Roberta Kraemer

Gender and Ethnic-Group Differences in Causal Attributions for Success and Failure in Mathematics and Language Examinations

The purpose of the present study was to examine gender and ethnic differences among Jewish and Arab high school students in Israel with respect to their causal attributions for success and failure in mathematics and language examinations. The entire sample included 333 ninth graders. Nine causal attributions were examined. It was hypothesized that cultural differences in general and in gender role socialization in particular, between the two ethnic groups, will result in different attributional patterns. The findings indicated larger effects of ethnicity than of gender. The effects were more pronounced in success than in failure attributions. Arab students, compared to Jewish students, exhibited higher endorsement levels on success attributions and lower levels with less differentiation on failure attributions for all four subjects. These results were discussed within the frame work of particular cultural norms.

Perceived Ethnolinguistic Vitality and Language Attitudes: The Israeli Setting.

Abstract This study investigated the ethnolinguistic vitality perceptions of Jewish and Arab high school students in Israel. Results showed that the perceptions of both groups corresponded remarkably to objective reality in direction although not in intensity. The significant interactions reflected divergent perceptions of the degree of difference between the two groups rather than opposing cognitions of the type reported in studies from other contexts. Generally, the Jewish majority accentuated the differences and the Arab minority attenuated them. This finding is discussed in terms of Tajfels social identity theory. Within the Jewish group, significant differences in perceptions were found between those students studying Arabic as an additional language and those studying French. This supports previous research on intragroup variation. Finally, the relationship between perceived vitality and language attitudes was investigated. For both groups, attitudes toward both Hebrew and Arabic were primarily rel...

Ethnolinguistic Vitality Perceptions in Israel in the Wake of the Intifada.

This study investigated the dynamic nature of the social cognitions measured by the Subjective Vitality Questionnaire and their susceptibility to change as a result of social and historical events. Specificially, it examined changes in the vitality perceptions of Israeli Jewish and Arab youth accompanying the Intifada—the nationalist uprising of the Palestinians living in the territories (the West bank and the Gaza Strip) which Israel has been occupying since the Six‐Day War in 1967. Subjects were 575 tenth grade students from two high schools (one Arab and one Jewish) in the central region of the country. The sample was gathered over three consecutive years (1987–1989) in each school. The 1987 sample represents the period of time six‐seven months before the Intifada; 1988, the period six‐seven months after the onset; and 1989, about a year and a half after the initial outbreak. Results indicated that: (1) the vitality dimensions most sensitive to sociopolitical change are the demographic and status dimensions and the overall vitality measures; (2) the Intifada was more salient for the Arab group. There were more changes in relative vitality perceptions over the three years for the Arab group than for the Jewish group and more of these changes took place earlier. The results are discussed with special reference to the issue of Israeli Arab identity.

Language attitudes and social group memberships

Abstract This study examined the saliency of two independent dimensions of group identity—gender and ethnicity—for attitudes toward different languages in an Israeli context. The study is presented within the framework of social identity theory and treats the implications of multiple group memberships for the interpersonal/intergroup continuum of social behavior. The sample included 343 ninth grade Jewish and Arab students in Israel who responded to semantic differential scales for each of three languages: Hebrew, Arabic and English. It was hypothesized that gender would be the relevant group category for attitudes toward English, which is considered to be “ethnically neutral”, but not for Hebrew and Arabic. For the latter two languages, the saliency of ethnic group membership was expected to override any gender-language link. The results basically supported the hypotheses with the exception that ethnic group membership was a relevant category for English in addition to gender.

Factorial Structure of Intelligence: Cross-Cultural Study of Two Israeli Samples

This study assessed the structure of intelligence among socially disadvantaged students and compared the structure of intelligence of a socially disadvantaged sample with that exhibited by a sample of high social status. The Hebrew translated version of the Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Test, Level A Form 1, which has already been validated upon an Israeli sample of Western origin and high status was administered to a sample of students of Eastern origin and low socio-economic status. A matrix of product-moment correlations, computed between the subtest scores, was analyzed using the principal components solution. Results indicate very clearly that in large part what is being measured by the five subtests is one general factor which may be conveniently labeled “cognitive ability.” The search for a somewhat different presentation of the results led to a varimax rotation of five factors. Two factors were observed; it was suggested that the first be called a school-learning factor and that the second factor be called abstract thinking. While the general “cognitive ability” factor was found for both Israeli samples, the specific factorial structures differ considerably.