Arnulf Kolstad

Opposite Ends of the Same Stick? Multi-Method Test of the Dimensionality of Individualism and Collectivism

The construct of individualism–collectivism (IND-COL) has become the definitive standard in cross-cultural psychology, management, and related fields. It is also among the most controversial, in particular, with regard to the ambiguity of its dimensionality: Some view IND and COL as the opposites of a single continuum, whereas others argue that the two are independent constructs. We explored the issue through seven different tests using original individual-level data from 50 studies and meta-analytic data from 149 empirical publications yielding a total of 295 sample-level observations that were collected using six established instruments for assessing IND and COL as separate constructs. Results indicated that the dimensionality of IND-COL may depend on (a) the specific instrument used to collect the data, (b) the sample characteristics and the cultural region from which the data were collected, and (c) the level of analysis. We also review inconsistencies, deficiencies, and challenges of conceptualizing IND-COL and provide guidelines for developing and selecting instruments for measuring the construct, and for reporting and meta-analyzing results from this line of research.

Self-Construal in Chile and Norway Implications for Cultural Differences in Individualism and Collectivism

The study compares Chilean and Norwegian self-construal with regard to the concepts of independence and interdependence. Chile has been characterized as collectivistic and Norway as individualistic, and the hypothesis is that this characterization also distinguishes self-perception as independent and interdependent, respectively. The total sample consists of 368 university students. The instrument, Self-Construal Scale (SCS), measures the strength of independence and interdependence. The Chilean sample reports a higher score on both constructs. Both samples report the highest score on independence. The results are inconsistent with previous models that characterize Chile as collectivistic and Norway as individualistic. These characterizations are questioned. The findings also imply that a particular score on either independence or interdependence does not predict the score on the opposite variable. Individuals in the two cultures have a unique blend of independent and interdependent self-appraisal, which represent a composite mix of individualistic and collective elements in each culture.

Collectivism, individualism, and pragmatism in China: Implications for perceptions of mental health

This study aimed to better understand how minor mental health problems (MMPs) are perceived by well-educated urban dwellers in China who are influenced by Western values. Urban China is a rapidly changing society in which traditional Chinese culture and Western thought coexist. As a result, the established processes of interdependent self-appraisal have been challenged and a sense of a bicultural self has developed among a growing proportion of the population. The fieldwork for this study included interviews and observations. The results are derived mainly from interviews with professional practitioners, students, and lay people from three urban sites. One of the main findings was that respondents who referred to traditional and collectivistic Chinese values tended not to label MMPs as psychiatric disorders or illnesses but as challenges in daily life and relationships strain. While the Western medical model of MMPs considers them a form of illness, they were not viewed in this way in traditional collectivistic China in the past, even among educated urban dwellers. However, the urban and educated Chinese who have developed a stronger sense of a bicultural self are now more likely to perceive and deal with MMPs from a Western viewpoint.

Dwelling as an expression ofidentity: A comparative study among residents in high-priced and low priced neighbourhoods in Norway

This study explores peoples thoughts about their dwellings as an expression of identity. The results are based on a survey (N = 560) and 18 qualitative interviews with residents in high‐priced and low‐priced neighbourhoods in one city in Norway. The informants perceived their dwellings and neighbourhoods as providing information about personality and taste, interests, life phase, social status and relationships. Their attitudes towards the communicative aspect of their environment can be divided into three categories: one group had not thought much about the issue, and did not care about how others read their dwelling or environment; another group was not very aware of the issue, but became interested in the topic when asked about it; and the last group was definitely concerned about the presentation of self through dwelling and neighbourhood, and talked spontaneously about it. The survey revealed that 40% of the respondents were aware/very much aware of their dwelling reflecting who they are, but only 19% thought it was important. Respondents in the high‐priced neighbourhood were more aware of dwelling as personality than respondents in the lower‐priced neighbourhood. Differences in attitudes were larger between age groups than between neighbourhoods. Younger to middle‐aged respondents were more aware than older people of the communicative aspect of their environments. The results are discussed in relation to cohort, social identity, attitudes towards self‐presentation and the sensitivity of the topic. The study demonstrates the value of qualitative methods in studying the communicative aspect of the physical environment.

Imprisonment as rehabilitation: Offenders' assessment of why it does not work

Abstract The imprisonment of offenders is compared with hospitalization of psychiatric patients as confinement in total institutions. Although the number of patients in hospitals has decreased in all western countries in recent years because institutionalization is contraindicated as a means of rehabilitation, the number of offenders in prison has increased. The consequences of putting people in prison are discussed. Thirty-six prisoners were asked about punishment and prison as a place for rehabilitation and for the prevention of reoffending. They were interviewed and they completed a questionnaire. Eighteen offenders serving community work (CW) completed an abridged version of the questionnaire. Offenders serving their sentence in prison seem to become more hostile and critical toward ordinary society than offenders serving community work. The feeling of being a deviant in the society was reinforced in prison. Two-thirds of the prisoners did not believe that imprisonment would have any deterrent effect. Nine out of ten respondents agreed that prisons are “criminal universities.” The offenders accepted that their offenses were, and should be, illegal and were ready to be punished. The prisoners, however, did not think that long-term passive imprisonment made sense. A great majority proposed “community work” as the most appropriate and effective punishment with regard to rehabilitation. The prisoners are probably right. Imprisonment does not lead to rehabilitation or a law-abiding life outside prison. Confinement is a pseudosolution to the criminal problem. The necessary steps in a rehabilitation program for offenders are outlined.

Football team identification in Norway: spectators of local and national football matches

Football spectators (N=760) at two local and two international matches were surveyed with the aim of investigating how identity is created and sustained in relation to top-level sport in general, and local and national football teams in particular. Two-way between-groups analyses of variance were applied, and effect sizes calculated. There was a statistically significant main effect for gender, showing that male spectators identify more strongly with their favourite team than female spectators. The findings also include an interaction effect between gender and level of matches, indicating different effects on male and female spectators. Male spectators identify more strongly with the national team than the local team, whereas female spectators identify more strongly with the local team. Strong identification with the national team goes together with more positive attitudes towards the nation. The results are analysed within the theoretical framework of social identity theory (SIT) and self-categorization theory (SCT). Team identification is context-dependent and partly explained with reference to the principle of meta-contrast implied in SCT. Positive attitudes towards the nation are interpreted as beneficial from a nation-building point of view, but have possible negative consequences concerning the evaluation of social groups not included in the in-group.

Time for Paradigmatic Substitution in Psychology. What are the Alternatives

This article focuses on the “machine paradigm” in psychology and its consequences for (mis)understanding of human beings. It discusses causes of the mainstream epistemology in Western societies, referring to philosophical traditions, the prestige of some natural sciences and mathematical statistics. It emphasizes how the higher psychological functions develop dialectically from a biological basis and how the brain due to its plasticity changes with mental and physical activity. This makes a causal machine paradigm unfit to describe and explain human psychology and human development. Some concepts for an alternative paradigm are suggested.

Mental health care in China: review on the delivery and policy issues in 1949–2009 and the outlook for the next decade.

Using qualitative and quantitative methodologies, delivery models and policies on mental health care in China during the period of 1949–2009 were reviewed and characteristics of different stages of the mental health-care development were also analysed in this period. Recent studies demonstrate that mental health-care services in China are being transformed from large mental hospital-based pattern to community-based pattern in the past six decades. Combining the international experiences with current strategies and situations of Chinese health care, we provided the outlook for mental health-care services in the next decade in China. In addition, we proposed relevant policy recommendations that mainly focus on the equity and availability of mental health-care services with the purpose of promoting community-based health services.

How Culture Shapes Mind, Neurobiology and Behaviour

This article has the intention to explain how culture influences human mind and brain by referring to recent research in relevant disciplines: i.e., cultural psychology, cross-cultural psychology, genetics and epigenetics, neurobiology and neuropsychology, and cultural neuroscience. Cultural-historical psychology, represented by Lev Vygotsky and the concepts ‘lower’ and ‘higher’ psychological functions are used as theoretical tools to explain how culture generates human mind and brain. Lower psychological functions are the natural, non-volatile, instinctive functions not involving language, signs or thought. In the brain this mind state is represented by neural networks established before birth primarily by the genetic outfit. The higher psychological functions are created after birth by the individual in cultural/social interaction and communication. These functions are unique to every individual, depending alike on genetic features, lower psychological functions and socio-cultural experience, and represented by neurons all over the brain connected with synapses created after birth.

Perceptions of minor mental health problems in China

The purpose of this study is to reach a better understanding of the perceptions of minor mental problems (MMP) held by well-educated urban Chinese people in contemporary China, both within and outside of the context of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The methodological approach adopted in this study is qualitative and exploratory. The results are based on observations of and interviews with six practitioners and students of TCM and eight laypeople from three urban sites. MMP are not labelled as disorders or illnesses, but as challenges in daily living and lack of harmonious relationships. “Life problems” rather than sickness, is the category that best summarises the perceptions of MMP among Chinese people. This points to a salutogenetic perspective, reflecting perceptions of mental health and MMP as processes of adaption and interpretation of meaning, rather than medical conditions or sickness.