Do Individual-level Value Preferences Impact Country-level Social Cohesion? An Exploratory Multi-level Analysis Based on ESS Data

This chapter links macro-level social cohesion to individual value preferences. It explores the predictive, concomitant, and consequential character of cohesion in relation to individual value preferences. Is it that prior cohesion predicts later value preferences? Or is it that certain earlier value preferences impact later social cohesion? Or is there, if at all, only contemporaneous covariation? To answer these research questions, ESS values data from rounds 1-4 (2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008 waves) were separately linked with country-level social cohesion scores from (1) a prior time period, (2) the same time period, and (3) a later time period [e.g., ESS values data from 2008 were linked with social cohesion scores from (1) 1996-2003, (2) 2004-2008, and (3) 2009- 2012]. Multilevel regression analyses show that conservation and self-enhancement values are negatively related to social cohesion, whereas self-transcendence and openness values exhibit a positive relationship. Evidence remains inconclusive with respect to the causal direction. If one wants to interpret small differences between the obtained coefficients, it seems that security values are rather a consequence than a concomitant or cause of cohesion whereas for self-direction we rather find a vice-versa relationship

Rendering Borders Obsolete: Cross-Cultural and Cultural Psychology as an Interdisciplinary, Multi-Method Endeavor

A peer-reviewed book based on presentations at the XIX Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, 2008, Bremen, Germany. (c) 2011, International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychologyhttps://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/iaccp_proceedings/1003/thumbnail.jp

Social change as a methodological problem: Exemplified by analyses of the development of individualism and collectivism in adolescents from East and from West Berlin between 1990 and 1992

Die Frage, wie man sozialen Wandel in sozial- und erziehungswissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen erforschen kann, ist besonders dann aus methodischer Sicht brisant, wenn erwartet werden kann, daß für das Phänomen des Wandels sowohl historisch-gesellschaftliche als auch intraindividuelle Aspekte eine Rolle spielen. Dies ist im Bereich des Wertewandels der Fall: Hier lassen sich sowohl Thesen zur Alterskorreliertheit von Wertewandel ("Je älter der Mensch, desto konservativer") als auch historisch-gesellschaftliche Thesen ("Wirtschaftliche Krisen führen in reichen Gesellschaften zu einem Rückzug auf konservative Sicherheitswerte") plausibel vorbringen. Alle Studien, die beide Aspekte erforschen wollen, müssen zwingend als Längsschnittstudien organisiert sein. Sollen beide Aspekte systematisch voneinander getrennt werden, sind mehrere zu verschiedenen Zeitpunkten begonnene Längsschnittstudien an altersheterogenen Stichproben notwendig. Der Beitrag diskutiert anhand von Daten aus der Ost-West-Jugendstudie Berlin Probleme, die sich dadurch ergeben, daß im allgemeinen nur Mittelwertsveränderungen betrachtet werden, diese aber häufig in gewisser Weise Artefakte sind, weil inhaltliche Bedeutungsveränderungen von Konstrukten unberücksichtigt bleiben. (DIPF/Orig.)The problem of researching social change in sociological and pedagogical studies is, from a methodological point of view, especially critical when it is to be expected that the phenomenon of this change is dependent on both socio-historical and intra-individual aspects. This is the case in the field of value change: here, theses on age-correlated value change (\u27the older a person, the more conservative he/she is\u27) as well as socio-historical theses (\u27economic crises lead, in wealthy societies, to a retreat to conservative safety values\u27) can be substantiated plausibly. All studies aimed at researching both aspects have necessarily to be organized as longitudinal studies. If both aspects are to be distinguished systematically, several longitudinal studies of age-heterogeneous samples begun at different points in time are required. On the basis of data taken from a study on adolescents from East and West Berlin, the authors discuss problems resulting from the fact that, in general, only changes in mean values are considered and these are often to some extent artefacts because content-related changes in the meaning of constructs are not taken into account. (DIPF/Orig.

Psychology, Psychotherapy and Religion: Research and Therapy Trends

An Abstract does not exist in the Book Review.An Abstract does not exist in the Book Review

Can Happiness change? An Interdisciplinary, Multi-Method Investigation of the Dynamics of Happiness

None of the major basic questions social sciences are concerned with can satisfyingly be answered from the perspective of one discipline alone. Each of them proposes theories and perspectives that make unique and important contributions. At the same time theoretical perspectives in general inevitably do have their blind spots. This fundamental insight was the reason for us to choose as the motto for the 19th IACCP congress held in Bremen in 2008 “Crossing borders – (Cross-) Cultural Psychology as an Interdisciplinary, Multi-Method Endeavor”. In this chapter we first want to illustrate this motto and our reasons for choosing it by reviewing recent research on one exemplary basic question of the social sciences: Can happiness change? We will cover findings across the social science disciplines in order to illustrate the benefits of interdisciplinary, multi-method investigations. This review will also reveal that the recent evidence violates traditional mono-disciplinary views on the respective question. After that, we will briefly introduce the contributions of this volume

Reviewing the Role of the Internet in Radicalization Processes

This review presents the existing research on the role of the Internet in radicalization processes. Using a systematic literature search strategy, our paper yields 88 studies on the role of the Internet in a) right-wing extremism and b) radical jihadism. Available studies display a predominant interest in the characteristics of radical websites and a remarkable absence of a user-centred perspective. They show that extremist groups make use of the Internet to spread right wing or jihadist ideologies, connect like-minded others in echo chambers and cloaked websites, and address particularly marginalized individuals of a society, with specific strategies for recruitment. Existing studies have thus far not sufficiently examined the users of available sites, nor have they studied the causal mechanisms that unfold at the intersection between the Internet and its users. The present review suggests avenues for future research, drawing on media and violence research and research on social identity and deindividuation effects in computer-mediated communication

Ist Rechtsextremismus "erblich"? Zur Ähnlichkeit rechtsextremer Verhaltenstendenzen von Studierenden und ihren Eltern

"Der Beitrag untersucht, unter welchen Bedingungen sich alltägliche rechtsextreme Verhaltenstendenzen von Studierenden und ihren Eltern ähneln. Hierzu wurden 147 Studierende, ihre Mütter und ihre Väter befragt. Anders als in vielen sozialwissenschaftlichen Studien geht es um selbstberichtetes rechtsextremes Alltagsverhalten (etwa die Nutzung herabwürdigender Sprache zur Bezeichnung von Migranten), nicht um Einstellungen. Die These wird geprüft, dass hohe intergenerationale Ähnlichkeit eine dem Rechtsextremismus förderliche ideologische Orientierung der Eltern als Frame voraussetzt: Nur in Familien mit einem hohen Level an Hierarchischem Selbstinteresse (HSI, Hagan) ist der Boden für intergenerationale Ähnlichkeit gelegt. Unterschiede in der Ähnlichkeit zwischen Müttern und Vätern bzw. Söhnen und Töchtern werden - im Einklang mit Befunden der Sozialisationsforschung zum Rechtsextremismus - ebenfalls angenommen: Transmissionseffekte in der Vater-Sohn-Dyade sollten besonders deutlich ausfallen. Beide Thesen werden bestätigt. Der Beitrag schließt mit dem Vorschlag, in die Prävention von Rechtsextremismus auch Elternarbeit, insbesondere die Arbeit mit Vätern und Söhnen einzubeziehen." (Autorenreferat)"The paper poses the question under which circumstances right-wing extremist behavioral tendencies of university students and their parents are likely to be similar. To answer this research question, 147 students, their mothers, and their fathers were surveyed. Unlike in most social research, the focus is on self-reported right-wing extremist everyday behavior (e.g., usage of derogatory language when talking about migrants), not attitudes. The hypothesis is tested that high intergenerational similarity in right-wing extremism requires the frame of a parental ideology that fosters such an orientation: the basis for intergenerational similarity is provided only in those families that have a high level of hierarchic self-interest (HSI, Hagan). In line with findings of socialization research on right-wing extremism, differences in similarities between mothers and fathers, on the one hand, and sons and daughters, on the other hand, are also assumed: Transmission effects should be particularly strong in the fatherson dyad. Both hypotheses are confirmed by the study. The paper concludes with the suggestion that prevention work in the field of right-wing extremism should include family workshops, including, in particular, fathers and sons." (author's abstract

Who I am Depends on Where I Am: The Impact of a Sojourn on Home and Host Country Identity

Acculturation research convincingly demonstrates that moving to a foreign country may not only cause adaptive changes in an individual’s home country identity but may as well initiate the identification with the receiving society. Nevertheless, the knowledge on how identity formation is influenced by the migration process itself and in how far it may differ for temporary migrants, such as sojourners, is still fragmented. Therefore, this paper aims at extending the existing research by applying a longitudinal mixed methods approach; 176 German high school students were surveyed before, during and after spending one year in the US. Analyses reveal that, in comparison to a control group, transition increased the exchange students’ German identity beyond the sojourn. Furthermore, US identity increased strongly during the exchange but dropped after returning home. Additionally, the results of 24 semi-structured interviews conducted one year after the exchange present insights into the meaning of the development and maintenance of those identities over a period of 2.5 years. The results contribute to the understanding of home and host country identity negotiations by investigating the impact of three triggering events and their qualitative meaning: the anticipation of the exchange, the actual transition to the US and the return to Germany