Publications

The article presents the results of the validation of the Circumplex of personality metatraits questionnaire on the Russian sample (Strus, Cieciuch, Rowiński, 2014, Strus, Cieciuch, 2017). The new concept of the personality metatraits, which is the development of Big Five, is briefly described in the article.

According to the model, metatraits can be described within a circumplex that is organized by 2 orthogonal dimensions: "Alpha" and "Beta". Also, authors of this model, introduced to the model 2 other metatraits: "Gamma" and "Delta". The main advantage of the CPM model is that it provides foundations for wide-ranging theoretical and methodological integration.

The description of the validated questionnaire, the sample on which the validation was conducted and other techniques that were additionally used to assess the empirical validity of the questionnaire is provided. During the validation of the questionnaire, direct and reverse translations of the questionnaire items were made, cognitive interviews were conducted, and, in order to approbate, 1191 respondents were interviewed. When processing the data obtained in this sample, the reliability-consistency of the eight scales of the questionnaire was evaluated, multidimensional scaling was performed to confirm the circumplex structure and the order of the mutual arrangement of the personality metatraits. To assess empirical validity, additional techniques were used that allow us to evaluate a number of other psychological constructs which can be hypothetically related to certain personality metatraits. As a result, we managed to get a questionnaire that meets the necessary requirements for validity and reliability. The questionnaire and the keys to it are attached to this article.

The article describes the main results of the study investigating the predictors of the behavioral strategy choice among Russians in an imaginary conflict with a representative of the North Caucasus ethnic groups. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research includes the dual concern model, the refined theory of personal values ​​by S. Schwartz and the concept of intergroup anxiety by W. Stefan and C. Stefan. As the predictors of the behavioral strategy choice in a conflict, following personal values ​​were considered: Openness to change, Conservation, Self-Transcendence and Self-Enhancement. The role of intergroup anxiety was tested as a moderator affecting the link between values ​​and behavior in the conflict. Cultural identity and self-esteem were considered as control variables. The study involved 214 ethnic Russians living in Russia (73 men, 141 women, age M = 31.96, SD = 10.21). Respondents were involved in the study helping by "snowball" method. The following methods were used:  Organizational Conflict Inventory by M. Rahim in the modification of J. Oetzel, PVQ-R by S. Schwartz, the intercultural communication apprehension scale by J. Neulep and D. McKrosky, and the certain scales from the MIRIPS questionnaire. The results of the path analysis showed that the choice of the competing is positively related to the values ​​of Self-Enhancement and is negative with the values ​​of Self-Transcendence. The choice of collaborating strategy has a positive relation with the values ​​of Self-Transcendence and Openness to change. The choice of an avoiding strategy is positively related to the values ​​of Conservation and intergroup anxiety. The choice of the accommodating did not reveal a significant influence of values but this strategy is in positive connection with cultural identity and in a negative connection with self-esteem. Intergroup anxiety is a moderator of the relationship between the value of Openness to change and the collaborating strategy. The obtained results can be used in the development of recommendations in the field of intercultural communication and in the settlement of intercultural conflicts.

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Cultures are never static. Cultures change and evolve in response to a number of factors and in a bidirectional way they also change individuals even as individuals change cultures as a consequence of globalization, rapid urbanization and industrialization in many countries and settings. Some of the cultural characteristics and inherent traits in individuals are more pronetochangesthanothers.Theimpactofoneculture on another depends upon a number of factors, such as the purpose of such contact degree and the duration of this contact. If one culture invades another for political and economic reasons, the outcome is likely to be different and may lead to deculturation than if the contact is through media at a distance where changes may be slow rather than sudden. Berry, in this chapter, defines acculturation as a process of cultural and psychological change in cultural groups, families and individuals following intercultural contact. Cultural identity refers to the ways in which individuals establish and maintain connections with, and a sense of belonging to, various groups. Embedded within cultural identity are microidentities of the individual such as gender, religion, sexual orientation etc. some of which can be hidden and others are obvious. The processes and outcomes of these processes are highly variable, with large group and individual differences. This chapter focuses on describingsomeoftheseprocesses,thestrategiespeople use to deal with them, and the adaptations that result. Three questions are raised: how do individuals and groups seek to acculturate? How well do they succeed? Are there any relationships between how they go about acculturation and their psychological and sociocultural success? Berry notes that the commonest strategy is integration (defined as preferring to maintain one’s cultural heritage while seeking to participate in the life of the larger society), rather than assimilation, separation or marginalization which is likely to be most adaptive.  

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Employing a person-oriented approach to acculturation expectations held by Russian majority group members, we investigated the presence of groups of profiles and relationships between acculturation expectation profiles and intergroup attitudes. Applying latent profile analysis, we found three easy-to-interpret acculturation expectation profiles: biculturalism expectations, alternate-biculturalism expectations (with public—private domain differences in preference), and assimilation expectations. The subsequent comparative analysis showed that these profiles mainly differed in the extent of the desirability of maintenance of heritage culture, and adoption of the mainstream culture by immigrants only in private domains of life. The biculturalism expectation profile contained individuals who support the idea of a multicultural society. The alternate-biculturalism expectation profile contained individuals with slightly less emphasis on adoption of mainstream acculturation for immigrants, a distinction between preferences in the public and private domains of life, more focus on public domains, and less right-wing authoritarianism. The assimilation expectation profile contained individuals with a higher dangerous worldview and endorsement of discrimination, and lower support of a multicultural ideology, willingness to engage in intergroup contact, and desire of maintenance of heritage acculturation for immigrants. Our study demonstrated the value of a person-oriented approach in a population where subgroups differ in the domain dependence of their acculturation expectations.

This paper presents a cross-cultural study on the mediating role of implicit theories of innovativeness in the relationship between basic values and specific attitudes towards innovation. Modernized samples (399 Russians from Moscow and Novokuznetsk) and more traditional samples (194 Chechens and Ingushs from North Caucasus and 200 Tuvins from the Tuva Republic) within the Russian Federation answered Schwartz Value Survey (SVS) (Schwartz, 1992), measures of attitudes towards innovation (Lebedeva, Tatarko, 2009), and an Adjective Check List (Runco et al., 1993) adapted for measuring implicit theories of innovativeness in the current samples. Main findings include (1) a split in individual and social aspects of implicit theories of innovativeness, (2) different mediation of the effects of Openness to Change and Conservation values, and (3) differences in mediation models between the two samples. Implications of these findings for cross-cultural studies on innovativeness are discussed.

Cross-cultural differences in Social Desirability (SD) could be partly due to the nonequivalence of constructs, items, or other challenges of cross-cultural research. We tested to what extent a Mexican, indigenous scale of SD, capturing both positive and negative features of SD, would be useful in other countries. Data were collected in convenience samples in eight countries (Argentina, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Lebanon, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Spain) in order to test the psychometric accuracy and invariance of the factor structure. Values of Tucker’s factor congruence coefficients (gauging invariance) and tests of the similarity of the cross-country similarity of Cronbach’s alpha (gauging internal consistency) revealed that SD, as measured by this indigenous list, is stable and comparable across cultures. The results are interpreted in a conceptual framework in which SD is viewed as a culturally embedded communication style that people use to integrate successfully into their groups

Objective: The debate of whether personality traits are universal or culture-specific has been  informed by psycholexical (or lexical) studies conducted in tens of languages and cultures. We  contribute to this debate through a series of studies in which we investigated personality  descriptors in Modern Standard Arabic, the variety of Arabic that is presumably common to  about 26 countries and native to more than 200 million people. Method: We identified an  appropriate source of personality descriptors, extracted them, and systematically reduced them to  167 personality traits that are common, are not redundant with each other, and are familiar and  commonly understood in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the West Bank (Palestinian Territories).  Results: We then analyzed self- and peer-ratings (N = 806) and identified a 6-factor solution  comprising Morality (I), Conscientiousness (II), Positive Emotionality (III), Dominance (IV),  Agreeableness/Righteousness (V), and Emotional Stability (VI) without replicating an Openness  factor. Conclusions: The factors were narrower or broader variants of factors found in the Big  Five and HEXACO models. Conceptual and methodological consideration may have impacted  the factor structure.

This article examines relationships between social identities and acculturation strategies of Russians (the ethnic minority) in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania (RNO-A). The sample included 109 grandparent–parent–adolescent triads from ethnically Russian families (N = 327). We assessed acculturation strategies, ethnic and national identities (identification with the Russian Federation), republican identity (with the RNO-A), regional identity (with North Caucasus), and religious identity. EFA combined five identities in two factors, labeled Russian ethnocultural identity (comprising ethnic, national, and religious identities) and North-Caucasian regional identity (comprising identities involving the republic and region). The means of the identity factors remained remarkably stable across generations, with a somewhat stronger Russian ethnocultural identity. A structural equation model revealed that Russian ethnocultural identity was a negative predictor of assimilation (the least preferred acculturation strategy), whereas North-Caucasian regional identity was a positive predictor of integration (the most preferred strategy) in all generations. We concluded that Russian ethnocultural identity is important for maintaining the heritage culture whereas North-Caucasian regional identity promotes participation of ethnic Russians in the multicultural North-Ossetian society.

Self-continuity—the sense that one’s past, present, and future are meaningfully connected—is considered a defining feature of personal identity. However, bases of self-continuity may depend on cultural beliefs about personhood. In multilevel analyses of data from 7,287 adults from 55 cultural groups in 33 nations, we tested a new tripartite theoretical model of bases of self-continuity. As expected, perceptions of stability, sense of narrative, and associative links to one’s past each contributed to predicting the extent to which people derived a sense of self-continuity from different aspects of their identities. Ways of constructing self-continuity were moderated by cultural and individual differences in mutable (vs. immutable) personhood beliefs—the belief that human attributes are malleable. Individuals with lower mutability beliefs based self-continuity more on stability; members of cultures where mutability beliefs were higher based self-continuity more on narrative. Bases of self-continuity were also moderated by cultural variation in contextualized (vs. decontextualized) personhood beliefs, indicating a link to cultural individualism-collectivism. Our results illustrate the cultural flexibility of the motive for self-continuity. 

Equivalence studies are coming of age. Thirty years ago there were few conceptual models and statistical techniques to address sources of systematic measurement error in cross-cultural studies (for early examples, see Clearly & Hilton, 1968; Lord, 1977, 1980; Poortinga, 1971). This picture has changed; in the last decades conceptual models and statistical techniques have been developed and refined. Many empirical examples have been published. There is a growing awareness of the importance in the field for the advancement of cross-cultural theorizing. An increasing number of journals require authors who submit manuscripts of cross-cultural studies to present evidence supporting the equivalence of the study measures. Yet, the burgeoning of the field has not led to a convergence in conceptualizations, methods, and analyses. For example, educational testing focuses on the analysis of items as sources of problems of crosscultural comparisons, often using item response theory (e.g., Emenogu & Childs, 2005). In personality psychology, exploratory factor analysis is commonly applied as a tool to examine the similarity of factors underlying a questionnaire (e.g., McCrae, 2002). In survey research and marketing, structural equation modeling (SEM) is most frequently employed (e.g., Steenkamp & Baumgartner, 1998). From a theoretical perspective, these models are related; for example, the relationship of item response theory and confirmatory factor analysis (as derived from a general latent variable model) has been described by Brown (2006). However, from a practical perspective, the models can be seen as relatively independent paradigms; there are no recent studies in which various bias models are compared (an example of an older study in which procedures are compared that are no longer used has been described by Shepard, Camilli, & Averill, 1981). In addition to the diversity in mathematical developments, conceptual frameworks for dealing with cross-cultural studies have been developed in cross-cultural psychology, which, again, have a slightly different focus. It is fair to say that the field of equivalence is still expanding in both conceptual and statistical directions and that rapprochement of the approaches and best practices that are broadly accepted across various fields are not just around the corner. The present chapter relates the conceptual framework about measurement problems that is developed in cross-cultural psychology (with input from various other sciences studying cultures and cultural differences) to statistical developments and current practices in SEM vis-à-vis multigroup testing. More specifically, I address the question of the strengths and weaknesses of SEM from a conceptual bias and equivalence framework. There are few publications in which more conceptually based approaches to bias that are mainly derived from substantive studies are linked to more statistically based approaches such as developed in SEM. This chapter adds to the literature by linking two research traditions that have worked largely independently in the past, despite the overlap in bias issues addressed in both traditions. The chapter deals with the question to what extent the study of equivalence, as implemented in SEM, can address all the relevant measurement issues of cross-cultural studies. The first part of the chapter describes a theoretical framework of bias and equivalence. The second part describes various procedures and examples to identify bias and address equivalence. The third part discusses the identification of all the bias types distinguished using SEM. The fourth part presents a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) of SEM in dealing with bias sources in cross-cultural studies. Conclusions are drawn in the final part.

This book offers a comparative analysis of value and identity changes in several post-Communist countries. In light of the tremendous economic, social and political changes in former communist states, the authors compare the values, attitudes and identities of different generations and cultural groups. Based on extensive empirical data, using quantitative and qualitative methods to study complex social identities, this book examines how intergenerational value and identity changes are linked to socio-economic and political development. Topics include the rise of nationalist sentiments, identity formation of ethnic and religious groups and minorities, youth identity formation and intergenerational value conflicts

This book presents reports of a set of research conducted in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, the Russian Federation, and Uzbekistan after the collapse of USSR and so-called socialist bloc in Eastern Europe. Until now, there has been relatively little empirical research devoted to the changing values and identities across countries and generations in this region. This book has sought to make a valuable contribution to this understudied field.

We set out to validate the structure of the Dual Process Model of Workplace Diversity in a South African work setting contrasting black and white African employees. The study participants were a convenience sample of 296 public service employees (black = 73.3%, female = 59%, 90.7% between the age 18 and 40 years; white = 25.7%, female = 58%, 67.1% between the age of 18 and 40 years). They completed measures of acculturation antecedents (positive and negative conditions), mediators (integration as positive strategy to deal with diversity and separation as negative strategy), and outcomes (work success and ill-health). Using multi-group path analysis, we found race-based invariance of the Dual Process Model, with black employees self-reporting diversity relations in a more favourable way compared to white employees. We conclude that the Dual Process Model is supported for research use in the South African workplaces.

Deep-sea mining refers to the retrieval of minerals from manganese nodules, ferromanganese crusts and seafloor massive sulfide deposits located in the deep-sea, which contain a variety of metals that serve as crucial raw materials in the production of construction material, electronic devices and renewable energy technologies. With the intent of decreasing dependence on foreign imports, supporting the economy and potentially even overcoming environmental problems related to conventional terrestrial mining, a number of public and private institutions throughout Europe have re-discovered their interest in exploring the prospects of deep-sea mining, after it had been deemed economically and technically unfeasible in the early 1980s. To date, a number of national and international research projects aim at anticipating economic, environmental, social and legal implications of potential commercial deep-sea mining operations, which is challenging due to the complexity of direct impacts and so-called spill-over effects. We present a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge in the aforementioned fields and identify knowledge gaps that should urgently be addressed to ensure that the world at large benefits from safe, efficient and environmentally-sound mining procedures. Moreover, we highlight the need for transdisciplinary research and international cooperation. Furthermore, we argue that the European Union, which enjoys considerable expertise in germane disciplines, should assume a leading role in the development of sustainable deep-sea mining practices and inform the political agenda on social and environmental impact research, as well as contribute to the drafting of corresponding regulations to ensure a maximum benefit at minimal risk for everyone involved. 

This article investigates the links between religious beliefs and capitalist mentalities—namely devoutness to

Islam and hierarchic self-interest (HSI)—and violence-accepting attitudes among the young Muslim migrant

population in Germany. Following a situational perspective, these links are analyzed under different

individual conditions structured by (socioeconomic) precariousness and education. Based on framing

approaches and concepts from socialization theory, we derive the following hypothesis: The links between

religious beliefs and capitalist mentalities and the attitudinal acceptance of violence are stronger among

individuals with low levels of education and a precarious economic status (compared to high education/

nonprecarious status). The strongest link is expected for a negative status inconsistency (high education/

precarious economic status). Structural equation models for data from a random probability sample of 350

Muslims (aged 14–32 years) in Germany indicate that attitudinal acceptance of violence among young

Muslims is not predicted by devoutness to Islam but by economic precariousness and by acceptance of

capitalist values of the HSI belief system.

We set out to quantitatively evaluate the discordance between perceived and desired acculturation attitudes by immigrants in Russia in the eyes of host group members and consider relationships between this discordance and other intergroup attitudes. We used the coefficient of intrarater agreement as a measure of discordance between acculturation attitudes of the host population. The host population in Russia mostly preferred an assimilation-type of adjustment of immigrants but believed that immigrants prefer separation. Discordance between acculturation attitudes can have consequences for intergroup relations. Further investigation of the discordance can help to better understand the process of mutual accommodation and the evaluation of discordance can help to enhance this accommodation.