Cultural Similarities and Differences in Seeking Social Support as a Means of Coping: A Comparison of European Americans and Chinese and an Evaluation of the Mediating Effects of Self-Construal

Abstract

Two studies examined similarities and differences in how European Americans and Chinese view seeking social support as a strategy for coping with an upset. Participants (407 European Americans and 595 Chinese) completed instruments assessing the appropriateness of seeking social support and several self-reliant coping strategies (problem-solving, emotion management, avoidance) when confronting upsets. Both studies detected cultural and sex differences in support seeking. However, there were also substantial similarities in coping responses. Americans viewed seeking support as a more appropriate coping strategy than did Chinese. However, both Americans and Chinese viewed seeking support as more appropriate than the solitary coping strategies of avoidance and emotion management. Culture moderated sex differences in support seeking; American women viewed seeking social and emotional support as more appropriate than American men, whereas few sex differences were evident among the Chinese samples. Individual differences in interdependent and independent self-construals partially mediated cultural and sex differences in support seeking in Study 2; in addition, culture moderated the mediating effects of self-construal, with self-construal mediating sex differences among Americans but not among Chinese. The cultural and sex differences in self-construals, however, did not conform to theoretical expectations. Moreover, cultural and sex differences in self-construals were quite small in magnitude.     

Appraisal models of intercultural communication apprehension among sojourners

We used R. S. Lazarus’ (Emotion and Adaptation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991) appraisal theory of emotions to propose a theoretical model of anxiety, upon which we built two empirical models centering on intercultural communication apprehension (ICA), distinguished by timing. We tested the models in three samples: Chinese in the US (N?=?268), US Americans who studied abroad (N?=?419), and US Americans in the US (N?=?515). The models achieved good fit. The results showed that during an anticipated or actual intercultural interaction, people had multiple, potentially conflicting goals. The goal-related appraisals of the situation resulted in emotional reactions, such as ICA, as well as coping strategies. ICA and coping further influenced people’s immediacy behaviors and the intention to interact. Our empirical models supported the utility of the theoretical framework for all three samples, and provided advice for practitioners to improve sojourners’ time abroad.     

A cultural approach to patriotism

This study explores an under-researched phenomenon of how African Americans communicate about patriotism via ordinary political conversation. We conducted two studies that offer a critical-qualitative analysis of how patriotism is colloquially articulated among African Americans. In study one, focus group interviews were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed using constant comparative method. In study two, we conducted a quantitative content analysis. The findings from study one revealed that there are three relational conceptualizations that help characterize one’s orientation to their nation (i.e., community: subordinate, guardian, and tumultuous). Participants expressed having an attachment to, identification with, and commitment to their communities.     

Cartographic heritage: Toward unconventional methods for quantitative analysis of pre-geodetic maps

Historical cartography all over the world is a fundamental part of Cultural Heritage, and it needs to be preserved from damage of its analogical support due to ageing. Regeneration of ancient cartography in digital form is an interesting way not only to preserve historical cartographic documents as Cultural Heritage, but also to allow new chances of understanding and using the historical information they record. In such a way, modern digital techniques, in particular study of map deformations and map georeferencing, help in metric analysis of ancient cartography, and at last they appear to be useful for researchers to derive historical information for their studies, for example related to urban development or to geomorphological and environmental topics. The present research would give an example of the usefulness of the digital regeneration of ancient cartography, but also an example of possible difficulties in correctly interpreting information preserved in historical cartography, especially the pre-geodetic one. The study subject consists in three contemporaneous pre-geodetic maps (late 16th century) from the ancient Po river delta area (Italy), by means of which a geometrically correct representation of those parts of the landscape, not preserved today because of sea erosion, was tried. In fact, standard georeferencing methods, that use reference control points to compare historical cartography with the present one, in this specific case demonstrated to be not successful in describing the real location of disappeared landscape details with an adequate level of accuracy. For these reasons, in order to define which map among the others was the most faithful to the contemporaneous physical reality, a compound methodology, consisting of a three-step analytical process, is here applied to the three samples. Starting from measurement of sighting angles and distances applied to a number of landmarks, a splitting of the old maps in sub-areas, probably corresponding to the set of original surveyed zones, was performed. In the area of main concern, the use of absolute measurements was avoided in order to check the level of inner congruence of the representation. Finally, a new specific error index, that can also be applied to maps lacking an explicit graphical scale, is proposed to evaluate the map truthfulness degree. The proposed method can be applied to other similar examples from ancient cartography.     

Criticism strategies and their underlying cultural norms in online interactions: A study of native speakers of Persian and English

This study investigated cross-cultural perception of Persian and American speakers and the strategies they employed to level criticisms on Facebook. Seventeen strategies were discovered, 10 of which were used by both groups, three by Persians, and four by only Americans. Content analysis demonstrated that Persian speakers employed more indirect strategies, while Americans mainly chose direct strategies. Underlying sociocultural norms were investigated through interviews which revealed Persians preferred to save hearer's face and respect their “shakhsiat.” It was also found that Persians observe the cultural schema of “ru-dar-b?yesti” and “adab va ehteram” when criticizing, while Americans used direct assertive criticisms politely.     

Why Are Asian Americans Silent? Asian Americans' Negotiation Strategies for Communicative Discriminations

Abstract

This study explores two questions: (1) What types of racially discriminatory messages (RDM) target Asian Americans? (2) What communicative approaches do Asian Americans use to negotiate RDM? An analysis of 176 stories obtained through an online survey revealed seven RDM types (racial slurs, playground teasing, Asian Americans as eternal others, Asians as sexual objects, professional discrimination, Asians are all the same, and alienation within Asian groups). It was found that Asian Americans tend to utilize nonassertive approaches in responding to RDM due to internal/environmental factors including emotional shock and humiliation, a lack of knowledge of proper responses, peer pressure, and strategic intent.     

Digital preservation of Brazilian indigenous artworks: Generating high quality textures for 3D models

Three-dimensional (3D) digital preservation aims at generating 3D models of objects that have cultural or scientific value. It allows realistic visualization of objects through virtual museums or scientific applications, and the restoration of the preserved object in case of natural wear or accidents. This work contributes to this research area by presenting a method to improve color texture quality of 3D models obtained from color and depth images of a laser scanner. Although this device offers precise depth information, the resulting color information is still poor and limits the generation of realistic textures. Our approach is to capture photographs of the object with a high-resolution digital camera and use them to generate a new color texture for the 3D model. Our work proposes a practical technique, easy to replicate, to generate high quality textures for 3D models from photographs. The method is composed by three main steps: (1) calibration of the image acquisition devices; (2) data acquisition; and (3) texture generation. In this paper, we detail our color texture generation method and apply it on the digital preservation of many artworks made by native Brazilians (indians) from the Wauja and Karaja communities. These indigenous communities are acknowledged as great ceramic artists, each bearing their own main themes, using a very rich symbolism in their paintings. Their artworks represent important aspects of the native South American culture and their digital preservation is motivated by three main reasons: (1) their fragility; (2) the paintings loose their original appearance with time; and (3) the possibility of extinction of these communities. We present several results of preserved artworks with enhanced quality realistic texture maps. Also, we present a methodology to analyze the quality and accuracy of texture maps. The resulting 3D models can be visualized through a tool we developed to support the virtual exhibit of 3D preserved heritage.     

Ethnic performance,language proficiency,and ethnic media use among Indian American immigrants

This study focuses on how and why Indian American immigrants engage with movies from their home country in a transnational global context. Existing literature has focused on lack of host language proficiency as the primary reason for ethnic media consumption. We suggest that for Indian Americans, the motivation for consuming Indian films is driven by ethnic performance rather than language proficiency. A survey was conducted with Indian Americans to explore the relationships among Indian movie consumption, acculturation indices, language proficiency, and ethnic performance. Results show that ethnic performance is a stronger predictor of Indian movie consumption than language proficiency and acculturation indices.     

Baumol’s cost disease,efficiency, and productivity in the performing arts: an analysis of german public theaters

This paper analyzes the productivity development in the German public theater sector for the seasons 1991/1992 to 2005/2006. Using a stochastic distance frontier approach that allows decomposing total factor productivity change into different sources, we examine (a) whether Baumol’s cost-disease hypothesis is valid in this sector and (b) if so, whether any negative influence of the cost-disease effect on productivity can be compensated by efficiency gains. The findings indicate an increase in real unit labor cost as a result of rising wage rates and thus do support the cost-disease hypothesis. Further, increasing returns to scale are observed for the majority of the theaters, implying that significant efficiency gains can be realized by the exploitation of scale economies. However, because of the increasing unit labor cost and an increasing scale inefficiency, we find an overall decrease in average productivity of about 8% within the sample period.     

University and Business Relations: Connecting the Knowledge Economy

It is commonplace to say that the modern economy is knowledge based but a moment’s reflection points to the vacuity of this notion. For all economies are knowledge based and could not be otherwise. The question is rather how is one kind of knowledge based economy to be distinguished from another? This essay proposes that the answer may lie in three directions: (1) in terms of the variety of knowledge that is engaged; (2) in terms of the processes by which the production of knowledge is organised, and its corollary the resources devoted to knowledge production and dissemination; and, (3) in terms of the purposes to which knowledge is put. In respect of each of these dimensions, the rise of the modern university as a custodian of knowledge in Western economy and society has been of central importance; but universities are not alone in this role, a wide range of other agencies, private firms, public research laboratories for instance play an important role in defining a knowledge economy and have done so increasingly since the turn of the nineteenth century—a first indication of the systemic dimensions of a modern knowledge economy.     

The geography of music preferences

Considerable attention has been paid to America’s political and economic divides. These divides revolve around class and location, with more affluent, more educated and denser places leaning more open-minded and liberal and less affluent, less educated and less dense places leaning more conservative. We contend that such divides are also reflected and reinforced by preferences, attitudes and predispositions for culture. More specifically we argue that Americans’ preferences for music will reflect dimensions of these political and economic divides. To test this proposition, our research examines the geographic variation of five key categories of music preferences across 95 of the largest US metropolitan areas. We use factor analysis to identify and map geographic variation of musical preferences, and we use both bivariate correlation analyses and regression analysis to examine the associations between metro-level musical preferences and key economic, demographic, political, and psychological variables. We find that musical preferences generally reflect and reinforce America’s broader economic and political divides.     

Logics of onshoring: brand geographies,corporate tax responsibility and common sense

ABSTRACT

Since the global financial crisis of 2008 the issue of corporate tax avoidance has gained considerable political salience and public attention. This article explores the frameworks of meaning available for citizen-consumers to evaluate and form views on corporate tax behaviour. Building on research on the spatiality of taxation, I argue that brands and their spatial associations afford significant resources for making sense of the taxpaying responsibilities of multinational enterprises. Through the identification and analysis of three different forms of geographical entanglement – national origination, imbrication in the public domain, and territorialization of economic activity – I draw out the responsibilities that are inferred by these spatial associations. I propose that brands’ geographical entanglements tend to support a particular ‘logic of onshoring’, or common sense explanation concerning where corporations ought to pay tax, and I discuss the implications that the dominance of this logic may hold for the global politics of taxation. In drawing attention to the relationship between geographies of brands and geographies of taxation, the article furthers critical understanding of the role of space and place in everyday taxation imaginaries, and proposes an agenda for future research.     

Museum Assessment and FDH Technology: Towards a Global Approach

This paper presents a global approach for museum assessment. We conceptualise a museum as an entity which needs to be evaluated according to three well defined tasks: preservation, research and communication, and outcomes. We propose a methodology based on the determination of efficiency frontiers. This method uses a deterministic non parametric and non convex technology (Free Disposal Hull). We analyse technical efficiency, but also scale efficiency with a new restrictive scale approach. We present an ordering of museums into classes representing a level of performance with respect to the three required tasks. We illustrate our analysis using a three year database of museums from the French speaking region of Belgium.     

Dimensional studies of specific microscopic fibre structures in deteriorated parchment before and during shrinkage

This paper reports the first systematic study of the dimensions of morphological changed microscopic collagen fibres in historical and new reference parchments with the aim to improve the knowledge on deterioration and the diagnosis of their damage in connection with conservation activities. The dimensions of fibres from the parchments were measured before and during shrinkage, with special emphasis on fibres with degradation characteristics designated as “pearls on a string” and “butterflies”. In addition, measurements of the total shrinkage of the length of fibres and pieces of parchment were also carried out. The observations support the assumption that in vivo transformation of the fibre structure by natural ageing is similar to that taking place when heating parchment and fibres in water. Based on statistical cluster analysis, four subpopulations of pearls representing different stages of deterioration are found. Moreover, the dimensional changes in the specific structures observed at room temperature can be related to specific temperatures in the interval of shrinkage suggesting that the hydrothermal stability of the fibres may be predicted on the basis of the ratio between length and width of the so-called pearls (P_l/P_w). The total shrinkage measured is drastic, in average around 56% for fibres and 43 to 48% for pieces of parchment depending on the direction of the skin. The total shrinkage of fibres corresponds to a mean change in the ratio P_l/P_w from around 10 to around 2.3. Finally, relations between the measured dimensions at the microscopic level with those of collagen at nanoscopic and molecular levels including known and potential chemical splitting points strongly indicate that the formation of the butterfly-like fragments formed by cleavage of two adjacent pearls in the fibre can be ascribed to chemical modification of specific tripeptides in the collagen molecule.     

Corporate Support for Artistic and Cultural Activities: What Determines the Distribution of Corporate Giving?

This paper examines the allocation of corporate donations among variouscategories of recipients and the reasons underlying that allocation. Ananalytical model is utilized to determine the importance of profitability,firm size, advertising expenditures and type of business in determining thelevel of support for each activity. The results demonstrate that corporategiving to artistic/cultural activities is correlated with advertisingexpenditures, while donations to educational, civic and health causes are not.Thus, support for culture and the arts is a means of directly promoting thefirm, while giving to other causes fulfills the firm's goals throughalternative means.     

中国人该练练口才了

随着北京2008年奥运会的逼近，民众越来越关心“中国”品牌的树立．学习英语的热情也被点燃。越来越多的外宣干部和业内同行向我们表达了期待看到双语栏目的愿望。因此．我们自2006年第1期起开办了《双语视窗》栏目以满足广大读者的需求。 看看周围的媒体，在《北京青年报》、《参考消息》、《国门时报》上有许多特粹的小短文．像一只只啄木鸟，善意地提醒了中国人习以为常的行为背后“尚味和国际接轨”的细节，读后让人回味不已。在获得借鉴意义的同时，也带来更深入的思考。我们效仿中英文对照的版面形式，旨在通过外国友人的视角来看中国，从中折射出东西方观念、习俗的异同。通过一篇精选样的文章．让读者在领略异域文化的同时，也能达到学习英语的目的。     

The Relationship Between Self-Construals,Perceived Face Threats,and Facework During the Pursuit of Influence Goals

Abstract

The purpose of our study was to understand how self-construals affect the intensity of perceived face threats and the subsequent deployment of coping strategies within compliance-seeking situations involving three different influence goals (giving advice, asking favors, or enforcing unfulfilled obligations). Five-hundred and seventy-six students from four different ethnic backgrounds (African American, Asian American, Latino, and European American) at six universities in the U.S.A. indicated their levels of independence and interdependence. Then they wrote what they would say to a same-sex friend in a hypothetical advice, favor, or obligation scenario, and whether they would persist in the face of initial resistance from their friend. They also evaluated the degree to which seeking compliance would threaten the target's negative face, the target's positive face, their own negative face, and their own positive face. Written messages were coded for how many reasons participants provided for seeking compliance. As levels of interdependence increased and independence decreased, participants perceived a larger total threat to both the target's face as well as one's own face when pursuing influence goals. Furthermore, people provided more reasons for compliance as well as persisted more after initial refusal as the level of independence increased. Implications for future research on culture, influence goals, and face are discussed.     

Engaging Experts: Science-Policy Interactions and the Introduction of Congestion Charging in Stockholm

This article analyzes the conditions for mobilizing the science base for development of public policy. It does so by focusing upon the science-policy interface, specifically the processes of direct interaction between scientists and scientifically trained experts, on the one hand, and agents of policymaking organizations, on the other. The article defines two dimensions – cognitive distance and expert autonomy – which are argued to influence knowledge exchange, in such a way as to shape the outcome. A case study on the implementation of congestion charges in Stockholm, Sweden, illustrates how the proposed framework pinpoints three central issues for understanding these processes: (1) Differentiating the roles of, e.g., a science-based consultancy firm and an academic environment in policy formation; (2) Examining the fit between the organizational form of the science-policy interface and the intended goals; and (3) Increasing our understanding of when policymaker agents themselves need to develop scientific competence in order to interact effectively with scientific experts.     

The influence of cultural values on U.S. and Danish students’ digital behavior: Exploring culture,new media,and social context

This study explores the intersection of culture, new media, and social context—an essential component of intercultural new media studies—by investigating the social uses of smartphones, tablets, and laptops in university classrooms in Denmark and the US. American and Danish university students differed significantly in (1) frequency of new media use, (2) preferred classroom policies regulating use, (3) perceived impact of use on learning, attention, and student participation, and (4) preferred instructor strategies for handling distracting uses. Danes and Americans also differed significantly in authority values that are linked to students' new media use in the classroom.     

基于时空数据融合的古城区停车需求模式识别

在城市机动化快速发展背景下,南京、苏州等城市的古城区往往因为建筑保护等原因加剧机动车停车供需矛盾.探寻各种缓解停车问题对策的基础是准确掌握实际停车需求.实践中,传统依赖人工调查采集或者停车场抽样数据的方式存在精度维度较低以及不可持续等缺陷.研究以苏州为实证对象,利用交通卡口等多源数据,提出一套目标区域停车需求估计,以及...