Social support and the wealthy porcupine: Pain, social support, money, and culture

Social support and social integration have been major topics of research for social scientists for many decades (e.g., Durkheim, 1897/1997). Social support is generally portrayed as a “good thing,” with numerous researchers providing evidence of both the buffering and direct impacts of support on mental and physiological well-being (e.g., Kraus, Liang, & Gu, 1998; Litwin, 2001) and the ability of support to be a buffer against physical and psychological pain (e.g., Lpez-Martnez, Esteve-Zarazaga & Ramrez-Maestre, 2008). In their target article, Zhou and Gao (this issue) also suggest that social support is an important buffer against pain but argue for a further buffer against both physical and social pain—money—that may be important if social support fails. They cite a number of ingenious experiments for the link between social support, money, and pain, claiming that money and support “complement each other in managing pain” (p. 127), continuing in a tradition of research examining the compensatory dynamics of money and interpersonal support (e.g., Foa & Foa, 1974). In doing so, they raise a number of important questions about pain management, social exclusion, social support, and material resources. In my commentary I focus in particular on their concerns with social support and materialism, aiming to address three aspects of their model: the relationship between social support and money; the connections between money, materialism, and well-being; and the role of culture in moderating the relationship between social support and money. To do this I draw on some of my own work in changing cultures and conduct brief analyses of data from the latest large-scale European Social Survey (ESS). I conclude by suggesting some ideas for further research that might help further elaborate the intriguing model proposed by Zhou and Gao

Relationships beliefs and relationship quality across cultures: Country as a moderator of dysfunctional beliefs and relationship quality in three former Communist societies

Research on the correlation between relationship beliefs and quality has rarely considered the impact of culture. In this study, 206 manual workers, students and entrepreneurs from Georgia, Hungary and Russia completed a modified Relationships Belief Inventory (Eidelson & Epstein, 1982) and the Abbreviated Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Sharpley & Rogers, 1984). Results indicated a significant pan-cultural correlation between dysfunctional beliefs and relationship quality but a moderating effect for country, with dysfunctional beliefs in Hungary explaining more than four times of the variance in relationship quality than in the other countries. Findings are interpreted in the light of major value and ecological differences between the three countries

03-02 "Macroeconomics for the Twenty-First Century"

Macroeconomic theory has not yet come to grips with major issues of the twenty- first century. These include environmental pressures, demographic changes, the size, structure, and power of multinational corporations, and growing economic inequality. Existing macroeconomic theory also does not deal adequately with normative issues, focuses excessively on market solutions, assumes that a single macroeconomic theory can apply to all situations, and ignores issues concerning the scale of economic activity and the speed of change.

03-07 "Five Kinds of Capital: Useful Concepts for Sustainable Development"

The concept of capital has a number of different meanings. It is useful to differentiate between five kinds of capital: financial, natural, produced, human, and social. All are stocks that have the capacity to produce flows of economically desirable outputs. The maintenance of all five kinds of capital is essential for the sustainability of economic development.

Development connections: The hedgerow model

This is chapter 3 of the book "Rethinking Sustainability: Power, Knowledge and Institutions" by Jonathan M. Harris (ed). Effective development usually must involve both the elite and the most needy within any particular society—these two groups being seen not as polar types but as the opposite ends of a spectrum that runs continuously between them. The form of that involvement must include connections that allow for the free exchange of information between the two ends of the spectrum. These connections must also facilitate flows of power and physical resources. It is sometimes assumed that these must be asymmetrical flows, going primarily from those who have the greatest access to power and other resources, to those who have least access. However, within this overall context, under certain circumstances there is development value in flows that are equalized by the market—where the poor either pay for what they get, or sell what they make at a market price. All of these flows have the best chance of occurring when the connections are made via intermediaries—social entities who generally have less access to resources than the elite, but more than the most needy.economic development; elites; pro-poor development

Loneliness and life satisfaction amongst three cultural groups

Abstract Studies into loneliness and life satisfaction have rarely assessed the role of culture in moderating the relationship between these variables. The present study examined the relationship between loneliness and life satisfaction using data from three nonstudent samples collected from Italian, Anglo-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian populations. A total of 206 respondents completed the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, Peplau, & Cutrona, 1980) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). Two contrasting hypotheses were compared: one, a “postmodern” hypothesis, predicting that the relationship between life satisfaction and loneliness would be stronger in our individualist sample of Anglo-Canadians, and a second, “relational” hypothesis predicting this association to be strongest in our collectivist, Chinese-Canadian sample. Our findings demonstrated that culture has a small but significant impact on the relationship between loneliness and life satisfaction, and, consistent with the relational hypothesis, the relationship between the two concepts was strongest among our Chinese-Canadian respondents and weakest among our Anglo-Canadian participants This finding is discussed in the context of the strong expectations of social cohesion in collectivist societies

Terror threat perception and its consequences in contemporary Britain

The terrorist attacks of 9/11, and subsequent terrorist acts around the world, have alerted social psychologists to the need to examine the antecedents and consequences of terrorist threat perception. In these two studies we examined the predictive power of demographic factors (age, sex, location), individual values and normative influences on threat perception and the consequences of this perception for behavioural change and close relationships. In study 1 (N = 100) gender, benevolence values and normative influences were all correlates of threat perception, whilst sense of personal threat was correlated with increased contact with friends and family. In study 2 (N = 240) age, sex, location, and the values of Openness to Change and Hedonism, all predicted threat perception, which in turn predicted behavioural change and relationship contact. Such findings point to the important role social psychologists should play in understanding responses to these new terrorist threats

Saran film is fire-retardant in oxygen atmosphere

Saran was tested for flammability as a wrapping on TFE-insulated electrical wire bundles in oxygen gas at pressures of 7.5 psia and 14.7 psia. It was found to be fire retardant or self-extinguishing in most instances