The Role of Personality in Relation to Gender Differences in School Subject Choices in Pre-University Education

Boys and girls to some extent differ in personality characteristics while they also prefer different school subjects in secondary education. This study has attempted to unravel the relations among gender, personality, and students?? subject choices. The study was based on a sample of 1,740 9th grade pre-university students throughout the Netherlands (average age 15?years). We used the Five-Factor Personality Inventory (FFPI) of Hendriks, Hofstee, and De Raad (1999a) to measure the students?? personalities. The research questions were: (1) To what extent are students?? personality characteristics related to their subject choices in secondary education? (2) Do students?? personality characteristics mediate the gender ?C subject choice relation? And if yes, which personality characteristics are responsible for this? (3) Is the relation between personality characteristics and subject choices different for boys and girls? We found several associations between personality characteristics and students?? subject choices. Although the relationship between gender and students?? subject choices was slightly attenuated after the inclusion of the personality characteristics in the multinomial logistic regression analyses, gender remained an important predictor of the students?? choices. The personality factor Extraversion partially mediated the relation between gender and students?? choice of advanced mathematics, chemistry, and physics versus a more language and culturally-oriented set of school subjects. Furthermore, gender was found to moderate the relation between the personality factor Autonomy and students?? choice of advanced mathematics, chemistry, and physics versus a more language and culturally-oriented set of school courses.     

Within-culture variation in the content of stereotypes: Application and development of the stereotype content model in an Eastern European culture

There is little and unsystematic evidence about whether the content of stereotypes can vary within a culture. Using the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) as a theoretical framework, in two studies we examined the content of stereotypes in an Eastern European culture, namely Romania. Data were collected from four regions prototypical in terms of economic and social development in Romania, and we examined whether the content of stereotypes varies across these regions. As expected, the findings confirm the applicability of the SCM in Romania to reveal culture-specific stereotypes and provide initial support for within-culture variation in the content of stereotypes. We discuss, in particular, possible reasons for two main findings: a strong one-dimensional structure of stereotypes, and regional differences in stereotype content.     

Conceptions of love in Ghana: An exploration among Ghanaian Christians

We explored conceptions of love from the perspective of Ghanaian Christians. Using an ethnographic approach, we interviewed 61 participants (males = 39; females = 22; age range 20 to 70) on their understanding and experiences of love in the context of family. Thematic analysis of the interview data revealed understandings of love expression in meeting material needs (of children, spouse, parents, and close relatives), helping other people in need (including the elderly, friends, and strangers), and affectionate care. Communal and maintenance-oriented love appears to characterise love expression among Ghanaian Christians.     

In-Group Favoritism in International Justice Concerns: Power,Involvement, and Attitudes toward the Iraq War and the Cross Straits Relationship in Five Societies

Surveys in the USA, New Zealand, Taiwan, Japan, and China examined attitudes toward the Iraq War and the Cross-Straits Relationship between China and Taiwan. Factor analyses revealed a four-factor solution of justice concerns: (a) national mandate for military intervention, (b) international mandate against military action, (c) procedural justice, and (d) distributive justice issues. Americans and mainland Chinese were significantly different in an in-group favoring direction compared to other societies regarding justice concerns involving their nation. Taiwan, the low-powered society in the Cross-Straits Relationship, was like the uninvolved societies. Justice in international relations is filtered through in-group favoritism for powerful states.     

A harbor seal can transfer the same/different concept to new stimulus dimensions

We investigated the formation of an abstract concept of same/different in a harbor seal by means of a two-item same/different task. Stimuli were presented on a TFT monitor. The subject was trained to respond according to whether two horizontally aligned white shapes presented on a black background were the same, or different from each other, by giving a no-go or go response. Training comprised of four stages. First, the same/different task was trained with two shapes forming two same problems (A–A and B–B) and two different problems (A–B and B–A). After the learning criterion was reached, training proceeded with new pairs of shapes. In the second experimental stage, every problem was presented just five times before new problems were introduced. We showed that training to criterion with just two shapes resulted in item-specific learning, whereas reducing the number of presentations to five per problem led to the formation of a same/different learning set as well as some restricted relational learning. Training with trial-unique problems in the third stage of this study resulted in the formation of an abstract concept of same/different which was indicated by a highly significant performance in transfer tests with 120 novel problems. Finally, extra-dimensional transfer of the concept was tested. The harbor seal showed a significantly correct performance on transfer tests with 30 unfamiliar pattern and 60 unfamiliar brightness same/different problems, thus demonstrating that the concept is not restricted to the shape dimension originally learned, but can be generalized across stimulus dimensions.     

The Bricot–Mair Dispute: Scholastic Prolegomena to Non-Compositional Semantics

From a general semantic point of view, Thomas Bricot (d. 1516) and John Mair (1467–1550) are proponents of the solution to semantic paradoxes based on appreciation of the contextuality of truth, who differ in their approach to the relations of logical consequence and contradiction. The core of the study is the analysis of Mair's criticism of Bricot presented in the sixth quaestio of his Tractatus insolubilium where the consequences of non-compositional semantics for the concepts of synonymy and logical form are addressed. The polemic between John Mair and Thomas Bricot is construed as having immediate consequences for research in the area of non-compositional semantics.     

Are Asian cultures really less ageist than Western ones? It depends on the questions asked

Ageism is an increasing concern in ageing populations such as Asia and Europe. A prevalent assumption in psychology is that Eastern cultures may be less prone to ageism because of norms and values that honour and respect elders. Yet, evidence for this culture hypothesis is inconclusive. The current study examines this issue by comparing attitudes towards older people in an Eastern and Western samples of 184 young people from the UK and 249 from Taiwan. Attitudes to old age were measured both as meta‐perceptions (the perceived normative context) and personal attitudes in regard to the cognitive, affective and behavioural components of ageism. Consistent with the culture hypothesis, meta‐perceptions about competence and admiration were more positive in Taiwan than in the UK, yet other meta‐perceptions were more negative pointing to the existence of old age subtypes. Personal attitudes about older people in regard to the affective and behavioural, but not the cognitive component, were more negative in Taiwan than in the UK. Thus, cultural differences in ageism are more nuanced than suggested by previous research. The importance of distinguishing between the normative context and personal attitudes as well as the different components of ageism is highlighted by the present findings.     

Paul of Venice and Realist Developments of Roger Swyneshed's Treatment of Semantic Paradoxes

In the 1330s Roger Swyneshed formulated a solution to semantic paradoxes based on the distinction between correspondence with reality and self-falsification as truth-making factors. Since Swyneshed states that some valid inferences are not truth-preserving, his view implies the question of the general definition of validity which he does not address explicitly. Logical works attributed to Paul of Venice (1369–1429) contain developments of Swyneshed's contextualist semantics substantially modified by the assumption that sentential meanings are objective propositional entities. The main goals of this paper are to show the correlations between the ontological and logical developments of Swyneshed's semantics in the works of Paul of Venice and to outline a context-sensitive formal semantics that could serve as a model of this family of semantic theories.