We conducted 3 studies to explore cultural differences in global versus local processing and their developmental trajectories. In Study 1 ("N" = 363), we found that Japanese college students were less globally oriented in their processing than American or Argentine participants. We replicated this effect in Study 2 ("N" =…

The purpose of this study was to examine similarities and differences in concepts of reflection among American and Japanese pre-service teachers majoring in early childhood education. Pre-service teachers completed a survey asking them to describe approaches and processes of reflection in their daily practice. The quantitative and qualitative data…

Two studies compared the development of beliefs about the stability and origins of physical and psychological traits in Japan and the United States in three age groups: 5-6-year-olds, 8-10-year-olds, and college students. The youngest children in both cultures were the most optimistic about negative traits changing in a positive direction over…

The authors adapted a measure of apathy previously used with Japanese college students to investigate relations between this construct and personality traits among U.S. college students. Males and females reported similar levels of apathy, and both were significantly lower than those obtained from Japanese college students. Analyses demonstrate…

A total of 467 mothers of firstborn 20-month-old children from 7 countries (103 Argentine, 61 Belgian, 39 Israeli, 78 Italian, 57 Japanese, 69 Korean, and 60 US American) completed the "Jackson Personality Inventory" (JPI), measures of parenting cognitions (self-perceptions and knowledge), and a social desirability scale. Our first…

Assessed U.S., English, Israeli, and Japanese teachers' views of the ideal temperaments of children. Teachers in the U.S. and England had the most similar views, whereas those in Israel were most divergent. Differences and similarities of teacher's views are discussed in terms of eight dimensions of temperament. (BB)

Western investigators assume that caregiver sensitivity takes similar forms and has similar outcomes in all cultures. However, cultural research suggests that sensitivity in the West has more to do with responsiveness to children's explicit expression of need, and that sensitivity in non-Western communities has more to do with anticipation of…

The purpose of this study was to examine a profile of academic self-concept for a sample of 293 students of a private girls-only high school in Japan as measured by the Dimensions of Self-Concept (DOSC)-Form S, Japanese version (W. Michael and others, 1984). The DOSC-Form S, Japanese version, yields five scores associated with the five underlying…