The effects of evaluation conditions on “continuing motivation” study of the cultural,personological and situational antecedents of a motivational pattern

This study compares the effects of three different evaluation conditions on the “continuing motivation” of grade school students in Iran and the U.S. In both cultural groups, the highest continuing motivation was shown by students in a self-evaluation condition followed, in order, by students in the peer comparison and teacher evaluation conditions. While the generalizability of evaluation effects is perhaps the most striking finding, it may he noted that these effects were to some extent modified by individual differences in achieving orientation and sex role. Also of interest were the effects of performance level on continuing motivation, In this case, higher levels of performance on the task were generally followed by greater continuing motivation. The theoretical implications of this and other findings were discussed in terms of Current achievement theory.     

Study of the factors influencing sex differences in the career motivation of Iranian high school students

The purpose of the study was to investigate some factors thought to influence sex differences in the Career Motivation of Iranian high school students. Subjects (n = 206) were balanced on sex, ages 17–18 and attending schools in Tehran, Iran. Measures included the criterion career motivation and six predictors: Sex, Social Class, Early Family Socialization, Religious Orientation, Community Resources and Community Discrimination against women 's careers.Multivariate regression analyses with partial correlations were used to test hypotheses. Hypotheses were that males would score higher than females on career motivation; upper middle class students would score higher than lower middle class students on career motivation; Scores on Early Family Socialization, Community Resources and Religious Orientation would be positively correlated with Career Motivation; and Community Discrimination would be negatively correlated with Career Motivation. Interactions were expected for Sex, Religious Orientation and Social Class. Main effects found in the regression analyses supported hypotheses related to Sex, Social Class, Community Discrimination and Early Family Socialization. It remained for the interpretation of three significant interaction effects to shed light on the contribution of Religious Orientation to Career Motivation. The three significant interactions found were Sex × Social Class; Sex × Religious Orientation; and Religious Orientation × Community Discrimination. It appeared that the religion measure was confounded by the new movement within Islam led by the Mojahedin Khalgh group that is supportive of women 's careers, in contrast to the dominant Shia Islam group. The Community Resources measure was significantly (p<.05) and positively related to career motivation but it did not contribute importantly to the prediction equation. The equation derived including interaction terms accounted for 41% of the variance. It was concluded that the analysis used provided an important addition to understanding complex phenomena such as career motivation in a changing social context.     

A comparison of sex differences in career and achievement motivation in Iran and the U.S.

Differences in career and achievement motivation of U.S. and Iranian male and female college and high school students were compared, employing recently developed cross-cultural methodology. Of particular interest was the differential shift in achievement orientation at different age levels in the two cultural samples. Whereas achieving and career orientations were found to be higher in the U.S. college than in U.S. high school samples, the reverse was true in the Iranian samples. Compatible with observations made elsewhere, this suggests that age-related waxing and waning of achieving orientations occur in different cycles in different cultures. Also of interest was that the culture main effect was not significant but that the culture × sex interaction was. Thus, overall, achieving orientations between the culture samples were not different but Iranian males and females exhibited greater differences in achieving orientations than did U.S. subjects, as was predicted.     

The way our generation imagined the world

Abstract

This paper tells the worldview of a generation that grew up in the Communist revolutionary ideology. For the people of this generation, the world was always divided into two worlds, the East and the West. Throughout China’s modern national history, the West, led by the United States, has been the imperialist aggressor and invader; on a global scale, it has been the hegemonic power that rejected and blockaded China; in social structure and ideology, it was capitalist, countering socialist China, and ever ready to subvert the New China. According to Mao Zedong’s three‐pronged theory of ‘enemy, friends and us,’ the West belonged to the ‘enemy’ side. The Bandung Conference in 1955, and prior to it, the Peace Conference for Asia and the Pacific Region held in Beijing, had a great impact on high‐school students in Mainland China. We viewed these conferences as promising signs that the New China would rid itself of isolation, and felt very close to those countries of ‘neighbors and friends.’     

The functional meanings of behaviors: A factor analytic study of motivational orientations in Virgin Islands students

One hundred and sixty-five high school students in the Virgin Islands were asked to rate the extent to which they associate each of 62 behaviors with their concepts of “success,” “joy,” and “satisfying expectations.” They were also asked to rate the frequency with which they performed each of the behaviors. Results indicated that Virgin Islands students associate the word “success” not with academic behaviors, but with being modern, attractive, and nurturing. Moreover, individual students are less apt to perform those behaviors which Western teachers believe lead to academic success and more apt to perform those behaviors which the sample as a whole associates with being successful. The data indicate that although many Virgin Islands students enjoy traditional island activities, they do not feel successful when they engage in them. The results of the investigation are interpreted within the context of what is known concerning achievement behaviors of middle-class American youth, and implications are drawn for the teaching of young persons from diverse cultural backgrounds who attend classes conducted in the Western mode.     

Racial similarity as a moderator variable in the perception of leader behavior and control

This study compared leader behavior ratings of black and white Army infantry squad members serving in squads led either by black or white leaders. One black and one white squad member, chosen at random from each of 34 racially mixed squads, rated their leader's Consideration and Initiation of Structure behaviors (Stogdill, 1963), and their leader's behavior relevant to French and Raven's (1959) five bases of social power. In general, it was found that members who were of the same race as their leader rated him as significantly less likely to use punishment-related behaviors than did members who were of a different race than their leader. However, same-race members did not rate their leader's considerate or structuring behavior differently than did different-race members. The overall pattern of findings were discussed in terms of the leaders' implicit reliance on their punishment power to obtain compliance from different-race subordinates.     

Factors predictive of black students' communication with the administration and students at a predominantly white university

Black students' interaction with a predominantly white university's administration, faculty, and students appears to be a central issue in current study of black student success in college. This study examined personality and situational factors predictive of black students' communication with such a university's administration, faculty, and students. The development of an instrument describing environmental and social concerns of black students demonstrated reasonable predictive validity of communication with the administration and white students. Feelings about the social environment and tendencies of communication anxiety were among the strongest predictors of black students' communication.     

Consensual social dominance orientation and its correlates within the hierarchical structure of American society

The concepts of “false consciousness”, “the political formula”, and “ideological hegemony” have been around for some time, but have not been measurable. We present an operational definition of these related ideas, which we call “consensual” ideology. We measure consensual ideology with respect to social dominance orientation (SDO), which is defined as a general positive orientation towards group dominance. We define consensual SDO as that portion of SDO that is shared across social groups, such as different ethnic groups. We also test social dominance theory's ideological asymmetry hypothesis using Euro- and African-American university students. This hypothesis states that the relationship between support for group inequality and social ideologies and policies supportive of hierarchical group relations will be significantly more positive within high-status groups than within low-status groups. Consistent with theoretical expectations, even though, by operational definition, Blacks and Whites have the same mean level of consensual social dominance orientation, there was consistent evidence for the type of asymmetry assumed. The theoretical implications are discussed.     

Returned exchange students: Becoming mediating persons

This study focuses on what high school exchange students do when they return to the United States rather than on attitude charge. Returnees who had spent 2 months in Japan were asked how, with whom, and how often they shared their Japanese experience, how they dealt with stereotype questions, and in what ways they were currently involved with persons from other cultures. Results show that returnees have limited opportunities to talk about the exchange experience in school, usually deal with stereotype questions by “telling the facts” and “speaking positively,” and often communicate with and help persons of other cultures. The author concludes that returned high school exchange students are becoming mediating persons who act as bridges between cultures and offers suggestions for encouraging returnees in their mediating role.     

Racial stereotypes revisited

Fifty-one black and 66 white college students were administered the Katz and Braly Checklist (1933) and instructed to select five adjectives that best described first themselves, second, black Americans, and third, white Americans. They then rated each adjective on a favorability scale from 1 to 5. Changes in the content of stereotypes were determined by calculating the 10 most frequently checked adjectives for black and for white Americans and comparing that with data from Katz and Braly (1933), Bayton (1941) and Maykovich (1972). Currently, black Americans are described as musical, loyal to family ties, very religious, progressive, ambitious, and quick-tempered. White Americans are described as intelligent, materialistic, ambitious, industrious, conventional, and conservative. The content of the white stereotype remained more stable over the years than the black stereotype. The white stereotype has slowly decreased in favorability over the years while the black stereotype has increased. Black and white students rated themselves more favorably than they rated the other or their own race.     

Acculturation process of Colombian immigrants into the American culture in Bergen County,New Jersey

This research was conducted to analyze the acculturation process of Colombian immigrants in the Hackensack area of Bergen County, New Jersey. The instrument used to measure acculturation was a questionnaire developed by Szapocznik et al. (1978). The subjects were 218 Colombian immigrants placed in age categories from 13 to 68 years, and 70 native American high school students, as the reference group. The study addressed three questions: (1) Is there any relationship between acculturation of the immigrants and the length of time they reside m the new culture? (2) Does age affect the process of acculturation? (3) Is sex a factor in the process of acculturation? The results of the study showed that (1) acculturation appeared to progress as a function of the length of time Colombian immigrants resided in the host culture (2) the degree of acculturation appeared to be a function of the age of the Colombian immigrants, and (3) generally, males appeared to acculturate more than females. Young males appeared to acculturate more than young females on the behavioral scale. However, in the value scale, young Colombian females appeared to move more readily toward the American reference groups than did young Colombian mates.     

Ethnic school composition and peer victimization: A focus on the interethnic school climate

Does de facto school segregation have an impact on ethnic minority and majority pupils’ chances of being victimized by their peers? Moreover, does the interethnic climate at school mediate the relationship between the ethnic school context and peer victimization? To answer these questions, this article examines the association between the ethnic composition of a school—as measured by the ethnic school concentration and the school's ethnic heterogeneity or diversity—and self-reported peer victimization. Multilevel analyses on data based on a survey of 2845 pupils (aged 10-12) in 68 Flemish primary schools revealed differential effects for natives and non-natives. In line with the imbalance of power thesis, and disconfirming the group threat theory, we find that non-native pupils report less peer victimization in schools with a higher minority concentration—that is, in schools with higher proportions of non-native pupils. Our findings indicate that this relationship is mediated by the interethnic school climate. In contrast, for native pupils, the concentration of ethnic minority students is not associated with peer victimization. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for the literature on interethnic relations and educational policy.     

Vive la Resistance! (De)Constructing Classmates in a White Working Class High School

English Language Arts class in a predominantly white suburban high school may seem like an unlikely site for transformational pedagogy. Teachers and students speak the same national language and most of the teachers grew up and were educated in working class communities. Despite these roots, it is far too easy for teachers to forget that our “portfolios of experiences” have created access to middle class cultural values. If teachers unconsciously internalize middle class values, we might unwittingly judge working class students as academically deficient rather than engage in empowering, critical pedagogies. Teachers might reconsider student resistance as a force for co-creating curriculum to empower otherwise marginalized students.

This piece explores the nuances of social class, power, and language through the experiences of a teacher and her 11th grade students as they negotiate two units of study that are heavily laden with social class: poetry and college entrance. Analysis and reflection indicate that students in a white working class high school can benefit from pedagogies that embrace, rather than dismiss, student resistance.     

The current effects of age, sex, and social class on conformity

It was expected that if high school females are currently rejecting the feminine role to a greater extent than college females, the former should conform less than the latter; furthermore, this would be the case for middle-class but not for working-class females. A conformity instrument and a measure of psychological femininity were administered to college males and females, and to freshmen and seniors at middle-class and working-class high schools. It was found that for the middle class, high school seniors and college students conformed to the same extent, and both conformed less than high school freshmen; for the working class, high school freshmen and seniors conformed more than college students, and the first two groups conformed to the same extent. Generally, conformity was not related to psychological femininity. Several interpretations were offered, one of which suggesting that there has been a definite change in the socialization of middle-class high school seniors in the direction of less sensitivity to peer pressure.     

The effects of attitudinal versus religious similarity on the neighborhood preferences of Lebanese university students

The main purpose of the present study was to assess the relative importance of attitudinal versus religious similarity on the neighborhood preferences of Lebanese university students shortly after the 1975–1976 war in Lebanon.It was expected that neighborhood preference for a stranger would be affected by: (1) attitudinal similarity — dissimilarity on an important political issue and by (2) the number of strangers involved.The subjects were 169 Lebanese undergraduate students at the American University of Beirut (67 Christians, 96 Muslims, with six subjects not mentioning religious affiliation). In terms of political ideology, 38 subjects were conservative while 131 were liberal and, with respect to displacement during the war, 81 subjects stated that they were displaced while 88 subjects indicated that they remained in their original neighborhoods. Finally, with respect to ethnic (or national) origin, 118 subjects considered themselves as “Arabs” while 48 indicated that their origin was something “other” than Arab, with the remaining three subjects not responding to this item.The results showed that, irrespective of the background characteristics of the subjects, (1) strangers of a different religion who had the same attitudes on an important political issue were significantly more preferred as neighbors than coreligionist strangers who had opposite attitudes on the same issue, and (2) neighborhood preference was significantly greater for one than for many strangers. However, although one stranger was significantly more preferred as a neighbor than many, this preference was found to be stronger under the opposite attitude — same religion condition.     

Attitudes toward an enemy and personality in a war environment

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of war environment on political attitudes toward an enemy and on personality development. High school students from an Israeli town on the border of “Fatahland” and a town in central Israel were asked to fill out: A questionnaire on their political views toward the Israel-Arab conflict and the Repression-Sensitization (R-S) scale (Byrne et al., 1963). Results showed three factors in the students' political views: (a) Return of the Controversial Territories (Samaria, Judea, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai); (bj Credibility of the Arabs in negotiation; (c) The policy of the previous government in its return of certain territories in Sinai.It was found that the students in the border town were less opposed to return the Controversial Territories than the students in the non-border town. Repressers in both towns gave more credibility to the Arabs in negotiation than did sensitizers. Girls agreed more with the policy of the previous government in its return of the territories in Sinai than boys. Results also showed that the students in the border area as well as boys in both towns were more repressive in their personality type than the students in the more peaceful area and girls of both towns respectively.     

Verbal and nonverbal indices of the communicative performance and acculturation of Chinese immigrants

This paper develops a theoretical framework for examining the acculturation process of immigrants. Focusing on communication variables, it suggests five levels of analysis for assessing acculturation as a continuous rather than dichotomous variable: the speech act level, ritualistic communication, strategic communication, the organization of conversational discourse, and verbal information processing. Examples from research on Chinese communication are utilized to illustrate important differences between Chinese and Americans at each level of analysis. The use of this perspective offers the twofold promise of improving our understanding of “acculturation processes” in general as well as our understanding of the particular everyday communicative actions of immigrant groups. Research on Chinese communication patterns using this perspective will increase our knowledge of Chinese and American interrelations, in addition to providing insight aimed at developing better indices of acculturation of Chinese in the United States.     

The effects of affective and cognitive treatment on attitude change toward ethnic minority groups

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of cognitive and affective treatments on the attitudes of white university students in Hawaii (a place where many ethnic minority groups live with little overt discrimination and where no one racial group, such as the whites, is in the majority) toward ethnic minority groups. It was hypothesized that the rank order of the groups from most favorable to least favorable in social distance and attitude for and against ethnic minority groups, would be: Affective Treatment, Cognitive Treatment, Hawaii Control, and Mainland Comparison Group. The Social Distance Scale and Prejudice and Rationality Scale were used as pretest and posttest instruments in the Fall, 1980 with 94 Brigham Young University—Hawaii Campus (BYU—HC)and30 Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah undergraduate students. Analysis of covariance led to supporting the three hypotheses at the 0.01 significance level. It was found that the Affective Treatment Group consistently had a greater change in attitude toward ethnic minorities followed by the Cognitive, Hawaii Control, and Mainland Comparison Groups. It was concluded that the affective treatment was the most effective in changing attitudes toward ethnic minority groups.     

Family size and parental satisfaction: Race and sex differentials

The impact of family size on parental satisfaction is investigated with race and sex as moderating variables. From a national sample of parents, a white subsample is matched to the black sample on the basis of education, city size, and age. The association between family size and parental satisfaction is negative and low for white males and females as well as for black females. For black males, the association between family size and satisfaction is positive and moderately high. Exchange interaction and role transition are proposed as frameworks which could account for the general relationship between family size and satisfaction as well as for the black male anomaly.