Cross-cultural social science research and questions of scientific medical imperialism

Concern for the rights and safety of individuals has caused clinical researchers to develop informed consent protocols for research involving human subjects. The applicapability of these regulations to social science research is often tenuous, since such research usually focuses on populations rather than individuals, and potential damage is apt to be political rather than personal. In cross-cultural social research, the protocols developed by Western clinical researchers may be not only ludicrously inapplicable, but intrusive and disruptive within the cultural context, raising questions of the intellectual imperialism of Western research ethics.     

Tightness-Looseness Revisited: Some Preliminary Analyses in Japan and the United States

The construct of tightness-looseness is considered to be important in differentiating cultures (Pelto, 1968; Triandis, 1977, 1989). The objective of the present paper is to advance understanding of this construct. Specifically, we present a conceptual framework for the construct and formulate some general research hypotheses derived from our conceptualization. In addition, we examine one of our general hypotheses that cultures differing in the tight-loose dimension will differ in the way language is used. Using a data set from Osgood, May, and Miron (1975), we compared the Japanese and the US samples of this study and found evidence supporting the hypothesis that Japan is a tighter culture, as compared to the USA. In addition to studying the construct of individualism-collectivism, we suggest that tightness-looseness is an important cultural dimension that can explain and predict cultural differences in many kinds of social behaviour.     

Book reviews

The I?varapratvabhijñākārikā of Utpaladeva with the Author's Vrtti. Critical edition and annotated translation. Serie Orientale Roma LXXI. Raffaele Toreha, 1994, Roma, Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, LIV+ 273 pp., pb L. 110.000

Jung and Eastern Thought: a Dialogue with the Orient. John James Clarke, 1994, London, Routledge, vii +217 pp., £12.99

Abu Ya^cqub al‐Sijistani: Intellectual Missionary. Paul E. Walker, 1996, London, I. B. Tauris, xv + 132 pp.

Religious Pluralism and Truth: Essays on Cross‐cultural Philosophy of Religion. Edited by Thomas Dean, 1995, Albany, SUNY Press, xi + 271 pp., 0 7914 2123 6 hb, 0 7914 2124 4 pb, $19.95

The Body, Self‐cultivation, and Ki‐energy. Yuasa Yasuo, trans, by Shigenori Nagatomo and Monte S. Hull, 1993, Albany, SUNY Press, xxxvi + 229 pp. 814.95     

The Perceived Roles of Bullying in Small-Town Midwestern Schools

Middle and high school students (N=207) in small-town midwestern schools were surveyed regarding factors that motivate and sustain bullying. Students failed to endorse statements that bullying teaches about behavior unacceptable to the group and that making friends with a bullied person would result in lowering one's social status. Students agreed that victims brought it on themselves, teasing was mostly done in fun, and that bullying helps people by making them tougher. Girls, but not boys, tended to agree that bullies held higher social status than did victims.     

Heritabilities of Common and Measure-Specific Components of the Big Five Personality Factors

Three different measures of the Big Five personality dimensions were developed from the battery of questionnaires used in the National Merit Twin Study: one from trait self-rating scales, one from personality inventory items, and one from an adjective check list. Behavior-genetic models were fit to what the three measures had in common, and to the variance distinctive to each. The results of the model fitting agreed with other recent studies in showing the Big Five dimensions to be substantially and about equally heritable, with little or no contribution of shared family environment. Heritabilities for males and females did not differ significantly. For Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, some effect of shared environment was found for measure-specific variance on the personality inventory, and for Extraversion and Neuroticism, models involving nonadditive genetic variance or twin contrast effects provided slightly better fits.     

Book reviews

Dharmakirti's Theory of Hetu‐centricity of Anumāna. MANGALA R. CHINCHORE, 1989 Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass i‐xvii+195 pp., Rs. 125.00

A Hindu Perspective on the Philosophy of Religion. ARVIND SHARMA, 1990 London, Macmillan 180 + xi pp., £35.00

Rationality and Mind in Early Buddhism. FRANK J. HOFFMAN, 1987 Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass 126 + xii pp., Rs. 75.00

Allah Transcendent: studies in the structure and semiotics of Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Cosmology. IAN RICHARD NETTON, 1989 London, Routledge 383 pp., £45.00

Moses Maimonides. Arabic Thought and Culture Series OLIVER LEAMAN, 1990 London and New York, Routledge 190 + xii pp., £30.00 hb, £9.99 pb     

The Logic Of Reliable And Efficient Inquiry

Journal of Philosophical Logic - This paper pursues a thorough-going instrumentalist, or means-ends, approach to the theory of inductive inference. I consider three epistemic aims: convergence to a...     

Minimal Belief Change and the Pareto Principle

This paper analyzes the notion of a minimal belief change that incorporates new information. I apply the fundamental decision-theoretic principle of Pareto-optimality to derive a notion of minimal belief change, for two different representations of belief: First, for beliefs represented by a theory – a deductively closed set of sentences or propositions – and second for beliefs represented by an axiomatic base for a theory. Three postulates exactly characterize Pareto-minimal revisions of theories, yielding a weaker set of constraints than the standard AGM postulates. The Levi identity characterizes Pareto-minimal revisions of belief bases: a change of belief base is Pareto-minimal if and only if the change satisfies the Levi identity (for “maxichoice” contraction operators). Thus for belief bases, Pareto-minimality imposes constraints that the AGM postulates do not. The Ramsey test is a well-known way of establishing connections between belief revision postulates and axioms for conditionals (“if p, then q”). Pareto-minimal theory change corresponds exactly to three characteristic axioms of counterfactual systems: a theory revision operator that satisfies the Ramsey test validates these axioms if and only if the revision operator is Pareto-minimal. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A graphical method to aid the sequential analysis of observational data

In this paper, two methods of sequential analysis are applied to hypothetical observational data. The first method employs the conventional “conditional probability” approach, illustrated using the GSEQ program (Bakeman & Quera, 1995). In order to overcome some of the difficulties associated with the conditional probability approach, the second method employs a new “normalized and pooled” approach. Essentially, by normalizing periods of time preceding, during, and following each occurrence of a nominated “given” behavior, the proportion of time units devoted to a “target” behavior can be estimated and then pooled across all occurrences of the given behavior. A summary diagram representing the likelihood that the target behavior precedes, occurs concurrently with, and follows the given behavior can then be constructed. Elements of this summary diagram can also be quantified. Given the graphical nature of the output, and its ease of use, the normalized and pooled approach may help to promote the use of sequential analysis in applied settings.