HI
On Sat, 20 Nov 1999, Jeff Ricker wrote:
> It seems to me that a particular motivation--the need for certainty--is
> a primary determinant of the spread of irrational popular beliefs within
> the wider culture.
Perry studied student development in Universities and found that
students (on average, of course) progressed from absolutist
thinking to relativistic thinking. Some small percentage went
beyond relativism to reasoned commitment. He actually had more
stages but this is my memory of the gist. A large part of what
we do as university teachers is to help students question why
they believe what they do. There is no reason to question
something that you are certain about, so a first step is probably
provoking some uncertainty (e.g., evidence problematic for the
accepted view).
Hofstede studied the qualities of cultures. The best known of
his dimensions is probably individualism-collectivism, but he
also identified one as Uncertainty Avoidance. He argued that
people in some cultures prefer certainty more than people in
other cultures. The USA and Canada fall toward the middle to low
end of his norms, so one might expect discomfort with uncertainty
to be even higher for some other nationalities, to the extent
that Hofstede's norms apply.
Best wishes
Jim
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James M. Clark (204) 786-9757
Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax
University of Winnipeg 4L05D
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
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