Personality,reciprocity, and strength of conflict resolution strategy

The present field study investigates how an individual’s interpersonal conflict resolution behavior is affected by the individual’s personality (assessed by the Big 5) and a situational factor (the other party’s conflict behavior), as well as how the two factors interact. A hierarchical regression analysis based on 256 student–roommate/friend dyads shows that both factors are important. Extraversion and Agreeableness were significantly related to most conflict strategies used by students. The results show that interactions between the parties in conflict situations are strongly governed by the norm of reciprocity. Finally, we found some empirical support for the interaction effect between personality and situation, suggesting that an individual’s conflict behavior is more complex than what the dispositional or the situational view may suggest.     

Age and culture modulate object processing and object—scene binding in the ventral visual area

Behavioral differences in the visual processing of objects and backgrounds as a function of cultural group are well documented. Recent neuroimaging evidence also points to cultural differences in neural activation patterns. Compared with East Asians, Westerners’ visual processing is more object focused, and they activate neural structures that reflect this bias for objects. In a recent adaptation study, East Asian older adults showed an absence of an object-processing area but normal adaptation for background areas. In the present study, 75 young and old adults (half East Asian and half Western) were tested in an fMR-adaptation study to examine differences in object and background processing as well as object—background binding. We found equivalent background processing in the parahippocampal gyrus in all four groups, diminished binding processes in the hippocampus in elderly East Asians and Westerners, and diminished object processing in elderly versus young adults in the lateral occipital complex. Moreover, elderly East Asians showed significantly less adaptation response in the object areas than did elderly Westerners. These findings demonstrate the malleability of perceptual processes as a result of differences in cohort-specific experiences or in cultural exposure over time.     

Cultural Shaping of Self,Emotion, and Well‐Being: How Does It Work?

In this paper, we review the existent literature to propose that (i) different cultures have distinct views of self, which are instrumental in organizing daily routines, practices, and public meanings, (ii) the resulting behavioral environment shapes personal motivational propensities, (iii) the behavioral environment also carries information about normative expectations about what it is to be a 'good' person, and, as a consequence, (iv) culture has substantive influences on emotion, well-being, and health. In making this proposal, we highlight the distinction between personal motivational propensities and the society's normative expectations. The consequences of the cultural views of self on personal motivational propensities and those on the society's normative expectations may typically be concordant and, yet, the concordance can be disrupted especially at times of rapid social change. Directions for future research on culture, emotion, and well-being are discussed.     

Social sharing of emotional experiences in Asian American and European American women

The present study investigated the relationships among ethnicity and social sharing of traumatic experiences in a sample of 88 East Asian and 88 European American women. Participants were asked to write about a traumatic experience for twenty minutes and then to rate how upsetting the experience was, how often they thought about it, how often and to whom they had previously disclosed the experience, as well as the perceived appropriateness of sharing the experience with different target audiences, e.g., friends and family members. The results indicated that Asian Americans reported speaking to others less frequently about the traumatic event and sharing it with fewer individuals, and tended to be more likely to share the event with friends than with family members when compared to European Americans. Asian Americans also reported thinking about the upsetting event less frequently than European Americans even though both groups reported that the events were equally upsetting. The more upsetting events were, the more often they were shared in the European American group, but there was no relationship between how upsetting events were and the degree to which they were shared in the Asian American group.     

A Compulsive Buying Case: A Qualitative Analysis by the Grounded Theory Method

This study analyzed a case of compulsive buying based on the grounded theory method. The client was a 24 year-old female Korean student who showed compulsive buying and excessive credit card use. The family therapy was performed between March 2001 and May 2004 in Korea. This study used the software “Atlas.ti,” producing 121 open codings and seven axis categories which included the following: (1) communication issues with friends or family members, (2) sibling relationships, (3) mother’s parenting, (4) interparental relationships, (5) mother’s communication style, (6) stress, and (7) compulsive buying and credit card use. This study presented the graphical network among these categories in order to show the effectiveness of family therapy.This work was supported by the Soongsil University Fund.     

Marriage and Family Therapy Students’ Change in Multicultural Counseling Competencies after a Diversity Course

Attention to diversity is required in Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education-accredited programs, yet not much research exists regarding the effectiveness of graduate training on therapists’ multicultural counseling competencies. In this study, 12 students enrolled in a masters-level diversity class were given pre- and post-tests of their multicultural counseling competencies. Results showed that students significantly increased their multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills after completing the diversity class. The discussion includes implications for educators who seek to improve students’ multicultural counseling competencies.     

When is peer rejection justifiable? Children's understanding across two cultures

This study investigated how Korean (N = 397) and U.S. (N = 333) children and adolescents (10 and 13 years of age) evaluated personality (aggression, shyness) and group (gender, nationality) characteristics as a basis for peer rejection in three contexts (friendship rejection, group exclusion, victimization). Overall, peer rejection based on group membership was viewed as more unfair than peer rejection based on personality traits. Children viewed friendship rejection as more legitimate than group exclusion or victimization and used more personal choice reasoning for friendship rejection than for rejection in any other context. Although there were a few cultural differences, overall, the findings provided support for the cultural generalizability of social reasoning about peer rejection.     

Responses to Self-Threat: Linking Self and Relational Constructs with Approach and Avoidance Motivation

Over the past few decades, researchers have amassed a large body of evidence documenting the consequences of self-esteem (SE), attachment styles, rejection sensitivity (RS), domain-specific aspects of SE (e.g., contingencies of self-worth), and RS (e.g., race-RS; appearance-RS) following self-threats. The present article suggests that these personality constructs share a common substrate reflecting approach and avoidance temperament and motivation. Approach and avoidance temperaments are theorized to interact with intrapersonal and interpersonal experiences to shape approach and avoidance motivation. Personality constructs serve as dispositional markers of underlying approach-avoidance motivational orientations, which, in turn, lead to predictable patterns of goal pursuit following self-threats. Individuals who feel self-confident and relationally secure (e.g., high SE, securely attached, and low RS individuals) respond to self-threats by adopting approach-motivated goals to attain positive outcomes. Individuals who lack self-confidence and feel less relationally secure (e.g., low SE, avoidantly attached, and high RS individuals) respond to self-threats by decreasing approach motivation and/or increasing avoidance-motivated goals to prevent negative outcomes. Consequences of adopting approach- and avoidance-motivated goals are discussed.