Managing intergroup attitudes among Hong Kong adolescents: Effects of social category inclusiveness and time pressure

Previous research has shown a widespread bias among Hong Kong adolescents against Chinese Mainlanders. Based on social identity and social cognitive theories, we examined the effects of identity frame switching (situational induction of social category inclusiveness) and time pressure (environmental constraints on social information processing) on Hong Kong adolescents' attitudes toward Chinese Mainlanders. Results indicated that Hong Kong adolescents had acquired a habitual tendency to make social comparisons within an exclusive regional framework of reference. This habitual tendency might lead to negative judgment biases toward Chinese Mainlanders, particularly when the adolescents made social judgments under time pressure. In addition, switching to an inclusive national frame of reference for social comparison attenuated negative intergroup attitudes. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Spacing and the transition from calculation to retrieval

Many arithmetic problems can be solved in two ways—by a calculation involving several steps and by direct retrieval of the answer. With practice on particular problems, memory retrieval tends to supplant calculation—an important aspect of skill learning. We asked how the distribution of practice on particular problems affects this kind of learning. In two experiments, subjects repeatedly worked through sets of multiple-digit multiplication problems. The size of the trained problem set was varied. Using a smaller set size (with shorter average time between problem repetitions) showed faster responses and an earlier transition to retrieval during training. However, in a test session presented days later, the pattern reversed, with faster responses and more retrieval for the large set size. Evidently, maximizing the occurrence of direct retrieval within training is not the best way to promote learning to retrieve the answer. Practical implications are discussed.     

Activating Culture Through Persuasion Appeals: An Examination of the Bicultural Consumer

In this research, I examined how biculturals, or individuals who have been equally influenced by an East Asian and Western cultural orientation, respond to various types of persuasion appeals that promote values unique to a particular culture. In the first experiment, I found that biculturals, relative to monoculturals, tend to react favorably toward both individually and interpersonally focused appeals due to their having 2 equally developed and accessible cultural dispositions. In the second experiment, I identified boundary conditions under which having relatively equal access to both cultural dispositions leads to favorable responses. Results indicate that biculturals who tend to compartmentalize each culture react less favorably toward appeals that are both individually and interpersonally focused than biculturals who tend to integrate the 2 cultures. In other words, the former type of bicultural prefers appeals that activate one cultural disposition, whereas the latter type of bicultural favors appeals that activate both cultural dispositions. These findings are discussed in light of the growing trend toward multiculturalism and the increasing need for researchers to understand the impact of this trend on various consumer behavior issues.     

Coping with failure: relationship with self-concept discrepancy and attributional style

In the relationship of attributional style and self-concept discrepancy with coping behavior among 10th-grade Hong Kong Chinese students, 3 significant canonical variate pairs were identified. The total criterion redundancy showed that self-concept discrepancy and attributional style predicted about 20% of the variance of coping behavior. The 1st variate pair indicated that students with small self-concept discrepancy and low-depressive attributional style tended to cope with failure by planful problem solving and by positive reappraisal. The 2nd variate pair showed that students, particularly girls, with small self-concept discrepancy in verbal ability and same-sex peer relations tended to cope with failure by seeking social support. The last variate pair showed that students with great self-concept discrepancy in same-sex peer relations and parent relations tended to cope with failure by avoiding or escaping. The 3 canonical variate pairs also suggested a new taxonomy for coping behavior: mobilization of internal coping resources, mobilization of external coping resources, and the inability to mobilize any coping resources.     

The acceptance of lonely others: effects of loneliness and gender of the target person and loneliness of the perceiver

The reactions of lonely people toward other lonely people and the relationship between loneliness and self-concepts were examined. The 2-way and 3-way interaction effects showed that low lonely perceivers reacted more negatively toward the lonely target person. The relationship between loneliness and self-concept was examined using a multidimensional measure of self-concept. Results showed that loneliness correlated negatively with self-concept. In multiple regression analyses, the most significant predictors of loneliness were self-concept of relations with same gender and opposite gender peers and general self-concept.     

Testing of an orthogonal measure of cultural identification with adult mission Indians

The Orthogonal Cultural Identification Scale (OCIS; Oetting & Beauvais, 1990-91) has been validated among Native American youth, but not adults. The present study sought to test the reliability (internal consistency) and validity (construct and factorial) of the OCIS among an adult Native American sample consisting of 389 Mission Indians (61% female). Participants were recruited from reservations using a venue sampling strategy. The OCIS was completed as part of a self-assessment packet of questionnaires. Internal consistency for OCIS subscale scores ranged from 0.76 to 0.91. Both concurrent and discriminant validity were demonstrated. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed 2 factors: (1) Anglo American Identification and (2) Native American Identification. These results indicate the OCIS is a reliable and valid instrument for use with adult Native Americans.     

Development of Component Skills in Reading Chinese

Development of three component skills in reading Chinese was examined in primary school children in Hong Kong. Feature analysis skills, syntax knowledge, and semantic analysis skills were found to differ in their contribution to reading proficiency at different grades. Visual processing skill was not at all a good predictor for reading proficiency, but the phonological access skill was important in predicting children's reading proficiency before grade three. It was an ineffective predictor beyond grade three. Skill in semantic analysis, on the other hand, was insignificant as a predictor at younger grades but it became an important predictor after grade two. Syntax knowledge was an important predictor of reading proficiency in the first grade and remained a significant predictor of reading proficiency right up to grade six. The present data support the idea that some preliminary component processes of reading may become automatic with increasing experience in reading and that this automatization of component processes will leave more resource capacity for higher-order analyses. Chinese reading shares much in common with English reading in terms of the component processes involved at different stages of reading proficiency.     

Sex role orientation and domains of self-esteem

The relation of sex role orientation to self-esteem was more closely examined by the inclusion of five distinct self-esteem domains in this study of Chinese adolescents. Analysis of variance showed that the masculine and androgynous groups were superior in academic, appearance, and general self-esteem than the feminine and undifferentiated groups. The former two groups were also higher in physical ability self-esteem than the feminine group. The superiority of the androgynous group was noted in the domain of social self-esteem too. Results of multiple regression were in general supportive of the masculinity model in that masculinity was most strongly associated with self-esteem, whereas the effect of femininity was much less evident. Analyses also showed that for males, femininity was related to academic, appearance, and general self-esteem, whereas for females, femininity was found somewhat related to social self-esteem. Results of this study were discussed in terms of the agentic and expressive qualities of different sex role and self-esteem domains.The very capable assistance in data analysis by Kit Yi Wong is gratefully acknowledged.