The beliefs that underlie autonomy-supportive and controlling teaching: A multinational investigation

We investigated the role of three beliefs in predicting teachers’ motivating style toward students—namely, how effective, how normative, and how easy-to-implement autonomy-supportive and controlling teaching were each believed to be. We further examined national collectivism–individualism as a predictor of individual teachers’ motivating style and beliefs about motivating style, as we expected that a collectivistic perspective would tend teachers toward the controlling style and toward positive beliefs about that style. Participants were 815 full-time PreK-12 public school teachers from eight different nations that varied in collectivism–individualism. All three teacher beliefs explained independent and substantial variance in teachers’ self-described motivating styles. Believed effectiveness was a particularly strong predictor of self-described motivating style. Collectivism–individualism predicted which teachers were most likely to self-describe a controlling motivating style, and a mediation analysis showed that teachers in collectivistic nations self-described a controlling style because they believed it to be culturally normative classroom practice. These findings enhance the literature on the antecedents of teachers’ motivating styles by showing that teacher beliefs strongly predict motivating style, and that culture informs one of these beliefs—namely, normalcy.     

The Role of Ethnic Socialization,Ethnic Identity and Self-Esteem: Implications for Bi-ethnic Adolescents’ School Adjustment

Bi-ethnic adolescents of marriage migrant mothers in Korea are often encouraged to be “pure” Koreans for their adjustments and not given the opportunities to explore their ethnic identity or to learn about their mother’s culture of origin. Existing studies conducted with mono-ethnic minorities in other countries, however, do not support this belief. We tested a conceptual model on the role of ethnic socialization, ethnic identity and self-esteem on school adjustment among bi-ethnic adolescents in Korea based on social identity theory and theoretical models of ethnic socialization and ethnic identity. We used data from 2015 National Survey of Multicultural Families. The study sample consisted of 296 adolescents aged 9–18 who were born between Korean fathers and Vietnamese marriage migrant mothers. We used structural equation modeling to specifically examine the association between ethnic socialization in terms of parents’ linguistic socialization and adolescents’ school adjustment mediated by ethnic identity in the form of ethnic regard and self-esteem among bi-ethnic adolescents. The results verified the hypothesized model, showing positive relationships between linguistic socialization and ethnic regard, ethnic regard and self-esteem, self-esteem and school adjustment, and ethnic regard and school adjustment. Additionally, the results of bootstrapping test showed that the indirect effect of linguistic socialization on self-esteem through ethnic regard was significant. The indirect effect of ethnic regard on school adjustment through self-esteem was significant and the indirect effect of linguistic socialization on school adjustment via ethnic regard and self-esteem was also significant. These results shed light on the important role of ethnic identity fostered at home among bi-ethnic adolescents of marriage migrant mothers in Korea.     

Psychological experiences of Korean missionary “kids” (MKs): a qualitative inquiry

The present study is a qualitative investigation of the psychological experiences of children of Korean missionaries, through the eyes of Korean missionary kids (MKs) and missionary workers. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 11 MKs and MK workers, and data were analysed using the Consensual Qualitative Research method. Several domains emerged: challenges associated with the MK experience, resiliency of MKs, intrapersonal and interpersonal coping skills, mental health concerns, religion and spirituality, a complex cultural identity, preparation for college transition, and hopes for MKs and their missionary parents. Categories corresponding to the domains are highlighted. The present study addresses a need for more attention paid to the non-American MK experience, and it presents some implications for the church and higher educational institutions.     

Online shopping hesitation.

This study was designed to understand which factors influence consumer hesitation or delay in online product purchases. The study examined four groups of variables (i.e., consumer characteristics, contextual factors perceived uncertainty factors, and medium/channel innovation factors) that predict three types of online shopping hesitation (i.e., overall hesitation, shopping cart abandonment, and hesitation at the final payment stage). We found that different sets of delay factors are related to different aspects of online shopping hesitation. The study concludes with suggestion for various delay-reduction devices to help consumers close their online decision hesitation.     

Mental health disparities impacting Christian Korean Americans: a qualitative examination of pastors’ perspectives

Mental health disparities impacting Korean Americans are multifaceted. Although encouraging developments have been made in the knowledge of mental health prevalence and professional help-seeking behaviours of Asian Americans, Korean Americans continue to experience many challenges and unique needs that require more ethnic- and culture-specific knowledge. Given the prominent role that religion, particularly Christianity, plays in the Korean American context, we conducted exploratory interviews with 10 Korean American pastors regarding their perspectives on mental health issues impacting the Korean American community. Using consensual qualitative research, we found four salient domains: (a) Barriers to seeking mental health services, (b) Challenges that pastors experience, (c) Pastor’s assessment of church’s current climate in approaches to mental health issues, and (d) What is needed. Implications for research and practice in addressing mental health disparities are discussed.     

The Gettier Intuition from South America to Asia

Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research - This article examines whether people share the Gettier intuition (viz. that someone who has a true justified belief that p may nonetheless fail...     

The diversity of cultural diversity: Psychological consequences of different patterns of intercultural contact and mixing

Culture mixing is a critical consequence of globalization. Thus, predicting the effects of globalization on individual psychological processes requires understanding the effects of exposure to culture mixing on cognition, attitudes, and behaviors. Prior research has demonstrated that perceiving the mixing of own and foreign cultures can trigger subsequent shifts across a wide range of psychological processes. This article proposes that the psychological consequences of culture mixing can be understood through consideration of the specific form of culture mixing involved and the fundamental psychological functions that cultures (particularly heritage cultures) fulfill. Culture mixing itself is a diverse, heterogeneous phenomenon, and different forms of culture mixing (e.g., simultaneous co‐presence, superimposition, fusion) may activate different psychological outcomes. Furthermore, heritage cultures serve critical psychological functions by providing guides and normative standards for behavior, acting as markers that facilitate differentiation of ingroup members from those of outgroups and buffering against psychological threats. The frustration or disruption of these functions by culture mixing may serve as a basis for predicting psychological responses to mixing. Finally, this article suggests key areas for future study in culture mixing and how studying diverse patterns of culture mixing may be critical for enriching cognition and behavior in response to reminders of globalization.     

Thanking in the times of the plague: The role of holistic thinking in meaning-making and gratitude

Two studies examined the role of holistic thinking in meaning-making and gratitude during the COVID-19 pandemic. Correlational and mediational evidence showed that participants with high holistic thinking tended to construct more meaning from the pandemic and feel grateful, compared to participants with low holistic thinking (Study 1). Experimental manipulation of holistic thinking elicited behavioral choice for books on life meaning, which predicted gratitude (Study 2). These results cannot be explained by individual differences in the perception of threat (Study 1) or distress (Studies 1–2) associated with the pandemic. They cannot be explained by demographic factors such as age or gender, or cultural constructs such as ethnicity, educational level, or religiosity (Studies 1–2). These findings push understanding forward. They strengthen interdisciplinary links, fusing positive psychology with the social cognition of thinking styles. We discuss promising directions for future research with cross-cultural implications.