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Moral foundations theory provides a framework for understanding the traditional liberal–conservative dichotomy in political factions. Typically, factions on the liberal side are more concerned with individualizing foundations—including care/harm and fairness/cheating—for the protection of individual rights and welfare whereas factions on the conservative side are concerned with both individualizing and binding foundations—including loyalty/betrayal, authority/subversion, and sanctity/degradation—for the maintenance of existing social ethics. Our research extended this framework to the analysis of Taiwanese political factions, which are not distributed conspicuously along the liberal–conservative line but instead on whether Taiwan should become a legally independent state or unify with the People's Republic of China (Mainland China). Our results indicate that despite the scarce use of the terms liberal or left and conservative or right in common communication, a liberal–conservative dimension underlies the Taiwanese political spectrum. Specifically, supporters of Taiwan independence exhibit liberal‐like moral concerns whereas supporters of China unification and the status quo demonstrate conservative‐like moral concerns. Moreover, indirect effects exist through moral foundations from political factions to stances on social issues; this is especially prevalent in the case of Taiwan independence camp's clear support for the legalization of same‐sex marriage, a stance resulting from anti‐authoritarian moral and political characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The popularization of higher education has developed into a worldwide trend of ranking universities. In light of the lack of research from the student perspective and the non-individualism of East Asian society, the goal of the present study was to integrate social identity theory and characteristics of Chinese achievement goals in order to determine the relationships between university rankings and students' university identity, major identity, self-identity, and learning satisfaction ( LS). The participants included 1052 undergraduates (49.4% male, 50.6% female) from 13 universities in Taiwan. A questionnaire was conducted. The results of hierarchical regression analyses show that university ranking positively correlates with students' university identity, major identity, and self-identity but negatively correlates with LS due to the effect of university identity acting as a suppressor. The results of structural equation modelling show that: (1) students' major identity and self-identity completely mediate the effect of university identity on LS; and (2) university ranking has a significantly negative effect on LS after adding multiple identities as the suppressor and mediators. Furthermore, as students progress further into their studies, both their university identity and major identity gradually decline, while their self-identity remains constant. Theoretical and practical implications for higher education are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates intergroup forgiveness and its antecedents in the context of post World War II in Asia and Europe. An integrative social psychological and social representation of history and identity theoretical framework was used in which it is proposed that the societal context influences intergroup forgiveness of formerly victimized societies. Data was collected from 1197 university students from mainland China, Taiwan, the Philippines, France, Russia and Poland. ANOVAs show significant differences across societies. Mainland Chinese participants were less forgiving than all other participants. We examined two new variables contributing to explain variations in intergroup forgiveness: historical closure and perceived costs of granting forgiveness. Multiple hierarchical regressions and cross-level operator analyses showed that historical and political contexts are significant contributors in the intergroup forgiveness process. The importance of accounting for and the necessity to extend the scope of research regarding the political and historical context in which formerly victimized societies are embedded is highlighted. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Using a dyadic game theory paradigm, three experiments on the social dilemma of trust were conducted over the Internet in real time, involving real money. It was predicted and found that in-group favouritism in trusting behaviour was contingent on historical relationships between societies. In the China-Japan experiment, mainland Chinese but not Japanese trusted and made fair allocations to in-group members more than out-group members, and out-group trust was best predicted by positive stereotypes of the out-group for Chinese and identity for Japanese. In the China-Taiwan experiment, Taiwanese but not Mainland Chinese trusted in-group members more than out-group members, and in-group trust for Taiwanese was best predicted by perceptions of current realistic threats. In the Taiwan-Japan experiment, there were slight in-group favouring tendencies in trust, and positive stereotypes of the out-group were the best predictors of out-group trust. Japanese were unique in not displaying in-group favouring behaviour at all, whereas both Chinese and Taiwanese were context specific in their in-group favouritism. Stereotypes, social identities, perceptions of realistic threat, and historical anger made significant contributions to predicting trusting behaviour, but overall these survey measures only accounted for small and inconsistent amounts of variance across the three experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surveys in the USA, New Zealand, Taiwan, Japan, and China examined attitudes toward the Iraq War and the Cross-Straits Relationship between China and Taiwan. Factor analyses revealed a four-factor solution of justice concerns: (a) national mandate for military intervention, (b) international mandate against military action, (c) procedural justice, and (d) distributive justice issues. Americans and mainland Chinese were significantly different in an in-group favoring direction compared to other societies regarding justice concerns involving their nation. Taiwan, the low-powered society in the Cross-Straits Relationship, was like the uninvolved societies. Justice in international relations is filtered through in-group favoritism for powerful states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ageism is an increasing concern in ageing populations such as Asia and Europe. A prevalent assumption in psychology is that Eastern cultures may be less prone to ageism because of norms and values that honour and respect elders. Yet, evidence for this culture hypothesis is inconclusive. The current study examines this issue by comparing attitudes towards older people in an Eastern and Western samples of 184 young people from the UK and 249 from Taiwan. Attitudes to old age were measured both as meta-perceptions (the perceived normative context) and personal attitudes in regard to the cognitive, affective and behavioural components of ageism. Consistent with the culture hypothesis, meta-perceptions about competence and admiration were more positive in Taiwan than in the UK, yet other meta-perceptions were more negative pointing to the existence of old age subtypes. Personal attitudes about older people in regard to the affective and behavioural, but not the cognitive component, were more negative in Taiwan than in the UK. Thus, cultural differences in ageism are more nuanced than suggested by previous research. The importance of distinguishing between the normative context and personal attitudes as well as the different components of ageism is highlighted by the present findings., (© 2016 The Authors. International Journal of Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Union of Psychological Science.)