Middle School Students From China’s Rice Area Show More Adaptive Creativity but Less Innovative and Boundary-Breaking Creativity

The present study aimed to conduct a cross-cultural comparison of creative thinking among Chinese middle school students from the rice- and wheat-growing areas in China through the lens of the rice theory, which postulates that there are major psychological differences among the individuals in these agricultural regions. Differences in cultural mindsets and creativity between the rice group (n = 336) and the wheat group (n = 347) were identified using the Chinese version of (1) the Auckland Individualism and Collectivism Scale (AICS) and (2) the Test for Creative Thinking–Drawing Production (TCT–DP), respectively. Interesting findings were obtained. The results of latent mean analyses indicate that the rice group showed significantly more collectivism and adaptive creativity than the wheat group but less individualism and innovative and boundary-breaking creativity. However, the two groups showed no significant differences in their overall creative performance, as reflected in the TCT–DP composite score. Moreover, results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that collectivism was positively related to adaptive creativity but negatively related to innovative and boundary-breaking creativity; however, a reverse pattern was found for individualism. These findings enrich the discourse regarding the rice theory and shed important light on the effect of culture on creativity.

Entrepreneurship attitudes and the Big Five: A cross-cultural comparison between Spain and the United States

Culture may interact with personality to facilitate or inhibit entrepreneurial behaviors. 296 undergraduates in the United States and 257 in Spain completed the Big Five Personality Inventory and the Entrepreneurial Attitudes Scale for Students (Mean age = 20.16 years; SD = 3.39). We hypothesized that across cultures, conscientiousness and openness would predict greater risk taking whereas neuroticism and agreeableness would be a negative correlate. Personality variables explained a larger proportion of the variance in entrepreneurial attitudes in the U.S. data. The associations between the personality dimensions and entrepreneurship varied considerably by country and gender. Significant positive correlations were found between conscientiousness and risk taking only for Spanish men. Neuroticism was significantly and negatively correlated with risk taking only for American participants. La cultura puede interactuar con la personalidad para facilitar o inhibir las conductas emprendedoras. 296 estudiantes universitarios en Estados Unidos y 257 en España completaron el inventario de los Cinco Grandes de Personalidad y la escala de Actitudes Emprendedoras para Estudiantes (Media de edad = 20.16 años; DT = 3.39). Se hipotetiza que, a través de culturas, conciencia y apertura serán predictores de mayor toma de riesgos, mientras neuroticismo y amigabilidad lo harán en negativo. Las variables de personalidad explican una mayor proporción de varianza en actitudes emprendedoras en los datos estadounidenses. Las asociaciones entre las dimensiones de personalidad y emprendimiento varían considerablemente por país y género. Se encontraron correlaciones positivas significativas entre conciencia y toma de riesgos solo en hombres españoles. El neuroticismo correlaciona negativa y significativamente con la toma de riesgos, solo en el caso de los participantes americanos.

Constructivist Self-Construal: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

Building on independent versus interdependent self-construal theory, three studies provide initial empirical evidence for a third way of construing the self: the constructivist self-construal. People with a constructivist view perceive the self as constantly changing (impermanence), as a collection of distinct phenomena from moment to moment (discontinuity), as lacking an essence (disentification), and as psychologically overlapping with other people and things in the universe (boundlessness/boundaries). In Study 1, we piloted a new Constructivist Self-Construal Scale and established preliminary evidence for the discriminant validity of the scale. Studies 2 and 3 found that across seven countries with diverse cultural backgrounds, the self was consistently cognitively represented on the four dimensions of constructivist self. People from collectivistic cultures where Buddhist philosophy is more prevalent tended to endorse the dimensions of the constructivist self-construal to a greater degree than people from other cultures. Implications regarding the development of the constructivist self-construal and future research recommendations are discussed.

Their floods and Our floods: News values of flood photo galleries of Associated Press and Xinhua News Agency

This study investigates how floods are presented as newsworthy in the photo galleries of Associated Press (AP) and Xinhua News Agency (Xinhua), two news outlets with different cultural and political backgrounds. A distinction is made between international floods, that is, Their floods, and domestic floods, that is, Our floods. The data consists of around 1500 photo-caption complexes. The analysis adopts the framework of Discursive News Values Analysis. The findings show a similar tendency to highlight Negativity, Impact, Personalization and Superlativeness in presenting Their floods by AP and Xinhua, though the two differ in Proximity and Positivity. By contrast, Our floods are presented differently. Negativity, Impact and Personalization are foregrounded in AP’s presentation of floods in the United States, whereas Xinhua’s presentation of floods in China gives prominence to Negativity, Positivity, Personalization and Superlativeness. The study is significant for its attention to cross-cultural comparison and the genre of online photo galleries.

Cultural Variation in Aggressive Behavior: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Students’ Exposure to Bullying Across 32 Countries

Introduction. The prevalence rates of bullying vary significantly across countries and continents. Specifically, UNESCO estimates that the prevalence rates vary from 22.8% (Central America) to 48.2% (Sub-Saharan Africa). Recently, these differences among countries and regions have been attributed to culture- and country-level variables. Thus, the first purpose of this study is to examine the comparability of bullying in schools across countries. Secondly, a cross-cultural comparison of the latent mean scores of bullying is implemented. Method. The data of 286,481 adolescent students (M=15.78, SD=0.29) from 32 countries were analyzed using multilevel confirmatory factor analyses (MLCFA) and multigroup factor alignment. Results. Results indicated that the meaning of bullying is equivalent within and between cultures. However, cross-cultural differences in bullying are apparent. East Asian countries have the lowest latent means of bullying, while Southeast Asian countries have the highest means. Anglo-Saxon, Eastern European, Mediterranean, South American, and Middle East countries displayed rather higher scores. Discussion and Conclusion. These findings underscore the existence of cross-cultural differential responding in bullying measures. Further, the implicit role of culture as an important variable that determines the rates of bullying is underscored.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Link between Modernization, Anthropomorphism and Attitude to Wildlife

Anthropogenic pressure has significantly increased in the last decades, often enhancing conflicts at the human–wildlife interface. Therefore, understanding peoples’ value orientations, attitudes and behavioural intentions towards wildlife is a crucial endeavour to reduce the occurrence of conflicts between humans and wildlife. Previous research in the USA has shown a consistent link between modernization and increased anthropomorphism (i.e., the tendency to attribute human mental or physical characteristics to other entities), leading to positive changes in value orientations, attitudes, and behavioural intentions towards wildlife. In this paper, we aimed to address whether this link is also present in other cultures, by testing participants (N = 741) in five different countries (Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and Spain). Our study shows that while the positive link between anthropomorphism, positive attitudes and behavioural intentions towards wildlife is universal, the link between modernization and anthropomorphism is culturally mediated. In some countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Spain), modernization increased anthropomorphism, while in others modernization predicted no differences (Brazil) or even a decrease in anthropomorphism (Mexico), ultimately deteriorating individuals’ attitude and behavioural intentions towards wildlife. These results call for caution when generalizing findings from western industrialized countries to inform conservation policies worldwide.