When Moral Personality and Moral Ideology Meet Ethical Leadership: A Three-Way Interaction Model

We propose a three-way interaction model based on substitutes for leadership theory to explore the relationship among ethical leadership, moral personality, and moral ideology (i.e., idealism and relativism) on two types of employee voluntary behaviors (i.e., organizational citizenship behavior and workplace deviant behavior). Results from a sample of 218 supervisor–subordinate dyads indicate that moral personality attenuates the relationship between ethical leadership and employee voluntary behaviors. Idealism serves as the boundary condition for the moderating effect of moral personality. However, relativism only serves as the boundary condition for the moderating effect of moral personality when predicting workplace deviant behavior.     

An Ecological Understanding of Kinship Foster Care in the United States

We review empirical studies on kinship foster care in the United States. We conceptualize kinship foster care within the context of Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (1994) most recent ecological systems theory. Because there are multiple levels of influences on the developmental outcomes of children placed in kinship foster home, understanding the interrelations between the individual (child) and his or her surrounding environments (e.g., biological families, social-support network) is important. We argue that Bronfenbrenner’s most recent ecological systems theory is an appropriate theoretical framework for policy and practice implications in addressing complex issues surrounding kinship foster care system in the United States. This review integrates the empirical findings collectively on the factors associated with kinship foster care within and between five systems levels of the ecological systems theory: micro- (caregiver-child relationship, attachment, and kinship family environment), meso- (biological families), exo- (social-support network outside the family), macro- (race/ethnicity and policies), and chrono- (welfare reform) systems levels. Theories that are relevant to the ecological factors (e.g., attachment theory) are also discussed. Finally, we draw policy and practice implications from the ecological systems analysis.     

Emotional reactions to scandals: When does moral character make a difference?

A scandal can evoke public outrage when it is widely publicized and involves an individual who is perceived to have a high level of cultural representativeness. Two experiments showed that when the scandalous target's moral character was highlighted, emotional responses towards the target were least negative when the scandal was widely circulated and when the target was seen as a representative of his culture. These results suggest that when a cultural symbol is implicated in a widely‐circulated scandal, the negative emotions directed towards the scandalous individual can be alleviated when the public remains confident in his or her commitment to morality.     

Multicultural minds. A dynamic constructivist approach to culture and cognition

The authors present a new approach to culture and cognition, which focuses on the dynamics through which specific pieces of cultural knowledge (implicit theories) become operative in guiding the construction of meaning from a stimulus. Whether a construct comes to the fore in a perceiver's mind depends on the extent to which the construct is highly accessible (because of recent exposure). In a series of cognitive priming experiments, the authors simulated the experience of bicultural individuals (people who have internalized two cultures) of switching between different cultural frames in response to culturally laden symbols. The authors discuss how this dynamic, constructivist approach illuminates (a) when cultural constructs are potent drivers of behavior and (b) how bicultural individuals may control the cognitive effects of culture.     

A posteriori information effects on culpability judgments from a cross-cultural perspective

A posteriori information about the moral attributes of the victim of a crime can affect an observer's judgment on the culpability of the actor of the crime so that negative moral attributes of the victim will lead to a lower judgment of culpability. The authors found this effect of a posteriori information among 118 American and 123 Chinese participants, but the underlying mechanisms were different between the two cultural groups. The Americans considered the psychological state of the actor during the crime, whereas the Chinese considered the morality of the actor during the crime. The authors discussed these results in light of the respondents' implicit theories of morality.     

Visual search performance on an lcd monitor: effects of color combination of figure and icon background, shape of icon, and line width of icon border

This study investigated the effects of color combinations for the figure/icon background, icon shape, and line width of the icon border on visual search performance on a liquid crystal display screen. In a circular stimulus array, subjects had to search for a target item which had a diameter of 20 cm and included one target and 19 distractors. Analysis showed that the icon shape significantly affected search performance. The correct response time was significantly shorter for circular icons than for triangular icons, for icon borders with a line width of 3 pixels than for 1 or 2 pixels, and for 2 pixels than for 1 pixel. The color combination also significantly affected the visual search performance: white/yellow, white/blue, black-red, and black/ yellow color combinations for the figure/icon background had shorter correct response times compared to yellow/blue, red/green, yellow/green, and blue/red. However, no effects were found for the line width of the icon border or the icon shape on the error rate. Results have implications for graphics-based design of interfaces, such as for mobile phones, Web sites, and PDAs, as well as complex industrial processes.     

What do we learn from the Implicit Association Test about intergroup attitudes in Hong Kong? The case of social identification inclusiveness and need for closure

The current study tests an implication of the Associative-Propositional Evaluation model of implicit and explicit attitude measures in Hong Kong's intergroup context. We argued that the Implicit Association Test taps associative intergroup evaluations that are not necessarily consistent with the propositional implications of one's social identification inclusiveness and need for closure. In contrast, explicit intergroup attitude measures tap propositional evaluations resulting from validating the inferences drawn from pertinent propositional information in the evaluation context. Thus, explicit intergroup attitude should be consistent with the propositional implications of social identification inclusiveness and need for closure. We tested and found support for these hypotheses in a study of Hong Kong adolescents' ( N  = 65) perception of Hong Kong people and Mainland Chinese.     

Bicultural mind, self-construal, and self- and mother-reference effects: Consequences of cultural priming on recognition memory

Two experiments showed that American (vs. Chinese) culture priming influences Beijing Chinese undergraduates’ self-construal and its attendant memory strategies. Following American culture priming (vs. Chinese culture priming or control), the participants used relatively more independent self-statements and fewer interdependent self-statements to describe the self (Experiment 1). They also performed more poorly in a delayed recognition test if they had encoded the study materials (personality adjectives) with reference to the mother (Experiment 2). These results demonstrate the activation effect of culture on self-construal and its attendant memory processes. The results also show that biculturals can access different cultural conceptions of the self and change cognitive strategies flexibly in response to cues of changing cultural demands in the immediate context.