Márta Fülöp

Narratives of effort among Chinese, Hungarian and Chinese immigrant students in Hungary

The present study aimed to reveal the effect of migration processes on the conceptualisation of effort involving two cultures with different approaches towards effort: China with an effort-promoting mindset and Hungary with an effort-repressing mindset. In the study, narrative approach was used in cross-sectional design involving Chinese, Hungarian and Chinese immigrant students living in Hungary. Altogether 139 students-49 Hungarian, 47 Chinese, 43 Chinese immigrants-aged 13-15 years provided narratives on past personal effort. Content analyses were done on 222 narratives. The results showed that the Chinese narratives of effort were characterised by learning and achievement orientation with elaborated effort process. In contrast, the Hungarian narratives were characterised by relationship orientation and emotional coping with a non-elaborated effort process. The narratives of the Chinese immigrants showed great similarity to those of the Chinese students reflecting academic effort, achievement goals and elaborated process. The findings suggest that the traditional Chinese approach towards effort persists in cultural transition, and academic effort tends to be a primary resource for educational success for the Chinese immigrant students in Hungary.

A versengés, győzelem és vesztés szubjektív jelentése magyar, kínai és Magyarországon tanuló kínai diákok körében

Az utobbi evtizedben novekszik azoknak a kutatasoknak a szama, amelyek a versenges es kimenetei, a győzelem es a vesztes, kulturalis meghatarozottsagat vizsgaljak (peldaul FULOP, 201ő; WATKINS, 2006), azonban nem tudunk olyan kutatasrol, amely bevandorlok konceptualizaciojat tarta volna fel. Jelen kutatas celja a kinai, magyar es Magyarorszagon elő kinai diakok versengessel, győzelemmel es vesztessel kapcsolatos szubjektiv jelentesenek feltarasa, tovabba az akkulturacio nezetrendszerre gyakorolt hatasanak vizsgalata volt. A vizsgalatban 166 (52 kinai, 60 magyar es 54 Magyarorszagon elő kinai) 13–15 eves diak vett reszt. Annak erdekeben, hogy a kulturalis kitettseg hatasa megbizhatoan vizsgalhatova valjon, a migrans mintat a Magyarorszagon tartozkodas ideje alapjan ket reszre osztottunk. A szubjektiv jelentesek feltarashoz az Asszociativ Csoport Analizis (AGA, SZALAY es BRENT, 1967) technikat alkalmaztuk, melynek kereteben a diakok a versenges, győzelem es vesztes hivoszavakra asszocialtak (1 perc/hivoszo)...

Relational mobility predicts social behaviors in 39 countries and is tied to historical farming and threat

Significance Biologists and social scientists have long tried to understand why some societies have more fluid and open interpersonal relationships—differences in relational mobility—and how those differences influence individual behaviors. We measure relational mobility in 39 societies and find that relationships are more stable and hard to form in east Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East, while they are more fluid in the West and Latin America. Results show that relationally mobile cultures tend to have higher interpersonal trust and intimacy. Exploring potential causes, we find greater environmental threats (like disease and warfare) and sedentary farming are associated with lower relational mobility. Our society-level index of relational mobility for 39 societies is a resource for future studies. Biologists and social scientists have long tried to understand why some societies have more fluid and open interpersonal relationships and how those differences influence culture. This study measures relational mobility, a socioecological variable quantifying voluntary (high relational mobility) vs. fixed (low relational mobility) interpersonal relationships. We measure relational mobility in 39 societies and test whether it predicts social behavior. People in societies with higher relational mobility report more proactive interpersonal behaviors (e.g., self-disclosure and social support) and psychological tendencies that help them build and retain relationships (e.g., general trust, intimacy, self-esteem). Finally, we explore ecological factors that could explain relational mobility differences across societies. Relational mobility was lower in societies that practiced settled, interdependent subsistence styles, such as rice farming, and in societies that had stronger ecological and historical threats.

The Four Faces of Competition: The Development of the Multidimensional Competitive Orientation Inventory

To date, no short scale exists with established factor structure that can assess individual differences in competition. The aim of the present study was to uncover and operationalize the facets of competitive orientations with theoretical underpinning and strong psychometric properties. A total of 2676 respondents were recruited for four studies. The items were constructed based on qualitative research in different cultural contexts. A combined method of exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed. ESEM resulted in a four-factor structure of the competitive orientations and this structure was supported by a series of CFAs on different comprehensive samples. The Multidimensional Competitive Orientation Inventory (MCOI) included 12 items and four factors: hypercompetitive orientation, self-developmental competitive orientation, anxiety-driven competition avoidance, and lack of interest toward competition. Strong gender invariance was established. The four facets of competition have differentiated relationship patterns with adaptive and maladaptive personality and motivational constructs. The MCOI can assess the adaptive and maladaptive facets of competitive orientations with a short, reliable, valid and theoretically underlined multidimensional measure.

Perception of Gender Differences in Competition in the Post-Socialist Hungary

Hungary is a society that has gone through profound social, political and economical changes in the last two decades. In the transition of post-communist states to market economy, competition has been a key concept. Since 1989, competition, a previously ideologically denied and banned phenomenon, has become a highly required and praised one at all levels of the society, from politics to everyday individual life in Hungary. The state-socialist concept of gender equality during the socialist system that was limited to women’s and men’s equal labour force participation may have resulted in the fact that Hungary proved to be the most gender egalitarian in the societal practice among 62 countries within the GLOBE Study.

Versenyző fiatalok versengés, győzelem és vesztés fogalmának vizsgálata az Asszociatív Csoportanalízis Technika segítségével*

Bar korabbi vizsgalatok alapjan feltetelezhetjuk, hogy a tehetseges szemelyek pozitivabban viszonyulnak, es konstruktivabb megkuzdest alkalmaznak versengő helyzetekben, mint atlagos tarsaik (FUlOp, 1992; PinczEs-Pressing es FUlOp, 2013), tudomasunk szerint jelenleg nem all rendelkezesunkre eredmeny azzal kapcsolatban, hogy a hasonloan jo kepessegű, am elterő eredmenyeket felmutato szemelyek kozott van-e kulonbseg abban, ahogy a versengesről, a győzelemről es a vesztesről gondolkodnak. Ezert egy nagyobb vizsgalatsorozat reszekent online asszociacios vizsgalatot vegeztunk az Asszociativ Csoportanalizis Technika segitsegevel (Szalay es Brent, 1967) egy 400 fős eletkor es nem szerint is illesztett minta bevonasaval (atlageletkor: 17,96 ev), amelyben 200 eredmenyes, illetve 200 nem eredmenyes versenyző szerepelt. Az alkalmazott hivoszavak a versenges, a győzelem es a vesztes voltak. Eredmenyeink szerint az eredmenyes csoport komplexebb es pozitivabb modon viszonyul a vizsgalt fogalmakhoz. Az ő asszociacioikban...

Cultural Bases for Self-Evaluation: Seeing Oneself Positively in Different Cultural Contexts

Several theories propose that self-esteem, or positive self-regard, results from fulfilling the value priorities of one’s surrounding culture. Yet, surprisingly little evidence exists for this assertion, and theories differ about whether individuals must personally endorse the value priorities involved. We compared the influence of four bases for self-evaluation (controlling one’s life, doing one’s duty, benefitting others, achieving social status) among 4,852 adolescents across 20 cultural samples, using an implicit, within-person measurement technique to avoid cultural response biases. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses showed that participants generally derived feelings of self-esteem from all four bases, but especially from those that were most consistent with the value priorities of others in their cultural context. Multilevel analyses confirmed that the bases of positive self-regard are sustained collectively: They are predictably moderated by culturally normative values but show little systematic variation with personally endorsed values.

Contextualism as an important facet of individualism-collectivism: Personhood beliefs across 37 national groups

Beliefs about personhood are understood to be a defining feature of individualism-collectivism (I-C), but they have been insufficiently explored, given the emphasis of research on values and self-construals. We propose the construct of contextualism, referring to beliefs about the importance of context in understanding people, as a facet of cultural collectivism. A brief measure was developed and refined across 19 nations (Study 1: N = 5,241), showing good psychometric properties for cross-cultural use and correlating well at the nation level with other supposed facets and indicators of I-C. In Study 2 (N = 8,652), nation-level contextualism predicted ingroup favoritism, corruption, and differential trust of ingroup and outgroup members, while controlling for other facets of I-C, across 35 nations. We conclude that contextualism is an important part of cultural collectivism. This highlights the importance of beliefs alongside values and self-representations and contributes to a wider understanding of cultural processes.