German students’ current choice of profession in the field of psychotherapy

The psychoanalytic societies in Germany as in many other countries are concerned by a decline in the number of candidates for full psychoanalytic training. While this situation is partly attributable to changes both in society and in educational and healthcare systems, it is questionable whether psychoanalytic training institutions have yet found adequate responses to it. Under the banner of ‘evidence‐based treatment’, behaviour therapy has come to be widely disseminated, with major implications for the teaching of different psychotherapy paradigms at universities. To investigate the determinants of this trend in the specific German situation, a large‐scale, multi‐method exploratory study supported by IPA's DPPT programme was undertaken, focusing on the reasons given by a population (N = 679) of German psychology, medical, and education students for embarking on training in psychoanalysis or behaviour therapy. The results suggest that behaviour therapy is more compatible with the prevailing scientific understanding and with current societal and cultural trends, owing in part to inadequacies or bias in university teaching of the various paradigms of psychotherapy. While most of the psychology students expressed a preference for behavioural training, the psychotherapy option proved less attractive for their counterparts in the fields of medicine and education. Semi‐standardized qualitative interviews were used to gain a deeper understanding of the students’ decisions for or against training in a specific paradigm, and led to the identification of seven decision‐making prototypes. Possible reasons for the students’ decisions are discussed, and concrete proposals and recommendations are presented.     

Measuring parental and family efficacy beliefs of adolescents' parents: Cross‐cultural comparisons in Italy and Portugal

The goal of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Perceived Parental Self‐Efficacy (PPSE) and Perceived Family Collective Efficacy (PFCE) revised scales in the Portuguese and Italian contexts. To this aim two studies were conducted: the first reported the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with Portuguese samples, whereas the second addressed the cross‐cultural invariance of PPSE and PFCE (Portugal and Italy). Results of the first study showed the appropriate fit of the unifactorial model of both scales to Portuguese data. The invariance analyses performed in the second study attested to the PPSE and PFCE's configural, metric and scalar invariance in both countries. The correlations of PPSE and PFCE with communication, management of conflict and children's school achievement further attested to their construct and practical validity. Thus, PPSE and PFCE proved to be suitable to further use in research and psychological assessment fields.     

Cultural differences in survey responding: Issues and insights in the study of response biases

This paper introduces the special section “Cultural differences in questionnaire responding” and discusses central topics in the research on response biases in cross‐cultural survey research. Based on current conceptions of acquiescent, extreme, and socially desirable responding, the author considers current data on the correlated nature of response biases and the conditions under which different response styles they emerge. Based on evidence relating different response styles to the cultural dimension of individualism‐collectivism, the paper explores how research presented as part of this special section might help resolves some tensions in this literature. The paper concludes by arguing that response styles should not be treated merely as measurement error, but as cultural behaviors in themselves.     

Age differences in cognitive performance: A study of cultural differences in Historical Context

Ethnicity and cultural experience can affect neuropsychological performance, but they are rarely assessed in historical context. Attention measures are considered strongly biologically determined and therefore potentially culture‐fair. In this study, we assessed the cross‐cultural equivalence of Spanish and English versions of the Trail Making Test (TMT; Reitan, 1958, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 8, 271–276) and the Brief Test of Attention (BTA; Schretlen et al., 1996, The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 10, 80–89) in two large samples of Americans (N = 203) and Spaniards (N = 213), divided into younger and older subgroups. The older Spaniards lived under Franco's political regime (1936–1975), whereas the Americans never experienced such repression. Overall, TMT performance was culture‐sensitive, whereas BTA performance was not. However, when both groups were stratified by age, cultural differences in TMT performance were restricted to older participants, suggesting that historical experience across generations might have contributed to the observed differences in cognitive performance. Even such basic cognitive processes as attention, working memory, and resource sharing might be shaped to some degree by historical experiences that contribute to cultural differences.     

The effects of situational goal orientation and cultural learning values on team performance and adaptation to change

In this paper, we examine the unique effects of situational goal orientation and cultural learning values on team adaptation to change and the moderating role of cultural learning values in the relationship between goal orientation and team performance and adaptation. To do this, we conducted an experiment using a 2 × 2 × 2 repeated-measures factorial design, consisting of high and low levels of learning values, situational goal orientation (i.e., learning goals and performance goals). The experimental task involved two phases: we looked at team performance in Phase 1 and team adaptation to change in Phase 2. Forty 3-person teams were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions and all teams engaged in a complex bridge-planning task. Performance was measured in terms of the quality of the planned bridge. Results showed independent effects of situational goal orientation and cultural learning values on team performance and adaptation to change. Cultural learning values also moderated the relationship between goal orientation and performance and adaptation to change. Finally, the combination of learning goals and high learning values resulted in the highest levels of initial team performance (Phase 1) and adaptation to change and improved performance (Phase 2), as compared to all other examined conditions.     

Uncovering the diverse cultural bases of social identity: Ingroup ties predict self‐stereotyping among individualists but not among collectivists

On what basis do people form their social identities? To investigate this issue, the present research investigates cross‐cultural differences in self‐stereotyping, a key outcome of social identification. In particular, the research tests the hypothesis that ingroup ties are a stronger predictor of self‐stereotyping among people from individualist cultures than among people from collectivist cultures. In Study 1, university students (N = 117) completed measures of ingroup ties and self‐stereotyping with respect to an intimacy group (family and friends). Consistent with predictions, ingroup ties significantly predicted self‐stereotyping among individualists but not among collectivists. Study 2 (N = 104) found a similar pattern of results among members of the global internet community who considered either an intimacy group (their friends), a task group (their work group) or a social category (their gender). These results indicate that people in individualist cultures are more likely than those in collectivist cultures to base their social identities on ingroup ties. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to self‐categorization theory's depersonalization account of social identification.     

ONE BRAIN,TWO MINDS: AN ESSAY ON PRIMORDIAL AND ADVANCED MENTAL ACTIVITY

The Primordial Mind in Health and Illness: A Cross‐Cultural Perspective. By Michael Robbins. London/New York: Routledge, 2011. 240 pp.