This study examined the concept of self among 48 educated and 50 less educated Filipino women. Participants completed the Concept of Self Scale that contained 12 items describing collectivistic and individualistic perspectives on self. Educated women rated themselves as significantly higher than less educated women on two individualistic descriptors, while the less educated rated themselves significantly higher on seven collectivistic descriptors. Low SES women rated themselves higher on collectivistic descriptors than middle SES women. These findings are discussed in relation to the growing literature on cultural perspectives on the self and suggest a need to examine factors that may explain intracultural differences in the concept of self.

Depression is occurring in almost epidemic proportions in modern society (Seligman, 1990). The current study aims to explore the relationship between depression, life satisfaction, and social interest. Eightyseven students from the University of Newcastle were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and the Social Interest Index (SII). As hypothesised, it was found that depression was negatively correlated with life satisfaction and social interest. It was also found that females displayed greater social interest than males, however no difference was observed in level of depression by gender. These findings support the concept that treatment for depression might be oriented away from introspection, and directed instead towards increasing social awareness and interaction.

Two reversal theory-based studies investigated dancers' psychological experience at final rehearsal, and at three performances in an annual competition. In Study 1, 23 Japanese modern dance specialists completed the Tension and Effort Stress Inventory immediately before and after performance. Pre-study expectations that dancers would experience higher levels of unpleasant emotions (including performance anxiety or stage fright) and stress pre-competition than pre-final rehearsal were not confirmed. Dancers experienced significantly higher levels of unpleasant emotions before final rehearsal than before competition. Also contrary to expectations, competing was found not to be more stressful and not to require greater efforts to cope, than rehearsing. Study 2 set out to investigate dancers' basic motives for dancing and to show whether the anxiety-to-excitement reversal phenomena could be discerned during dance performance. Using the same experimental procedure as Study 1, a similar group of 15 dancers completed a dance performance experience questionnaire. The results indicated that, for the majority of dancers, the primary reason for dancing was either the paratelic, telic, arousal-seeking, or alloic-sympathy meta-motivational categories, and that many dancers experienced anxiety to excitement reversals.

With the advent of global warming, psychological tests are increasingly administered under high levels of environmental humidity, which may combine with test anxiety to disadvantage millions students worldwide. With temperature held constant, 42 Northern Territory (Australian) undergraduates took basic Digit Span and Stroop tests, under conditions of high/low humidity and high/low test rapport (which operationally defined test anxiety). Digit Span performance was significantly depressed both by anxiety and humidity, while Stroop performance was depressed by test anxiety, and marginally affected by an interaction between anxiety and humidity (the latter attenuating negative impact from the former). In the Tropics, the impact of test environment may vary substantially depending on the type of cognitive demands made by the particular assessment task.

Traditional approaches to dispute resolution in Micronesia offer elements of reconciliation that are practical and essential for maintaining peaceful relationships on a small island. These elements include family involvement, ritualistic processes, symbolism, mediation, and restitution. Using information gathered through interviews and an observation of a simulation, and by reviewing literature related to cultural differences in general, this paper introduces these elements, describes their application in real life and ceremonial events, and discusses theoretical connections with the cultural dimension of individualism and collectivism. In conclusion, the authors encourage a heightened awareness, further research, and continued practice of traditional Micronesian approaches to dispute resolution.

This paper analyses some important aspects of social stratification and honour on pre-Christian and modern Mungiki (Bellona), a Polynesian Outlier in the Solomon Islands. Opposite other traditional Polynesian societies, honour on Bellona was not part of a complex and prominent mana-taboo system. Honour was part of an incessantly social evaluation of a man's achievements, distinctiveness, and kin-related history. A man bestowed with honour not only had the right to, but was also expected to demand respect from significant others. Any severe challenge of his honour had to be vigorously counteracted in order to maintain and defend his and his kin group's social positioning as a deferential group. In revenge lies a rehabilitation for lost honour. He who renounced vengeance started on the path to insignificance, the quality of his life dwindled. Although important parts of practice have changed today, the basic idea of honour and competition for high status has remained fairly constant. We shall demonstrate how present day competition for social status in many respects is closely related to the traditional perception of honour which mirrored society's ideal values. What we shall present here is a set of propositions concerning some important aspects of the Bellonese philosophy concerning honour. In the strictest sense of the word, this paper is an attempt to present a social and cultural translation of some aspects of the Bellonese way of thinking.

Employee responses to being placed in workplace “teams” range from free-riding (shirking, social loafing) to working harder than ever before, and feelings of identity (or in-group) with the team may play a key role in facilitating the working harder response. Fifty-two Australian future managers worked on a workplace simulation task, either (a) alone (Control), (b) among a simulated unidentified aggregate of other students (team setting, no social identity), (c) with simulated other students from the same faculty competing against the Faculty of Law (in-group, social identity condition), or (d) amid a simulated out-group of students from Law, competing against the participant's own faculty (out-group condition, pre-existing conflicting loyalty condition). As predicted, compared to (a) working alone, aggregation (b) resulted in free-riding, which was reversed by merely invoking (c) a social (faculty) identity, but then reappeared under (d) an out-group condition. Tentative though the current data may be, “flip-over” effects like these may depend on a worker's pluralistic mix of individualistic and collectivistic repertoires. To the extent that such pluralism is found throughout Australia and elsewhere in the South Pacific (Taylor & S. Yavalanavanua, 1997), our findings may apply to ‘thinking through’ workplace team development elsewhere in the region.