Abstract
Past research on pathways to cultural influence on judgment has compared the explanatory power of personal preferences, perceived descriptive norms and institutionalization. Positive education is an education movement inspired by Western positive psychology. The present study examined how these factors jointly predict Hong Kong teachers’ evaluation of imported positive education programs in their schools. In a field study, we measured teachers’ personal endorsement of growth mindset (a positive psychology construct developed in the US) and their evaluation of adopting positive education programs in their schools. We also measured teachers’ perception of the extent of institutional and normative support for positive education in their schools. The results show that teachers’ personal preferences for growth mindset predict more favorable evaluation of positive education programs when institutional and normative support for positive education programs are both weak, or when they are both strong. We interpret these effects from the perspectives of the strong situation hypothesis and the intersubjective theory of culture.
Highlights
“As scholars have noted of positive psychology . . ., the emphasis on growth and personal fulfillment in these influential theoretical perspectives reflects, and serves to legitimize neoliberalism and associated selfways” (Adams et al, 2019, p. 204)
The spread of positive psychology and its expressions in positive education programs around the world represents a form of hegemonic cultural influence
The present study examined how Hong Kong teachers evaluated positive education programs, education programs imported to Hong Kong from North America and Australia
Summary
“As scholars have noted of positive psychology . . ., the emphasis on growth and personal fulfillment in these influential theoretical perspectives reflects, and serves to legitimize neoliberalism and associated selfways” (Adams et al, 2019, p. 204). Drawing on the strong situation hypothesis (Cooper and Withey, 2009) and the theory of intersubjective culture (Wan et al, 2007a,b), we develop two hypotheses regarding the circumstances under which personal preferences would have appreciable impact on the evaluation of imported practices. Cultural psychologists, in their attempts to explain why people display culturally typical judgments, have identified three pathways of cultural influence on judgment. A teacher who possesses a growth mindset is expected to evaluate positive education positively
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