Face Concerns and Requests in Japan: Exploring the Effects of Relational Closeness and Social Status

The present study examines the relationships among situational features, face concerns, and requesting strategies in the light of discourse patterns and speech levels. Japanese participants (N = 428) rated these measures in one of four situations where relational closeness (high and low) and social status (high and equal) were manipulated. The results of the path analysis generally confirmed that the situational model that predicted situational factors influenced face concerns and requesting language use, and face concerns were mediators from situational factors to language use. These results are discussed in the cultural contexts of face theories.     

The experience of professional autonomy among psychotherapists in Korea and the United States

This study investigates professional autonomy as experienced by psychotherapists in Korea and in the United States using data collected as part of a collaborative international study of the development of psychotherapists (Orlinsky et al. (1999). Psychotherapy Research, 9(2), 127–153; Orlinsky & Rønnestad, (2005). How psychotherapists develop: A study of therapeutic work and professional growth. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association). The major aims are: to compare the extent of professional autonomy experienced by psychotherapists in Korea and by their counterparts in the USA; and to explore the professional and social correlates of the professional autonomy experienced by Korean therapists and compare these with the correlates of autonomy experienced by American therapists. These aims are pursued through analyses of a database of questionnaire responses. Results indicate that Korean therapists, compared to American therapists in our sample experience significantly lower levels of professional autonomy. For Korean therapists, whether they have a salient theoretical orientation in their practice is the single most important influence in their experience of work autonomy. Seniority and work setting are also significant correlates of autonomy for the Korean therapists. Similar to Korean therapists, seniority and having a salient orientation are also important influences on the way American therapists experience professional autonomy. American therapists, who work in independent practice experience higher work autonomy, whereas American social workers tend to experience lower professional autonomy.     

Culture and Classroom Communication: A Pilot Study in the Post-Soviet Republic of Armenia

Using participant observations and informal interviews, the study examined whether and how classroom communication in Armenia reflects Armenian culture and history, including the Soviet influence for close to seven decades and Armenia’s transition from one socio-politico-economic system to another, followed by internationalization of education and globalization. Findings of the study revealed three major themes that have impacted the classroom communication style: courtesy, immediacy, solidarity. While consistent in some ways with Soviet communism, these themes may have also been influenced by Armenia’s traditional and family-centered culture and history which predate Soviet communism, as well as by internationalization of education and globalization.     

The relationship between cultural intelligence and performance with the mediating effect of culture shock: A case from Philippine laborers in Taiwan

This purpose of the present study was to explore the role of cultural intelligence (CQ) and its effect on performance of foreign laborers. We also examined the mediating effect of culture shock on the relationship between CQ and performance. Data were collected from Philippine laborers working in Taiwan. A paper-based survey, with a return rate of 76.4%, was completed by 382 Philippine laborers working in Taiwan's manufacturing industries. The results showed that CQ was positively related to the performance of Philippine laborers and negatively related to culture shock. In addition, we found that culture shock partly mediated the relationship of CQ and performance. These findings suggested that CQ can serve as a predictor for cross-cultural effectiveness. Implications for practice and direction for future research are offered.     

Culture Shock and Social Support: An Investigation of a Chinese Student Organization on a US Campus

Previous research has explored common dimensions of culture shock across groups of international students, examined factors influencing intercultural adjustment of individual sojourners, and in the meantime, suggested that communicating with same culture members is minimally helpful for intercultural adjustment. By investigating a Chinese student organization on a US campus and analyzing the qualitative data collected via multiple methods, the researcher found that (a) culture shock is contextually based; (b) a student organization can play an instrumental role in helping students to cope with culture shock and gain intercultural competence by providing social support; and (c) communicating with same culture members can help intercultural adjustment. Implications for international student orientation, study abroad programs, and community-based help programs for international students are discussed.     

天堂与天府:当代吴、蜀文化之比较——以苏州、成都文化建设为例

人称上有天堂,下有苏杭;蜀为天府之国.同为天堂与天府,成都与苏州应当有较强的可比性.这种可比性既表现在两者之间的得天独厚、人才辈出、体闲文化和形态丰富的文化种类;也表现在两者主体文化形态和文化特性的差异.本文从区域文化比较研究的角度,结合苏州、成都的经济发展和文化建设,挖掘吴、蜀文化的当下秉性和创新特质,意图从中挖掘各自独立的文化意义.寻找文化联系,为进一步推进区域文化互动,创新文化建设,打造区域文化品牌提供新的思路.     

The acceptability of lies: A comparison of Ecuadorians and Euro-Americans

This study examined differences between Ecuadorian and Euro-American college students in the perceived acceptability of lies. Six different lie domains were examined: flattery, impression management, conflict avoidance, enhancement of others’ self-esteem, self-aggrandizement, and instrumental lies. Overall, Euro-Americans rated lies as more acceptable than Ecuadorians. In both cultures, lies motivated by a desire to benefit others were considered to be more acceptable than lies that primarily benefited the self. Additionally, lying to the outgroup was perceived as being more acceptable than lying to the ingroup. These results were interpreted in light of the findings that Ecuadorians scored higher on measures of uncertainty avoidance and power distance, whereas Euro-Americans scored higher on levels of independence. The implications of these findings for intercultural relations and future directions for research are discussed.     

The impact of national culture on the increase of COVID-19: A cross-country analysis of European countries

In recent years, countries have been fighting with increasing momentum against outbreaks. This struggle requires the effective implementation of several measures that are required in medical science. However, the cultural characteristics of each society prevent these measures from being applied in the same way globally. One area in which social scientists have not applied much effort is observing the impact of countries' cultural characteristics in the fight against outbreaks. Therefore, this study aims to determine whether cultural differences among countries have an impact on their fight against outbreaks. This study uses the COVID-19 pandemic’s total cases and selected European countries’ cultural dimension scores as data. Due to the differences in the measurement units of cultural and outbreak variables, a stepwise multiple logarithmic regression analysis is preferred to select the proper regression model. The results have shown that power distance has a significant and negative effect on the increase rate of the total COVID-19 cases per million (IRTCCPM). In addition, the results have demonstrated that both individualism and indulgence have significant and positive effects on IRTCCPM, at the 95 % confidence level. However, the hypotheses concerning the impacts of masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation on the IRTCCPM are rejected at the α = 0.05 level. In light of the findings of this study, it can be asserted that countries act in harmony with their cultural characteristics in the formal or informal practices of their fight against outbreaks. The contributions of the study can be discussed in academic and practical fields.     

Negotiating Narratives of Human Trafficking: NGOs,Communication and the Power of Culture

This article draws on interviews with anti-trafficking NGO employees in Thailand to illustrate the use of narratives as a tool for communicating cultural values. Drawing on theories of modernization, culture, and liberation psychology, I assess the way anti-trafficking NGO employees construct narratives, or “stories,” about human trafficking. These narratives rely on Western values associated with modernization, the role of NGOs in development, gendered constructions of victimhood, “Othering,” and Orientalism. Analyzing these narratives, I build a theory of “culture as a space of safety:” a self-reinforcing mechanism whereby employees ritualistically retreat from the overwhelming circumstances they confront in their work.     

Positive and negative intergroup contact and willingness to engage in intergroup interactions among majority (Han) and minority (Uyghur) group members in China: The moderating role of social dominance orientation

The present study investigated whether the associations of positive and negative intergroup contact with behavioral intentions (intentions to have contact with the outgroup in the future) are moderated by social dominance orientation (SDO), by considering the perspective of both majority and minority group members in China. Participants were 325 Han (majority) and 373 Uyghur (minority) members, who completed a self-report questionnaire. Results indicated that positive contact was associated with more positive behavioral intentions among high-SDO majority group members, whereas SDO did not moderate the association between positive contact and behavioral intentions among minority group members. In addition, negative contact was associated with lower behavioral intentions among high-SDO majority group members, and among low-SDO minority group members. This study suggests that attention should be placed simultaneously on positive and negative contact and on individual difference variables relevant to social ideologies, such as SDO.     

Media and criticism in China: The case of the “cultural revolution”

This paper analyzes the role of the media in China during the cultural revolution 1966–1976. In particular, the authors examine the two elements that contributed to the ease with which the “Gang of Four” subverted the media to their own political ends. They contend that the media's history and culture were the two principal elements which allowed the “Gang of Four” to usurp both media and state power. Criticism represented a special cultural genre that established the legitimacy of one group to remove another from power. The authors demonstrate the inherent possibility of usurpation of the media when truth is dominated by personality.     

High-Speed Internet Access to the Other: The Influence of Cultural Orientations on Self-Disclosures in Offline and Online Relationships

The global village metaphor, originally popularized by Marshall McLuhan, suggests that individuals connected to information and communication technologies become more involved with others from around the world. The speed at which messages are communicated is one factor why Internet-supported technologies create a sense of community. The diffusion of Internet networks to areas around the world naturally increases the potential for intercultural communication. Considering the cultural differences of the communicators and diminished social cues of the environment, the opportunity for misunderstandings may be elevated in intercultural Internet-based communication. The present investigation explores how two important components of culture—individualism and collectivism—influence communication behaviors in face-to-face and computer-mediated relationships. Self-disclosures, which are fundamental to relationship development, are specifically studied. The findings reveal that collectivism is associated with fewer self-disclosures in computer-mediated relationships than in comparable face-to-face relationships. The difference between self-disclosure behaviors in face-to-face and computer-mediated relationships is more pronounced among individuals high in collectivism than those high in individualism. Implications to social information processing theory and future directions for intercultural Internet-based communication research are considered.     

通向后古典远缘杂种文化——中国现代性文化传统探讨

中国现代性文化传统具有三大鲜明特性:后古典而非古典;杂种而非纯种;远缘杂种而非近缘杂种。从鲁迅等对中国现代文化传统的认识可见,我们只能生存在现代远缘杂种文化中。中国现代性需要探索把远缘杂种性与后古典性结合的道路。殷海光和李泽厚的主张在承认中西有别的前提下寻求中西融汇,但却把中西截然分开再合起来,无法为中西融汇提供充足的理由。今天建设后古典远缘杂种文化需要打破中西、古今分别而考虑多维度融汇与建构,即器道互融、法治情润、人权民本、以义活仁、兴辞立诚、散线化乐。     

The social adjustment of Filipino nonmigrants,emigrants, and immigrants to Hawaii

This study compared the social adjustment of a group of Filipinos who had initiated definite arrangements to emigrate to Hawaii (emigrants) with another group of Filipinos from the same communities as the emigrants who expressed no intention to emigrate (nonmigrants). These two samples were then compared with a group of recent Filipino immigrants to Hawaii. Social adjustment was measured by the Katz Adjustment Scales, relative's rating form, in terms of clusters of symptomatic and social behavior. The results showed that the immigrants in their social adjustment were less emotionally expressive than the emigrants, who were in turn, less expressive than the nonmigrants. However, significant cluster score differences obtained primarily between the Philippine samples and the immigrants, while there was a general lack of significance between the nonmigrants and the emigrants. The overall decline in the level of emotional expression of the immigrants was attributed to their adherence to the paramount Philippine value of social acceptance as their modal means of adjustment to the immigration experience. Thus, the direction and nature of changes in the emotional expression of Filipino immigrants follow from their culture and its integral norms and values rather than being derivative of processes of acculturation.     

The spiritual and ethical predicaments in contemporary China: an investigation of thought

Accompanying the fast development of China’s economy in the last three decades is the worsening of its spiritual and ethical conditions. This article aims to analyze and discuss the contexts in which such spiritual and ethical predicaments emerged so as to offer historical and conceptual backgrounds that are necessary for understanding this contemporary reality in China.     

A communication approach to the acculturation process: A study of Korean immigrants in Chicago

This paper explores a theoretical and methodological basis for studying foreign immigrants' acculturation processes from a communication perspective. Communication patterns of immigrants are conceptualized on three levels — behavioral, attitudinal, and perceptual. The behavioral level of communication includes the immigrant's participation in communication channels of the host society as well as the ethnic community. The perceptual level refers to the immigrant's cognitive structure in perceiving the host society. The attitudinal level is examined by the immigrant's affective-evaluative orientation toward the host society. The three levels of communication patterns were empirically investigated in a survey of 400 randomly selected Koreans in the Chicago area. The communication variables were assessed through composite scores using questionnaire items that were tested for reliability. The results show an overall linear trend in the immigrant's interethnic communication with Americans, positive attitude toward Americans, cognitive complexity in perceiving the American society, and satisfaction level. A simultaneous increase is observed in the immigrant's interpersonal communication with Americans and with other Koreans. The immigrant's use of ethnic media rapidly decreases over the years while that of American media steadily increases. Findings are discussed in comparison to previous studies of foreign immigrants and students and to sociological theories of acculturation of minority groups.     

Motivated prejudice: The effect of need for closure on anti-immigrant attitudes in the United States and Italy and the mediating role of binding moral foundations

Why do people have anti-immigrant attitudes? We proposed that individuals’ need for cognitive closure—an epistemic motivation associated with an aversion to change in established environments—is predictive of a dislike of immigrants through increased binding to powerful groups. In four studies, collected in both Italy (Study 1) and the United States (Studies 2–4), we found that there were effects of need for cognitive closure on anti-immigrant attitudes, as well as indirect effects through binding. These results were significant controlling for participants’ political orientation (Studies 2–4), when either dispositional measure (Studies 1–3) or an experimental induction (Study 4) of need for cognitive closure was used, and when both general attitudes toward immigrants (Studies 1, 2, 4) and attitudes toward immigrants’ economic impact (Studies 3 and 4) were assessed.     

The concepts of individual, self, and group in Japanese National, Japanese-American, and European-American samples: a semantic differential analysis

This study empirically investigated variations in the semantic/affective construction of the concepts of “individual”, “self”, and “group” in individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Data were collected on the semantic differential ratings for these concepts among 110 Japanese National (JN), 110 Japanese-American (JA), and 110 European-American (EA) university students. Compared to the other two samples, the JN sample rated the concept of “individual” as weaker and more fast, the concept of “self” as more fast, and the concept of “group” as more strong and more slow. It also was revealed that the JA sample’s ratings of the three concepts tended to fall between the JN and EA samples’ ratings. Altogether, the findings offer further evidence that the individualism-collectivism distinction has psychological implications and predictive power.