‐poverty activists and non‐activists in Canada and the Philippines was conducted to assess their beliefs about the causes of poverty in developing nations. Principal components analysis revealed that the respondents' poverty attributions could be distinguished along five main dimensions: exploitation, characterological weaknesses of the poor, natural causes, conflict, and poor government. Group breakdowns revealed several significant differences related to respondents' countries of residence and social ideologies. A path analysis suggested that attributions fully mediated the relationship between social ideology and participation in anti‐poverty activism. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sex ratio and mate preferences: a cross‐cultural investigation

Sex ratio is the number of men per 100 reproductive‐age women within a specified mating pool. We generated and tested two hypotheses about the cross‐cultural relationships between sex ratio and mate preferences using preference ratings of 18 characteristics provided by 9809 participants and corresponding sex ratio data secured from an international organization. The Classical Sex Ratio Mate Preference Shifts Hypothesis predicts that in imbalanced sex ratio societies, the more numerous sex will lower their standards, to facilitate acquisition of a partner of the less numerous sex. The Alternative Sex Ratio Mate Preference Shifts Hypothesis predicts that in lower sex ratio societies, men will lower their standards to secure more short‐term matings, whereas women will raise their standards to avoid deception by men seeking short‐term relationships. Results supported the Classical Sex Ratio Mate Preference Shifts Hypothesis for men, and the Alternative Sex Ratio Mate Preference Shifts Hypothesis for women. Discussion addresses limitations of the current research and highlights future directions for research on the relationships between sex ratio and mating psychology and behavior. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recalled early maternal bonding and mother‐ and self‐related attitudes in young adult daughters: A cross‐cultural study in India and Belgium

The quality of child–parent relationships remains a vital aspect of development through the entire life span. Early childhood attachment develops into a lasting adult attachment bond in which the balance between caregiving and care‐receiving changes over time. Among young adult women a model was examined on the relationship of recalled early maternal bonding with (1) the current relationship with one's mother represented by variables such as adult attachment, filial responsibility and filial concern, and (2) self‐related attitudes represented by orientation to life and satisfaction with life. Participants were female university students from two quite different societies, India and Belgium, including 150 Hindi‐speaking and 150 English‐speaking students in India and 183 Dutch‐speaking students in Belgium. Instruments used were the Parental Bonding Instrument, the Adult Attachment Scale, a self‐constructed Filial Responsibility Scale, the Filial Anxiety Scale, the Orientation to Life Questionnaire, and the Satisfaction With Life Scale. Across the three languages and two cultures we first tested the construct/structural equivalence of the scales by means of exploratory factor analysis and congruence analysis. Results indicated that psychometric conditions of equivalence held for most instruments. In order to examine relationships between the variables, a LISREL path analysis was conducted across the three samples. A model closely similar to the theoretically postulated model was found to show a good fit with invariant parameters in the three samples. As expected, recalled early maternal bonding of young adult women appeared to have an impact on the current relationship with their mother and on aspects of their personal life experiences. Thus, the influence of recalled early maternal bonding on variables reflecting the relationship with one's mother and on self‐related variables were brought together in a single model that showed a good fit in all three samples.     

Online monitoring of the social presence effects in a two‐person‐like driving video game using near‐infrared spectroscopy

We examined how a friend's presence affects a performer's prefrontal activation in daily‐life activities using two wireless portable near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) devices. Participants played a driving video game either solely in the single group or with a friend in the paired group. The two groups (single and paired) were subdivided according to their game proficiency (low and high). The NIRS data demonstrated a significant interaction of group by proficiency. Low‐proficiency players in the paired group showed lower activation than those in the single group, but high‐proficiency players did not. In the paired group, high‐proficiency players showed higher activation than low‐proficiency players, but not in the single group. These results suggest that NIRS detects social presence effects in everyday situations: decreasing prefrontal activation in low‐proficiency performers due to tension reduction and increasing prefrontal activation in high‐proficiency performers due to increased arousal.     

Recognition by association: Within‐ and cross‐modality associative priming with faces and voices

Recent literature has raised the suggestion that voice recognition runs in parallel to face recognition. As a result, a prediction can be made that voices should prime faces and faces should prime voices. A traditional associative priming paradigm was used in two studies to explore within‐modality priming and cross‐modality priming. In the within‐modality condition where both prime and target were faces, analysis indicated the expected associative priming effect: The familiarity decision to the second target celebrity was made more quickly if preceded by a semantically related prime celebrity, than if preceded by an unrelated prime celebrity. In the cross‐modality condition, where a voice prime preceded a face target, analysis indicated no associative priming when a 3‐s stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was used. However, when a relatively longer SOA was used, providing time for robust recognition of the prime, significant cross‐modality priming emerged. These data are explored within the context of a unified account of face and voice recognition, which recognizes weaker voice processing than face processing.     

Self‐esteem,perception of relationships,and emotional distress: A cross‐cultural study

This study examined the relative importance of self‐esteem, family cohesion, and support from friends in predicting depressed mood and anxiety in Japanese and American college students. Contrary to expectations, self‐esteem was the strongest predictor of emotional distress in both groups of students. Nevertheless, consistent with predictions derived from Markus and Kitayama's theory of self‐construals, family cohesion accounted for a significantly larger percentage of the variance in predicting emotional distress in Japan than in the United States. In both countries, the relations between support from friends and the measures of emotional distress were entirely mediated by self‐esteem. However, among Japanese students, family cohesion accounted for additional significant variance in predicting the measures of emotional distress, even after controlling for self‐esteem.     

Optimism and realism: A review of self‐efficacy from a cross‐cultural perspective

T his review critically examines much of the research investigating self‐efficacy beliefs through cross‐cultural comparisons. Two sets of cross‐cultural comparison groups are examined: Asian (or immigrant Asian) versus Western, and Eastern European versus Western European and American groups. After an introduction to self‐efficacy theory, some cross‐cultural aspects of self and self‐beliefs are discussed, and the cultural dimensions of individualism and collectivism are introduced. Analysis of the articles focuses on differences in levels of efficacy beliefs, calibration of beliefs with performance, methodological problems, and implications for practice. Almost all of the 20 studies reviewed found efficacy beliefs to be lower for non‐Western cultural groups, but in some cases these lower beliefs were more predictive of subsequent functioning. There is some evidence that the mean efficacy beliefs of a cultural group are modified through immigration or political changes. For some non‐Western groups, collective efficacy appears to operate in much the same way as self‐efficacy operates for Western groups. Realistic—as opposed to optimistic—efficacy beliefs do not necessarily predict poor performance for all cultural groups, as has been suggested by self‐efficacy theory. Only a minority of the studies included measurement of cultural dimensions such as individualism and collectivism, although most of the studies based conclusions on assumed cultural differences. In some cases, self‐efficacy was poorly defined and bore little resemblance to theoretically derived definitions. Conclusions from this research have implications especially for applied settings in education and business: Efficacy beliefs and performance appear to be enhanced when training approaches are congruent with the individual's sense of self. Lower levels of self‐efficacy beliefs found in some collectivist groups do not always signify lower subsequent performance, but are instead reflective of differing construals of self.     

A longitudinal,naturalistic and cross‐cultural study on emotions in early infant‐parent imitative interactions

The present longitudinal, naturalistic and cross‐cultural study aims to investigate and extend our understanding of the intersubjective nature of the early imitations that may be observed in free interactions between young infants and their parents. Thirty infants, 15 from Greece and 15 from Scotland, were observed separately with their mothers and fathers at home every 2 weeks, from the second to the sixth month after birth. In each dyad, the emotional states of both interacting partners before, during and after the imitative episodes were subjected to microanalysis. The results indicate that emotional coordination, either by direct matching of expressions or by attunement, precedes, accompanies and follows imitation. This kind of coordination was found to be the same in Crete and Scotland, and for parents and infants of both sexes. It is concluded that this coordination of emotions with early imitative phenomena is evidence of motivational coherence, both within the subjects, and between them in an intersubjective play.     

White is a colour too: engaging actively with the risks,challenges and rewards of cross‐cultural family therapy training and practice

Due to increased global mobility and displacement there is a growing cultural diversity within therapeutic encounters between therapists and clients. Literature on cross‐cultural therapy traditionally focuses on the culture of clients. However, due to recent theoretical shifts in the family therapy field, the importance of including the culture of therapists in the discourse about cross‐cultural therapy has been highlighted. Drawing on the experience of the author, as therapist, trainee and trainer, as well as recent developments in the literature, this paper reflects on cross‐cultural training and practice within family therapy in Britain. The author argues that white is a colour too, thus challenging ‘white’ therapists not to leave thinking about and addressing cross‐cultural issues in family therapy to their colleagues ‘of colour’, but to actively engage with the risks and uncertainties of cross‐cultural learning and practice. Ways to facilitate this process are suggested. In particular a multi‐dimensional approach that allows for complexity and contradiction is promoted and the potential of using the personal life experiences of therapists as a safe, non‐pathologizing training tool is discussed.     

Operationalizing value importance in cross‐cultural research: Comparing direct and indirect measures

This research compared direct and indirect operationalizations of work value importance across 25 nations using data from the Work Orientations II Module of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). Respondents provided direct ratings of the extent to which each of seven work goals was subjectively important to them. They also rated their satisfaction with each of the same work goals and with their jobs overall. Thus, an indirect operationalization of work value importance was formed from the empirical relationships between satisfaction with each work goal and overall job satisfaction. As expected, results showed that conclusions drawn about cross‐cultural differences depended on the method used for operationalizing work values. Implications of the results for the interpretation of cross‐cultural differences are discussed.     

Stereotype change and prejudice reduction: short‐ and long‐term evaluation of a cross–cultural awareness programme

The present study reports an evaluation of an applied prejudice reduction intervention. Previous research has indicated that such programmes achieve limited success. The programme evaluated was an in‐house anti‐racist education programme aimed at reducing prejudice towards Aboriginal Australians. The target audience were employees of a large public service organization. Knowledge of, prejudice towards, and stereotyping of Aboriginal Australians were assessed before commencing the programme to establish a baseline. Changes in these variables were assessed immediately after completing the programme, and again 3 months after completing the programme. The programme had pronounced effects immediately after completion: there was a significant increase in knowledge and significant decrease in prejudice and negative stereotyping. However, 3 months later, there was no significant difference to baseline levels of prejudice and stereotyping. Knowledge remained significantly higher than at baseline 3 months after completing the programme. High prejudice participants alone experienced a significant, long‐term decrease in old‐fashioned racism. It is concluded that further research must be done to develop more successful strategies of prejudice reduction and stereotype change that are also applicable to ‘real world’ contexts. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Maternal expectations about infant development of pre‐term and full‐term infants: a cross‐national comparison

In three European regions (The Netherlands, Northern Italy and Southern Italy) we investigated whether mothers of healthy pre‐term infants (n=92) adjust their expectations for the timing of developmental milestones in the first years of life as compared to mothers of full‐term infants (n=140). We examined whether these adjustments could be seen as reflecting a pessimistic view, as would be predicted from the ‘prematurity stereotype’ perspective. Partial corrections for prematurity were regularly made, but no indications were found for an overly pessimistic view. Moreover, the differences between the regions in the anticipated timing of mastery of milestones were larger than the effects of prematurity. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.