scholarly journals Bees in the Medieval Maghreb: Wax, Honey and Cross-Cultural Trade in the Western Mediterranean

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 434-455
Author(s):  
Alexandra Sapoznik
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Context ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Economic Opportunities ◽  
Religious Symbols ◽  
Abrahamic Religions ◽  
Medieval Christianity

Abstract Believed to originate in Paradise and set apart in their chastity, bees were potent religious symbols in medieval Christianity and Islam. This article explores how these beliefs drove an extensive trade in wax and honey, and examines the role of Jews, conversos, Christians, and Muslims in this trade. Further, it considers the environmental context and the extent to which religious prohibitions against trade between Christians and Muslims may have provided economic opportunities for Jewish merchants, while examining the economic and cultural relationships between members of the three Abrahamic religions.

Maintaining harmony across the globe: The cross-cultural role of closeness in interpersonal forgiveness

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Karremans ◽  
Camillo Regalia ◽  
Giorgia Paleari ◽  
Frank Fincham ◽  
Ming Cui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Interpersonal Forgiveness ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Cultural Role

The role of personality in shaping pandemic response: Systemic sociopolitical factors drive country differences

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan Siritzky ◽  
David M Condon ◽  
Sara J Weston
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
State Fragility ◽  
Systemic Factors ◽  
Pandemic Response ◽  
The Relationship

The current study utilizes the current COVID-19 pandemic to highlight the importance of accounting for the influence of external political and economic factors in personality public-health research. We investigated the extent to which systemic factors modify the relationship between personality and pandemic response. Results shed doubt on the cross-cultural generalizability of common big-five factor models. Individual differences only predicted government compliance in autocratic countries and in countries with income inequality. Personality was only predictive of mental health outcomes under conditions of state fragility and autocracy. Finally, there was little evidence that the big five traits were associated with preventive behaviors. Our ability to use individual differences to understand policy-relevant outcomes changes based on environmental factors and must be assessed on a trait-by-trait basis, thus supporting the inclusion of systemic political and economic factors in individual differences models.

Suicidal Ideation Among International Students: The Role of Cultural, Academic, and Interpersonal Factors

2021 ◽  
pp. 001100002110024
Author(s):  
Andrés E. Pérez Rojas ◽  
Na-Yeun Choi ◽  
Minji Yang ◽  
Theodore T. Bartholomew ◽  
Giovanna M. Pérez
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Structural Equation Models ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Thwarted Belongingness ◽  
Perceived Burdensomeness ◽  
Using Data

We examined two structural equation models of international students’ suicidal ideation using data from 595 international students in two public universities in the United States. The models represented competing hypotheses about the relationships among discrimination, cross-cultural loss, academic distress, thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and suicidal ideation. The findings indicated there were direct, positive links between discrimination, cross-cultural loss, and academic distress to perceived burdensomeness; a direct, positive link between perceived burdensomeness and suicidal ideation; and indirect, positive links between discrimination, cross-cultural loss, and academic distress to suicidal ideation via perceived burdensomeness. The only predictors that related to thwarted belongingness were cross-cultural loss and academic distress, and there were no indirect links to suicidal ideation via thwarted belongingness. In fact, with all other variables in the model, thwarted belongingness was unrelated to suicidal ideation. Finally, academic distress was directly related to suicidal ideation. We discuss implications of the findings.

scholarly journals The Relationships among Self-Worth Contingency on Others’ Approval, Appearance Comparisons on Facebook, and Adolescent Girls’ Body Esteem: A Cross-Cultural Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Prieler ◽  
Jounghwa Choi ◽  
Hye Eun Lee
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Body Esteem ◽  
Asian Country ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Self Worth ◽  
Appearance Comparison

The present study examined the relationship between appearance-related social comparison on social networking services (SNSs) and body esteem in a cross-cultural context (three European countries, i.e., Austria, Belgium, and Spain, versus one Asian country, i.e., South Korea). The role of self-worth contingency on others’ approval was considered to be a psychological and cultural factor. Utilizing a large-scale cross-national survey of early and middle adolescents in 2017, the responses of female adolescents (N = 981) were analyzed. The results generally support the findings from previous studies but also reveal cultural differences. Appearance comparison on Facebook negatively influenced girls’ body esteem in all European countries, but not in South Korea. Self-worth contingency on others’ approval negatively influenced girls’ body esteem across all four countries. Finally, a positive relationship between self-worth contingency on others’ approval and appearance comparison on Facebook was found in all European countries, but not among Korean girls. These findings suggest the importance of self-worth contingency on others’ approval and cultural contexts can be used to study the effects of body image-related SNS use.

scholarly journals It Is Hard to Read Minds without Words: Cues to Use to Achieve Empathic Accuracy

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Sara D. Hodges ◽  
Murat Kezer
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Empathic Accuracy ◽  
Past Work ◽  
White American ◽  
Middle Easterners

When faced with the task of trying to “read” a stranger’s thoughts, what cues can perceivers use? We explore two predictors of empathic accuracy (the ability to accurately infer another person’s thoughts): use of stereotypes about the target’s group, and use of the target’s own words. A sample of 326 White American undergraduate students were asked to infer the dynamic thoughts of Middle Eastern male targets, using Ickes’ (Ickes et al. 1990) empathic accuracy paradigm. We predicted use of stereotypes would reduce empathic accuracy because the stereotypes would be negative and inaccurate. However, more stereotypical inferences about the target’s thoughts actually predicted greater empathic accuracy, a pattern in line with past work on the role of stereotypes in empathic accuracy (Lewis et al. 2012), perhaps because the stereotypes of Middle Easterners (collected from a sample of 60 participants drawn from the same population) were less negative than expected. In addition, perceivers who inferred that the targets were thinking thoughts that more closely matched what the target was saying out loud were more empathically accurate. Despite the fact that words can be used intentionally to obscure what a target is thinking, they appear to be a useful cue to empathic accuracy, even in tricky contexts that cross cultural lines.

If only cultural chameleons could fly too

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maribel Blasco ◽  
Liv Egholm Feldt ◽  
Michael Jakobsen
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Cultural Intelligence ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Cultural Dimension ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Semiotic Perspective ◽  
Human Attributes

The article offers a critique of the concept of cultural intelligence (CQ) from a semiotic perspective. It addresses three assumptions that underpin the CQ concept: that CQ exists, that conflict and misunderstandings are antithetical to CQ and that metacognition involves a cultural dimension. The analysis focuses in particular on the dimension of cultural metacognition which has recently been claimed to be the CQ concept’s main contribution compared to earlier concepts such as cross-cultural or intercultural competence, a claim which is found to be overstated. The article uses the example of CQ training to illustrate the need for greater attention to context and motivation when CQ is deployed for business purposes, as well as to the role of experience in cultural learning processes. At a broader level, the article urges caution in assuming that all human attributes can be trained for business purposes, especially through short-term interventions.

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