Is there "smoke without fire"? Applying the theory of values to the study of motivational aspects of ethnic stereotypes: The case of Jewish stereotypes in Russia.

Few studies have examined to what extent commonly held stereotypes reflect real intergroup differences in motivational goals. Taking a values perspective (Schwartz et al., 2012), the study examines value preferences among Jews and Russians in Russia, to assess the extent to which commonly held stereotypes reflect values of group members. Results showed that Jews reported substantially higher levels of universalism-tolerance, benevolence (both caring and dependability), and tradition values, and lower levels of power (both dominance and resources), and universalism-nature values, than Russians. Results indicated that the widespread Jewish stereotypes of power, achievement, and rootlessness/cosmopolitanism are ungrounded, while the stereotypes of liberalism and particularism are upheld by the reported differences in the value preferences between Jews and the majority population in Russia. The present study underscores the importance of value comparisons between ethnic minority and majority groups for understanding their motivational goals and thus fighting prejudices and discrimination.

How Much Is Enough in a Perfect World? Cultural Variation in Ideal Levels of Happiness, Pleasure, Freedom, Health, Self-Esteem, Longevity, and Intelligence.

The maximization principle-that people aspire to the highest possible level of something good if all practical constraints are removed-is a common yet untested assumption about human nature. We predict that in holistic cultures-where contradiction, change, and context are emphasized-ideal states of being for the self will be more moderate than in other cultures. In two studies ( Ns = 2,392 and 6,239), we asked this question: If participants could choose their ideal level of happiness, pleasure, freedom, health, self-esteem, longevity, and intelligence, what level would they choose? Consistent with predictions, results showed that maximization was less pronounced in holistic cultures; members of holistic cultures aspired to less happiness, pleasure, freedom, health, self-esteem, longevity, and IQ than did members of other cultures. In contrast, no differences emerged on ideals for society. The studies show that the maximization principle is not a universal aspect of human nature and that there are predictable cultural differences in people's notions of perfection.

On the relationship between valence and arousal in samples across the globe.

Affect is involved in many psychological phenomena, but a descriptive structure, long sought, has been elusive. Valence and arousal are fundamental, and a key question-the focus of the present study-is the relationship between them. Valence is sometimes thought to be independent of arousal, but, in some studies (representing too few societies in the world) arousal was found to vary with valence. One common finding is that arousal is lowest at neutral valence and increases with both positive and negative valence: a symmetric V-shaped relationship. In the study reported here of self-reported affect during a remembered moment (N = 8,590), we tested the valence-arousal relationship in 33 societies with 25 different languages. The two most common hypotheses in the literature-independence and a symmetric V-shaped relationship-were not supported. With data of all samples pooled, arousal increased with positive but not negative valence. Valence accounted for between 5% (Finland) and 43% (China Beijing) of the variance in arousal. Although there is evidence for a structural relationship between the two, there is also a large amount of variability in this relation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Structure and Mechanical Properties of Shipbuilding Steel Obtained by Direct Laser Deposition and Cold Rolling.

The study of the formation of microstructural features of low-alloy bainite-martensitic steel 09CrNi2MoCu are of particular interest in additive technologies. In this paper, we present a study of cold-rolled samples after direct laser deposition (DLD). We investigated deposited samples after cold plastic deformation with different degrees of deformation compression (50, 60 and 70%) of samples from steel 09CrNi2MoCu. The microstructure and mechanical properties of samples in the initial state and after heat treatment (HT) were analyzed and compared with the samples obtained after cold rolling. The effect on static tensile strength and impact toughness at -40 °C in the initial state and after cold rolling was investigated. The mechanical properties and characteristics of fracture in different directions were determined. Optimal modes and the degree of cold rolling deformation compression required to obtain balanced mechanical properties of samples obtained by additive method were determined. The influence of structural components and martensitic-austenitic phase on the microhardness and mechanical properties of the obtained samples was determined.