An Evaluation of the Cross-Cultural Validity of Holland's Theory: Career Choices by Workers in India

The current study evaluated the cross-cultural validity of Holland's (1985) theory through internal and external analyses based on the responses of 172 natives of India who completed the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) and measures of job and occupational satisfaction. Internal consistency estimates for Holland dimensions, intercorrelations among participants' vocational interest scales, and the results of a randomization test (Tracey, 1997) all provide evidence for the internal structure of the VPI with Indians. However, the VPI did not exhibit high external validity. Further, multiple regression results indicated that congruence, consistency, and differentiation did not predict job or occupational satisfaction, suggesting cross-cultural boundaries on Holland's theory itself. Finally, we assessed and found limited conceptual and linguistic equivalence of measurement of the VPI in India. The assumptions of Holland's theory in light of the current findings are discussed.     

Desire and Self-Representation: A Philosophical Reading of the Malayalam Novelette “Agnisakshi”

Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research - With the focus on the concepts of desire and self-representation, in this paper we present a philosophical analysis of the Malayalam novelette...     

Modernity and its imbalances: Constructing modern selfhood in the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission

This article explores the orientations towards ‘modernity’ among devotees of the popular female guru in contemporary India, Mata Amritanandamayi. It examines the understanding of modernity popularised by this guru and shows how this understanding informs the world views and lifestyles of her Indian followers. These followers, most of them educated, middle-class urbanites, are exposed to modernity in their everyday lives. The understanding of modernity in the guru's fold leads devotees to idealise a form of selfhood that allows expression for their faith and emotions and that thereby facilitates the transcendence of the so-called ‘imbalances' of modern personalities and lifestyles. The realisation of this form of selfhood does not mean a rejection of modernity. Instead, it purportedly better equips followers to cope with the stresses of modernity. This article analyses the logic that underpins this view of modernity, and the different interpretations, within this guru's fold, of the modern West and of its relationship to India.     

The Big Five personality traits, learning styles, and academic achievement

Personality and learning styles are both likely to play significant roles in influencing academic achievement. College students (308 undergraduates) completed the Five Factor Inventory and the Inventory of Learning Processes and reported their grade point average. Two of the Big Five traits, conscientiousness and agreeableness, were positively related with all four learning styles (synthesis analysis, methodical study, fact retention, and elaborative processing), whereas neuroticism was negatively related with all four learning styles. In addition, extraversion and openness were positively related with elaborative processing. The Big Five together explained 14% of the variance in grade point average (GPA), and learning styles explained an additional 3%, suggesting that both personality traits and learning styles contribute to academic performance. Further, the relationship between openness and GPA was mediated by reflective learning styles (synthesis-analysis and elaborative processing). These latter results suggest that being intellectually curious fully enhances academic performance when students combine this scholarly interest with thoughtful information processing. Implications of these results are discussed in the context of teaching techniques and curriculum design.     

Assistive/rehabilitation technology, disability, and service delivery models

The United Nation's Millennium Development Goals do not explicitly articulate a focus on disability; similar failures in the past resulted in research, policy, and practice that are not generalizable and did not meet the needs of persons with disabilities since they were developed for an "average" population. Academics and professionals in health and other disciplines should have a knowledge base in evidence-based practices that improve well-being and participation of people with disabilities through effective service delivery of assistive technology. Grounded by a theoretical framework that incorporates a multivariate perspective of disability that is acknowledged in the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, we present a review of models of assistive technology service delivery and call for future syntheses of the fragmented evidence base that would permit a comparative effectiveness approach to evaluation.     

WHO IS TO BLAME? RAPE OF HINDU-MUSLIM WOMEN IN INTERETHNIC VIOLENCE IN INDIA

This research examined attitudes that predict rape blame in contexts of interethnic violence between minority Muslims and dominant Hindu communities in Mumbai, India. I hypothesized that, in contexts of interethnic violence, prejudicial attitudes toward communities and attitudes that view rape as a conflict tool (i.e., an effective strategy to control an ethnic community) would predict victim blame. This study is among the first to provide empirical support that ethnic prejudice and specific misogynistic attitudes are important predictors of rape victim blame in ethnic violence contexts. Findings indicate that attitudes that exploit women's positions across categories of gender and religious community predict higher victim blame attributions. Findings are relevant to current intercommunity relationships and provide insights for community-based responses and primary interventions.