应激源感知的文化和性别差异:对留学中国的非洲学生和西方学生的跨文化研究

本研究对留学中国的非洲和西方留学生进行了留学应激的调查研究(study abroad stress survey,SASS),旨在确定应激源感知是否存在文化差异,同时为留学生的应激感知研究创建一个基础。结果表明,最常感知到的应激源来自学术和人际交往两个方面。文化差异和性别差异仅表现在部分具体的应激源感知上,总体上的应激源感知并未发现任何组间差异。男女留学生都曾经体验到日常压力所引起的较高的应激,面在对学业成绩不佳、课程不足等应激源的感知上性别差异较小。结果显示出对跨文化适应研究的必要性。     

Causality as a ‘Veil’: The Ashʿarites,Ibn ʿArabī (1165–1240) and Said Nursī (1877–1960)

This article explores the development of the idea of causality as a ‘veil’ within the Islamic tradition. More specifically, it examines how the rejection of the necessary connection between cause and effect in the writings of the Ash?arites led to a highly sophisticated reconstruction of causality in Ibn ?Arabī (1165–1240) and Said Nursī (1877–1960). It also indicates some of the possible bearings of the idea of causality-as-a-veil for the contemporary discussion on the reconciliation of religious and scientific claims on the nature of causality.     

Cafcaf: an Islamic humor magazine, no joke!

Cafcaf is a humor magazine published by a group of religiously conservative Turks, who esteem and uphold what they consider to be Islamic norms and principles in their cartoons. By offering a close reading of Cafcaf, this article sheds light on transformations among Turkey’s Islamic communities. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines have been examining how the Islamic movement in Turkey has shifted course since the late 1990s. To this end, they have been studying the extent to which Islamists in the country have undergone changes with regards to their political aspirations and social attitudes. However, only a handful of these works have analyzed how genres of popular culture have responded to and echoed these transformations. A discussion of Cafcaf fills this gap by demonstrating how a group of Muslim youth reacts and responds to the changing outlooks and lifestyles of Turkey’s Islamists. The cartoons shed light on the efforts among young Muslims to establish a middle ground where they can negotiate their religious identities with their secular surroundings. The cartoons indicate that Muslim youth’s enthusiasm and willingness to attain this goal is sometimes coupled by a cascade of trepidations and hesitations.     

Social perceptions of achieving students and achievement goals of students in Malaysia and the Philippines

The study investigates the hypothesis that country differences in achievement goals of students are associated with differences in how students with different achievement goals are perceived by students in different cultures. University students from Malaysia and the Philippine were asked to complete questionnaires on their achievement goals and on their perceptions of hypothetical students who exemplify the different achievement goals. The perception questions related to social goals such as peer affiliation, personal qualities, and likeability. The achievement goals data indicated that Filipino students reported higher levels of mastery goals compared to their Malaysian counterparts, who in turn reported higher levels of performance approach goals. Hierarchical regression analysis indicate that country differences in mastery and performance goals can be accounted for by differences in perceptions of mastery- and performance-goal oriented peers, particularly those perceptions that relate to social affiliation and social approval. The results are discussed in terms of how achievement goal constructs are perceived in different countries, and how differences in perception may relate to some social dimensions in the adoption of achievement goals.     

Psychology in an Asian country: A report from Sri Lanka

This paper describes the history and present status of psychology in Sri Lanka, including facilities for teaching psychology and legal issues in registration provisions for psychologists. The future directions in improving the status of psychology in the country are delineated.     

Impact of physical fitness on strategy development in decision-making tasks

Data from 30 female subjects indicated that a 17.3% increase in a physical fitness index improved by 12% to 68% the information processing and decision-making capabilities of the subjects. The changes in physical fitness did not affect the performance on a variety of other tasks.     

The Relative Influence of Parental Attachment,Peer Attachment,School Attachment,and School Alienation on Delinquency among High School Students in Turkey

Although numerous studies have confirmed the relationship between social bonds to pro-social others and delinquency in Western countries, research focusing on the same relationship in non-Western countries is scarce. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by examining the relationship between social bonds to pro-social others and several types of delinquency among high school students in Turkey. Results showed that the extent of an adolescent’s social bonds with his/her parents, peers, and schools had significant and diverging effects on delinquency. We also found bonds to parents and peers to have moderating effects on how school bonds affect delinquency.     

Beliefs about the meaning and measurement of intelligence: a cross‐cultural comparison of American,British and Malaysian undergraduates

This study examined lay beliefs about intelligence cross‐culturally using a questionnaire based on an expert summary of what is known about intelligence. Two hundred and thirty five university undergraduates in Malaysia, 347 undergraduates in Britain and 137 undergraduates in the US rated for agreement 30 items about the nature, measurement, between‐group differences and practical importance of intelligence. An exploratory factor analysis revealed three factors: (1) stability, reliability and validity of intelligence tests; (2) practical importance of intelligence and (3) source and stability of within‐group intelligence. While the overall factor structure did not vary a great deal between groups, there were significant cross‐cultural differences on the mean scores for Factors 1–3. Explanations for cross‐cultural differences in implicit theories of intelligences are considered, and limitations of the study discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cognitive Reactivity in Depressed Outpatients: How Different is Severe Depression?

Cognitive behavioral approaches have been able to demonstrate some of the underlying and perpetuating factors of depression such as cognitive reactivity (CR). The association of CR and the severity of depression is yet to be reported. We aimed to compare the CR of a group of outpatients based on their self-reported severity of depression (SRSD), and to identify the role of specific CR vulnerability markers in depression. The study population consisted of 221 outpatients diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder. We used the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, and completed a demographic and clinical data form. The participants completed the Leiden Index of Depression Sensitivity-Revised (LEIDS-R), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. To identify how well CR, as measured by the scores of the LEIDS-R, could discriminate the groups based on the SRSD, one-way analysis of variance was used. To examine the unique associations between the CR and the SRSD, a hierarchical linear regression analysis was performed. To identify group membership to severe depression, the scores of the LEIDS-R were entered in a logistic regression model. Large, and small group differences emerged on the rumination, and control scores, respectively. The other group differences were all in the medium range. The control, risk aversion, and rumination scores were the subscales which explained a significant proportion of the variance in the SRSD. Overall, the logistic regression model classified 93.7 % of the severely depressed patients correctly. These results indicated that rumination, risk aversion, and perfectionism were particularly associated with severe depression.     

Ibn ʿArabī (1165–1240) and Rūmī (1207–1273) on the Question of Evil: Discontinuities in Sufi Metaphysics

This article compares and contrasts Ibn ?Arabī’s and Rūmī’s accounts of evil. Ibn ?Arabī explains the existence of evil as a consequence of both metaphysical necessity and God’s volitional act. Evil is the inevitable ‘shadow’ of existence implied by the Infinity of God, and God’s mercy existentiates the possibilities ‘hidden’ in the Infinite, allowing this metaphysical necessity to emerge. In contrast to Ibn ?Arabī’s necessitarian-cum-volitional theodicy, Rūmī presents an almost exclusively volitional theodicy. He traces the roots of evil to the Divine Will. To preserve God’s moral perfection, he frequently points to the positive compensating functions of the existence of evil in the world. Ibn ?Arabī’s theodicy enables him to accentuate the necessity of evil in order to save the act of will, and hence God’s perfection, from being directly related to the emergence of evil. Rūmī’s volitional theodicy, however, relates the Divine Will directly to evil, and subsequently attempts to preserve the purity of the Divine intention by accentuating all the positive compensations.