Cultural Variations in Evaluation of Creative Work: A Comparison of Russian and Emirati Samples

The study investigates how cultural variations influence evaluation of creative work. Russian and Emirati undergraduate college students were asked to judge alien creature drawings produced by their country mates in previous studies’ structured imagination test. We found cultural differences in creativity judgment. Emirati participants’ judgments were significantly lower than Russian participants’ judgments. We also found that Russians judged their compatriots significantly higher than the Emirati judged their compatriots. Russians also judged foreigners significantly lower than the Emirati judged foreigners. These findings were speculatively placed in the context of the cultural differences in the implicit theory of creativity.

Présentation atypique de la trichotillomanie : un cas clinique avec revue de la littérature

Trichotillomania is a chronic mental illness with an elevated rate of psychiatric comorbidities. Patients with Trichotillomania often have a low insight putting them at risk for serious health problems such as depression, social dysfunction, body damage, malnutrition, even death in severe cases if untreated. Not all patients have access to health care, most of them live in difficult environments with different cultural variations and attitudes toward mental illness making them more vulnerable. The literature suggests that there is a variety of psychotherapies and medications that may help in managing Trichotillomania. The present case is of a woman with no prior history of mental illness, who was brought by her father for behavioral issues. During her evaluation we observed various symptoms associated with different pathologies, exemplifying the difficulties to diagnose individuals with Trichotillomania and to prepare a treatment plan for them

Communication, the Heart of a Relationship: Examining Capitalization, Accommodation, and Self-Construal on Relationship Satisfaction

The study of processes that enrich positive relationships has been an under-researched area within positive psychology practice. The way an individual responds during couple conflicts (accommodation response) and toward the disclosure of good news of a partner (capitalization response) has been linked to relationship quality. Although the accommodation and capitalization communication processes are part and parcel of our everyday lives, the two processes have been examined separately and dominated by the Western perspectives in past research. Prior work has suggested that Western and Asian cultures differ in expressing and perceiving beneficial communication behaviors. Yet, it is still unclear which accommodation and capitalization responses matter the most from an Asian lens. To date, there is no research examining these interconnected variables simultaneously in Asia, specifically in Malaysia. In this study, two forms of communication processes, namely, (1) accommodation and (2) capitalization, were explored concurrently to disentangle the unique associations and influence on relationship satisfaction. This study also sought to understand the moderating effects of culture in terms of interdependent self-construal on the link between these two communication processes and relationship satisfaction. Responses of 139 Malaysians in dating relationships between the age of 18 and 30 years (Mage = 23.15) were collected through online surveys. An active and constructive reaction was captured as the most favorable response through both the capitalization and accommodation processes. Prominently, an active-constructive capitalization response bore the strongest influence on relationship satisfaction above and beyond other responses. A passive and constructive response was revealed only fruitful for disclosures of positive news and not during conflicts. Conversely, in the destructive paradigm, passive-destructive responses were the most detrimental factor in relationships compared to other destructive responses. The results also uncovered that interdependent self-construal did not moderate the two forms of communication processes. However, the findings discovered unexpected individual and cultural variations. This pioneering study is a noteworthy addition to the positive psychology literature from an Asian standpoint. It highlights the significance of not only protecting relationships through better conflict management but also enriching relationships by capitalizing on the positive aspects across the lives of the couple, ultimately providing a greater holistic insight into cultivating flourishing lives.

Exploring the Tension between the Rights of the Child and Parental Rights: Voices from Ghana

The principle of “best interests of the child” is firmly established in legal jurisprudence and has taken a firm hold on several domestic and global instruments. Generally, the courts rely on this principle in many cases of child custody, child work, child labour, and compulsory education. The norm of best interests of the child seems to be placed at the core of international law in relation to children’s rights by Article 3(1) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Nevertheless, there is no one universal “best interests of the child” norm owing to cultural variations. In Ghana, this raises issues of conflicts between expectations in the rights and duties of the parent and the right of the child as expressed in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and offers a genuine opportunity for reform. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) adopted the rights of the child that can be classified into three groups: protection rights, provision rights, and participation rights. It appears the best interests of the child is at the centre of international children’s rights law which is articulated through Article 3(1) of the UNCRC. Presently, the advocacy of a child’s right to welfare grounded on human dignity has generated the present discussion on the rights of the child. Article 18 of the UNCRC provides that parents have a shared and core responsibility for the nurturing of their children and that in undertaking their child upbringing responsibilities, appropriate support shall be offered to parents and legal guardians by State Parties. Usually, the variation between children’s rights and parental rights, nonetheless, is not acknowledged by the UNCRC. Furthermore, the UNCRC views children to be competent individuals who should be an essential component of decision-making on issues affecting them. The parent/child contrast demonstrates that there is the need for cooperation that protects the rights of the child, the parent and defines the role of the state. There is the need to explore the best legal and judicial processes for realising this cooperation.

Exploring the Irony in Japanese Popular Culture. A Cross-Cultural and Linguistic Analysis.

The present study addresses the status and use of irony in Japanese popular culture by closely examining its’ cultural variations on a corpus consisting of ironic utterances and situations from three popular culture media: Japanese drama, anime, and manga. While it is likely that Western popular culture abounds in ironic aesthetics and standpoints, the concept of “irony” faces cultural reconstruction within Japanese culture and society, a fact easily reflected in national media and cinematographic productions. In such cases, the cultural and linguistic distance between Japanese and English, and the striking difference, which exists between these two geographical and cultural contexts, increase the challenge interposed by the understanding and interpreting of irony. Moreover, on a conversational level, ironizing one’s communication partner is considered socially unacceptable and penalised accordingly. It stands against the much-expected politeness and traditional Japanese concepts such as “honne” and “tatemae,” which, if preserved, can create harmony in communication. In conclusion, the ambiguous definition of irony, together with the negative perception and reluctance of Japanese people towards its usage, has contributed to frequently branding irony strictly as a Western phenomenon. However, as the present research attempts to demonstrate, the usage of irony in Japanese popular culture embraces multifarious approaches, and it extends to reach the borders of semantics.

Exploring Ethno-Cultural Variations in Self-Ratings and Determinants of Healthy Aging among Canadians: A Population-Based Study Using Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) Data

Individuals from various ethno-cultural backgrounds have different health-related practices, beliefs, lifestyles, and levels of social engagement, which may promote or impede healthy aging. We examined ethno-cultural variations in self-ratings of healthy aging and its determinants among Canadians.

Cultivating shenti in everyday life: Self, relationality and embodied masculinity in China

Reading through the concept of shenti (body–self), this article examines the everyday processes by which Chinese young men make sense of and articulate ideal embodied masculinity as situated in different relationships. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with urban young men, I argue that the Chinese masculine self is essentially constitutive of and constructed through shenti during the men’s ordinary daily experiences. I highlight the relational formation of shenti as lying at the core of constructing ideal Chinese manhood, teasing out the different layers of body–self and relationality underpinning an individual man’s bodily practices and social interactions. Engaging with traditional cultural values of the ideal body–self and a feminist interactionist approach to gendered embodiment, shenti provides an important analytical lens that will enable us to expand ethnocentric discourses of the sociology of the gendered body by revealing the embodied and experiential aspects of culture in everyday practices. In doing so, this article contributes to enriching the existing debates around cultural variations in the male body and embodied masculinity by offering a Chinese perspective.

Vocal communication across cultures: theoretical and methodological issues

The study of human vocal communication has been conducted primarily in Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic (WEIRD) societies. Recently, cross-cultural investigations in several domains of voice research have been expanding into more diverse populations. Theoretically, it is important to understand how universals and cultural variations interact in vocal production and perception, but cross-cultural voice research presents many methodological challenges. Experimental methods typically used in WEIRD societies are often not possible to implement in many populations such as rural, small-scale societies. Moreover, theoretical and methodological issues are often unnecessarily intertwined. Here, I focus on three areas of cross-cultural voice modulation research: (i) vocal signalling of formidability and dominance, (ii) vocal emotions, and (iii) production and perception of infant-directed speech. Research in these specific areas illustrates challenges that apply more generally across the human behavioural sciences but also reveals promise as we develop our understanding of the evolution of human communication. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Voice modulation: from origin and mechanism to social impact (Part II)’.

East-West Dichotomy in Orhan Pamuk’s The White Castle

Orhan Pamuk’s The White Castle is a historical novel that is set during the Ottoman reign. The novel presents the metaphysical opposition of East and West, self and the other, intuition and reason, mysticism, science and global and local, and the recurring issues of conflict of civilization, identity crisis, and cultural variations. Orhan Pamuk as a postmodern writer tries to bridge the gap between the East and the West through his writings. Although Turkey is at the backdrop in most of his novels, the treatment of themes is universal. The paper proposes the theory of Orientalism by Edward Said, which represents the encounter and treatment of the "Orient." The concept of identity expressed by Pamuk in his wide range of novels also can be related to the “Orient” and “Occident.” The culture of the East has always been portrayed as the binary opposite of Europe in history and fiction. The loss of identity of the East reflected in the works of Pamuk is an outcome of the clash between East and Europe, further leading to chaotic contexts and dilemmatic protagonists. Individuals unable to choose between the traditional self and the fashionable West mourn the lost identity of a country and their self.