Cultural Similarities Research Articles

Journey to the south: A case study of a Chinese PhD student in a Malaysian university

<span lang="EN-US">Recent trends indicate that more mainland China students are selecting Malaysian universities to further their studies based on the push-pull model. This study aims to examine their motivation for further studies as well as the obstacles and problems faced by them in Malaysian universities. A case study has been adopted in this study. A purposive sampling technique was employed to identify the right respondent and data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews. The findings of the research revealed that peer recommendation, comparative advantage, cultural similarity, and self-desire for improvement have a significant influence on the mainland Chinese motivation to further their PhD studies at Malaysian Universities. Existing literature has not paid adequate attention to motivational factors that influence China students to select Malaysian universities to pursue their PhD. Furthermore, this research addressed the shortcoming of classic acculturation models that lacks importance given to how the dominant Malaysian majority can be affected by the acculturation orientations of mainland Chinese students. As such, this paper is an attempt to fill up these gaps. This study provides some practical implications for Malaysian universities with better strategic insight to review their research programs and improve the service quality of their research infrastructure.</span>

Similarities in COVID-19 Mortality Between Canadian Provinces and American States Before Vaccines Were Available.

Canada and the USA are often compared for their markedly different approaches to health care despite cultural similarities and sharing the world's longest international boundary. The period between the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020 and the availability of a vaccine in December 2020 offers an ideal opportunity to compare subnational Canadian and American pandemic mortality. Preventing the spread of COVID-19 was through compliance with health orders and best practices; treatment was only available to those admitted to hospitals and whose lives were at risk. Using publicly available data from the Johns Hopkins University 2019 Novel Coronavirus Visual Dashboard, we seek to uncover if there were any similarities in Canadian provinces' and American states' monthly COVID-19 mortality per 100,000 people, building on a broader scientific push towards understanding the successes and failures of different health systems in the pandemic. The similar province and state cumulative COVID-19 mortality rate trajectories identified in our analyses do not amount to intuitive comparative jurisdictions which suggests the importance of identifying localized pandemic responses.

Beyond the Social Distance and Cultural Similarities: Turkish Citizens and Syrians in Şanlıurfa

In Şanlıurfa, Syrians and residents have a historical background and cultural similarities such as language and kinship. Nevertheless, the number of Syrian refugees is very high in the city and residents are distant to Syrians. Şanlıurfa case study aims to analyze the variation in social distance of residents toward Syrian refugees. This study argues that the number of migrants in a country (or in a neighborhood) is more important than cultural similarities when explaining social cohesion. In addition, based on multiple regression analysis, the study suggests that under such circumstance, there are mainly three determinants to explain variation in social distance, which are related to the perception and/or beliefs of Şanlıurfa residents, such as perceived crime and social disorder; their beliefs about Syrian refugees’ personalities; and their linguistic (in)tolerance ( increase in criminality (perceived crime) and erosion in identity (and maybe norms, that is social disorder)).

Cultural Influences, Cultural Differences, and Psychopathy

Along with the booming of psychopathic research, cross-cultural generalisability on psychopathy arose. Considering the number of potential justifications for cultural differences, however, the generalisable conclusions remained a puzzle. Little attention had been paid to psychopathy with regard to the impact of cultural differences and similarities. In this paper, we provide an overview of how cultures have influenced psychopathic individuals and present an introduction to cultural psychology and psychopathy. We display and analyze the current situation in the field and come up with guidance for future studies.

The Impact of Socioeconomic and Cultural Differences on Online Trade

We use eBay data to investigate how within-U.S. trade is influenced by differences in socioeconomic characteristics. States’ similarity in cultural characteristics (ethnicity, religious affiliations, and political behavior) predicts online trade; cultural similarity similarly predicts trade within product categories. The culture-trade relationship is stronger for transactions with sellers who lack extensive reputations or certification, suggesting that consumers infer seller trustworthiness from cultural similarity. There is no correlation between cultural similarity and buyer satisfaction, suggesting that perceived differences in trustworthiness are not validated in actual transactions. This paper was accepted by Alfonso Gambardella, business strategy. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4681 .

Content Consumption Patterns of Korean Pop Fans in India

Digitization and pop culture has come a long way. Making and taking experiences online has given new spectrums for fans to participate and integrate. The Hallyu wave, one of the recent flagbearers of the pop culture phenomenon, facilitating the global rise of K-pop, has brought in new lessons for the music industry. With cultural similarity and fascination that draws audiences to K-pop, the Korean music industry relies on a solid audience presence for fans to interact, consumer, and garner intimacy from them as a two-way exchange. India is one of the Asian countries that has caught on to this wave through rapid digitization, giving the country a strong base of consumers. Content consumption through videos and articles is one way that fans learn more about Korea’s music, culture, and people. The following paper examines the nature of content consumption amongst Indian K-pop fans based on three parameters, the quantity of consumption, the preference of platform, and the perceived intimacy, given between the fans and K-pop by these platforms.

Syrian refugee men in ‘double waithood’: ethnographic perspectives on labour and marriage in Jordan’s border towns

This paper discusses the socio-economic integration and marriage prospects of young Syrian refugee men in Jordan. Linguistic, cultural and religious similarities with Syrian culture in Jordanian border towns such as Ramtha and Irbid hold the promise of social inclusion and offer emotional comfort. Yet, this familiarity is combined with experiences of social alienation and labour exploitation. Based on qualitative research and ethnography, I propose the notion of ‘double waithood’ to capture the two main socio-economic axes that structure opportunities and the activities young men engage in. Apart from the time spent waiting for regulated residency status, young men wait to fulfil the economic requirements that enable them to marry and have a family of their own. While waiting for certainty, many are driven to informal and underage labour to help provide for their families. At the same time, migration as a rite of passage can enable young adolescents to transition to adulthood earlier, as many aspire to fulfil the criteria of the hegemonic figure of the economically self-sufficient male refugee.

The Political Salience of Animal Protection in the Netherlands (2012–2021) and Belgium (2010–2019): What do Dutch and Belgian Political Parties Pledge on Animal Welfare and Wildlife Conservation?

The Netherlands and Belgium are European Union (EU) states with a shared border and cultural similarities. Article 13 of the EU Treaty of Lisbon recognises animals as sentient beings. EU laws protect animal welfare and conservation, and member states can implement more stringent legislation. Political salience refers to the extent to which citizens are concerned about political issues. Issue salience can be measured by assessing references to animal protection in party political manifestos. This research analyses the political salience of animal protection in the Netherlands and Belgium. It analyses over 2600 statements on animal protection in Dutch (2012–2021) and Belgian (2010–2019) party manifestos across three consecutive national elections. Quantitative analysis reveals that in both the Netherlands and Belgium, animal protection became more salient during successive elections, with the total number of positive statements increasing and the total number of negative statements decreasing. Farmed animal welfare and wildlife/biodiversity were the most salient issues, although the focus in countries and regions differed. Dutch parties and those in the Walloon region of Belgium focused on farmed animal health and unnecessary suffering; Flemish parties stressed intensive agriculture and animal welfare. In Belgium, wildlife/biodiversity statements stressed the protection of local species; Dutch statements were strongly linked to agriculture. In both the Netherlands and Belgium, left-wing parties had more progressive policy statements, whilst right-wing parties prioritised economic prosperity over animal protection. This research provides the first academic analysis of animal protection policies in political manifestos in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Cross Culture Adaptation of CASP 19 To Assess Quality of Life of Older Adults in Karachi, Pakistan

CASP-19 (Control, Autonomy, Self-realization, and Pleasure) is a well-established and theoretically derived instrument to assess the quality of life, which has been translated into multiple languages for global application. This study provides a cross-cultural validation of CASP-19 in older adults in Karachi, Pakistan. Objective: To assess quality of life of 50+ older adults in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: Focus groups were used to pilot-test a translated CASP-19 survey from English to Urdu, with back translation to explore the language, cultural and conceptual similarities of the tool to the original version. A population survey was administered using cluster sampling. The translated version was administered to 100 participants from each low, middle, and high-income areas via door-to-door recruitment. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the psychometric validation of the Urdu version. A regression analysis assessed social determinants of quality of life. Results: Pilot-testing confirmed that CASP-19 has conceptual relevance to Pakistani culture in a revised CASP-13 with 6 items remove. Conclusion: CASP13 is a valid and reliable tool to assess the quality of life of 50+ older adults in Karachi.

Cultural empathy in intercultural interactions: the development and validation of the intercultural empathy index

ABSTRACT Based on discussions of cultural empathy in intercultural communication and counselling and multicultural psychology, this paper presents a model and a measure of cultural empathy suited for a broad range intercultural interactions – the Intercultural Empathy Index (IEI). We examined the IEI’s psychometric properties via two studies involving approximately 2000 undergraduate students at a western Canadian university. Reflecting the cognitive, affective, and behavioural dimensions of empathy, the IEI includes subscales that assess (1) one’s awareness of the cultural similarities and differences that arise during cross-cultural interactions (Cross-Cultural Awareness), (2) the degree to which one could take the perspective of a person from a different culture (Ease of Perspective-taking), (3) the extent to which one could identify with the emotions of other cultural groups (Empathic Feelings), and (4) the extent to which one behaves empathically toward people from other cultures (Empathic Expressions). The findings of confirmatory factor and correlational analyses provided evidence on the reliability and validity of the IEI. The findings’ implications in regards to the role of cultural empathy in positive intercultural interactions and relations are discussed.

삼국시대 경남서부지역 및 전남동부지역의 수혈주거지 변천양상

During the Three Kingdoms Period, the western regigon of Gyeong-nam area and eastern region of Jeon- nam area show similarities in residential culture, and are recognized as a “cultural point zone” where various cul- tures interact. Considering the introduction of cultural diversity and politic structure, the aspect of Pit-dwelling during 3~6th century can be classified through archeology method. On this research, these features can be distin- guished into 3 stage of dwelling systems. On the first stage(3rd century~the middle of 4th century), the tradition- al circular-dwelling continues during the change of dwelling type and relics. Therefore, it was identified as the same cultural area. the second stage(the middle of 4th century~early 5th century), The circular-dwelling main- tains and rectangular-dwelling emerges. Mahan and Gaya effect both regions' culture, even though the former culture remains. In other word, it can be seen as area of distribution which involves spread of other cultures's dwelling type and pottery exchange. Thirdly(early 5th century~early 6th century), the dwelling type changes into rectangular form. Sogaya also expands their power over the eastern region of Jeon-nam area and becomes main group who accelerates change of dwelling type.

Comparative Analysis of the Impact of Advergames on Cultural Outcomes in the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia

Advergames represent a new advertising concept that uses internet technology to implement viral marketing campaigns. This study aimed to conduct a comparative analysis of and impact of advergames on cultural outcomes. This cross-cultural study investigated the impact of advergame on the cultural differences and similarities between the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. Participants from both Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom were invited to complete a questionnaire. The sample consisted of male and female participants from all age groups. According to the findings, most of the Saudi Arabian respondents responded neutrally to considering cultural values within advergames. By contrast, the majority of the United Kingdom participants agreed that they were indifferent to the culture projected by the advergame characters. The findings also confirm the implementation of better strategies for games that consider the different cultural aspects of different countries. Notably, these findings suggest that visual familiarity can influence consumer behavior across cultures. We expect our findings to be used in future research that examines cultural outcomes in advergames.

Rapport‐building: Chat versus in‐person witness interviews

AbstractTactics recommended for rapport‐building consist of verbal (e.g., finding common ground or shared experiences) and non‐verbal (e.g., affirmations, displaying empathy) behaviours. Most of the research on rapport, however, has examined it in in‐person contexts, where both verbal and non‐verbal behaviours are present. In this study, we were interested in the effectiveness of rapport‐building when conducting online witness interviews via chat, which de‐emphasises the use non‐verbal rapport behaviours, compared to traditional in‐person interviews. Participants (N = 131) experienced a virtual reality (VR) scenario depicting a mock crime and were interviewed either in person or online via the chat function in Skype. Participants perceived rapport more positively when interviewed in person for three measures: attentiveness, trust and respect and expertise. Two other measures, cultural similarity and connected flow, were not perceived differently across interview medium. Participants interviewed online via chat disclosed similar amounts of crime‐related information and were just as accurate as participants interviewed in person. We found that in‐person interviews yielded better rapport ratings than interviews via chat but were equally productive in terms of the quality of information obtained, as measured by crime‐related details and accuracy. If witnesses are to be interviewed via chat, investigators must carefully consider how to compensate for the lack of those non‐verbal rapport tactics that influence witnesses' perceptions of attentiveness, trust/respect and investigator's expertise.

Forecasting COVID-19 Cases in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Vietnam Using ARIMA and LSTM

COVID-19 has severely impacted the global economy, including ASEAN countries. Various plans and strategies are still needed during the pandemic-to-epidemic transition period to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission. The research focuses on the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, which are among the ASEAN countries with the highest number of cases in Southeast Asia. Those countries have cultural similarities, where gathering with friends and family is an important part of social life. This research evaluates the ability of ARIMA and LSTM to predict COVID-19 cases in each country, using daily data from January 23, 2020 to October 22, 2022. Datasets published by Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and Our World in Data (OWID) are used, which are accessible through Github. Compared to ARIMA with R2 of 0,8883 for Indonesia, 0,8353 for Malaysia, 0.97291 for the Philippines, and -3.105 for Vietnam, LSTM model can predict better in the four sampled ASEAN countries, with an R2 of 0.9996 for Indonesia, 0.9707 for Malaysia, 0.97291 for the Philippines, and 0.9200 for Vietnam.

LISTENING IN SILENCE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF COMMUNICATIVE BEHAVIORS ACROSS LISTENING CONSTRUCTS

ABSTRACT This exploratory study quantitatively assesses the behavioral components of listening as enacted through silence and grounds that analysis in the framework of culture as shared listening cognitive constructs. We analyzed the listening practices in video-recorded focus group interactions to determine whether quantifiable listening behaviors correlate with relationship building and learning listening constructs. Results showed no significant differences, suggesting that these listening cultures grounded in shared cognitive constructs behaviorally perform listening in their amount of silence and talk in similar ways. Overall, this study contributes to knowledge of how silence is used and understood within intercultural relationships and interactions and reflects the potential of heightened cultural similarities in listening behaviors, suggesting that certain listening skills such as the use of silence may be measurable and teachable in our intercultural relationships.

A Prospective Observational Study on Lumbar Spinal Canal Diameter, Vertebral Body Width and Pedicle Width and Height Measured in Plain X-Rays of Lumbar Spine in Normal Nepalese Adults

Introduction: Determining the lumbar spinal canal diameter and the horizontal and vertical diameter of lumbar pedicles by using plain x-ray in different age groups, sex and ethnic groups in adult Nepalese population will simplify the transpedicular procedures in our country and can aid in making early diagnosis in persons who have lower diameters of lumbar spinal canal. Methods: The present study was conducted on 195 adult lumbar spine X-rays in the Department of Orthopedics of Civil Service Hospital. antero-posterior and lateral radiographs of lumbar spine were taken and the measurements were made for the coronal bony canal, vertebral body width and pedicle width using Vernier calipers and recorded values to the nearest tenth of a millimeter. Results: This study included 195 patients, the age range was 18 to 45 years, out of them 111 (56.9%) were male and 84 (43.1%) were female. Mean values for interpedicular distance, coronal and vertebral body width was increasing from L1 to L5 at each vertebral level. The observations showed that there is always an increase in width of lumbar pedicles proceeding from L1 to L5 levels and the width being maximum at L5 level. The observations also showed that the height of lumbar pedicles decreases as we move from L3 to L5 levels. The values obtained were compared with previous literatures, which showed similar pattern with the values of Indian population studies as compared to western population may be due to the fact that various socioeconomic, cultural and structural similarities between Nepalese and Indian population. Conclusion: Figures obtained for this population differ from other previous reports and appears to be subject to individual and racial variations. These lumbar canal and pedicle diameter of our study are similar to the measurement in the Indian population; the radiological criteria of spinal canal stenosis could be identical between these two populations.

Filling in the white space: Spatial interpolation with Gaussian processes and social media data

Full national coverage below the state level is difficult to attain through survey-based data collection. Even the largest survey-based data collections, such as the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System or the Gallup-Healthways Well-being Index (both with more than 300,000 responses p.a.) only allow for the estimation of annual averages for about 260 out of roughly U.S. 3,000 counties when a threshold of 300 responses per county is used. Using a relatively high threshold of 300 responses gives substantially higher convergent validity–higher correlations with health variables–than lower thresholds but covers a reduced and biased sample of the population. We present principled methods to interpolate spatial estimates and show that including large-scale geotagged social media data can increase interpolation accuracy. In this work, we focus on Gallup-reported life satisfaction, a widely-used measure of subjective well-being. We use Gaussian Processes (GP), a formal Bayesian model, to interpolate life satisfaction, which we optimally combine with estimates from low-count data. We interpolate over several spaces (geographic and socioeconomic) and extend these evaluations to the space created by variables encoding language frequencies of approximately 6 million geotagged Twitter users. We find that Twitter language use can serve as a rough aggregate measure of socioeconomic and cultural similarity, and improves upon estimates derived from a wide variety of socioeconomic, demographic, and geographic similarity measures. We show that applying Gaussian Processes to the limited Gallup data allows us to generate estimates for a much larger number of counties while maintaining the same level of convergent validity with external criteria (i.e., N = 1,133 vs. 2,954 counties). This work suggests that spatial coverage of psychological variables can be reliably extended through Bayesian techniques while maintaining out-of-sample prediction accuracy and that Twitter language adds important information about cultural similarity over and above traditional socio-demographic and geographic similarity measures. Finally, to facilitate the adoption of these methods, we have also open-sourced an online tool that researchers can freely use to interpolate their data across geographies.

On the Cognateness of the Silk Road Cultures in Hong Ke’s Novel The Tree of Life

Hong Ke’s The Tree of Life is a novel with the story that rooted in the middle and western land of our country. By tracing the homology of human life, it reflects the process of collision, interaction and integration among different cultures along the Silk Road. The time-crossing plots and scenes in the novel fully reflect the close similarity and harmony of the Silk Road culture. The analyses of Culture Cognate Consciousness in this novel reflects the inclusiveness of Chinese culture and the grand vision of the Chinese nation for the inter-connectivity and integration of world cultures.

A Comparative Study of Chinese and Japanese Folk Culture

China and Japan are close neighbors who belong to the same East Asian Chinese character culture system, and have many similarities in language and folk culture. This thesis takes folk culture as a research perspective, and compares the similarities and differences between Chinese and Japanese cultures in terms of food culture and taboo culture respectively. Firstly, the article explains the definition scope and classification criteria of folk culture; secondly, the two points of food culture and taboo culture are selected for comparison from material folklore and spiritual folklore. Food culture focuses on table manners, cooking standards and eating habits, and analyzes the reasons for the formation of food culture from three aspects: economic development, geographical environment and social culture. Finally, the scope of taboo culture is large, so this paper selects two representative differences in numerical taboos and color taboos for discussion, showing the preference of Chinese and Japanese folklore. Finally, a short summary of the significance of folk culture for cross-cultural communication is presented.

Common words for Solon Evenki and Buryatia Mongolian

The Solon Ewenki and the Buryat Mongols both belong to cross-border peoples, living in China, Mongolia and Russia. The Solon Ewenki and Buryat Mongols in China live in the China-Mongolia-Russia border areas of Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia. There are many commonalities or similarities in history, culture, society, religion and language, especially, the common relationship shown in linguistics is more obvious. According to the first-hand language information we have, there is a certain number of shared words in Solon Ewenki and Buryat Mongolian, These common words mainly involve nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives and so on. Through the analysis and study of these common words, we can further scientifically explore the complex and changeable deep historical relationship between the Ewenki people and the Buryat Mongols.