Culture,religion, and the underlying value dimensions of the metapersonal self-construal

The metapersonal self-construal (MPS) is presented in the context of a three-factor model of self-construal that is grounded in the literature on culture and values. The MPS is an understanding of the self as profoundly interconnected with all humanity and nature. It is distinct from the independent and interdependent self-construals and may emerge from one's cultural, religious, or spiritual background. Relating self-construal with a structural model of values, Study 1 indicated that while the independent and interdependent self-construals marked each end of a continuum, the MPS was associated with a unique cluster of values centred around universalism. Studies 2 and 3 found support for the predicted effects of membership in Buddhist groups and identification with Aboriginal culture on MPS. These results support the MPS as a unique understanding of the self that reflects surrounding beliefs and values. Implications for understanding the relationship between spirituality and well-being are discussed.     

Values,Life Events,and Health: A Study in a Finnish Rural Community

The relationships between individual values (Schwartz, 1992), life events, and psychological symptoms were analyzed in a general population sample from a Finnish rural community. The design was a cross‐sectional survey. Data were gathered in 1993 (n = 174) and 2007 (n = 226). We investigated whether personal values would predict the number of life events. Results showed that openness to change values was positively and conservation values, negatively related to life events (those over which the individual had certain degree of control, e.g. getting a new job) in 1993. As expected, an increase in the importance of conservation values from 1993 to 2007 weakened the association between values and life events so that in 2007, only stimulation values were related to events. Although no consistent direct relations were found between single values and symptoms, we found that the higher the value congruence between individual and group values, the fewer the reported symptoms, for both time points. This research provided evidence suggesting that life events are also related to one's personal value priorities. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using Rasch modelling to examine the international personality item pool (IPIP) values in action (VIA) measure of character strengths

This paper investigates the psychometric properties of the values in action (VIA) character strengths (Peterson and Seligman, 2004 Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]). A sample of 904 South African undergraduate students (female=77%, male=23%, black=70%, mean age=21.07 years, SD age=2.73 years) was assessed using a 380-item questionnaire that included the items from the international personality item pool (IPIP) values in action (VIA) measure of 24 character strengths as well as additional items based on the underlying theory of the particular constructs. Responses were analysed with the Rasch rating scale model. Reliability coefficients were computed for the retained scale items. The majority (21) of the scales demonstrated satisfactory Rasch model fit and good reliability of scores. The finding that a large proportion of strengths exhibited differential item functioning for at least one of (1) gender, (2) ethnicity and (3) home language group, challenges the assumption that character strengths are necessarily accultural, indicating qualitative distinctions in construct conceptualisations and measurement as a function of emic factors.     

Friendship Similarity During Early Adolescence: Gender and Racial Patterns

We studied the relationship of reciprocity, gender, and racial composition (Caucasian, African American, cross-race) of adolescent friendship dyads to similarity and proximity in 136 young adolescents. We found that adolescents selected friends who were of the same gender and race and that female dyads were more similar than male dyads on verbal achievement and several personality dimensions. Caucasian dyads were more similar than African American dyads on verbal achievement, mental alertness, and dominance. African American adolescents had more contact with their best friends outside school, whereas Caucasian adolescent friends had more in-school contact. African American students had fewer reciprocal relationships than the Caucasian students. Cross-race friendships were less reciprocal than same-race friendships. Race and gender were important in determining friendship patterns. Similarity and proximity were more important than reciprocity in understanding early adolescent friendships.     

Primitivism and the Analogy between Colors and Values

The analogy between colors and values is strongly interlinked with the idea that these properties are by nature dispositions or response‐dependent properties. Indeed, that colors are essentially visible, and values are inherently motivational, cries out for a dispositional or a response‐dependent account. Recently, Primitivism has challenged the viability of the dispositional account of colors, taking the apple, for instance, to be “gloriously, perfectly, and primitively red.” Unsurprisingly, the attack on the dispositional account of colors has found a moral analogue in the view that values are sui generis irreducibly primitive properties. The question this article addresses is whether given Primitivism the analogy between colors and values is preserved; or in other words, whether Primitivism breaks the bond between the dispositional account and the analogy between colors and values.     

The Need for Power and Fear of Assertiveness in English-Speaking South African Female Graduates

The present study demonstrated that Winter's (1973) power arousal procedure and scoring system for the need for power, which were developed in the United States, are valid for English-speaking South African female graduates. Subjects in whom the need for power had been aroused by a prerecorded inspirational speech (n = 20) had significantly higher n Power scores than matched nonaroused subjects (n = 20), T ²(8, 31) = 56.17, p ≤ .01. Further, it was argued that the fear of assertiveness is a component of the need for power, and a scoring system for measuring this motive was suggested. Fear of assertiveness was shown to correlate significantly with various behavioral and dispositional measures of assertiveness, relating especially to a dependency pattern of behavior.     

An individual's work values in career development

This study examined the mediation effect of career decision self‐efficacy in relation to work values and career decision status. The authors surveyed 308 college students about their own intrinsic (e.g., helping others) and extrinsic (e.g., high income) work values and those of significant others, career decision self‐efficacy, and career decision status. The results indicated that the intrinsic and extrinsic work values of significant others were related to the intrinsic and extrinsic work values of the self and that intrinsic work values were more adaptive than extrinsic work values in career development.     

The cultural mediation hypothesis: A critical examination

A fascinating hypothesis has been proposed by Woodley (2010, Intelligence, 38: 471–480) to explain why intelligence, in contemporary Western countries, appears to be positively associated with left wing political attitudes. According to the hypothesis, the current Western ‘norm’ is relatively left-wing values, the intelligent are better at norm-mapping and better at perceiving the benefits of conforming to the dominant set of values and this explains why they are more likely, in this context, to be relatively left wing. This article will critically examine this hypothesis. It will argue that the evidence for it is questionable and open to different interpretations, there is evidence that contradicts it, and it leaves key questions unanswered. The article will propose that a simpler explanation for the association is that intelligence is positively associated with openness-intellect, low time preference and agreeableness.     

Genetic and Environmental Transmission of Political Orientations

This article reports results from the first twin study of adults in the United States that focuses exclusively and comprehensively on political traits. These data allow us to test whether a common set of genetic and environmental influences act upon a broad variety of values, personality traits, and political attitudes. In short, it allows us to empirically investigate whether there are a core set of predispositions that form the basis of our political orientations and, if so, whether these predispositions are shaped by the same environmental and innate forces. The key finding from our analysis is that there are core political predispositions that are rooted in common genetic and environmental influences and that these predispositions are empirically distinct from broader personality traits.     

Values and love styles in Turkey and Great Britain: An intercultural and intracultural comparison

Little previous research has examined the relationship between values and love styles, and none has done so across cultures or intracultural regions. This research was the first attempt to explore the correlation between individual‐level values and love styles, and examined both within‐ and between‐cultural variations in love styles. In this study 224 participants from Turkey and Britain, from urban or rural locations, completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire and the Love Attitudes Scale measure of love styles. Pancultural analyses demonstrated significant correlations between certain value dimensions and love styles. In particular, agape (selfless love) was positively correlated with self‐transcendence, ludus (game‐playing love) was positively correlated with self‐enhancement, and pragma (realistic love) was positively correlated with conservation. The inclusion of location and nationality and their interactions with values in the multiple regression analyses significantly increased the variance explained by values for five of the six love styles. Multivariate analyses indicated that ludus, storge, mania, and pragma were all significantly higher among Turkish respondents; pragma, mania, and agape all higher amongst rural respondents. Eros was highest among rural British respondents; storge, pragma, and agape highest among rural Turks. When these culture effects were explored, conservation significantly mediated the relationship between the groups of more conservative rural Turks (versus other participants) and both pragmatic and storgic love styles. Findings are discussed in the light of disparities in values and relationship styles within cultures, and the need to include both intracultural and intercultural variations in cross cultural research.