The paradox of promoting creativity in the Asian classroom: an empirical investigation

To shed light on the paradox of promoting creativity in the Asian classroom, the authors conducted 3 studies. The 1st study found that novice teachers classified student behaviors as desirable but uncreative (DBU) versus creative but undesirable (CBU). The 2nd study found that conservative-autocratic teachers were more likely to encourage DBU behaviors in class, whereas liberal-democratic teachers were more likely to encourage CBU behaviors in class. The 3rd study found that cultural individualism-collectivism had a positive impact on liberal-democratic teaching attitude but a negative impact on conservative-autocratic teaching attitude. In turn, liberal-democratic teaching attitude had a positive impact on the tendency to promote CBU behaviors, whereas conservative-autocratic teaching attitude had a positive impact on the tendency to promote DBU behaviors.     

Contribution of job satisfaction to happiness of Asian Americans.

Many demographic and labor force characteristics, such as family income, educational attainment, and occupation, correlated with job satisfaction. Since Asian Americans are more like Euro-Americans than African Americans in most of these characteristics, it seems reasonable to predict that their job satisfaction would be high as for Euro-Americans rather than low as for African Americans. Yet research of Weaver and Hinson showed that the opposite is true. One explanation for this unexpected result is that Asians do not think of jobs as a source of happiness but simply as a means of earning money to underwrite other aspects of their lives, such as the well-being of their families, which are the main sources of their happiness. The hypothesis was tested that job satisfaction does not contribute to the happiness of Asian Americans in comparison to satisfaction from other domains of their lives. Analysis was conducted of the attitudes of Asian-American (n = 160), African-American (n = 602), and Euro-American (n = 6,477) workers who responded to 22 surveys drawn from 1972 to 1998, each of which was representative of the labor force of the USA. The hypothesis was supported by the finding that the partial correlation of job satisfaction and global happiness with satisfaction in seven other domains of life (marriage, financial condition, community, nonwork activities, family, health and physical condition, and friendships) held constant was significant for Euro-American women and men but not for Asian Americans or African Americans of either sex. And, the same result occurred when global happiness was regressed on job satisfaction net the effects of satisfaction in other seven domains.     

Mathematical Knowledge Developed at Work: The Contribution of Practice Versus the Contribution of Schooling

Mathematical knowledge developed independently of school instruction has been documented among children as well as adults. However, the limits and strengths of this knowledge are not yet well known, and its relationship to knowledge acquired in school remains to be clarified. This study analyzes the use and understanding of mathematical knowledge among bookies with 0 to 11 years of schooling who work in a special kind of lottery game. They were observed at work while dealing with clients and while solving modified problems based on naturalistic observations. At work, regardless of their level of instruction, bookies were always highly efficient. When solving modified problems presented by the examiner, unschooled bookies often refused to try to solve some of them; when they attempted to solve the problems, however, their proportion of correct answers was similar to that found among more schooled subjects. Number of correct answers and a more general ability to analyze and to explain verbally the relationships and the mathematical models involved in the game correlated significantly with school instruction. Schooling did not, however, influence the use of specific techniques (e.g., algorithms) for performing arithmetic operations.     

Traumatic dissociation of aspects of the feminine: an Asian cultural perspective

The paper explores the impact of the dissociated feminine principle resulting from the trauma of cultural displacement in a young Chinese woman keen to embrace a modern Western identity. A case study illustrates the outcome of the client both consciously and unconsciously rejecting the traditional stereotypical Chinese feminine identity and instead embracing the distorted, yet seductive, image of the Western (Caucasian) woman as independent, intellectual and confident. Her defensive denial of the traditional feminine was dealt with by intellectualising both personal and professional relationships. Then, unconsciously, the dissociated traditional feminine was projected into a separate aspect of her identity that held the traumatised feelings. The intellectualisation was eventually understood as being a necessary defence to cope with the cultural as well as geographical dislocation trauma. And with this realisation a space was created to accept and integrate the denied feminine–in a literal as well as a symbolic manner.     

Optimism and Revolt of the Oppressed: A Comparison of Two Polish Jewish Ghettos of World War II

One World War II Jewish ghetto that revolted, the Warsaw Ghetto, is compared to one that did not, the Lodz Ghetto, in order to examine the causes of violent resistance. This structured focused comparative method (George, 1979) illuminates problems with previous explanations for revolt and nonrevolt in Jewish ghettos and suggest psychological variables that might have led to or precluded organized violence. Specifically, it appears that these two ghettos differed in their perceptions about their future. The residents of the Warsaw Ghetto believed they had no hope of survival while residents of the Lodz Ghetto remained optimistic. These differing perceptions seem to have led to the different outcomes. Possible causes of these percetpions are also discussed.     

Empowering the silent ranks: The Southeast Asian experience

Southeast Asians are among the fastest growing immigrant groups in the United States, yet the rich and varied Southeast Asian newcomer experiences remain underrepresented within the community psychology literature Much of this experience raises complex questions about the concept of empowerment. In this paper we summarize recent published work on the Southeast Asian experience. We will show that three themes have dominated extant work: (1) the importance of understanding the cultural dimensions of Southeast Asian experiences, including the ways in which broad differences between American and Southeast Asian culture call into question the suitability of Western approaches to intervention within the Southeast Asian community; (2) the importance of understanding the trauma and hardship of the immigration experience which accompanied the forced migration of many in the Southeast Asian community; and (3) the urgency of adopting effective strategies for addressing the pressing needs with this new immigrant community. Each of these themes potentially lends itself to an empowerment focus, but we will see that much of the work has been pursued in ways that are inconsistent with an empowerment perspective. We end the discussion with a consideration of what community psychology might gain from a deeper understanding of the Southeast Asian immigrant experience and we suggest possible areas for disciplinary involvement in Southeast Asian empowerment efforts.     

Globalizing Justice: The Contribution of Christian Spirituality

This article looks at the role of Christian spirituality in fostering right relationships. It looks first at the integral relationship between spirituality and justice, particularly as it takes shape within the terrain of the human heart. Secondly, it examines the role of social context in a transformative spirituality by looking at one faith community of undocumented immigrants in the United States. And thirdly it looks at migration as a metaphor for a spirituality of transformation, one that orients a pilgrim people towards a homeward journey and awakens in us a social conscience. The central argument is that spiritual transformation is about the movement towards authenticity, where the gift of peace grows from the rebuilding of our relationships with God, ourselves and others.     

Counselling in Action: Sexual abuse in an Asian family

This case study concerns a family of three generations of Asians living in London. It involves three children (two boys and a girl) who were sexually abused by one of the members of the extended family, for a period exceeding 5 years. Attempts to deal with the problem within the secrecy of the family conspiracy failed. It led to a breakdown of communications within the family network. Subsequently, the problem came under police investigation. The perpetrator was found guilty and sentenced to a term of imprisonment. Of the three young victims, the girl was extremely traumatized. Initially, she refused to meet with the therapist, but gradually, at the gentle persuasion of her parents, she relented. The case study is an account of the therapist's culturally relevant use of indigenous techniques to successfully deal with the trauma, thus helping in the rehabilitation of the victim.     

The adventurous emigration of the Ferencziana: Contribution to their history

Abstract

This article retraces the long winding path followed by important documents on and by Freud and Ferenczi, first crossing the European continent in the flames of war and other horrors, and later being hosted by several cities. Eventually, after Judith Dupont's gift of her Paris archives to the Freud Museum in London in 2013, the collection of papers donated by Enid Balint to the custody of this author and kept for two decades in Geneva was finally deposited in the Archives of the British Psychoanalytical Society, also in London. Some other details and anecdotes of this long trip are also evoked.