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Exploring Self Through the Other: Reception of foreign programming in a developing nationConcerns over viewings of shows produced in developed nations, in developing, less powerful weaker nations have inspired many papers on cultural studies. While there are many studies done on American programming, and various audiences around the world, there is a paucity of research on Pacific audiences. This paper attempts to take a step in that direction by studying the cultural and social impact of Shortland Street, a night time soap opera produced in New Zealand through a focus group interview in a neighboring nation that claims one of the largest and oldest following of the show. Findings reveal that although considered a developing country, the audiences, now exposed to much of global television are aware of their negotiations with the media texts, thus defying the one directional view of cultural imperialism. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid severe criticisms over the validity of current paper-pencil type questionnaires measuring self-construal across cultural groups, this study used a graphic representation scale (IOS) to examine, among samples from the general population, whether Anglo-Canadians (220) were more independent than Mainland Chinese (196) and Indians (212) in construing their relationships with the closest family member, family members, the closest-friend, friends, other relatives, colleagues and neighbours. The data generated five intriguing findings. (1) The Chinese are more interdependent than Canadians but less so than Indians. In other words, China has emerged as a middle land, indicating that the Chinese culture has changed to a more individualistic entity. (2) The Canadians are more independent than the Chinese in six relationship dimensions, but are as interdependent as the Chinese in self-closest friend connectedness. This finding somewhat contradicts one assumption of the theories of independent-interdependent self-construal and I-C. (3) Canadians are more independent than Indians in all seven relationship dimensions, providing strong support for theories of independent-interdependent self-construal and I-C. (4) Chinese are as interdependent as Indians in terms of self-closest family member and self-close-family-members connectedness, and self-other relatives but more independent than Indians in the other four categories of self-other relationships. (5) ParticipantsÂ’ age did not have strong correlations with variables measuring self-construal in any of the three samples, indicating that a personÂ’s attachment style may not change greatly over a life-span. Theoretical and methodological implications of the findings are also discussed. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines the cross-cultural adaptation of 101 Korean employees working in branch offices in the U.S. Based on Y. Y. Kim's (2001) Cross-cultural Adaptation Model, this survey study addresses the theoretically predicted relationships among "host communication competence," "host interpersonal communication," "host mass communication," and "psychological health." Host communication competence was measured in three dimensions--cognitive, affective, and operational. The findings support the theoretical prediction that three interrelated dimensions of expatriate host communication competence (i.e., cognitive, affective, and operational) are positively associated with their psychological health. The host interpersonal communication was found to be not significantly associated with the psychological health. Among the host mass media, the use of American newspapers and magazines, American radio, and American movies was found to be positively related to psychological health. The length of stay and spouse/family adjustment were positively related to psychological health. A multiple regression analysis indicates that, together, the independent variables explain 40% of the variance of the dependent variable. The paper ends with a discussion of the limitations of the present study and its practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this short essay, a particular Japanese term, wakimae, is investigated aiming to develop the concept as a theoretical construct within the framework of face-to-face interaction and investigate a unique nature of face-to-face interaction in the Japanese culture. This type of emic research is expected to contribute not only to a better understanding of an implicit theory of interaction in Japanese culture, but also to the different type of cross-cultural studies (i.e., the etic approach). That is, the relative conceptualizations of related communication concepts to wakimae (e.g., politeness), which is often assumed to be absolute or universal across cultures, can be better understood and, in turn, can be validly re-defined as an analytic tool for the future comparative studies. In this paper, a case study is reported that explores the folk knowledge of the concept among the Japanese speakers. The preliminary analysis of the data revealed that the concept wakimae involves a wide range of interactional factors that are expected to guide one's behavior in general or specific situations. Specifically, it was found that wakimae is specifically conceptualized as one's keen sensitivity to or capability of correctly/effectively assessing such factors as a) situational context, b) situational limit/risk, c) the partner's physical or mental status, d) one's own social status/role, e) one's own personal limits/characters, f) manner/rules, g) morals/ethics, h) common sense, and i) natural laws/reasons. These interactional factors were seen to guide both volitional (e.g., goal-oriented, task-oriented, strategic, etc.) and non-volitional behavior (e.g., obligatory language use, ritualistic behaviors, rule-governed behaviors in specific events, etc.). Also, the data suggested that the concept becomes an issue if the lack of wakimae in a behavior is expected to cause socially or interpersonally negative consequences, which might endanger a) the success of the social event/gro... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central purpose of this investigation is to test the theoretical relationship between one's cultural orientation, and the perceptions typically linked to the verbal content of particular types of truthful and deceptive messages that are produced in different cultures. This study also seeks to investigate the constellation of perceptions that are associated with subsequent judgments of deceit. Finally, potential miscommunication that can occur between members of different cultural orientations due to misaligned perceptions will be investigated. Findings from a host of prior cross-cultural studies suggest that those of differing cultural orientations are likely to possess differing motivations for deceiving and truthtelling, and as a consequence, are likely to exhibit differing perceptions toward deceptive and truthful messages. To test the proposed theoretical relationships, participants (N=240) were solicited from the United States (n=120) and Japan (n=120) to rate the transcribed verbal content of both deceptive and truthful messages generated by both American and Japanese subjects in a prior cross-cultural study of deceptive behavior. All participants were instructed to review and evaluate two out of a total of 40 transcribed dyadic interactions that were recorded as part of an earlier cross-cultural experiment investigating nonverbal behaviors under deception. For both transcripts reviewed, participants rated the verbal content of each transcript along the dimensions of: politeness, friendliness, formality, conventionality, and directness. They were also asked to rate their perceptions of the favorableness and deceptiveness of the verbal contents of each transcript. The proposed experimental method and corresponding statistical analyses are discussed in further detail in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceived reality of media messages is an important variable in media effects research. However, despite numerous efforts at conceptualizing it as a multidimensional construct, empirical investigations of the multidimensional nature of perceived reality are scant and many media effects studies continue to measure and apply it as a unidimensional construct. The goal of this paper is to remedy this situation by building up on the sixdimensional structure of perceived reality proposed earlier (Author, 2010) by (a) hypothesizing the relationships among the dimensions of perceived reality and (b) testing the dimensional structure of perceived reality and these relationships through confirmatory factor analysis. Perceptions of reality of two videos were assessed in two studies in two cultures - the United States and Japan. Results offer support for the proposed dimensional structure of perceived reality and for the cross-cultural universality of these perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased use of entertainment-education for health promotion has created a demand for collaboration among entertainment media practitioners and health communication professionals and academics. Throughout the world, entertainment-education radio soap operas, television serials, theater productions, films, computer games, and Internet dramas are being produced through the joint creative work of health communication experts and creative artists. Yet little research has focused on examining how this creative work can best be accomplished to achieve effective health promotion. In this paper we consider the creative processes at work during entertainment-education collaboration, drawing from experiences in the Netherlands, East Africa, and Nepal. We then present a model to facilitate intercultural entertainment-education projects based on a transcultural approach to collaboration and discuss important lessons learned from the intercultural experiences of these collaborative projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web Based Instruction (WBI) possesses great potential for delivering e-learning solutions into Lower Economically Disadvantaged Countries (LEDCs) and organizations with virtual networks of employees spread across the globe.Ee-learning systems are not without cross-cultural challenges and are essential to inter group communication as technologies are often developed in one group for adoption by other groups. In order to adequately utilize these technologies, it is imperative that developers and organizations understand how to address differences in norms, preferences and values of culturally diverse individuals and groups when designing WBI. The purpose of this paper is to present an examination of cross cultural challenges in implementing WBI, through a discussion of Hofstede's (1980) cultural dimensions, cultural technology perceptions, language barriers and user needs. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for WBI and future trends in WBI design. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qualitative data was used to answer research questions aimed at providing a clearer understanding of the relationship conflict styles, relationship satisfaction, forgiveness, and religion in romantic conflict in Uganda and Ethiopia. The results indicated that individuals prefer an (1) indirect and (2) confrontation/explicit conflict style when in conflict with their romantic partner; individuals view (1) family, (2) community/tribal, (3) third parties, and (4) patriarchy as their primary sources for their conflict behavior; religion is viewed as a (1) teacher/guide, (2) comfort/reassurance, and (3) conflict resolution/forgiveness; while participants view the relationship between conflict styles and relational outcomes as being related to (1) third party help, (2) apologizing and forgiving, and (3) avoiding. Because this research effort was an enormous undertaking, the results are presented in separate papers. This paper addresses only the third and fourth research question, which focuses on understanding the role of religion and conflict in romantic relationships. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The meanings of visuals are taken for granted. We perceive an image, and automatically attribute meaning to it. On top, we assume that other people attribute the same meaning to the same visual. But: Meaning-attribution is depending both on situational and cultural contexts as well as on intra-individual predispositions like prior experience with the visual type and motif. Taking recent cartoon controversies as an example, but also different reactions to atrocity images like e.g., the Abu Ghraib torture pictures, it becomes apparent that the immediate text accompanying the visuals, and the cultural background in which they are perceived, influence both meaning-attribution and emotional reaction to the same visuals.After a general introduction into the very recent theories of visual competence and visual context analysis the focus of the paper will be on cross-cultural understandings and misunderstandings that have their origin in visual communication. The paper will conclude with a first suggestion on how to integrate cross-cultural contexts into the theoretical framework of visual meaning-attribution, and a first attempt on how research in visual communication can help to develop solutions to conflicts and crises sparked by visuals. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the result of a 15-month ethnography of student sojourner adjustment with a focus on language and the development of intra and intergroup relationships. Although more U.S. students are studying abroad than ever before, they are doing so for shorter periods of time often with the same expectations as those who spend a year or more abroad. Expectations for successful outcomes such as the development of intergroup understanding are pervasive, but students study abroad with additional internal and external expectations. Many of those expectations go unmet. Applying Burgoon's (1978) expectancy violations theory, I suggest that much of the adjustment stress is the result of unmet expectations in four major areas: Academic/language expectations, social expectations, cultural/value expectations, and travel/cultural experience expectations. In addition to their own expectations, expectations were also placed on students by their study abroad program, costudents, friends/family, their host family, and their home university. In an effort to manage the stress resulting from unmet expectations, students routinely engaged in 9 types of talk (i.e., advice, superficial introductory talk, information sharing, comparison, humor, story telling, gossip, complaint, and supportive talk). Routine talk helped students manage adjustment stress as well as create and refine new expectations and norms for their study abroad experience. Finally, I employ Kim's (2001) integrative theory on communication and cross-cultural adaptation to offer an explanation for how students' talk enabled them to make necessary adjustments across the sojourn to achieve functional fitness and foster positive intergroup relationships. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proposed paper will discuss the method of media phenomenology which has been used in an international qualitative study of three generations in nine countries. Despite the very different societal and cultural context of the three age cohorts involved in this qualitative study, it can be argued that media and the increasing global news flow, has, in fact, created very similar generational experiences in the nine countries involved. Based on Karl Mannheim's concept of 'entelechy' of generations, results of the project reveal generational specific ways of media related 'world' construction through (1) notions of 'distance' and 'proximity' and (2) 'analogue' and 'digital' world knowledge. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the similarities and differences of corporate web sites in targeting publics in two culturally distinct countries. It also examined the influence of culture on corporate web site content. Results show that customer and investor are primary publics addressed by corporate web sites, whereas press is secondary audience across countries. Findings also reveals that culture impacts corporate web site content in targeting government and addressing social responsibility issues (corporate image). Comparing with non-Western countries, Western countries tend to address more on social responsibility issues. Meanwhile, a country with a higher score on the cultural dimension of power distance tends to address policy issues and post news regarding political figures and government officials on the Web. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study that examined multinational brands' visual strategies in web advertising. It compares Korean and U.S. local sites. A content analysis of a sample of 31 brands was conducted for this study. Results show significant between-country differences in the type of visual functions, the use of photographs and illustrations, and the frequency of product portrayals in the visual, implying that the observed between-country differences are attributable to the differences in cultural values between Korea and the U.S., particularly high versus low information context.

Defining Women in American and Indian Prime Time is an in depth analysis of viewer's perceptions of the roles played by women on prime time, in two different cultural settings. The research is directed towards respondents with two different media and cultural experiences. The first are interviewees who are simply familiar with American prime time and the second are those who are acquainted with both the American and the Indian content. The research questions address specifics of representations associated with the American and the Indian media: the roles women play on prime time, whether the viewers can associate with the characters, possible difference between prime time representations and reality as well as possible overlaps between ways of reading media's constructions of femininity in these culturally different stage sets. Findings in the study acknowledge more similarities in analyzing gender reproductions between viewers familiar with American and Indian media, rather than distinct perceptions of gender images in the respective cultural settings. Most of the overlaps in observing gender representations on prime time have evolved from the viewer's unconscious narration of media experiences rather than categorically referring to the similarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with comparative journalism research. It asserts that comparative research is the essential if not most important strategy to understand the nature of journalism and how it works across cultural boundaries; that the cross-cultural study of journalism is poorly conceptualized; and that the core concepts in journalism studies are often confounded with one another. In the final section, this article suggests a strategy of sampling journalists for purposes of comparative empirical research.

Drawing on a survey that addressed identical questions to a sample of 1001 US and 1003 Israeli adults, this study explored parents? constructions of their relationships with the Internet, focusing on (1) the technology and its use; (2) the concern over privacy violations; and (3) the negotiation of parent-child positionings. The responses suggest that while US parents adopted a coherent framework of threat-and-promise when relating to the Internet, their Israeli counterparts drew on several discourses to construct a more conditional and reserved commitment. These results paradoxically both challenge concerns over academic imperialism, as expressed in the practice of survey translation, and highlight the need for a more localized work that will provide insight into such cross-cultural variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the relationship between attitudes toward foreign language study (a general attitude toward language study; attitudes toward specific languages--Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish; and instrumental and integrative attitudes) and cross-cultural attitudes (world-mindedness and social distance). The results of a survey of U.S. college students (N = 151) indicated that (1) a general attitude toward foreign language study was significantly related to world-mindedness and social distance, (2) attitudes toward Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish were significantly related to both world-mindedness and social distance, whereas an attitude toward French was not significantly related to either world-mindedness or social distance, and (3) integrative attitude was significantly related to social distance, whereas instrumental attitude was not significantly related to either world-mindedness or social distance. These results are discussed for their pedagogical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This empirical study shows that the communication mode approaching global media agenda is asymmetrical. Agenda usually flow from the developed countries to the developing ones, or move from the global political and economic centers to the peripherals. Obviously, the flow of agenda between the two is asymmetrical. It has been clearly found that the presence of asymmetric patterns of information spread contributes to the formation of the "Information Gap" or "Digital Gap" between the developed and developing countries. The existence of "Information Gap" or "Digital Gap" leads to the emergence of global discords. For this reason, these "gaps" should be controlled and bridged to build a harmonious global community. On this basis, a number of ways and measures are proposed in this paper to optimize the global communication environment, build the national image of individual countries, and build a harmonious world. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the endorsement of four types of cultural patterns across America, Japan, and Thailand, as well as how these cultural patterns predict the emotional valence (positive-negative) of intrapersonal communication. Within subjects tests revealed that the American sample endorsed horizontalism more than verticalism, while the Thais endorsed horizontal collectivism the most and vertical collectivism the least. The Japanese sample reported significantly more horizontal collectivism than any other cultural pattern, and significantly less vertical individualism. Across cultures, the Americans reported comparatively higher levels of horizontal individualism than did the Japanese and then the Thais. The Thais endorsed horizontal collectivism less than those in the USA and Japan. Finally, the Japanese comparatively endorsed vertical collectivism more than the Americans, followed by the Thais. For intrapersonal communication affect, horizontal collectivism predicted positive emotional affect in Thailand and Japan, while vertical collectivism was negatively related to affect in Thailand. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thanks to a variety of characteristics, such as interactivity and the ability to combine text, images and sound in different ways, electronic games and simulations are considered motivating, engaging and entertaining new media. They also combine play with learning in a special way that has intrigued educators and led to the introduction of these media to educational settings. Studies have shown educational value in many areas. In-depth research on the promotion of social competences and in cross-cultural research is, however, still sparse. The PhD project presented in this paper attempts to narrow these research gaps by exploring the use of the life simulation "RealLives 2010" in three middle schools in Australia, the USA and Switzerland and examining its potential to promote intercultural competence in its players. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past few years, social networking sites (SNSs) have burgeoned as a new form of computer-mediated communication around the world. Yet little is known about the social dimensions of SNS usage and potential cultural influences in the nature of social relationships developed and maintained on these sites. This paper presents one of the first cross-cultural studies on SNSs by examining similarities and differences in perceived social capital, tie strength, and trust between American and Chinese users. The results showed that Chinese users gained a higher level of bridging and bonding social capital on SNSs than did American users. Chinese users also maintained a greater ratio of strong ties on these sites than did their American counterparts. Furthermore, Chinese users reported a higher degree of perceived trust in the social relationships in SNSs than did users in the U.S. Social and cultural implications of SNSs are discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-cultural comparisons has been identified as lacking in research on spiral of silence theory (Scheufele & Moy, 2000). This paper proposes an individual differences perspective to address this problem. The main underpinning of our approach is the supposition that the spiral of silence can be investigated as a manifestation, in part, of stable personality traits that can be measured comparably regardless of country or context—specifically, fear of social isolation and willingness to self-censor. In accordance with spiral of silence theory predictions, we examine whether people relatively high in trait fear of social isolation are relatively more likely to self-censor their opinions in hostile opinion environments. We tested this hypothesis with survey data from the US, Mexico, Chile, China, Russia, Germany, France, South Korea, and the UK. Results confirmed the prediction in all countries except for China. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a highly politicized issue, climate negotiations are increasingly resonating with global governance and world power relations. The climate debate is not just over the factual, evidencebased or scientific consensus of climate change, but also on who should take responsibility to deal with the issue. Even though the media representation of climate change has received scholarly attention, the media framing of the climate negotiations remains less explored. This study addresses this issue by examining the media coverage of COP21 by selecting three countries that have considerable influence on current climate change politics: the U.K., the U.S. and China. Based on an inductive frame analysis, the study identified nine frames of climate negotiations, and found several characteristics of frame use by news media in these three countries. The findings help to understand the dynamics within the international policy issue, connecting certain problem definitions, the values that are involved and policy tendencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For public diplomacy, it is essential to thoroughly analyze the country image and develop coherent communication strategies to shape a positive country image abroad. Our study aims to analyze the valuedrivers of the different country image dimensions and investigate country groups with similar attitudes towards a country. In a representative survey study, we apply the recently validated 5-dimensional measurement scale of country images for the first time with PLS-SEM to eight countries. We conduct a cluster analysis, resulting in a Western European cluster (Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain) and a BR(I)CS cluster (Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa). Based on news values theory and social psychological assumptions on stereotypes, we empirically test and approve our hypothesis that in countries which are distant to the target country, the cultural and natural country image dimension plays a vital role. On the other hand, countries geographically, culturally and politically close to the target country have a more diverse and critical perspective. Finally, we discuss potential benefits for public diplomacy when addressing country clusters with communication programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examines culture's impacts on affectionate communication between young adult children and their parents. Participants (N = 594) from the U.S., China, and Saudi Arabia completed a modified version of the Affectionate Communication Index (Floyd & Morman, 1998) about their parents' and their own affectionate communication, as well as their closeness with parents. The results showed that 1) Chinese are the most reticent in parent-child affectionate communication; 2) differences in parent-child affectionate communication are more impactful on closeness in the U.S. than in China and Saudi Arabia; and 3) the positive association between parents' supportive affectionate communication and closeness is stronger in the U.S. than in China and Saudi Arabia. In addition, cross-cultural invariance was also found: parents' supportive affectionate communication is greater than that of children, and parents' nonverbal and supportive affectionate communication as well as children's verbal affectionate communication, are positive predictors of closeness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current cross-cultural study investigated the association between traditional and social media use and engagement in self-sexualizing appearance behaviors among adolescents. As an explanatory mechanism, social learning processes were combined with the internalization mechanism of appearance ideals. Results showed that some media, in some countries, were related to the internalization of rewarded appearance ideals and self-sexualizing appearance behaviors. Interestingly, some similarities in the examined relations emerged across adolescents from Spain, Austria, Belgium, and South-Korea. First, social media use was significantly related to engagement in self-sexualizing behaviors among girls and boys from Belgium, Austria, and South-Korea. Second, the internalization of rewarded appearance ideals was related to girls' engagement in self-sexualizing appearance behaviors, in all countries. The current study thereby provides an interesting cross-cultural perspective on the role of traditional and social media in adolescents' (self-) sexualization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A previous study by the authors combined relationship and reciprocation in the same message to induce a sense of family obligation, which led to subsequent compliance actions. The goal of the current 2 x 5 (country by message) between-subjects experiment based on 525 participants from China and the U.S. was to disentangle the strength of family relationship from reciprocation to examine whether the two components function differently in shaping perceptions toward obligation and the subsequent compliance behaviors. The results showed that in general, obligation was perceived as more benevolent than aversive. One-sided favor message induced less aversive and more benevolent obligation perceptions and more subsequent compliance compared to the equivalent reciprocation message. Chinese participants were more susceptible to the relationship messages compared to their American counterparts. These results replicated the findings from the first study and offered additional insights into cultural mechanisms underlying the perception and enactment of family obligation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined how biracial models and bilingual health campaign messages affect message recipients' perception and behavioral intention in the context of blood donation. An online experiment was conducted with Asian (n = 93) and White (n = 85) adults living in the United States. Participants were randomly assigned to view a blood donation campaign message featuring an Asian-White biracial female model that either presented the donation solicitation message in English-only text or bilingual (English and Japanese) text. Results showed that White participants (but not Asian participants) perceived the model as more Asian when they were exposed to the bilingual text than to the English-only text. However, this perception did not influence willingness to donate blood for either White or Asian participants. The results suggest that language cues can influence how biracial or racially ambiguous models in health campaigns are perceived, particularly among the racially dominant group members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates new methods for establishing measurement invariance of psychometric scales based on a measurement model that was used in a cross-cultural study on individualism-collectivism. With multigroup multilevel structural equation modeling, it is possible to correct the observed rating values for the influence of culture-dependent response styles, which are additionally subject to change over the course of experiments, and to handle dependencies between repeated measurements by multilevel techniques in order to achieve measurement invariance of the psychometric scale under investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which explores the expectations among audiences on affective engagement mediated by channels such as political education, narratives and images depicting nationalism. Noted is a framework not limited to the understanding on the place of expectations but also the shifts in the effectiveness of nationalistic rituals. Argued is the expression of national importance aside at the Liberty Bell Center in relation to strengthening of national values.

The article presents a study which identified and investigated the cross-cultural nature of rhetorical act based on the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia. It compares the incident with the self-immolation of Nhat Chi Mai in Vietnam, Jan Palach in Czechoslovakia, and Musa Mamut in Ukraine at a broader cross-cultural phenomenon. Findings suggested that self-immolation, the act of a burning/dead corpse, does not always guarantee an effect on society

Individualism-collectivism (IC) has been established as one of the central dimensions of cross-cultural research; however, there is only little evidence whether this dimension can be detected from nonverbal behavior (NVB). Using a novel computer-animation methodology, we investigated the influence of NVB and cultural stereotypes on the ascription of individualistic or collectivistic values to actors from different cultures described as distinct on the IC-dimension: United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Germany. Animated computer characters were used to mask out clues of the nationality of actors while displaying their real movement behavior. The results show cultural specificities in the combined processing of NVB and stereotype activation. Whereas Arabs based their collectivism ratings solely on NVB, Germans showed a strong susceptibility to stereotype activation. In addition, Arabs were able to discern collectivism from NVB. As opposed to collectivism, individualism was not discernible from NVB by either Germans or Arabs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors of this study examined the cross-cultural adaptation of Hispanic youth in the upper Midwestern United States. Using Kim's comprehensive theory of cross-cultural adaptation (1988, 2001, 2005, 2009), a theoretical thematic analysis was conducted to analyze the open-ended interview responses of 45 Hispanic adolescents. Part of a larger mixed-methods research study, the findings of the present qualitative thematic analysis corroborates earlier quantitative results. Seven hypotheses were derived from Theorems 1, 3, and 5 in Kim's theory that identify positive interrelationships among four of the theoretical constructs: host communication competence, host interpersonal communication, psychological health, and functional fitness. This analysis presents the individual lived experiences of the youth interviewed, finding further support for the theoretically-based expectation that English language ability and contact with non-Hispanic Americans play an important role in the psychological and sociocultural adjustment of Hispanic youth to the larger U.S. American cultural mainstream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on Chinese online cross-cultural fandom of Western media and celebrities. By presenting a critical analysis of Chinese fans' lesbian reading activities in this type of fandom, I exemplify cross-cultural fandom's great potentials in expressing oppressed sexual desires and marginalized cultural interests. Based upon Fiske's concept of popular cultural capital, I argue that, although cross-cultural fandom provides Chinese fans whose identities, desires, and interests are constantly marginalized in mainstream society with viable online venues to voice alternative expressions, fans' cultural involvements in virtual environment are still deeply interwoven with Chinese official culture, social norms, and dominant ideologies in reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines theories associated with face and interpersonal conflict processes of the Japanese. The study discusses several critical factors including relational closeness, social status, and interpersonal categorical differences. The importance of cross-cultural studies is highlighted.

Our study examined the proposition that conceptions of marriage and marital roles differ culturally, but that there are also cross-cultural similarities associated with communication expectations with marriage partners. Extending previous mate preference research, 302 young adults from the US, China, South Korea, Japan, and India responded to a series of open-ended questions about marriage and marital roles. Analytic induction methods were used to create categories across six topics (good wife/bad wife, good husband/bad husband, good marriage/bad marriage). US adults expected that a wife be loving and not untrustworthy, a husband not be selfish, unfaithful or hurtful; a good marriage characterized by giving and a bad marriage by untrustworthiness and poor communication. In Asian cultures young adults expected that a good husband and wife would provide for the family, a bad husband was considered irresponsible, and good marriages marked by mutual respect. As expected, Asian groups were more likely to desire a family focus across marital roles and marriage conceptions than US young adults. Also as hypothesized, basic communication characteristics were more important than attractiveness/ability characteristics between men and women and across cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the applicability to three different cultures of a model using two forms of self-construal and their consequences for depression, investigating the following questions: Is depression attributable to independent or interdependent self-construal? Do parallel paths to depression originate from them? Do the respective mediators, comparative self-criticism, internalized self-criticism, and taking criticism personally, function differently? The self-construal scales (Leung & Kim, 1997), the Level Of Self-Criticism Scale (Thompson & Zuroff, 2004), the Bothered by Criticism Scale (Fitzpatrick, 1996), and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977) were administered to mainland US, Hawaiian, and Japanese college students. The mainland US context stresses independence and comparative self-criticism, or personal face; the Japanese context, collective and internalized self-criticism, or public face; and the Hawaiian context, intermediate levels of comparative and internalized self-criticism. These differences could cause differences in many self-related psychological processes/constructs, and communication patterns, including paths to depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our trans-cultural empirical study deals with the question, if social services on the Internet are to be considered as „third places", where young people find an unrestricted space for self-expression and reflection aside from formal environments (e.g. university) and parental control. Therefore group discussions, qualitative interviews (n=25) and an online survey (n= 757) were conducted in Thailand and Austria. The results predominantly show differences within practices of use and personal expression in social networks, such as different emotional narrations, social bounds and diverse meanings of friendship partly deriving from cultural patterns and traditions. Facebook and Hi5 were neither simply Western style Internet platforms adopted by Thai users, nor transformed into "Thai-style", but mediate a weaker concept of relationships as constructive element of the transculturization of individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the cross-cultural comparison of the public rhetorics that construct HIV/AIDS in two online discussion forums from the United States and China. Social constructions of HIV/AIDS have previously been explored in specific countries and cultures; however, comparative studies have rarely been conducted, especially by applying comparative topoi analysis focusing on online discourses. Responding to these gaps in research, this study combines two underexplored dimensions -- comparative rhetorical analysis and online patient narratives -- to show how online communications and topoi identified in discussion forum posts reveal and construct the meaning of HIV/AIDS in the public sphere for people living in the two countries with different political, social, and cultural backgrounds. Two HIV/AIDS forums were selected from the U.S. and China by three criteria including openness to public access, forum function, and statistics of members and total posts. Through identifying and comparing the predominant themes in the two forums, 5 major similar boards from each forum, and 10 boards in total were selected. From there, a topoi analysis on 100 most-responded posts (10 posts from each of the 10 boards) selected from the two forums demonstrates how specific reasoning traditions shape the national and cultural mindset for constructing HIV/AIDS in certain ways. The findings suggest two different sets of rhetorical construction surrounding AIDS experience. While Chinese participants view contracting AIDS as fate, family betrayal and social death, the U.S. participants do not share this intense concern with family responsibility or moral criticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Femininity and beauty ideals are historically and culturally constructed. The current study examines the role of advertising in cultivating and accentuating cultural ideals of skin beauty. A content analysis was conducted on skin beauty advertisements (SBAs) in women's magazines (local editions Cosmopolitan and Vogue) from China and the United States. The findings provide evidence for the "white or tan" dichotomy in skin beauty ideals between contemporary Eastern and Western cultures as how they are reflected and reproduced in SBAs, although the "tan ideal" in the US was not as apparent as the "white ideal" in China. The study also sheds light on the divergence and similarity in global advertising strategies (level of localization and standardization in execution elements) within the two markets. Implications for the globalization of beauty ideals and marketing practices are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have studied what children find to be funny when watching television through 10 qualitative and quantitative studies conducted with over 2000 children from 19 countries (e.g. China, Egypt, Nigeria, Latin American countries). We sought to gain access to what children laugh about on TV. The variety of methods applied include - different types of interviews, group discussions, observations, questionnaires, and an innovative method called the Fun-O-Meter that allows children to rate TV programs moment by moment. This critical overview will discuss what is measured with the different methodical approaches. Is it possible to research what is funny in TV for children at all? Different methods lead to interesting perspectives on humor communication, but each one is limited. Some are helpful especially for intercultural comparison; others seem to be vulnerable of producing artifacts or just stressing stereotypes. The issue is even more complicated if the aim is to enhance quality humor in children's television by means of instructing producers from all over the world. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale studies often yield data that speak to important ancillary issues too. For example, consider a cross-cultural comparison of empathy, using data drawn from the humor study reported in this symposium. The humor study measured empathy to examine the role it might play in children's reactions to humor (e.g., slapstick). However, these data also provided insight into the development of empathy itself. Prior studies on empathy had not identified the ages at which gender differences emerge, and most were limited to one culture. Participants were 485 7- to 11-year-olds from the USA, Northern Ireland, The Republic of Ireland, Israel (including Jewish and Arab children), Germany, and South Africa. Participants completed an Empathy Scale, in which they rated descriptive statements as "not like me," "sort of like me," or "really like me." As expected, girls showed higher levels of empathy than boys overall (p < .001). In addition, a striking similarity appeared across cultures: Gender differences emerged around age 10 in all cultures except South Africa (p < .01). This age is consistent with the emergence of other gender differences in the USA (e.g., self-esteem, performance in math and science). Results are discussed in relation to the development of gender roles in preadolescence across cultures. We also use this example to illustrate the value of mining ancillary data from existing studies to explore other important phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay interrogates mediated, and scholarly writing about, racial representation by theoretically incorporating the discourse of difference - as suggested by postcolonial and cultural studies scholars - into existent approaches to racial imagery. While existing literature recognizes problematic and discriminatory mediated racial imagery, few authors focus on deconstructing the relational hierarchies embedded in racial practices. This essay examines the pro-social model, pointing to its theoretical and empirical failure, as it continues to reproduce the inherited colonial discourse of difference. The politics of representation is offered as an alternative avenue for change, even while recognizing its long-term difficulty and challenges. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-cultural psychology literature demonstrates cultural variation in visual perception patterns and field information inclusion in East Asian and Western artworks. This study attempts to empirically investigate whether similar cultural variation exists in video images such as television commercials. We developed three measures of proportion of field information in video images and used them to analyze a sample of 74 Chinese and American advertisements from three major transnational corporations. The results suggest that cultural differences in analytical vs. holistic perception are indeed evidenced in the commercials created for Chinese and American television. Implications of the findings for the cinematic practice in visual production for audiences from different cultures are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa has long been portrayed by Western media as a darkand conflict-ridden continent. Such reports have traditionally been producedby white journalists in the field, writing for a distant audience 'back home'.In recent years, significant structural changes in the foreign news industry have seen the near-demise of foreign correspondents and the increasing useof locally hired journalists. This research explores the increasingly important role of local correspondents in the production of international news reports, and asks whether their presence may start to change howAfrica is depicted in the West. This investigation is framed by a cultural analysis of the Reuters news room in Nairobi during the post-election crisis of 2007-2008. This news room provides a microcosm of the media industry, in which Westernand local journalists disagreed and debated the role of the media in a crisis. This clash of values offers a spring board for exploring the potential ability oflocal national journalists to shape the news: do they have the power to challenge Western reporting modes, or are they simply reproducing the values of this system? This article concludes that the current situation issomewhere between the two: Westerners continue to dominate international reporting, but there are indications that a slow and sometime suncom for table synthesis is beginning to emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated cultural impact on the perception of pre-sales assistance. An experiment was conducted in the U.S. (n = 293) and China (n = 216) where participants were exposed to a fictitious situation where a customer was requesting a pre-sales assistance from an employee without intending to purchase. Participants then attributed the employee's decision (help, not help) to three potential factors; the employee's analytic view of job description, similarity between the employee and the customer, and the employee's personality. In the main, findings were consistent with the predictions. Americans, compared to Chinese, displayed a greater tendency to explain the employee's decision with the extent to which he/she separates pre-sales assistance from actual purchase. Chinese were more likely to find it attributable to the extent of similarity between the employee and the customer than Americans. The predicted cultural difference was unapparent in attributing the employee's decision to his/her personality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social network sites (SNS) are credited with organizing protesters in Colombia and Guatemala, and mobilizing voters in the United States. With SNS increasingly used to mobilize collective action, this cross-cultural study surveyed activists in the United States and Latin America to examine how respondents perceived the usefulness and potential of SNS for activism. This quantitative and qualitative research found that respondents from both regions use SNS to mobilize supporters both online and offline. Whether respondents' activism occurred mostly offline, mostly online, or equally offline and online, they all participated equally in offline activism. Countering previous research doubting the ability of online activism to inspire offline actions, results show respondents believe that online activism translates into offline activism, and that SNS play an important role in contemporary activism. Still, U.S. activists were more likely than those in Latin America to use SNS for activism, or to say their activism occurred mostly online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examines the culpability of elderly people's innate moral foundations in two different countries (US, Germany) to see whether or not morality would influence decisions and subsequent enjoyment in an interactive media environment. Morality was assessed relying on Moral Foundations Theory (cf. Haidt & Joseph, 2007), which to this point had not been applied to cross-cultural research or interactive media. In an experimental design, participants (N = 78) were confronted with a computer simulation, where they could decide to violate or uphold morality. Data suggest that Germans and Americans differ in their moral foundations. For both, increased moral salience leads to a decrease in decisions to commit moral violations, while decreased moral salience leads to random decisions related to moral violations. Results for enjoyment were less clear. We conclude that elderly people at least partially transfer real-world moral foundations to virtual worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how prime-time television news portrayed attribution of responsibility for climate change policy issues in three major countries-the United States, China and Canada. By analyzing news reports on the 2009 climate change conference in Copenhagen, we distinguish conceptually and operationally between causal and treatment responsibility. Drawing on the notion that three conditions must be met for responsibility to emerge as a major issue, we develop specific framing measures to test the concept. The results suggest the news media in different countries portray who should be responsible for treating climate change differently. The prominence of morality, global justice and national efficacy frames differs across countries. Treatment responsibility is associated with other important frames embedded in news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]