GENES, MIND AND CULTURE

Abstract. The 1981 book Genes, Mind and Culture by Edward O. Wilson and Charles J. Lumsden attempts to offer a comprehensive theory of the linkage between biological and cultural evolution. In the following 21 May 1982 radio broadcast, produced by Julian Brown under the auspices of the British Broadcasting Corporation, Wilson is joined by a philosopher, a geneticist, and a religion scholar in a discussion of "gene culture co-evolution" and of other issues raised by sociobiology. The discussion is introduced and chaired by the editor of Nature , John Maddox.     

THE RELATIONSHIP OF YOGA, BODY AWARENESS, AND BODY RESPONSIVENESS TO SELF-OBJECTIFICATION AND DISORDERED EATING

Study 1 tested whether yoga practice is associated with greater awareness of and responsiveness to bodily sensations, lower self-objectification, greater body satisfaction, and fewer disordered eating attitudes. Three samples of women (43 yoga, 45 aerobic, and 51 nonyoga/nonaerobic practitioners) completed questionnaire measures. As predicted, yoga practitioners reported more favorably on all measures. Body responsiveness, and, to some extent, body awareness significantly explained group differences in self-objectification, body satisfaction, and disordered eating attitudes. The mediating role of body awareness, in addition to body responsiveness, between self-objectification and disordered eating attitudes was also tested as proposed in objectification theory ( Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997 ). Body responsiveness, but not awareness, mediated the relationship between self-objectification and disordered eating attitudes. This finding was replicated in Study 2 in a sample of female undergraduate students. It is concluded that body responsiveness and, to some extent, body awareness are related to self-objectification and its consequences.     

CULTURE,COUNTING AND NUMBER CONSERVATION

Children from 3 remote village populations in Papua New Guinea were administered notational counting and number conservation tasks. The results replicate previous research conducted in the United States that shows children develop the use of counting to mediate the comparison and reproduction of sets prior to understanding number conservation. The significance of these findings is discussed with respect to current models of number development.     

ECOLOGY,CULTURE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION

A model which examined interrelationships among ecological setting, cultural adaptation and psychological differentiation was proposed. Details of each element of the model were discussed, and behavioural predictions were made. Specifically, hunters and gatherers, who were migratory and low in population density and food accumulation were expected to exhibit high levels of psychological differentiation in perceptual, social and affective areas of psychological differentiation. Conversely, sedentary peoples who were higher in population density and food accumulation were expected to exhibit lower levels of differentiation, while those peoples who were ecologically intermediate were expected to exhibit moderate levels. Sampling in Amerindian communities, and comparing these new data to previous African, Australian, and Eskimo data, led to the conclusion that higher levels of differentiation in perceptual, social and affective domains do indeed characterize hunters and gatherers. However, such differences within a single culture area were minimal. An examination of the cross-cultural stability of the concept of psychological differentiation suggested greatest internal consistency for hunters and gatherers, and less for sedentary peoples; constant relationships with socialization emphases were found, while variations in sex differences were related to features of socio-cultural stratification.     

LEIBNIZ ON BODY, MATTER AND EXTENSION

This paper explores Leibniz's conception of body and extension in the 1680s and 1690s. It is argued that one of Leibniz's central aims is to undermine the Cartesian conception of extended substance, and replace it with a conception on which what is basic to body is force. In this way, Leibniz intends to reduce extension to something metaphysically more basic in just the way that the mechanists reduce sensible qualities to size, shape and motion. It is also argued that this move is quite distinct from the reduction of body to monads and their appetitions and perceptions, so prominent in his later writings.     

INTELLIGENCE,COGNITIVE STYLES,AND BRAIN LATERALIZATION

The concept of intelligence as a kind of mental power is criticized, since it is essentially static. Many authors wish to substitute the concept of processes or styles of thinking and learning, which might be developed by appropriate training. But there is no consensus as to which styles are of major importance in intellectual growth, and few of those suggested can be assessed objectively. They resemble the historical notion of types; and like types, they may be weak in internal consistency and generalizability. Some types which are defined by psychometric variables or factors are more promising. Currently the contrast between left brain and right brain functions is over-popularized. But it is associated both with verbal vs visuospatial abilities, and with analytic-sequential vs holistic processing. The right brain has been credited with a wide range of other functions for which there is little evidence, e.g., intuition, creativity, meditational trance states, etc. Findings from studies of brain-damaged or commissurotomized patients, and experiments with normal subjects, are outlined. The dichotomy is not the same as Das' simultaneous vs successive, Freud's primary vs secondary processes, Witkin's field independence, or Guilford's convergent vs divergent. Certain implications for education, for mental testing, and for cross-cultural research are discussed.     

EVENT-RELATED BRAIN POTENTIALS, EYE MOVEMENTS, AND READING

Abstract— This article compares studies that use event-related brain potential (ERP) and eye movement data to examine changes in reading behavior when a text is read twice. Although the types of information provided by these methodologies are different, both indicate that rereading a text facilitates many aspects of processing. ERPs provide a method for measuring comprehension and memory processes separately, while eye movements provide a continuous record of performance and allow changes in reading behavior to be localized to specific words. The results from these studies are compatible. However, converging evidence is not always found when different paradigms are contrasted, and diverging results can provide important information. To facilitate comparison across experiments, we suggest using a common set of materials for both paradigms. We conclude that comparing the results of research based on more than one paradigm provides a more complete understanding of the processes involved in reading.     

WOMEN AND BODY HAIR

This study examines college students' attitudes toward and perceptions of a woman with body hair as a function of respondent gender and feminist attitudes. Participants reacted to a video of a White woman either with or without visible leg and underarm hair. Results supported the hypothesis that a woman with body hair will be seen as less sexually and interpersonally attractive than the same woman without body hair. Specifically, the woman with body hair was viewed as less sociable, intelligent, happy, and positive, and as more aggressive, active, and strong. Attitudes toward feminism predicted attitudes about body hair in general, which in turn predicted reactions to the model with body hair. Despite the fact that women students had more positive attitudes about body hair and more feminist attitudes than their male counterparts, there were no gender differences in reactions to the model with body hair. Implications regarding this pervasive cultural norm are discussed.     

THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG BODY IMAGE, BODY MASS INDEX, EXERCISE, AND SEXUAL FUNCTIONING IN HETEROSEXUAL WOMEN

Problems related to negative body image are very common among young women. In this study, we examined the relationship between women's body image and their sexual functioning over and above the effects of physical exercise and body mass index (BMI) in a sample of 214 university women. Low situational body image dysphoria and low body dissatisfaction were associated with high sexual assertiveness and sexual esteem, low sexual anxiety, and fewer sexual problems. Positive body image was significantly associated with better sexual functioning, even after controlling for BMI and exercise. Although related to body image, BMI and exercise did not predict sexual functioning. These results were interpreted as indicating that a woman's subjective body image is significantly related to her sexual functioning beyond the effects of actual body size and level of physical exercise.     

PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS, BODY IMAGE, AND WOMEN'S SEXUAL SELF-SCHEMA

Recently, Andersen and Cyranowski (1994) presented a self-report measure of women's sexual self-schema, or cognitive view of the self regarding sexuality. In the current study, we investigated potential relationships between women's sexual self-schema and physical attractiveness, body size and shape, and body image. Young adult women ( N = 199) completed questionnaires and were weighed, measured, and rated for facial attractiveness. Results revealed that sexual self-schema was unrelated to body size or shape, general body dissatisfaction, history of teasing about weight, and degree of investment in personal appearance. Sexual self-schema scores significantly correlated with experimenter-rated facial attractiveness, self-rated facial and bodily attractiveness, and degree of social avoidance due to concerns over personal appearance, however. In a multiple regression analysis, only self-rated facial attractiveness and social avoidance were unique predictors. Results are discussed with regard to implications for the development of women's sexual self-schema and directions for future research.     

APPLICANT PERSONALITY, ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE, AND ORGANIZATION ATTRACTION

This study examined the dispositional basis of job seekers' organizational culture preferences and how these preferences interact with recruiting organizations' cultures in their relation to organization attraction. Data were collected from 182 business, engineering, and industrial relations students who were seeking positions at the time of the study. Results obtained from multiple sources suggested that the Big Five personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) generally were related to hypothesized dimensions of culture preferences. Results also suggested that both objective person-organization fit (congruence between applicant culture preferences and recruiting organization's reputed culture) and subjective fit (applicant's direct perception of fit) were related to organization attraction. Further, subjective fit mediated the relationship between objective fit and organization attraction.     

组织文化、组织文化吻合度与员工的组织公民行为

以中国普通员工为被试,考察了组织文化、组织文化吻合度与员工组织公民行为(OCB)之间的关系.结果发现: (1)不同年龄、不同类型企业员工的OCB存在显著差异,但在性别、教育水平方面没有差异; (2)不同取向的组织文化对员工不同层面的OCB具有不同的预测作用.具体而言.组织文化对社会层面OCB的预测作用较强;就单一取向的组织文化来看,人本与创新取向的组织文化对OCB的预测作用最强; (3)在组织文化影响员工组织公民行为时,组织文化吻合度具有一定的调节作用,这种调节作用在人本与创新取向以及规范与安定取向的组织文化影响OCB时表现更加明显.     

CULTURE AND COGNITIVE PROBLEMS

Culture et problèms cognitifs. — L'A. étudie les effets du niveau culturel et des processus d'acculturation sur deux aspects du fonctionnement cognitif: L'exploration d'une configuration perceptive et L'élaboration des informations. Pour rendre compte du premier, ont été retenus les résultats d'une recherche faite sur des populations primitives de L'Amazonie soumises au test de Roschach: L'augmentation du pourcentage des réponses Dd., chez les sujets “acculturés” par rapport à ceux qui ne le sont pas, indique qu'il y a passage d'une phase de réponses globales et stéréotypées à une phase d'analyse détaillée bien qu'encore primitive. En second lieu, L'élaboration des informations drées de L'exploration d'une configuration perceptive a été étudiée relativement aux points suivants: causalité physique, notions de conservation, intégration de variables antagonistes et opération de combinaison. Les résultats montrent qu'un milieu socio-culturel sous-développé ou un niveau d'instruction nul ou insuffisant, ou encore un milieu de travail peu “acculturé” peuvent faire obstacle au développement d'un processus de pensée apte á considérer plusieurs variables, même antagonistes, à la fois, et à les intégrer dans une fonction unique, par un réseau de relations multiplicatives. En général, la seule maturation biologique ne permet pas d'atteindre complètement ce type de pensée. Le raisonnement des sujets adultes qui viennent d'un milieu sous-développé fluctue entre schème notionnel et schème figuratif; il se rapproche de L'un ou de L'autre selon le degré de pression qu'exercent les éléments perceptifs. C'est pourquoi on évoque ici L'utilité, limitée a la résolution d'un problème, que pourrait avoir le fait de dormer aux sujets des instruments mécaniques de “servo-pensée”. Les résultats de ces études semblent enfin montrer que certains retards dans le développement intellectuel peuvent être rattrapés lorsqu'on place les sujets dans un milieu plus favorable.     

BODY IMAGE AND SOCIOCULTURAL NORMS

Internalization of sociocultural norms about the body has been theorized to be an important factor in fostering body dissatisfaction in women. Some theorists have suggested that a lesbian identity may buffer or immunize lesbians from the damaging effects of society's pressure to be thin by reducing this internalization. This study was designed to test this claim empirically. Questionnaires were completed by 108 lesbians and 115 heterosexual women recruited through snowball sampling. Lesbians felt more fit, reported less negative attitudes toward their lower bodies, and internalized sociocultural norms less than heterosexual women. For all women, internalization of sociocultural norms significantly predicted body attitudes. Lesbians and heterosexual women appear to be similarly exposed to and aware of society's messages, and as such their body attitudes substantially overlap. However, lesbians are buffered from these views in some specific areas. These differences appear to be primarily the result of differential internalization of sociocultural norms.     

GENDER, EXCESSIVE BODY WEIGHT, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING IN ADULTHOOD

We examined gender differences in the association between body mass index (BMI) and psychological well-being. Regression analysis involving 3,251 adults indicated that gender moderated the BMI–psychological well-being link. In follow-up analyses, higher BMI predicted lower psychological well-being only among women. When participants were categorized into 5 BMI groups, women reported lower psychological well-being than men in the overweight and obese I groups, but no gender differences were observed in the more seriously obese or normal-weight groups. Also, among women, all 4 groups with higher-than-normal BMI had lower psychological well-being than normal-weight women; for men, no significant differences were found across the 5 groups. These findings are discussed in relation to research on stigma theory and gender-differentiated cultural norms regarding weight.