Long-Term Cultural Change in Cognitive Development

1972 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Tomlinson-Keasey ◽  
Charles Blake Keasey

It was hypothesized that animistic thinking and thinking about specific moral dilemmas have been affected by cultural events in the last few decades. Animistic thinking was examined in second graders ( n = 73) and was found to have declined markedly since 1929. In fifth and sixth graders ( n = 144) moral reasoning about slavery was at a significantly higher level than moral reasoning on six other dilemmas. Cognitive progress thus seems to be positively affected by cultural changes which are long-term and which allow the child time to consolidate the information and experience provided.

The Holocene ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 1419-1427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markku Oinonen ◽  
Petro Pesonen ◽  
Teija Alenius ◽  
Volker Heyd ◽  
Elisabeth Holmqvist-Saukkonen ◽  
...  

Precise timing of natural and cultural events provides a foundation for understanding how past natural phenomena have driven changes in population and culture. In this study, we used high-resolution Bayesian chronology to describe an event sequence of a massive and abrupt water level decline of a large lake and the contemporaneous cultural changes that occurred in eastern Fennoscandia during the mid-Holocene. The study provides the first transdisciplinary analysis of the causes and effects of the events by using a combination of archaeological, geological and ecological data. Nearly 6000 years ago, ancient Lake Saimaa, estimated to cover nearly 9000 km2at the time, was abruptly discharged through a new outlet. The event created thousands of square kilometres of new residual wetlands. The archaeological record shows a profound cultural replacement and a subsequent sharp human population maximum in the area during the decades after the decline in water level. During the population maximum, the proportion of Alces alces (moose) in the diet rapidly increased and became prominent as a dietary resource. The eventual population decline in the area coincided with ecological development towards old boreal conifer forests, along with the colonization of a new species of tree Picea abies (Norway spruce). The new ecosystem was less suitable for moose to forage in, and this attenuated the dietary role of moose and thus contributed towards the eventual population and cultural decline. The methodological approach described in this paper allowed the reconstruction of past natural and cultural events and demonstrated how they can be causally intertwined.


Author(s):  
Douglas Chun ◽  
Zhen Zhang ◽  
Eric Cohen ◽  
Liviu Florea ◽  
Omer F Genc

Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are one of the most commonly referenced cultural models in the literature, but it has also been criticized for its inflexibility in terms of allowing for cultural changes over time. In this study, we focus on one salient dimension of national culture, long-term orientation (LTO), to investigate cultural change over time. Using the LTO scale developed by Bearden et al. ((2006) A measure of long-term orientation: development and validation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 34(3): 456–67), we conducted a survey in Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Turkey, and collected 1,452 valid responses. Our study provided new evidence on LTO national ranking and cultural change. We found the countries surveyed no longer appear to be in the same relative positions as when Hofstede first published his results in the 1980s, or his more recent results based on data from the World Value Survey (WVS). Implications for practitioners, academics, and students in the cross-cultural management field are discussed.


Author(s):  
Christos Kakarougkas ◽  
Theodoros Stavrinoudis

This paper aims to explore the impact of a hotel’s reward system on strengthening: positiverelationships and communication among employees; the creation of a change-friendlyorganisational climate and cultural change barriers, within the context of a cultural changeprocess in a hotel. Quantitative data were collected from a proportionally stratified,representative sample of 207 Greek five-star hotels’ senior executives and analysed with theprincipal component method of extraction and Structural Equation Modelling. This led to thecreation and validation of three prototype second-order latent variable models, whichhighlight and depict the impact of individual variables and their importance for a rewardsystem creating an organisational climate for or against cultural change in hotels. Theoriginality of the paper lays on both theoretical and practical levels. On a theoretical level, thepaper’s findings manage to fill a knowledge gap through a novel modelling of a rewardsystem on a hotel’s organisational climate in times of cultural change. On a practical level, thepaper findings enable hotels’ executives to focus on specific variables of a reward system thatcan enhance and/or prevent a cultural change initiative.


Author(s):  
Christophe Sand

New Caledonia is the southern-most archipelago of Melanesia. Its unique geological diversity, as part of the old Gondwana plate, has led to specific pedological and floral environments that have, since first human settlement, influenced the ways Pacific Islanders have occupied and used the landscape. This essay presents some of the key periods of the nearly 3,000 years of pre-colonial human settlement. After having presented a short history of archaeological research in New Caledonia, the essay focuses first on the Lapita foundation, which raises questions of long-term contacts and cultural change. The second part details the unique specificities developed during the “Traditional Kanak Cultural Complex,” during the millennium predating first European contact, as well as highlighting the massive changes brought by the introduction of new diseases, in the decades before the colonial settlement era. This leads to questions about archaeological history and the role of archaeology in the present decolonizing context.


Author(s):  
Jonathan A Veale

This article examines the emerging application of systemic design methodology within government as practiced by the Alberta Public Service in Edmonton, Canada. A case study, from a practitioner’s perspective, for systemic policy design is presented as an innovation facing approach useful for cultural change and decision-support.  Lessons about applying systemic design within government and essential capabilities and qualities of practitioners are outlined. For some systemic designers, government might be the best place to effect systemic change especially those particularly concerned about advancing stewardship and innovation within the culture of government. This article is useful to public sector practitioners interested in applying systemic methodology to complex and long-term policy predicaments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-290
Author(s):  
Maria Bou Zeid ◽  
Jessica R. El-Khoury

The Lebanese media sector has played a pioneering role in the Arab world due to its free and diverse system. However, the lack of professional and ethical structures in journalistic practices can be attributed to political and economic pressures. Through both a quantitative and qualitative methodology, this study contributes to the complex boundaries of the Lebanese media landscape that make the gap between media ethics education and real-world pressures in need of sustained analysis. This research aims to explore the challenges media ethics education in Lebanon faces, along with the perceptions formed by media students about journalistic practices and the application of moral reasoning in the field. In addition, the study investigates whether media ethics courses prepare students for settling moral dilemmas in the professional arena. To address the multiple factors affecting ethics education, it is significant to understand the relationship between journalists and power, democratic norms, technological change, global community, and academic critiques. Survey and focus groups results indicated that the majority of students rated moral reasoning as important for their future media professions, and that the media ethics course prepares them for professional life. On the other hand, the majority believe that the corrupt system in Lebanon makes journalists resort to unethical practices which in turn compromise journalists’ credibility and integrity. Students consider that journalists have power as the so-called fourth estate, yet that power seems minimal when journalists lack the freedom to write facts without fear from editors and/or gatekeepers’ political views, economic pressure, and on-the-job demands, placing journalistic integrity again at stake.


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