Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

Cross-cultural studies, in which the cases are societies rather than individuals, may be subject to errors due to individual differences within societies, cultural differences in behavior variables, and the implicit theories of the observers. In addition, antecedent variables may correlate more highly with unexpected consequences than with dependent variables predicted from theory. Ratings provided by Whiting and Child (1953) were correlated and the resulting matrix of correlations between all antecedent and all dependent variables was examined. Off-diagonal correlations, e.g., that between oral socialization anxiety and anal explanations of illness, were often found to be as high as correlations predicted from psychoanalytic theory. It was concluded that the caution suggested by Campbell and Fiske (1959) for validity studies should be applied to crosscultural studies.

A comparison is made between Zambian elementary schoolchildren in the range of "stated ages" 7-17 years who provided evidence of weight conservation behaviour and those who did not do so. The principal dependent variable is performance on locally-developed psychometric measures of reasoning ability, and further data were available in the form of scores on an objectively-marked national Secondary School Selection examination. Very little connection is found between the conservationstatus of the subjects and their performance on these variables, and the implications for a possible rapprochement between psychometric and Piagetian approaches to human intelligence are discussed in the light of cultural factors. An experimental approach to the problem is recommended.

The frequency of opposite-sex figures in the dreams of 45 female and 51 male Indian university students is found to vary in relation to cultural and subcultural factors. When compared with a large sample of American dreams, the gender-counts of Indian dream-characters is found to differ significantly in a direction explainable by the greater sexual segregation in India. Moreover, when the sex ratio of dream characters for all subjects are correlated with their scores on a specially devised "Transitionalism Index" a significant positive relationship is found between dream contact and indications of daily interaction. It is also found that predictions of preference for the male or female parent which are based on dependency motivations coincide more closely with dream data than do those assuming a sexual motivation. The findings are interpreted as supporting a phenomenological-cultural theory of dreams rather than a classical psychoanalytic one. They are seen as a challenge to previous claims that the sex-ratio of dream characters is cross-culturally ubiquitous and consistent in psychological meaning.

The sleep-wakefulness patterns of 257 Mexican males and females ranging in age from the 20s to 80s was studied using a questionnaire. The average duration of sleep exceeded that typically prescribed for other Western cultures (8 hours per 24), and significantly varied with age decreasing from the 20s to 50s, after which there was an increase. There was a significantly greater incidence of sleep disturbance in subjects over 50 Compared to the other Ss the post-awakening mood of those with sleep disturbance and those over 50 was described by a significantly greater frequency of negative affect. Significant age and sex differences were found for the frequency of dream recall. The duration and frequency of daytime naps in Ss of all age groups revealed the presence of a polycyclic sleep-wakefulness cycle which has not been reported with such generality in other Western cultures.

A two-person experimental task was developed for use in the study of age and cultural differences in the cooperative-competitive behavior of children in a small Mexican town and in California. The results indicate a higher level of cooperation among Mexican than among Anglo-American children and an increase in nonadaptive competition with age among the Anglo-American children.

Two hundred sixty-six Malaysian medical students were compared with 195 selectively matched Americans on the Social Readjustment Rating Questionnaire. There was a remarkable concordance (Spearman's rho ranged from. 97 to. 91) between the Malaysian and American samples as well as between discrete subgroups in the Malaysian sample in the manner in which they established a relative order of magnitude to changes in life events. Some interesting and profound differences resulting from cultural variations were also observed. Attitudes of the Malaysians toward infringement of laws, the idea of romantic love and thus relationship between spouses seem to differ significantly from the American sample. Malaysians scored significantly higher on items pertaining to personal habits, religious activities, attitudes toward work, and financial security. Differences among Malaysian subgroups (race, religion, sex, year of medical class, and generation Malaysian) were discussed.

The 38-item Femininity Scale of the California Psychological Inventory has validly differentiated between males and females in seven countries, and the extension of these findings to other countries would help yield an instrument for further cross-cultural studies. A Hebrew translation of the scale was administered to a random sample of the Israeli population, consisting of 200 males and 200 females. The means were 16. 36 and 22. 02 respectively and the difference of 5. 66 is highly significant (p <. 001). All the items, except one, differentiated in the proper direction, though several items showed low discriminating power. The validity of Fe in Israel is one of the highest among the countries for which studies are available, and is next to the results obtained in U.S.A.

Two tests of classificatory ability based on Piaget's theory of cognitive development, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), were administered to 40 full-blood urban Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory of Australia. The PPVT was also given to 80 white urban children of similar low-socioeconomic status. A trend in an earlier study for high-contact Aboriginals to perform on classification tests at about the same level as white children in a similar environment was confirmed, despite the markedly lower verbal IQ scores of Aboriginal children.

Although true random samples are necessary for the successful completion of some research projects, studies using non-random samples can also be valuable. Research using non-random samples can be improved, however, and our recommendation is for a more careful description of them, to appear in methodology sections of published research. This practice has three purposes: (1) It will allow other researchers to choose their samples with more precision. (2) Careful description allows others to combine various sets of data into a functional relation. (3) It allows others to evaluate the plausible rival hypotheses that may threaten a study's validity. Suggestions for the content of a sample description are given.

This study was designed to test developmental, cross-cultural, and sex differences in the perception of situational causality. Three hundred fifty-nine (359) Ss were divided by grade (third and sixth), culture (United States and Indian), and sex. It was hypothesized that developmental, cross-cultural, and sex differences would be found in the perception of situational causality. Ss were shown a picture depicting a Mother Goose nursery rhyme and were asked what might have caused the action shown in the picture. Responses were categorized as Causal, Phenomenistic, Consequential, Descriptive, or Other. Means were computed for each group and category and hypothesized differences were tested by means of the Student's t test. All cross-cultural differences were significant and developmental differences were found to be significant for United States children but not for children in the Indian culture.