Cross-Cultural Research

Arguably, anthropologists and others can achieve a better sense of sociocultural process (how institutions interact with one another) by attending to mediating variables at the psychological level. A concern with lower level processes not only improves our under standing of higher level phenomena, but can also lead us to perceive important interrelationships that might otherwise be overlooked. This is particularly true in the arena of cross-cultural research where this approach has often, and sometimes unknowingly, been employed. Examples in support of this argument are taken from a variety of cross-cultural studies including works by McClelland, Whiting, Bolton, and the author. Finally, a simple set ofprocedures that accomplishes this objective, yet avoids the pitfalls of both reductionism and reification, is suggested.

This article examines religious conviction in relation to the meaning of work through representative samples of the labor forces in Ger many, Israel, and the Netherlands. Among workers with strong religious convictions in Germany and the Netherlands, the meaning of work was positively related to the variables of work centrality, obligation norms, and intrinsic orientation. However, the same workers negatively related the meaning of work to economic orien tation and entitlement norms. The picture in Israel was the opposite. Nonreligious Israelis, Germans, and Dutch people with strong religious convictions seemed to adhere to the Judeo-Protestant work ethic.

An important question facing those interested in comparative eco nomic systems is how well the assumptions underlying market economic models fit in nonmarket contexts. Does individual eco nomic behavior vary across cultures? The authors brought together Chinese undergraduates and students from an American college to play the classic prisoner's dilemma game. Facing monetary payoffs, each student played the game several times with different partners. A probit analysis is used to examine what influenced the students' decisions to cooperate or defect in each game. The authors found that American students behaved in a more self-interested, less cooperative manner than the Chinese students did in the prisoner's dilemma experiment. They also found that when foreign students studying in the United States are included with the American students to create a sample of students who grew up in a variety of different market economies, these students also behaved in a less cooperative manner than their Chinese counterparts.

In their classic cross-cultural study "Games in Culture," Roberts, Arth, and Bush (1959) delineated a three-category classification for games (i.e., physical skill, strategy, and chance) as well as a defini tion of games. Both the classification system and the definition have become anthropological standards. Roberts et al. also found that several variables correlated with the presence-absence of different game types. However, the sample that Roberts et al. used was relatively small (50 societies) and nonstandard. The purpose of this study is to replicate the Roberts et al. study using codes for games for the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample. In addition, minor exten sions of the results found by Roberts et al. are presented.