Work-group characteristics and performance in collectivistic and individualistic cultures

The authors conducted a cross-cultural longitudinal investigation of the effects of culture (individualism-collectivism dichotomy) on group characteristics (functional heterogeneity, preference for teamwork, group potency, outcome expectation) and on performance of 83 work groups performing 2 decision-making tasks over a 15-week period. The individualists (U.S. students) reported higher levels of functional heterogeneity and group potency and attained higher levels of group performance than did the collectivists (Korean students). In addition, culture and time interacted to influence ratings of group potency and outcome expectation. The difference in ratings of group potency between individualists and collectivists increased over time. Outcome expectation was greater among the collectivists in Time 1 and among the individualists in Time 2. The authors discuss implications for future cross-cultural group research and international management.     

Culture and the distinctiveness motive: constructing identity in individualistic and collectivistic contexts

The motive to attain a distinctive identity is sometimes thought to be stronger in, or even specific to, those socialized into individualistic cultures. Using data from 4,751 participants in 21 cultural groups (18 nations and 3 regions), we tested this prediction against our alternative view that culture would moderate the ways in which people achieve feelings of distinctiveness, rather than influence the strength of their motivation to do so. We measured the distinctiveness motive using an indirect technique to avoid cultural response biases. Analyses showed that the distinctiveness motive was not weaker-and, if anything, was stronger-in more collectivistic nations. However, individualism-collectivism was found to moderate the ways in which feelings of distinctiveness were constructed: Distinctiveness was associated more closely with difference and separateness in more individualistic cultures and was associated more closely with social position in more collectivistic cultures. Multilevel analysis confirmed that it is the prevailing beliefs and values in an individual's context, rather than the individual's own beliefs and values, that account for these differences.     

Parallels between depression and lament

This article compares the experiences portrayed by the psalmists in Psalm 31 and Psalm 102, both psalms of lament, with the current concept of major depression. It concludes by exploring how the insights of the psalms may be applied in pastoral care directed toward those who suffer from depression.     

A cross-cultural investigation into the relationships between personality traits and work values

Over 500 working individuals from 2 European countries (Great Britain and Greece) participated in a 2-study investigation into the relationships between the Big Five personality factors and individuals' work values. In Study 1 (N = 314), British employees completed the 60-item NEO-Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1989) and the Work Values Questionnaire (WVQ; Mantech, 1983), which comprises 37 items measuring intrinsic (e.g., autonomy) and extrinsic (e.g., pay) work values. In Study 2 (N = 216), Greek employees completed a Greek language measure of the Big Five and a translated version of the WVQ. The authors observed a similar factor structure for the WVQ items in both studies. Personality traits, age, and gender explained between 5% and 13% of the variance in the WVQ subscales. As a result of the 2 studies, the authors concluded that there are robust associations between certain personality traits and work values, although they do not clearly follow the intrinsic vs. extrinsic distinction.     

Parallels between remembering and predicting an object's location

Three experiments explore effects of rotational axis and velocity on observers' predictions regarding an object's future position, and begin to explore connections between this extrapolation task and representational momentum (RM). In general, observers accept as "correct" positions that are behind the correct extrapolated location, as shown in previous work (Cooper & Munger, 1993; Finke & Shyi, 1998). These prediction distortions are in the opposite direction of typical RM memory distortions, suggesting that these tasks are unrelated. However, new effects of axis for the extrapolation task are reported which parallel axis effects previously observed for RM and mental rotation tasks. Specifically, participants make larger negative distortion errors for axes of rotation that are not coincident with the viewer's coordinate system, as if these paths of rotation are harder to extrapolate. Effects of velocity and axis are examined for RM and extrapolation tasks, and the overall pattern of distortions supports a link. In particular, participants who misremember the location of an object as further along the implied path of motion also accept as "correct" positions relatively further along the extrapolated path of motion, suggesting that these apparently opposite types of errors are indeed related.     

Sociomoral reasoning in children and adolescents from two collectivistic cultures

This study compared the sociomoral reasoning of 7-, 9-, 12-, and 15-year-old children and adolescents of two collectivistic cultures in the 1990s: Spain (horizontal collectivism; N = 208) and Russia (vertical collectivism; N = 247). Participants reasoned about choices and moral justifications of a protagonist in a sociomoral dilemma where participants can focus on different moral and non-moral concerns (e.g., going with their best friend, going with a new classmate or trying to do something with both). Results support previous research in western societies: participants tend to choose the option “visiting the best friend”, and self-interest tends to decrease with age whereas altruism tends to increase. Moreover, Spanish participants tended to consider all parties involved in the dilemma (i.e., old friend and new classmate), whereas Russian participants did not. These results are discussed in light of their differences as horizontal and vertical collectivistic societies. Overall, the results open an avenue for new studies when comparing the effects of culture on children's and adolescents' development.     

Parallels Between Gaps and Gluts

This paper compares two proposed solutions to the liar paradox, both of which involve revisions to classical semantics. The first, that of truth value gaps, denies that all sentences are true or false. The second, that of truth value gluts, asserts that some sentences are true and false. A natural question about these proposals is, ‘Do they offer equally good (or bad) solutions, or is one better than the other?’ Parsons 1990 Parsons, Terence. 1990. True Contradictions. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 20/3: 335–54. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] suggested an answer to this question, arguing that for every problem for one solution, there is a parallel problem for the other. Since then, several people have given arguments for and against the idea that the two face parallel problems. This paper advances the debate in two ways. First, it answers four attempts by Graham Priest to reject the parallel. In particular, it discusses alleged advantages for the gap solution with regard to the teleological account of truth, an extended liar paradox, Berry's paradox, and inexpressibility. Second, it discusses where, if anywhere, the parallel may be broken.     

The relationship between cooperative,competitive, and individualistic attitudes and differentiated aspects of self-esteem1

Four studies to clarify the relationship between attitudes toward styles of social interdependence and ways of deriving self-esteem were conducted among 821 white, middle-class, secondary school students in a midwest suburban community. Correlations between attitudes toward three styles of interdependence and four ways of deriving self-esteem indicate distinctive and theoretically predictable patterns of relationship. Students who indicate a cathexis for cooperative relationships report patterns of higher self-esteem related to freedom of personal expressiveness and feelings of personal well-being; students indicating a cathexis for competitive or individualized patterns of interdependence report greater vulnerability on dimensions of self-esteem reflecting sensitivity to experiences of success, approval, and support of others. The magnitudes of correlations between a global measure of personal worth and attitudes toward the three types of interdependence reflect the extent to which positive social reinforcement is available in these settings. Specific correlations that reflect these findings are significant, p < .01.     

Collective and individualistic coping with stress at work

In the present study, coping was viewed as both an individualistic and a collective phenomenon, and the investigation assessed how use of collective and individualistic coping strategies was related to sex of respondent and organizational level. These strategies were measured by responses to Swedish versions of the Strategic Approach to Coping Scale and the COPE Inventory. Data were collected by means of an Internet-based questionnaire completed by 950 female (n = 502) and male (n = 448) employees at both the managerial (n = 171) and nonmanagerial (n = 764) levels, working in customer service in a Swedish telecom company. The mean age of the participants was 47 yr. (SD = 9.7). Analysis showed women more often used collective strategies, but so also did both women and men managers. Men did not use problem-focused individualistic coping strategies more often than women. No interactions between sex and organizational level were found. Separate analyses for women and men indicated that coping was more related to organizational level than to sex.     

Prosociality: the contribution of traits, values, and self-efficacy beliefs

The present study examined how agreeableness, self-transcendence values, and empathic self-efficacy beliefs predict individuals' tendencies to engage in prosocial behavior (i.e., prosociality) across time. Participants were 340 young adults, 190 women and 150 men, age approximately 21 years at Time 1 and 25 years at Time 2. Measures of agreeableness, self-transcendence, empathic self-efficacy beliefs, and prosociality were collected at 2 time points. The findings corroborated the posited paths of relations, with agreeableness directly predicting self-transcendence and indirectly predicting empathic self-efficacy beliefs and prosociality. Self-transcendence mediated the relation between agreeableness and empathic self-efficacy beliefs. Empathic self-efficacy beliefs mediated the relation of agreeableness and self-transcendence to prosociality. Finally, earlier prosociality predicted agreeableness and empathic self-efficacy beliefs assessed at Time 2. The posited conceptual model accounted for a significant portion of variance in prosociality and provides guidance to interventions aimed at promoting prosociality.     

Narcissism and romantic attraction: Evidence from a collectivistic culture

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between narcissism and romantic attraction in a collectivistic culture (i.e., Thailand). In Study 1, participants completed a measure of narcissism and rated their attraction to four potential romantic partners. There was an overall preference across participants for caring targets. Additionally, high narcissists were more attracted to admiring and high status targets than were low narcissists. A similar pattern of results was found in Study 2 with targets that were either high caring/low status or high status/low caring. Overall, caring in a partner was highly valued in a collectivistic culture, but narcissism still predicted attraction to targets who offered the potential for self-enhancement. These findings suggest that classically Western self-enhancement can be found in Eastern samples; however, to uncover these self-enhancement processes, researchers might need to use a personality variable such as narcissism.     

Cyberbullying in a diverse society: comparing Jewish and Arab adolescents in Israel through the lenses of individualistic versus collectivist cultures

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in cyberbullying (bystanders, victims, bullies) between Jewish and Arab adolescents in Israel. The findings could uncover critical implications for children, educators, and policymakers for understanding Cyberbullying in a diverse society. In particular, the differences in cyberbullying between collective and individualistic societies and the effect of gender bias on the likelihood of engaging in cyberbullying. Two cultural contexts in Israel were explored: one representing a collectivist orientation (Arab-Muslim and Arab-Christian culture), the other representing a more individualistic orientation (Jewish culture). The study included 901 junior high and high school students (501 Jewish-Israelis and 400 Arab–Israelis), which filled in an online cyberbullying survey. Findings revealed that Jewish adolescents reported being cybervictims and cyberbystanders more than Arab adolescents, yet contrary to expectation, Arab adolescents reported being cyberbullies more than Jewish adolescents. Contrary to expectation, no gender differences in being a bully were found among Jewish adolescents, while among Arab adolescents, girls reported higher bullying than boys. The cultural difference was significant among girls, revealing that Jewish girls were higher than Arab girls on bystanding and victimization, yet Arab girls were higher than Jewish girls on bullying in cyberspace. The cultural difference was not significant among boys. Using online communication as a theoretical framework, this study observed aspects of cyberbullying in the diverse and multicultural society of Israel through the lenses of individualistic versus collectivist cultures. The findings and their implications are further discussed and shed more light on cyberbullying in a diverse and multicultural society.     

Pooling peripheral information: Averages versus extreme values

Suppose, as an idealization, that sensory intensity is coded in peripheral channels as identical Poisson pulse trains with intensity parameter a power function of signal intensity. Discrimination models based on either an average count computed over a fixed time or an average time computed for a fixed count per channel have difficulty in fitting the Weber function ($\text{ΔI}\text{I}$ versus I) if the free parameters are constrained to ranges determined from other experiments (magnitude estimation, reaction time). Here we study a different decision rule, namely, the most extreme observation in either the counting or timing mode. Our extremum-counting model, but not two timing ones, accounts very nicely for the Weber function. However, the ROC curves for these extremum models, which agree in shape with data of Green and Luce, yield estimates for the intensity parameter which are much larger than predicted by the power function growth used to calculate ΔI and about twice as large as those estimated from reaction time data collected in the same experiment.     

Exploring the relations between traits and emotions

The relationships among traits and among emotions have been well researched and are well known, but few experimental probes of the relationships between traits and emotions have been undertaken. The present investigation sought to describe the relations that exist between traits and emotions. The Comrey Personality Scale (a trait inventory) and the Profile of Mood States (an emotion inventory) were administered to 140 students and the subscales were correlated using canonical procedures. The resulting canonical correlations may be specified in bipolar summary form as follows: Neurotic-Stable was found to be correlated with Depressed-Hopeful; Introverted-Extraverted was found to be correlated with Quiescent-Vigorous; and Empathic-Egocentrical was found to be correlated with Content-Confused. Furthermore, the predictive strength between the trait set and the emotion set was reasonably good, although substantially better when traits rather than emotions served as the predictors.     

Valuing myself over others: The Dark Triad traits and moral and social values

In samples from America and Germany (N = 1353), we examined how the Dark Triad traits related to different value systems as measured by Moral Foundations and Social Values. Psychopathy was linked to diminished concerns for all Moral Foundations, Machiavellianism was linked to a moral flexibility, and narcissism was linked to a socially desirable form of morality. Machiavellianism and psychopathy scores were associated with a devaluing of collective interests, whereas narcissism was associated with a valuing of individual interests through the value of Self-Enhancement. Individual differences in a variety of values mediated part of the sex differences in the Dark Triad traits. We contend that what makes the Dark Triad traits unique and interesting is that they share a unique complex of values that might run counter to societal expectations for selflessness.     

An individualistic approach to the evaluation and remediation of stuttering

A decision model is presented to facilitate the evaluation of stuttering behavior. This model calls for the evaluation to be conducted along a continuum with specified initiation and termination points. Following the evaluation, the information is formulated into an organized remediation procedure leading to fluent productions in the individual. This approach allows evaluation and remediation to be individualized to meet the needs and capabilities of each stutterer while allowing the professional the flexibility to choose remediation materials on the basis of objective information. Two case studies are presented to illustrate the use of the approach.