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Donal Carbaugh
My most recent project is a cross-cultural analysis of specific communication practices (i.e., acts, events, styles) as they are used by Native Americans (primarily
Blackfeet), Finns, Russians when interacting with ``middle Americans."
Sam Gaertner
My work has focused on the subtle nature of intergroup attitudes,
specifically inter-racial attitudes. For pragmatic and theoretical reasons we often investigated the role of racial attitudes in pro-social or helping behavior contexts. This work (summarized in the
chapter by Gaertner & Dovidio, The Aversive Form of Racism, 1986) indicates that racist attitudes are often expressed in subtle, indirect and rationalizable ways among people who hold egalitarian
values and regard themselves as unprejudiced and discriminatory. While we recognize that not all racists are so well-intentioned, the nature of the racist sentiment among these
"Well-intentioned" seems to implicate inevitable cognitive and motivational processes that are sensitive to another person's social categorization involving a "We-They" dichotomy.
The development of the Aversive Racism framework, that presents a pessimistic picture for ameliorating racist sentiment in our country, motivated my search for strategies which could effectively reduce
intergroup conflict and promote inter-racial acceptance without trying to persuade people that racism and discrimination are unfair or by reminding them that discrimination is illegal.Indeed,
well-intentioned, aversive racists already accept and support these arguments. Also, the findings regarding the effectiveness of school desegregation to promote generalized inter-racial acceptance, while
mixed, were generally disappointing. Unfortunately, the circumstances we know to be necessary for inter-racial contact to effectively change intergroup
attitudes could not easily be implemented within the usual desegregated school setting. Apparently, we need to develop strategies for increasing intergroup acceptance which can be implemented within the
often hostile circumstances in which they must operate. Furthermore, I began to suspect that the conclusion regarding the relative ineffectiveness of school desegregation to modify intergroup
attitudes was generally accompanied by a more covert corollary suggesting that: usually when groups are joined together the merger is generally smooth and effective, and that school desegregation is
the exception. Examination of the small but pertinent literature indicated, 1) mergers across various organizational contexts are notoriously ineffective, and 2) we do not know very much
about how to increase the smoothness and effectiveness of group mergers. The development of theory and the search for strategies which would contribute to effective group mergers in various contexts
(with the hope that they would have trans-situational properties) has become the focus my current and as far as I can project, future research interests.
My current work examines a model we
developed (i.e., Common Ingroup Identity Model) for reducing intergroup bias and conflict. This model, derived from the social categorization approach to intergroup behavior, asserts that intergroup
bias and conflict can be reduced by factors that transform members' cognitive representation of the memberships from two groups to one group.We propose that this change in members' perceptions of
group boundaries enables the cognitive and motivational processes that initially contributed to intergroup bias and conflict to be redirected toward establishing more harmonious intergroup relations (see
Gaertner, Mann, Dovidio, Murrell & Pomare, 1990; Gaertner, Rust, Dovidio, Anastasio & Bachman, 1993; Gaertner, Dovidio, & Bachman, 1996).
The primary aim of my future research is to
extend the work to assess the generalizability of the effects to the outgroup as a whole and the durability of the effects across time and situations. We plan to focus on the value of a "dual
identity" in which both original group and superordinate group identities are salient simultaneously. We will measure each of these components of the dual identity separately. The dual identity
is especially promising because the strength of the superordinate component can increase positive regard for outgroup members present, whereas the strength of the subgroup identity provides an
associative link to permit the benefits of contact to generalize to the outgroup as a whole. Thus generalization and durability will be maximized when the strength of the subgroup and superordinate
boundaries are strong. Also, we plan to explore the possibility that the development of a common ingroup identity can be a catalyst for personalizing processes and that when these strategies
are linked together they can lead to more enduring change than if they are implemented separately. The last major objective of the planned research is to extend the work further into natural
settings.
Uichol Kim
4 current projects.
1. Title: Adolescent Culture: Nationwide and cross-cultural analysis. This project examines the
relationship among psychological variables (attributional style, self efficancy, and achievement motivation), mediating variables (social support received from parents, friend and teachers, perceived
parental pressure for academic achievement, and perception of school environment and Korean society), and behavioral outcomes (academic achievement, health, life-satisfaction, delinquent
behavior). Data have been collected in Korea, nationwide, from primary, junior and senior high students. Comparative data will be collected from the United States, Japan, and Taiwan.
2. Title: Conception of self and relationship to collectivist and individualist cultures: Comparative analysis of Korean, Japanese, Chinese and American students and adults. This study,
using a TST design examines the self-concept in a relational context from an indigenous perspective. Data have been collected from Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the US (with both Caucasian and
Asian-Americans)
3.Title: Achievement, motivation, and achievment: Intergenerational and cross-cultural analysis. This study examines events that people perceive as their major
achievements and factors that led to the achievement. Using the indigenous methodology, data have been collected in Korea, Japan, Canada, and the US.
4. Title: Stress, appraisal,
and adaptational outcome: An indigeneous approach. This study examines, using the indigenous approach, the stimuli and events that Koreans consider to stressful, their apprisal, coping response,
social support received, and adaptational outcomes.
Dan Landis
Four current projects:
1. A study of cultural factors in work-group productivity. Sponsor: Office of Naval Research. We are focusing on such factors as individualism/collectivism and
horizontal/verticalism on the efficiency with which small groups complete a variety of tasks. One task is a networked display evaluation task which provides an objective measure of group productivity and
efficiency.
2. Continued development of the University Equal Opportunity Climate Survey. The UEOCS, which is an extention of the Military Equal Opportunity Climate Survey, is
intended for use in universities with mixed ethnic/racial student bodies and faculties. To date it has been used in two American institutions and two overseas (India, Australia). We are
currently examining the relationship of the UEOCS to such factors as assimilation/acculturation.
3. Cross-cultural analysis of sexual behavior and attitudes. In this project we
use the PLATO-B (Passionate Love, Attitudes, and Behavior) questionnaire, an extensive survey of college students' sexual activities and beliefs. Data have been gathered from various sites in
the US, in Denmark, England, Israel, and Canada. Colleagues are especially desired in collectivist societies.
4. Culture and hypergenderism. This project is looking at the
relationship between cultural factors such a face and the nature and expression of hypergenderism (i.e., hypermasculinity and hyperfemininity).
Mark Mendendall....
I am currently researching, from a theoretical/conceptual perspective, what the field can learn from concepts
from the field of nonlinear dynamics (chaos theory, complexity theory, complex adaptive systems) when applied to cross-cultural intercultural phenomena.
Frank Montalvo....
1. Updating and broadening the ``Mexican Americans Culture Simulator for Child Welfare Workers" (1981) for state agency counselors of Latino clients.
2. Designing an ethnographic form to help serve agencies assess the client's ethnic identity and the quality of life of his/her minority community. This survey instrument combines 20
ethnographic and demographic characteristics of the community used as social indicators for assessing quality of life (e.g., a group's assimilation potential), with 20 client variables used to assess
client sociocultural characteristics, ethnoracial appearance, language dominance, intermarriage and biculturalism.
3. Designing a survey made up of 20 statements collected from media
reflecting in a disguised form extreme but popular white views and perceptions of minority issues in the U.S. (e.g., affirmative action)..
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