Anna-Maija Pirttilä-Backman

International Preferences in Selecting Mates: A Study of 37 Cultures

This study sought to identify the effects of culture and sex on mate preferences using samples drawn world-wide. Thirty-seven samples were obtained from 33 countries located on six continents and five islands (N = 9,474). Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed strong effects of both culture and sex, moderated by specific mate characteristics. Chastity proved to be the mate characteristic on which cultures varied the most. The preference ordering of each sample was contrasted with an international complement. Each culture displayed a unique preference ordering, but there were some similarities among all cultures as reflected in a positive manifold of the cross-country correlation matrix. Multidimensional scaling of the cultures yielded a five dimensional solution, the first two of which were interpreted. The first dimension was interpreted as Traditional versus Modern, with China, India, Iran, and Nigeria anchoring one end and the Netherlands, Great Britain, Finland, and Sweden anchoring the other. The second dimension involved valuation of education, intelligence, and refinement. Consistent sex differences in value attached to eaming potential and physical attractiveness supported evolution-based hypotheses about the importance of resources and reproductive value in mates. Discussion emphasizes the importance of psychological mate preferences for scientific disciplines ranging from evolutionary biology to sociology.

Willingness to try new foods as predicted by social representations and attitude and trait scales

The structure and predictive ability of social representation of new foods were investigated and compared with instruments measuring relevant attitudes and traits using a questionnaire quantifying these aspects, completed by 743 respondents. Based on their rated willingness to try, new foods were categorized as modified dairy products, genetically modified (GM), organic, and ethnic products (two examples, snails and passion fruit, were treated separately). The social representation (SR) consisted of five dimensions: suspicion of novelties, adherence to technology, adherence to natural food, eating as an enjoyment, and eating as a necessity. The SR dimensions were strong predictors of willingness to try GM foods (predicted by adherence to technology) and organic foods (predicted by adherence to natural foods). Low food neophobia predicted the rated willingness to try snails and passion fruit. Thus, different constructs predicted willingness to try different categories of new foods, and as a whole, SR dimensions markedly improved the prediction.

Dimensions of novelty: a social representation approach to new foods

Social representations of new foods were examined with a total of 44 subjects in nine focus groups. Each group was homogenous, defined by age, gender and educational background. Halfway through the interview, commercial packages of functional, genetically modified, organic, nutritionally modified and ethnic foods were presented as visual stimuli for discussion. Thematic and content analyses of the interview data showed that five dichotomies characterized the social representation: trust/distrust, safe/unsafe, natural/artificial, pleasure/necessity, and past/present. Many metaphors were used, with functional products being associated metaphorically with, for example, medicine and genetically modified products being associated with death and terrorism. Chronological references focused on the development of cuisine. The perceived unsafety of new foods was an important argument for women but not for men. The difference between age groups was in relating the discussion to either present time (young subjects) or past time (older subjects). Level of education affected the content of argumentation. In the context of new foods, social representations are formed to cope with the feeling of strangeness evoked by the novelties. They also have a role in cultural acceptance of new products by making them familiar. Overall, the results reflect the development of a new common sense in which popularized scientific notions are anchored in the process of urbanization.

Laypeople's viewpoints about the reasons for expert controversy regarding food additives

The focus in this study is on the thoughts and opinions of the general public to the divergence in expert standpoints regarding additives in food. The relation of education, length of work experience, occupational field, gender, and peoples ideas on this matter, as well as the changes in it, were of interest. Fifty-nine young and middle-aged Finnish adults were interviewed during the years 1986-1988 and again in 1993-1994. The semi-structured interview included straightforward questions about reasons for disagreements among experts regarding additives; in other parts of the interview people could spontaneously comment on the discrepancies. Three main categories of reasons for the disagreement emerged. General difficulty in obtaining scientific knowledge was the most common reason given. In the second interview round, a greater number of less well-educated interviewees expressed views in this category. The second category was various interest-related reasons. The increase of these notions was statistically significant among the academics. The least common category concerned differences in the caliber and personal background of experts. Especially people with long experience in working life increased their notions in all three categories. The results showed that people are well aware of the many factors that may influence the acquisition of scientific knowledge, as well as its use. Moreover, the results showed that the more education people have the more aware they are of the various interests. Because laypeople have experiences and viewpoints about various open questions and risks, it is suggested here that their opinions should receive more attention in the public discussion of similar issues.

Paranormal Beliefs and their Implications in University Students from Finland and the United States

University students from Finland and the southern United States were compared in (a) paranormal beliefs; (b) four personality adjustment constructs-alienation, anomie, death concerns, and death threat; and (c) relationships between paranormal beliefs and these personality adjustment constructs. Americans reported significantly greater belief in Traditional Religious Belief, Superstition, Witchcraft, and Extraordinary Life Forms. Finns reported significantly greater death concerns and death threat, whereas the Americans reported significantly greater anomie. Paranormal beliefs showed stronger relationships with measures of personality adjustment for the Finns than for the Americans. There were 13 significant relationships between paranormal belief subscales and measures of personality adjustment among the Finns and only five among the Americans. Findings are consistent with the notion that secularization has advanced further in Finland than in the United States.

Cultivation or coddling? University teachers’ views on student integration

Integration of new students into the university has been widely studied from both psychological and academic perspectives. Much less, if anything, is heard from the other party in the integration process – the teachers. At the heart of this study is the voice of university teachers. Staff from 12 departments in three faculties (n = 52) in one university were invited to discuss student integration in focus groups. Their views on integration ranged from integration being beneficial, appropriate and unavoidable to being unnecessary and even harmful. The disparities in views pertain to a number of factors, many of them beyond the departments’ control.

Toward an Understanding of Laypeople's Notions about Additives in Food: Clear-cut Viewpoints about Additives Decrease with Education☆☆☆★

The focus of this article is on laypeoples notions about additives in food. A dilemma embodying the basic controversial standpoints on additives was given in interviews with 145 young and middle-aged adults representing different educational levels and fields during the years 1986-1988. The least and most educated subjects were interviewed again during 1993-1994 (N = 62). Interviewee standpoints and their justifications for them were probed in semi-structured interviews. The emergent attitudes could be located in four categories: Harmful, Safe, Both and Neither. There was a general movement from the clear-cut Harmful and Safe to Both and Neither, a trend which was not brought about by the selective sampling of interviewees for the follow-up study. In general, the more education the respondents had, the more often they expressed the standpoints Both and Neither and vice versa. Further education seems to soften the expression of straight for-or-against standpoints, as well as most misunderstandings about additives. Higher education helps people not only to simultaneously hold contradicting perspectives in mind, but also to analyse and integrate these perspectives, which is quite necessary in understanding open questions and in coping with insecurity in a modern society.

Reciprocity of trust in the supervisor–subordinate relationship: The mediating role of autonomy and the sense of power

This article develops and tests a model of reciprocal trust between supervisor and subordinate. Drawing from literature on trust and control and on the approach/inhibition theory of power, the authors present a model in which supervisor trust is suggested to enhance subordinate reciprocal trust through increased work-related autonomy and a heightened sense of power. The mediator analysis using the two-level full structural model confirmed that the relationship between supervisor trust and subordinate trust was partially mediated by the suggested chain of variables. The article responds to a call for empirical studies on reciprocal trust and offers a complementary mechanism for trust building beside characteristics and relationship-based approaches.

Cameroonian Forms of Collectivism and Individualism

The aim of this study was to investigate collectivism and individualism in Cameroon. Cameroonians were hypothesized to be more collectivist than individualist and the women to be more collectivist than the men. Specific regional characteristics were also assumed. Four-hundred and fifteen students (university and senior high school) in three different areas filled in questionnaires including the Singelis, Triandis, Bhawuk, and Gelfand (1995)and the Triandis, Chen, and Chan (1998)scales. Later, a groupof university students discussed the preliminary results with the researchers. Cameroonians were shown to be more collectivist than individualist. The women were more individualist than the men. This unexpected finding could be interpreted in terms of the everyday struggles of women. Those in the northern area were more collectivist than those in the central area, and those in the western area fell between the two. The convergence of the results confirm the suitability of the conceptual distinction.

Stigma, marginalization and psychosocial well-being of orphans in Rwanda: exploring the mediation role of social support

ABSTRACT Stigma and marginalization are one of the major challenges orphans face in their daily lives, particularly in developing countries, but little is known about their impacts on mental health. This study examines how orphan-related characteristics, stigma and marginalization are associated with psychosocial well-being. It further analyses the role of social support in mediating between stigma and marginalization and mental health, indicated by emotional well-being and mental distress. The participants in this study were 430 Rwandan orphans who were 10–25 years of age, and of whom 179 were females and 251 were males. Results showed that high levels of stigma and marginalization were associated with a lower level of emotional well-being and higher levels of mental distress. A mediation analysis indicated that low level of social support due to stigma and marginalization contributed significantly to low level of emotional well-being. Once stigma, marginalization and social support were fully accounted for, AIDS orphans exhibited higher levels of mental distress than those who were orphaned by genocide or other causes. Future interventions designed to reduce stigma and marginalization for orphans and actions that facilitate social support can significantly improve emotional well-being and reduce mental distress among orphans.