John G. Adair

Cultural Dimensions, Gender, and the Nature of Self-concept: A Fourteen-country Study

Ratings of the importance of and satisfaction with 20 areas of the self were obtained from 3604 first or second year social science undergraduates from 14 countries (15 cultures). Factor analysis at the culture by gender level supported four factors for both sets of ratings. The resulting factor scores were analyzed for mean differences according to the cultural dimension of Individualism-Collectivism by Gender and by correlations with other cultural dimenions and economic indicators. It was found that participants from the 10 collectivist cultures placed greater salience for their self-concepts on “family values” than did those from the individualist cultures. However, this cultural difference was not found for “social relationships”. The expected gender differences, with females valuing “family values” and “social relationships” more highly, were found only for the individualist countries. The findings indicate that there may be a strong cultural level interaction effect between gender and Individualism-Collectivism on the nature of self-conceptions, and that the “family” and “social” aspects of self-concept in collectivist countries need to be considered separately.

Hawthorne Control Procedures in Educational Experiments: A Reconsideration of Their Use and Effectiveness

This article reports on a descriptive analysis of research practices and a meta-analysis of effect sizes associated with control groups employed to address Hawthorne effects in educational experiments. The descriptive analysis of 86 studies revealed a diversity of practices designed to control one of three artifact variables: special attention, activity related to the experimental task, or awareness of participation in an experiment. The meta-analysis provided no evidence for a Hawthorne versus no-treatment control difference. Moreover, a detailed analysis of these studies by their control procedure, and subsequently by other moderator variables, also revealed no systematic trends to suggest a specific artifact source. A within-study analysis of the pattern of treatment/Hawthorne/control group effect sizes suggested that the artifact controls were of limited utility. Increased research is urged into other artifacts and alternative control procedures that the educational researcher should consider.

Indigenization of Psychology: Empirical Assessment of Progress in Indian Research

Abstract The development of an indigenous psychology has generally been documented by examples of indigenous constructs and conceptual analyses of their emergence. In contrast, the present article proposes an empirical approach. Indigenization is conceived as a gradual process that may be operationalized, and measured by content analysis of journal articles as the discipline develops and changes. Measures are proposed to assess the extent to which the concepts, problems, hypotheses, methods, and tests: (a) emanate from, (b) adequately represent, and (c) reflect back upon, the cultural context in which behaviour is observed. Application of these to 355 empirical and 31 theoretical articles from Indian journals and 39 foreign empirical articles published by Indian psychologists, indicates some slight movement toward an indigenous discipline, and some interesting relationships that assist in understanding its development. Factors contributing to indigenization and the utility of the empirical approach are di...

Life Satisfaction of Indian Immigrants in Canada

It is a common conception that immigrants face numerous problems and considerable stress in the process of adjustment to a new culture. The life satisfaction of immigrants from India was assessed using the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985). As predicted by judgment theory (Micholas, 1986), it was found that Indian immigrants judge their own well-being in comparison to relevant others, such as their peers back home, the majority white community in Canada and other Indian immigrants. Their satisfaction was also predicted by the discrepancy between what they have in Canada and what they feel they could have had if they had stayed in India, with respect to raising children, freedom in making day-to-day decisions, opportunity to realise personal goals and amount of respect. Life satisfaction was correlated with perceived discrimination, guilt over leaving the country of birth and perception of social support, but not with education, socio-economic status, or perception of day-to-day comforts.

The research environment in developing countries: Contributions to the national development of the discipline

Abstract Resources and the intellectual climate for research are important for quality scholarly work. Within the context of a national discipline, these factors play important roles in both facilitating and impeding its development. Peer review and feedback and productive role models shape new investigators, and thereby the course of the discipline. A strong national association and quality journal editing set standards for the discipline. The availability of journals and other resources, academic accountability, and a system to reward research contribute to an environment that encourages identification with the science and a commitment to research. In contrast, the absence of these factors promotes a diminished commitment that contaminates the intellectual climate and has serious consequences for the entire discipline. Consideration of the intellectual climate and the strategies to foster its development must give special consideration to the collectivistic nature of some cultures.

Cross-Cultural Dimensions of Meaning in the Evaluation of Events in World History?: Perceptions of Historical Calamities and Progress in Cross-Cultural Data From Thirty Societies

The universality versus culture specificity of quantitative evaluations (negative-positive) of 40 events in world history was addressed using World History Survey data collected from 5,800 university students in 30 countries/societies. Multidimensional scaling using generalized procrustean analysis indicated poor fit of data from the 30 countries to an overall mean configuration, indicating lack of universal agreement as to the associational meaning of events in world history. Hierarchical cluster analysis identified one Western and two non-Western country clusters for which adequate multidimensional fit was obtained after item deletions. A two-dimensional solution for the three country clusters was identified, where the primary dimension was historical calamities versus progress and a weak second dimension was modernity versus resistance to modernity. Factor analysis further reduced the item inventory to identify a single concept with structural equivalence across cultures, Historical Calamities, which included man-made and natural, intentional and unintentional, predominantly violent but also nonviolent calamities. Less robust factors were tentatively named as Historical Progress and Historical Resistance to Oppression. Historical Calamities and Historical Progress were at the individual level both significant and independent predictors of willingness to fight for one’s country in a hierarchical linear model that also identified significant country-level variation in these relationships. Consensus around calamity but disagreement as to what constitutes historical progress is discussed in relation to the political culture of nations and lay perceptions of history as catastrophe.

Twenty Years of Deception Research: A Decline in Subjects' Trust?:

Early critical reaction to the practice of deceiving research subjects suggested that its continued use would lead to a negative view of the discipline and distrust by future subjects. In spite of these concerns and the constraints imposed by ethical codes, deception has remained a popular research strategy. The study reported in this article compared data from the Psychological Research Survey (PRS) at the beginning of the academic year in 1970 and the responses of students surveyed at a comparable time in 1989. Scores on the PRS from the recent samples were found to be similar to scores from 20years ago. After participating in a number of experiments, subjects sampled in 1990 were accepting of arguments justifying the use of deception; however, they reported a somewhat more negative attitude toward psychological research than in the 1989 sample, regardless of whether they had been exposed to deception.

VERBAL CUES IN THE MEDIATION OF EXPERIMENTER BIAS

In a replication of Rosenthals experimenter bias study, 6 male Es obtained significantly higher ratings when expecting high ratings from their 5 female Ss than when expecting low ratings (n = 5 each) in a person-perception task. The instructions read by these Es were tape recorded and played back in the absence of any E (non-visual condition) to a second set of Ss. It was concluded from the significant bias effect in the non-visual condition that verbal cues are sufficient mediators of E bias. Suggestions were made as to the nature of the bias transmission process in this study.

How international is psychology

Psychology claims to be an international discipline. This claim has been based upon subjective estimates of attendance at international congresses, status reports from selected countries published within edited volumes, and a survey of the member countries of the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS) (Rosenzweig, 1992). However, to be truly international, the work of psychologists in countries around the world must be internationally disseminated. Systematic examination of international congress presentations and abstracts of published psychological literature indexed on widely available electronic databases (e.g., PsycLIT) provides a more objective means of documenting the international presence of psychology. In this article, counts by country were made of research contributions reported within PsycLIT and on the programs of International Congresses of Applied Psychology over the five years in which the congresses were held from 1982 to 1998. Analyses of these data revealed PsycLIT to be...

Indigenization and Development of the Discipline Perceptions and Opinions of Indian and Bangladeshi Psychologists

Surveys were conducted of the attitudes and opinions of Indian and Bangladeshi psychologists. A series of questions assessed their perceptions of the intellectual climate within universities, their research publication preferences and practices within both national and foreign journals, and the communality of their opinions regarding research priorities and practices within their national psychology. Differences between countries, and within-sample comparisons of psychologists with and without foreign experience and strong preferences to publish in foreign journals revealed some insights about the development of the discipline that may generalize to other developing countries. Strategies for overcoming the lack of a constructive intellectual climate, a major obstacle to discipline development in India and Bangladesh, are considered