The veneration of the Precious Blood in Weingarten: theological reflections in an ecumenical horizon

This article places the veneration of the Precious Blood in Weingarten in the wider horizon of the veneration of relics and saints in general. It takes into account that the Reformers, above all Martin Luther, were very critical about pilgrimages and the veneration of relics. Against this background it discusses the following points with regard to the veneration of the Precious Blood. First, what is the added value of pilgrimages? Secondly, what, or rather, who, is being venerated in what way in Weingarten? Thirdly, what is theologically legitimate in venerating a relic of the Precious Blood and could render it ecumenically justifiable? And, fourthly, what is the current meaning of the veneration of the Precious Blood? Answering these questions is vital for keeping the veneration of the Precious Blood in Weingarten a living tradition – especially in a time without a monastery.     

《周易》与中国文化

本文立足中国文化独特性的视野,探讨了易学在中国文化中的地位问题,提出应该按照中国文化本身的结构、途径和方法来看易学带给它的作用,由之进一步地论述了易学对传统文化的深远影响,接着通过对简帛文献的分析,有力地说明了孔子对易学的开创性贡献.     

Inverse gender gap in Germany: social dominance orientation among men and women

Across cultures studies show that men score higher on social dominance orientation than women. This gender gap is considered invariant, but conflicting explanations are discussed: Some authors refer to evolutionary psychology and perceive the gender gap to be driven by sociobiological factors. Other authors argue that social roles or gender-stereotypical self-construals encouraged by intergroup comparisons are responsible for attitudinal gender difference. In Study 1 we analyzed sex differences in social dominance orientation in three German probability surveys (each n > 2300). Unexpectedly, the analyses yielded an inverse gender gap with higher values for social dominance orientation in women than in men. Interactions with age, education, political conservatism, and perceived inequity indicated that the inverse gender gap can be mainly attributed to older, conservative, (and less educated) respondents, and those who feel they get their deserved share. In Study 2 we replicated the well-known gender gap with men scoring higher than women in social dominance orientation among German students. Results are interpreted on the basis of biocultural interaction, which integrates the sociobiological, social role, and self-construal perspectives. Our unusual findings seem to reflect a struggle for status by members of low-status groups who consider group-based hierarchy the most promising option to improve their status. While younger women take advantage of a relational, feminine self-construal that leads to lower social dominance orientation in young women than in young men, older women are supposed to profit from an agentic self-construal that results in stronger social dominance orientation values. Specific characteristics of the culture in Germany seem to promote this strategy. Here, we discuss the female ideal of the national socialist period and the agentic female social role in the post-war era necessitated by the absence of men.     

Perception of suffering and compassion experience: brain gender disparities

Compassion is considered a moral emotion related to the perception of suffering in others, and resulting in a motivation to alleviate the afflicted party. We compared brain correlates of compassion-evoking images in women and men. BOLD functional images of 24 healthy volunteers (twelve women and twelve men; age=27±2.5 y.o.) were acquired in a 3T magnetic resonance scanner while subjects viewed pictures of human suffering previously verified to elicit compassion and indicated their compassionate experience by finger movements. Functional analysis revealed that while women manifested activation in areas involved in basic emotional, empathic, and moral processes, such as basal regions and cingulate and frontal cortices, activation in men was restricted mainly to the occipital cortex and parahippocampal gyrus. These findings suggest that compassion and its moral elements constitute gender-relative subjective phenomena emerging from differently evolved neural mechanisms and socially learned features possibly related to nurturing skills.     

Was he happy? Cultural difference in conceptions of Jesus

In two studies, we examined whether (a) conceptions of Jesus would differ between Koreans and Americans, and whether (b) national differences in self-reported personality and well-being are mediated by the cultural norm for personality and well-being. Because there is only one Jesus, different conceptions held by Koreans and Americans are likely to reflect cultural construction processes. In Study 1, we asked Korean and American participants to engage in a free association task with Jesus as a target. Americans associated Jesus with primarily positive connotations (“awesome”) and rarely with negative connotations (“pain”), whereas Koreans associated Jesus with both positive and negative connotations. In Study 2, we asked Korean and American participants to rate Jesus and themselves using personality and well-being scales. Americans rated both Jesus and themselves as more extraverted, agreeable, conscientious, open, and happier than did Koreans. Most important, national differences in self-reported agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and happiness were partially mediated by conceptions of Jesus.     

The relationship between multiple commitments and organizational citizenship behavior in Arab and Jewish culture

This study examined the relation between multiple commitments (organizational commitment, occupational commitment, job involvement, and group commitment), ethnicity, and cultural values (individualism/collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity/femininity) with organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) and in-role performance. Two ethnic groups of Israeli teachers, Jews and Arabs, were examined. Of the 880 questionnaires that were distributed in 18 schools in northern Israel, 569 usable questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 65%. The findings showed substantial differences between the two groups in the four cultural dimensions and in two commitment forms. Ethnicity and the four cultural values related strongly to in-role performance and organizational OCB. The results showed 16 significant interactions of multiple commitments with ethnicity and with cultural dimensions in relation to OCB and in-role performance. Implications of the findings for research on commitment and culture are discussed.     

Remembrance of things past: Cultural process and practice in the analysis of career stories

Stories can be a valuable tool for the career researcher. Questions arise, though, about how best to approach stories analytically such that their insights can be fully realised. In this paper I apply cultural theorist Raymond Williams’ analysis of cultural processes as dominant, residual and emergent (1977) to the narratives generated in a recent study into the careers of research scientists. I examine how these overlapping meaning systems are elucidated in individuals’ career narratives and consider implications for developing understanding.     

Plaidoyer pour une neuropsychologie interculturelle en France

By referring to historical, empirical and ethical data, this article aims primarily at encouraging the emergence of cross-cultural neuropsychology in France. In the second part of the article, we extracted meaningful data in the literature and referred to clinical practices in other countries, to propose recommendations targeting student training, clinical practice and scientific research. We also insist on the importance of privileging interactions between these three axes in order to propose training and tools in adequacy with the reality of clinical practice. These recommendations cannot as such response directly to difficulties encountered by clinicians. However, they can contribute to the reflection for rendering French neuropsychology effective in supporting ethnically diverse populations.     

Questions of culture,age and gender in the epidemiology of suicide

Cultural values were examined as predictors of suicide incidence rates compiled for men and women in six age groups for 33 nations for the years 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, and 1985. Hofstede's cultural values of Power-Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Masculinity (i.e., social indifference) were negative correlates of reported suicide, and Individualism was a strong positive correlate. The proportion of variance in suicide reports generally related to these four cultural values was R2 = 0.25. Suicide by women and by middle-aged people was most related to cultural values, even though international variance in suicide is greater for men and for the elderly. Suicide incidence for girls and young women showed unique negative correlations with Individualism. For all age groups, Individualism predicted a greater preponderance of male suicides, and Power-Distance predicted more similar male and female suicide rates. Social alienation and Gilligan's feminist theory of moral judgment were hypothesized to explain some gender differences.     

Cultural differences in emotions: a context for interpreting emotional experiences

In this article, it is suggested that cross-cultural assessment of emotional disturbances would benefit from the consideration of cultural differences in the modal, and normative emotions. A summary of the research literature on cultural differences in emotions, in particular in antecedent events, subjective feeling, appraisal, and behavior is provided. Cultural differences in emotions are understood functionally, such that the most prevalent emotional phenomena in a culture are those that fit and reinforce the distinct cultural models (i.e. goals and practices) of self and relationship. It is argued that a culture-sensitive approach to emotional disturbances would entail the assessment of emotional phenomena that are dysfunctional to the cultural models of self and relationship.