Some more abstracts

de Munck, V. C., Korotayev, A., de Munck, J., & Khaltourina, D. (2011). Cross-Cultural Analysis of Models of Romantic Love Among US Residents, Russians, and Lithuanians. Cross-Cultural Research, 45(2), 128-154.

Our goal was to detect and describe a common “core” structure of romantic love and to also discover and explain variations due to cultural or gender differences between three national cultures: the United States, Russia, and Lithuania. Our sample consisted of 262 American males, 362 American females, 166 Russian males, 130 females, 102 Lithuanian males, and 135 Lithuanian females—a total of 1,157 people. Our analysis was derived from (a) a 14-item questionnaire; (b) freelist responses to the question “What do you associate with romantic love?” and (c) interview and focus group data. The questionnaire was devised by employing well-known quotations about romantic love that cover a range of feelings and perceptions of love. Our results showed that there is no overall consensus but there was cross-cultural consensus on five variables: intrusive thinking, happiness; passion; altruism; and improve well-being of partner. In the freelist portion, we also found some significant similarities—particularly the desire to be together was ranked first across all three cultures. However key cultural differences were found. Friendship and comfort love were critical features of romantic love for the U.S. sample, but nonexistent for the Lithuanian and Russian samples. Conversely, the latter two samples saw love as “unreal,” “temporary,” and “a fairytale.” These cultural differences were explored through interviews and shown to serve as different cultural frames used to interpret similar emotional complexes. We suggest that the differences do not affect the evolutionary functions of romantic love and are adaptations to different types of social organizations. The etic-emic approach used in this cross-cultural research provides for a more nuanced, ethnographically sound, and cross-culturally valid description and analysis of the form and function of romantic love cross culturally than does either approach by itself.

Kirschenbaum, R. J., & Reis, S. M. (1997). Conflicts in creativity: Talented female artists. Creativity Research Journal, 10(2-3), 251-263.
A comparative case study approach was used to investigate the development of artistic talent among female artists who also raise families. intensive interviews with 10 female artists who had children were conducted. The artists revealed that their priority in life was their family but that their art also was essential for creative self-expression. Artistic productivity was dependent on a number of factors, including self-discipline; financial support and security; spousal encouragement and support; childrearing responsibilities; job demands; access to artistic materiddequipment; and workspace availability. The female artists in this study indicated they often faced dtficult choices related to
creative expression and development because their relationships
with their husbands and, especially, their
children open diverted their attention from their art.
However, they all persevered and continued with their
art. Ironically, the obstacles they encountered-such as
the absence of supportfrom spouses andparents, financial
difiulties, and time necessary to raise their children-
were perceived by these women as contributing
in some ways to their creative process and the development

of their identities as artists.

New PhD Research Area for Me: Love & Politics Combined!

http://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/henrietta-l-moore/protest-politics-and-ethical-imagination

what an inspiring person:
http://www.henriettalmoore.com/

also look:
Tchalova, K. & MacDonald, G. (in press). The interpersonal is the political: The role of social belongingness in emotional experience and political orientation. In R. Kingston (Ed.), Emotions in Context. Toronto, Ont.: University of Toronto Press.

uh.

The thing is I don't even look back at what I write here, so why do I have a blog? Each time I open a page to write something here, I realize that I never want to write. I just want to live sometimes, without the internet, my camera, cellphone, blog, facebook, everything. Why do I have to check my emails every 10 minutes?!?!

blah again.

the role of individual, social, and cultural factors on entering or maintaining long-distance relationships, preference for online-dating, the role of honour and social media in collective mobilization, etc.

look at own observations in your daily life and travels. you need to take some time away from the internet, and get a piece of pen and paper, and write. read novels too, enough of scientific articles, they cause brain-freezing, and creativity-loss, even loss of flexible thinking-ability.

what "feminism" is all about.

I really love this BA student's definition of what feminism is all about:

"I don’t think that any definition I can give here would do the concept of feminism justice, but I do think a key part of it is to understand the power structures that society creates and thrusts people into based on its ideas of how things “should” be. Of course understanding them is only the first step, one must also acknowledge the ways they affect everyone, own up to their privileges and do their best not to take advantage of their place in the social hierarchy to exploit others. This will happen, whether it be intentional or accidental, but being able to admit to it and attempt to rectify it will go a long way in the goal of tolerance."

Keep on searching!

I dedicate this to all my beloved friends who are researchers, want to be a researcher or just like research:

"There is really no such thing as research. There is only search, more search, keep on searching." (Bowering, 1988, p.5)

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culture contact - own experiences more than enough for sources of research ideas. look at your psychology sketches.

Muy Interesting Abstracts !!!

Yogeeswaran, K., N. Dasgupta, et al. (2011). "To be or not to be (ethnic): Public vs. Private expressions of ethnic identification differentially impact national inclusion of White and non-White groups." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 47(5): 908-914.

Many pluralistic nations are witnessing vigorous debate about multiculturalism. In the U.S., Americans generally embrace principles of ethnic diversity but dislike minorities who express strong ethnic identification. Two experiments examined this seeming contradiction by differentiating between ethnic identity expressed in private vs. public by non-White and White individuals. Then we tested whether individuals' identity expressions differentially affected perceivers' construal of their entire ethnic group as legitimately American. Results indicated that at a conscious level, White and non-White ethnic groups were held to the same standard and construed as significantly less American when members expressed their ethnic identity publicly vs. privately. However, at an unconscious level, a double standard emerged: non-White ethnic groups were implicitly rejected as less American if members expressed ethnic identity publicly, while White ethnics were implicitly accepted as legitimate Americans regardless of where they expressed ethnic identity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)

Pennekamp, S. F., B. Doosje, et al. (2009). "In matters of opinion, what matters is the group: Minority group members' emotional reactions to messages about identity expression." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 45(4): 778-787.

Two studies investigated the reactions of minority group members to messages about identity expression by ingroup and outgroup sources. Our main hypothesis was that compared to ingroup sources, outgroup sources arouse more anger when they argue for identity suppression. In the first study homosexuals evaluated an outgroup source arguing for identity suppression more negatively than an ingroup source, felt more threatened by this source and as a result, experienced stronger feelings of anger towards this source. The second study among members of a language-based minority replicated and extended these findings. Furthermore we showed that the anger that is experienced towards an outgroup source causes a willingness to change the opinion of this source. When ingroup or outgroup sources supported identity expression, evaluations and experience of anger did not differ in both studies. The importance of a source's group membership in reactions to opinions about one's group is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)

Thomsen, L., E. G. T. Green, et al. (2008). "We will hunt them down: How social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism fuel ethnic persecution of immigrants in fundamentally different ways." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 44(6): 1455-1464.

Despite the fact that SDO and RWA are correlated with one another and both predict support for ethnic persecution of immigrants, it is argued that this aggression is provoked for very different reasons. For authoritarians, outgroup aggression against immigrants should primarily be provoked by immigrant refusal to assimilate into the dominant culture because this violates ingroup conformity. In contrast, SDO should be associated with aggression against immigrants who do assimilate into the dominant culture because this blurs existing status boundaries between groups. Using samples of American and Swiss college students, the data were consistent with this status boundary enforcement hypothesis regarding social dominators and largely consistent with the ingroup conformity hypothesis regarding authoritarians. National and ethnic identification did not account for these results. The results further support the argument that outgroup prejudice and discrimination is most fruitfully seen as an interactive function of individual differences and situational constraints. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved) (from the journal abstract)

Outten, H. R., M. T. Schmitt, et al. (2009). "Coping options: Missing links between minority group identification and psychological well-being." Applied Psychology: An International Review 58(1): 146-170.

Using concepts from social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) and Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) cognitive theory of stress and coping we tested the capacity for group identification to foster beliefs in one's ability to cope successfully and in turn predict psychological well-being. Black American participants appraised the availability of coping options that varied by level of identity (individual, intragroup, and intergroup) as well as function of coping (problem-focused and emotion-focused). Replicating prior work, participants who were higher in racial group identification reported more positive well-being. Appraisals of individual emotion-focused and intergroup problem-focused options mediated the relationship of group identification with both self-esteem and life satisfaction. Appraisals of intergroup emotion-focused options also partially mediated the relationship between group identification and life satisfaction. Findings suggest that the relationship between minority group identification and well-being may partly be due to its influence over a person's sense that they and their group can respond effectively to disadvantage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)