Sarcasm is commonly used in everyday language; however, little is currently known about cultural and individual differences in sarcasm interpretation and use, particularly across Western and Eastern cultures. To address these gaps in the literature, the present study investigated individual differences in sarcasm interpretation and use in the UK…

Purpose: The study aims to explore the demographics, perceptions, and predictors of job satisfaction of Chinese/Korean faculty and American/British faculty at Japanese universities. Design/Approach/Methods: The data from a national survey of these faculty conducted in Japan was analyzed. Findings: The study suggests that Chinese/Korean faculty…

Two studies examined factors that predicted children's tendencies to match objects versus relations across scenes when no instruction was given. Study 1 examined a) age and b) nationality as a proxy for cultural differences in experiences with relations. The results showed that Chinese and U.S. children across ages all showed an initial bias to…

Background: Behavior problems of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) bring many difficulties and stress to their parents, thus increasing their risk of depression. Recent studies have shown that the mindfulness and perceived social support may play significant roles in improving the depression of these parents as well as relieve their…

To date, research in advertising has focussed almost exclusively on metaphor, with linguists and marketing scholars paying very little attention to alternative types of figurative expression. Beyond the finding that metaphor leads to an increased appreciation of advertisements, there has been surprisingly little research into how consumer response…

To date, cross-cultural studies on Theory of Mind (ToM) have predominantly focused on preschoolers. This study focuses on middle childhood, comparing two samples of mainland Chinese (n = 126) and Australian (n = 83) children aged between 5.5 and 12 years. Strange Stories, the most commonly used measure of ToM, was employed. The study aimed to…

The present study evaluated 626 5-7-year-old children in the UK, China, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan on a cognitive test battery measuring: (1) general skills; (2) non-symbolic number sense; (3) symbolic number understanding; (4) simple arithmetic--operating with numbers; and (5) familiarity with numbers. Although most inter-population differences were…

Numerous qualitative studies, mostly with English speaking Westerners, have shown the important role of storytelling and values in promoting resilience. However, this quantitative study helps fill the gaps in the research, by investigating the mediator effects of storytelling on values and resilience of American, German, Chinese, and Vietnamese…

International students aiming to study abroad form a highly heterogeneous group. Differences in academic preparedness and financial resources translate into differences in what information students look for and where they look for it during their college search. By gaining a deeper understanding of how students differ in profile and behavior,…

The relations of parents' and teachers' reports of temperament anger-irritability, positive emotionality, and effortful control (attention focusing and inhibitory control) to children's externalizing and internalizing problems were examined in Chinese (N = 382) and U.S. (N = 322) samples of school-age children. Results suggested that in both…

Body dissatisfaction and disordered eating were compared across groups of college women from China (n = 109), South Korea (n = 137), and the United States (n = 102). Based on cultural differences in the amount of exposure to Western appearance standards, particularly the thin-body ideal, sociocultural theory (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, &…

The present paper reports a series of six studies, each investigating the power of self-rated analytical, creative, and practical abilities for predicting one of six individual-difference variables: cognitive development, modes of thinking, career interests, learning approaches, thinking styles, and personality traits. Contributing to the…