Self-concept: a cross-cultural study.

Self-concept differences between 190 American and 98 Danish 5th and 6th grade suburban students were examined in light of known societal and educational differences. Danish males and American females reported significantly higher self-confidence in personal attributes; American students reported higher achieving in school scores than Danish students. Results are discussed in the contex of cultural differences; further areas of investigation are offered.     

Deductive reasoning and creativity: a cross-cultural study

The present cross-cultural study examined the relationship between deductive reasoning and creativity among college students (M age=20.4 yr., SD= .6) from Hong Kong (n=39) and the United States (n=38). Participants performed tasks designed to measure deductive reasoning, creative writing, and insight problem-solving, all in verbal form. No correlation was found between the performance for deductive reasoning and creativity as measured by creative writing. Insight problem-solving performance correlated significantly with that for both reasoning and creativity. Significant cultural differences favoring the American participants were only found on the creative writing and insight problem-solving tasks, both of which supposedly involve creative thinking. There seems to be cultural dependence for creativity but not for deductive reasoning which suggests a qualification of a strong cultural-relevance view positing pervasive cultural influences on human thinking processes.     

Psychopathy in Iran: a cross-cultural study

Few cross-cultural studies have assessed psychopathy and none have included a sample from non-western countries. This study investigated the factor structure of the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV) in an Iranian sample, and compared the results with a western sample. Three hundred fifty-one Iranian prisoners were compared with 405 participants of the standardization sample of the PCL:SV. Confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory method were used for data analysis. The Iranian data fitted well with the hierarchical three-factor model of psychopathy and neither two- nor four-factor models showed an adequate fit. Differential item functioning existed across samples, with discriminatory power of factor 1 (arrogant and deceitful interpersonal style) being lower in the Iranian sample that for factor 2 (deficient emotional experience) being greater in the Iranian sample than the standardization sample. Deficient emotional experience might be the most significant factor in diagnosing psychopathy, regardless of the studied culture. Other factors appear to be relatively culture-specific.     

Children's gender-related inferences and judgments: a cross-cultural study.

This study compared the gender-related inferences and judgments of elementary school children (N = 542) of 2 different age groups (3rd graders and 5th graders) from 2 different cultures: Taiwan, a traditional collectivistic culture, and Israel, an individualistic and less traditional culture. The children were presented with 4 stories, 2 about a male target and 2 about a female target with either traditionally masculine or traditionally feminine interests, and were asked to make cognitive and emotional-motivational inferences and judgments about them. Culture played an important role in children's gender-related inferences and judgments. Specifically, Taiwanese children distinguished more than did Israeli children between male targets behaving stereotypically and counterstereotypically. The findings are analyzed within the framework of the differences between the 2 cultures.     

Cheiron's origins: personal recollections and a photograph

When the Cheiron Society convened at the University of New Hampshire for its thirty-fifth annual meeting in June 2003, members were returning to the site where the proposal to establish a new scholarly organization to promote research in the history of the behavioral and social sciences originated in the summer of 1968. I was witness to Cheiron's birthing and have been closely involved in its evolution over the years, and so was asked to comment on the circumstances that produced what has become a vibrant source of stimulation and support for those of us interested in the field. (For other published accounts of the Institute and Cheiron's founding see Brozek, Watson, & Ross, 1969, 1970; Goodman, 1979, 1982; Watson, 1972, 1975; and Weyant, 1968.)     

Adult recollections of earliest childhood dreams: a cross-cultural study

In two studies, Caucasian and Asian college students recalled their earliest memory of a dream, and they provided information about behaviours and beliefs associated with dreaming. Consistent with previous research on childhood amnesia, participants rarely recounted dreams that occurred before age 3. In Study 1, the mean age of the earliest dream memory was 14 months earlier for Caucasians than for Asians. In Study 2, more Asians than Caucasians were unable to remember a childhood dream. Dream-related behaviours and beliefs also differed markedly across cultures. Compared to Asians, Caucasians reported talking more frequently with parents about their dreams in childhood, receiving stronger parental encouragement to share dreams, and feeling more comfortable doing so. Caucasians also reported sharing their dreams with others more frequently in adulthood and they assigned greater value to their dreams. Most Caucasians but few Asians consented to the researchers' request to send parents a questionnaire concerning the participant's childhood dreams. The results support the social interaction explanation for autobiographical memory development, in which parent-child conversations about the personal past contribute to memory accessibility.     

Male physical attractiveness in Britain and Greece: a cross-cultural study

The waist-to-chest ratio (WCR), body mass index (BMI), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) are the major cues to women's ratings of men's bodily attractiveness (J. T. Fan, W. Dai, F. Liu, & J. Wu, 2005; D. M. Maisey, E. L. E. Vale, P. L. Cornelissen, & M. J. Tovée, 1999; V. Swami & M. J. Tovée, 2005b). The authors examined the relative importance of each of these cues cross-culturally in Greece and Britain. Participants were 36 British and 40 Greek women who rated a set of images of real men with known WCR, BMI, and WHR. The results showed that, regardless of the cultural setting, WCR was the primary determinant of men's physical attractiveness to women, with BMI playing a minor role. However, there were also cross-cultural differences: The Greek women showed a stronger preference for a lower WCR and smaller overall body weight than did the British women. The authors considered possible explanations of these findings.     

Female physical attractiveness in Britain and Malaysia: a cross-cultural study

Two purported cues to perceived 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 several culturally socio-economically distinct populations. Six hundred and eighty-two participants from Britain and Malaysia were asked to rate a set of images of real women with known BMI and WHR. The results showed that BMI is the primary determinant of female physical attractiveness, whereas WHR failed to emerge as a significant predictor. The results also showed that there were significant differences in preferences for physical attractiveness along a gradient of socio-economic development, with urban participants preferring images of women with significantly lower BMIs than their rural counterparts. The findings are discussed in terms of evolutionary psychological explanations of mate selection, and sociocultural theory, which emphasises the learning of preferences for body sizes in social and cultural contexts.     

Inner speech and bilingual autobiographical memory: a Polish-Danish cross-cultural study.

Thirty years after fleeing from Poland to Denmark, 20 immigrants were enlisted in a study of bilingual autobiographical memory. Ten "early immigrators" averaged 24 years old at the time of immigration, and ten "late immigrators" averaged 34 years old at immigration. Although all 20 had spent 30 years in Denmark, early immigrators reported more current inner speech behaviours in Danish, whereas late immigrators showed more use of Polish. Both groups displayed proportionally more numerous autobiographical retrievals that were reported as coming to them internally in Polish (vs Danish) for the decades prior to immigration and more in Danish (vs Polish) after immigration. We propose a culture- and language-specific shaping of semantic and conceptual stores that underpins autobiographical and world knowledge.     

Psychometric appraisal of Eysenck's revised Psychoticism scale: a cross-cultural study

Psychometric characteristics of Eysenck's revised P scale were studied in a cross-cultural research. The Spanish version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R) was administered to a Spanish sample of 527 males and 583 females. Maximum-likelihood factor analyses of the item intercorrelations and Direct Oblimin rotations of the extracted factors were carried out separately for males and females. The results revealed four factors identified as psychoticism (P), extraversion (E), neuroticism (N) and dissimulation/conformity (L). Internal consistency and test–retest reliability coefficients were satisfactory and very similar to the ones found in the original study. Skewness and kurtosis of the P scale distribution were closer to normal than on the original British revised P scale.     

Type A behavior and occupational stress: a cross-cultural study of blue-collar workers

Psychophysiological, archival, unobtrusive observation, and self-report data were compared for Type A and Type B male bus drivers in the United States and India. Type A bus drivers in comparison with their Type B counterparts have more accidents, absenteeism, official reprimands, and self-reports of occupational stress. In India, but not in the United States, Type A drivers brake, pass, and blow their horns more often than Type B drivers. Although drivers exhibited expected elevations in blood pressure and catecholamines on the job, the magnitude of these increases did not differ as a function of the Type A/B classification.     

Psychological adjustment among adult children of alcoholics: a cross-cultural study.

In this study, we compared Hispanic and Caucasian college students identified as adult children of alcoholics in terms of psychological adjustment using the Diagnostic Inventory of Personality and Symptoms (DIPS; Vincent, 1985). Results of the study suggested that, among college students, Caucasian men seem to be at a greater risk for using alcohol and drugs than Caucasian women or Hispanic men and women.     

The role of appraisal in human emotions: a cross-cultural study.

Several theories of emotion propose that emotional responses are largely determined by the way events are appraised. To determine whether the proposed dimensions of appraisal are consistent across cultures, 973 Ss from the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, and the People's Republic of China were asked to describe emotional experiences. Few differences between the 3 cultures were observed on the more primitive dimensions (pleasantness, attentional activity, certainty, coping ability, and goal/need conduciveness) and on 2 of the more cognitively complex dimensions (legitimacy and norm/self compatibility). More substantial differences were observed on 3 other complex dimensions (control, responsibility, and anticipated effort). Considerable pan-cultural consistency was also observed in the dimensions of subjective experience of emotion and in the relations between these dimensions and cognitive appraisals.