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Social Psychological Approaches to Responsibility and Justice: The View Across Cultures

NCJ Number
140825
Journal
Hamilton Volume: L
Date Published
1992
Length
120 pages
Annotation
Six papers from the 22nd International Congress of Applied Psychology focus on cross-cultural research itself and cross-cultural differences on issues of responsibility and justice, which are at the core of moral and legal thought and action.
Abstract
Regarding cross-cultural research, the papers focus on what variables must be considered in the search for cross- cultural uniformities and divergences in psychological functioning. A common theme of the papers is the issue of cultural and individual differences in individualism versus collectivism. The authors contrast individualism (concern with one's own needs and goals) with collectivism (concern with the group's needs and goals). There are two broad moral themes in the papers: responsibility and justice. Regarding responsibility attribution and self-evaluation after transgression, the three papers that touch on these themes provide evidence that the evaluation of a moral wrong is a culturally textured event. The three papers that address issues of justice consider the problem of distributive justice (how resources are to be allocated) and the problem of procedural justice (how justice dilemmas are to be resolved). Each of the papers invites further research based on the issues left unresolved by research to date. For individual articles, see NCJ 140826-33. Article references and tables