Academic careers in Asia: A cross-cultural analysis

Using Berry’s (1980) acculturation model as our theoretical foundation, we provide a conceptual framework for the cross-cultural analysis of academic careers in Asia in contrast to the United States. Consistent with Berry’s model, we propose a classification of three approaches to research (Adopted Western, Asian, and Integrationist) that can be selected by Asian academics. An individual’s acculturation level or cultural identity is then proposed as the key factor in influencing his or her decision of which research approach is selected. Next, we examine the cultural contextual factors in the academic environment in Asia that interacts with the three approaches to research and conclude that the Integrationist approach, while quite challenging, is likely to be the most productive in the long run. Finally, we discuss some unanswered questions raised by our analysis.     

Perception of Native English Reduced Forms in Adverse Environments by Chinese Undergraduate Students

Previous research has shown that learners of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) have difficulties in understanding connected speech spoken by native English speakers. Extending from past research limited to quiet listening condition, this study examined the perception of English connected speech presented under five adverse conditions, namely multi-talker babble noise, speech-shaped noise, factory noise, whispering and sad emotional tones. We tested a total of 64 Chinese ESL undergraduate students, using a battery of listening tasks. Results confirmed that the recognition of English native speech was more challenging for Chinese ESL learners under unfavorable listening conditions, in comparison to a noise-free listening condition. These findings carry significant implications for the importance of training and assessments on connected speech perception across various listening environments.     

Efficacy of Fun to Learn for the Young Program: Randomized Controlled Trial

Early intervention for children from disadvantaged backgrounds has been found to be effective in improving their learning and psychosocial outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the Fun to Learn for the Young (FLY) program using randomized controlled trial design with no blinding of participants. Participants included 200 Hong Kong Chinese parent–child dyads (intervention:101; control: 99) with children aged 18?months from disadvantaged backgrounds. Participants were recruited from three non-governmental organizations. The intervention group participated in the 60-session FLY program which consisted of direct teaching to children and parent training. Parent participants from both groups completed questionnaires on child learning, child behavior and parenting before the intervention, at the end of 40 sessions, and 60 sessions. The children were individually assessed on their preschool concepts and language skills at these three time points. Results indicated that the children in the intervention group made more gains in preschool concepts, language skills, school readiness and motivation, compared with control group children (η _p ²?=?.018–.029). The results provided some initial evidence that the FLY program was an effective early intervention program in promoting child learning.     

A facet analysis of police officers' self‐reported use of suspect‐interviewing strategies and their Discomfort with Ambiguity

This study sought to establish: (i) whether tactics in police suspects interviews can be represented by two interacting facets (cognitive/emotional and coercive/facilitative) and (ii) whether a preference for coercive combinations are positively associated with Discomfort with Ambiguity (Kruglanski, 1989 ). Ninety‐nine police interviewers from the Crime Wing Headquarters of the Hong Kong Police completed a self‐report survey of preferred suspect interviewing tactics, as well as Chiu, Morris, Hong, and Menon (2000) version of the Need For Closure scale. Smallest Space Analysis (Guttman, 1968 ) revealed a duplex structure of cognitive and affective coercive/facilitative themes. Moreover, self‐report results indicated that high scorers on Discomfort with Ambiguity were more willing to use a wider variety of tactics (including more coercive cognitive and emotional tactics) than low scorers (who were more prudent in their constraint and willingness to stick with facilitative cognitive and emotional tactics). Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Testing intergroup concordance in ranking experiments with two groups of judges

Across many areas of psychology, concordance is commonly used to measure the (intragroup) agreement in ranking a number of items by a group of judges. Sometimes, however, the judges come from multiple groups, and in those situations, the interest is to measure the concordance between groups, under the assumption that there is some within-group concordance. In this investigation, existing methods are compared under a variety of scenarios. Permutation theory is used to calculate the error rates and the power of the methods. Missing data situations are also studied. The results indicate that the performance of the methods depend on (a) the number of items to be ranked, (b) the level of within-group agreement, and (c) the level of between-group agreement. Overall, using the actual ranks of the items gives better results than using the pairwise comparison of rankings. Missing data lead to loss in statistical power, and in some cases, the loss is substantial. The degree of power loss depends on the missing mechanism and the method of imputing the missing data, among other factors.     

殊化信任与泛化信任在人际信任行为路径模型中的作用

该研究探讨不同社会情景下,泛化信任、殊化信任以及可信任性知觉等对信任行为起作用的理论模型。223名工人被试平均年龄24岁。用结构方程模型中的路径分析验证该模型,结果表明,各种拟合指标十分理想。三种交往情景下的人际信任路径模型之间的异同主要表现在：（1）殊化信任在所有情景下对信任行为都有直接而显著的作用;（2）泛化信任则只在与熟人和陌生人交往时才起作用;（3）与目标人物的关系越疏远,对他们作出信任行为时所需要的心理资源也越多。     

Perceptions of injustice in intercultural relations

Perceptions of injustice are likely to occur in intercultural relations because cultures often define justice and its implementation differently. This article reviews factors and processes that are unique to intercultural relations and that may give rise to feelings of injustice during intercultural interactions. Antecedents that can trigger a sense of injustice with regard to distributive, procedural, and retributive justice are reviewed. The consequences of perceived injustice are also analyzed. The implications of our analysis for research and practice are discussed.     

Examining the cross‐cultural validity of the positive affect and negative affect schedule between an Asian (Singaporean) sample and a Western (American) sample

The positive affect and negative affect schedule (PANAS) is a popular measure of positive (PA) and negative affectivity (NA). Developed and validated in Western contexts, the 20‐item scale has been frequently administered on respondents from Asian countries with the assumption of cross‐cultural measurement invariance. We examine this assumption via a rigorous multigroup confirmatory factor analysis, which allows us to assess between‐group differences in both strength of scale item‐to‐latent factor relationship (metric invariance test) and mean of each scale item (scalar invariance test), on a large sample of 1,065 respondents recruited from Singapore (Asian sample) and the United States (Western sample). We found that two items assessing PA (“excited” and “proud”) and three items assessing NA (“guilty,” “hostile,” and “ashamed”) exhibited metric noninvariance whereas 11 of the remaining metric invariant items exhibited scalar noninvariance, suggesting that the PA and NA constructs differ from what the PANAS is expected to measure for Asian respondents. Our findings serve as a cautionary note to researchers who intend to administer the PANAS in future studies as well as to researchers interpreting the results of past studies involving respondents from Asian countries.     

The one,the true,the good… or not: Badiou,Agamben, and atheistic transcendentality

Continental Philosophy Review - This article offers a reading of the “transcendental” character of Alain Badiou’s and Giorgio Agamben’s ontologies. While neither Badiou nor...