Cultural Variables (cultural + variable)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Cooperation in social dilemmas and allocentrism: a social values approach

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2001
Lorne G. Hulbert
Research examining the relationship between the allocentrism,ideocentrism cultural variable and cooperation in social dilemmas is inconsistent. This relationship is considered in the context of social values within the prisoner's dilemma (PDG) in two studies. We hypothesised that allocentrics (relative to ideocentrics) would more likely express the social value of minimising differences rather than maximising joint outcomes. In Study 1 the hypothesis was supported. Study 2, including British and Malaysian respondents, replicated and extended these results to rankings of PDG outcomes. These findings are integrated with previous research, in particular to explain mixed results concerning allocentrism and cooperation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Vietnamese Americans' attitudes toward seeking mental health services: Relation to cultural variables

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2005
Quang Charles X. Nguyen
This study examined the relation between culturally based variables and attitudes toward seeking mental health services among a community sample of Vietnamese Americans ( N = 148) with at least 8 years' residence in the United States (U.S.). Variables included Stigma, Traditional Beliefs about Mental Illness, Help-Seeking Preferences, Problem Prioritizing, and Disclosure. The results indicated that Disclosure, Help-Seeking Preferences, and Problem Prioritizing were significant predictors of attitudes. Greater willingness to disclose, greater preference for professional resources over family/community resources, and higher priority placed on mental/emotional health concerns over other concerns were each associated with more favorable attitudes toward seeking mental health services. Stigma and Traditional Beliefs about Mental Illness did not appear to be significant predictors. Implications of the findings are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 33: 213,231, 2005. [source]


Helpseeking behavior among Filipino Americans: A cultural analysis of face and language

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2003
Fang Gong
In this study we explore the existing research on Asian Americans and helpseeking behavior, focusing primarily on Filipino Americans and the cultural variables of face and language. Although some important and specific cultural factors have been hypothesized to affect the helpseeking behaviors of ethnic minorities, very few empirical studies have been conducted to specifically test these hypotheses. To fill the gaps in previous research, we examined the influence of concern with face and of language abilities on helpseeking behavior for mental health problems among Filipino Americans. In addition, to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of helpseeking behavior, we divided the mental health care systems into four categories: lay, mental health specialty, general practitioner, and folk systems. Data are from the Filipino American Epidemiological Study (FACES) survey. The main statistical method we employed was logistic regression. Results from the descriptive analyses reveal that the lay system is the most frequently used source of care compared with the other systems of professional and folk systems for Filipino Americans. Furthermore, findings from the main effects models suggest that face and language are important cultural factors that contribute to the helpseeking behavior of Filipino Americans, but they have different influences on the four types of mental health care systems. The interaction analyses indicate that concern with face interacts with language abilities when predicting use of the lay system and the general medical sector. Despite these findings, to fully understand the dynamics of helpseeking, other cultural factors and longitudinal studies are needed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 31: 469,488, 2003. [source]


Perspectives on American Kinship in the Later 1990s

JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 3 2000
Colleen L. Johnson
This paper reviews the current status of kinship research in the United States and identifies factors that might account for the declining interest in the subject among family researchers. The analysis uses both structural and cultural factors to illustrate how they can determine the diversity in kinship functioning that ranges from those family systems where kinship relationships flourish and those where they play a small part in family life. The structural and demographic variables determine the numbers and availability of kin, whereas the cultural variables determine the norms that establish the motivation to sustain kinship bonds. To illustrate how these factors operate among subgroups in the United States, I analyze three types of kinship systems: the lineal emphasis in White families of the very old; the collateral emphasis in the families of their Black counterparts; and the egocentric emphasis of White suburban families that are undergoing marital change. [source]


Trait Psychology and Culture: Exploring Intercultural Comparisons

JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 6 2001
Robert R. McCrae
Personality traits, studied for decades by Western personality psychologists, have recently been reconceptualized as endogenous basic tendencies that, within a cultural context, give rise to habits, attitudes, skills, beliefs, and other characteristic adaptations. This conceptualization provides a new framework for studying personality and culture at three levels. Transcultural research focuses on identifying human universals, such as trait structure and development; intracultural studies examine the unique expression of traits in specific cultures; and intercultural research characterizes cultures and their subgroups in terms of mean levels of personality traits and seeks associations between cultural variables and aggregate personality traits. As an example of the problems and possibilities of intercultural analyses, data on mean levels of Revised NEO Personality Inventory scales from college age and adult samples (N = 23,031) of men and women from 26 cultures are examined. Results showed that age and gender differences resembled those found in American samples; different subsamples from each culture showed similar levels of personality traits; intercultural factor analysis yielded a close approximation to the Five-Factor Model; and factor scores were meaningfully related to other culture-level variables. However, mean trait levels were not apparent to expert raters, casting doubt on the accuracy of national stereotypes. Trait psychology can serve as a useful complement to cultural perspectives on human nature and personality. [source]


National Culture and Industrial Relations and Pay Structures

LABOUR, Issue 2 2001
Boyd Black
The paper develops an explanatory model of comparative industrial relations and labour market structures based on national culture. The four cultural variables derived by Hofstede (Culture's Consequences, Beverly Hills: Sage, 1984) are used to investigate the relationship between national culture and various dimensions of industrial relations and pay structures. The paper finds national culture to be associated with the centralization of bargaining, the extent of corporatism, the degree of co-ordination in bargaining, the coverage of collective bargaining, trade union density, the extent of worker participation in decision making, and most dimensions of the pay structure. Hofstede's MAS variable, measuring cultural values representing gender social structuring, is associated with both industrial relations institutions and the pay structure. The results provide support for our cultural model. [source]


Sex,related self,concepts, cognitive styles and cultural values of traditionality,modernity as predictors of general and domain,specific sexism

ASIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2003
Jolynn C. X. Pek
Previous studies have determined that masculinity, femininity, need for closure and authoritarianism are significant predictors of sexism. The present study attempted to integrate these variables in order to better understand the nature of general ambivalent sexism and workplace,specific sexism in Singapore. Chinese traditionality and Chinese modernity were specifically examined as potential predictors of sexism. Robust results from hierarchical regressions indicated that these indigenous cultural variables were highly important in predicting general and workplace,specific sexism. Although masculinity and need for closure were unrelated to sexism, participant sex, femininity and authoritarianism significantly predicted sexist attitudes towards women. Most important, Chinese values were found to add significant incremental validity in predicting sexist attitudes beyond what was accounted by the aforementioned predictors. Chinese traditionality significantly predicted sexist attitudes towards women, but Chinese modernity was unrelated to sexism. Implications of these findings were discussed. [source]