The influence of volunteer motivation on satisfaction, attitudes, and support for a mega-event

This study aimed to better understand how minor mental health problems (MMPs) are perceived by well-educated urban dwellers in China who are influenced by Western values Urban China is a rapidly changing society in which traditional Chinese culture and Western thought coexist As a result, the established processes of interdependent self-appraisal have been challenged and a sense of a bicultural self has developed among a growing proportion of the population The fieldwork for this study included interviews and observations The results are derived mainly from interviews with professional practitioners, students, and lay people from three urban sites One of the main findings was that respondents who referred to traditional and collectivistic Chinese values tended not to label MMPs as psychiatric disorders or illnesses but as challenges in daily life and relationships strain While the Western medical model of MMPs considers them a form of illness, they were not viewed in this way in traditional collectivistic China in the past, even among educated urban dwellers However, the urban and educated Chinese who have developed a stronger sense of a bicultural self are now more likely to perceive and deal with MMPs from a Western viewpoint

Collectivism, individualism, and pragmatism in China: implications for perceptions of mental health.

Bickhard (2004) has made the following comments on the development of science:
 Every science passes through a phase in which it considered its basic subject matter to be some sort of substance or structure. Fire was identified with phlogiston; heat with caloric; and life with vital fluid. Every science has passed beyond that phase, recognizing its subject matter as being some sort of process: combustion in the case of fire; random thermal motion in case of heat; and certain kinds of far from thermodynamic equilibrium in the case of life. (p. 122) In the case of cross-cultural and cultural psychology, decades of research have revealed many substantive differences among cultures (see Chiu & Hong, 2006, 2007; Lehman, Chiu, & Schaller, 2004). The field is now ready to transition into a new phase “that empirically establishes linkages between the active cultural ingredients hypothesized to cause between-country differences and the observed differences themselves” (Matsumoto & Yoo, 2006, p. 234).

Cultural Processes: An Overview

Shifting Selves: Home beyond the House - A Study of Ageing, Housing and Wellbeing of Older Chinese Migrants to New Zealand

The Beijing Olympic Games, aspiring towards ‘One World, One Dream’, were intended to elicit feelings of international unity. As such, once reminded of the Beijing Games, people should perceive fewer differences between cultures. Alternatively, given its competitive nature, the Beijing Games may lead people to contrast cultures and see heightened intergroup differences. Findings supported the latter process. After being primed with the Beijing Olympic icon, Chinese and American participants high in nationalism and patriotism perceived greater differences between Chinese and American cultures, compared to those low in nationalism and patriotism. Among Chinese participants who believe society is malleable, exposure to the icon increased perceived cultural differences, compared with those unexposed to the icon. Chinese participants who believe society is fixed saw similarly high levels of differentiation between the cultures, whether or not they were exposed to the icon. Implications for Sino-American relations and globalization are discussed.

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/14653/Rosner_Jennifer.pdf?sequence=2

One World, Just a Dream? Effects of the Beijing Olympic icon on perceived differences between Eastern and Western culture

Indigenous theories proposed that the self boundary of Chinese has permeability. The present study examines the moderating effect of the boundary-permeated self on Beijing residents' support and participation in the Beijing Olympic Games (BOG). In a survey after BOG, data about the boundary-permeated self, patriotism, BOG focus, and BOG participation were collected. The results indicate that the boundary-permeated self moderated the relationship between patriotism and participation in BOG. For respondents with a high permeability of the self boundary, their national focus and participation became more positive as their patriotism increased; for respondents with low permeability, their participation was high regardless of their patriotism level.

Wuqing Chen

Papers

Effects of boundary‐permeated self and patriotism on social participation in the Beijing Olympic Games