The boundaries between online privacy and security behaviors in the literature seem blurred. Although these two behaviors are conceptually related, we argue that one does not necessarily imply the other. In this study we aimed to (1) explore the subtle differences between online privacy and security behaviors, and (2) examine how users’ cultural characteristics and a group of multilevel factors...

Launched in 2010, the Google Books Ngram Viewer offers a novel means of tracing cultural change over time. This digital tool offers exciting possibilities for cultural psychology by rendering questions about variation across historical time more quantitative. Psychologists have begun to use the viewer to bolster theories about a historical shift in the United States from a more collectivist to ...

This article advocates the need for a radical rethink of software agent technology by investigating the mechanisms through which knowledge, deliberation, action and control interact to form truly intelligent autonomous agents, be they deliberative, intentional or purely reactive automata/particles/actors. Using sound logical formal modelling techniques, this work attempts to propose a unified m...

Previous two-nation comparisons have provided evidence that self-efficacy may be a protective factor against depression in individualist cultures, whereas relationship harmony may be a stronger protective factor in collectivist cultures. However, wider sampling and more specific measures of cultural difference are required to test these conclusions. Student ratings of depression and life satisf...

In this article I attempt to deconstruct our dominant discourse about sexuality, with special emphasis on sexuality as a topic within the psychotherapeutic context. As a social constructionist, my concern is with the ways in which people coordinate their activities together to produce particular beliefs and values (otherwise referred to as “realities”). The beliefs and values we articulate conc...

This paper examines the issue of gender equality within Islam in order to develop an ethical framework for businesses operating in Muslim majority countries. We pay attention to the role of women and seemingly inconsistent expectations of Islamic and western societies with regard to appropriate gender roles. In particular, we contrast a mainstream western liberal individualist view of freedom a...

This study integrates research in the civic community tradition and structuralist and individualist perspectives on poverty to assess the relationship between religious-based civic community structures and family poverty in the United States. Using multilevel analyses of 2006-2008 American Community Survey, 2000 Census of Population and Housing, and 2000 Religious Congregations and Membership S...

Persuasive technology is defined as “any interactive product designed to change attitudes or behaviours by making desired outcomes easier to achieve”. It can take the form of interactive web applications, hand held devices, and games. To date there has been limited research into persuasive technology outside of America. Cross-cultural research shows that in order for persuasion to be most effec...

We examined the validity of the factor structure and invariance of the Perceived Locus of Causality (PLOC) scale instrument scores across two nations endorsing collectivist (Singapore) and individualist (Great Britain) cultural values. Results indicated that confirmatory factor analytic models of the PLOC exhibited adequate fit according to multiple criteria within each sample and across sample...

This article utilizes the agency-structure debate as a framework for constructing a health lifestyle theory. No such theory currently exists, yet the need for one is underscored by the fact that many daily lifestyle practices involve considerations of health outcomes. An individualist paradigm has influenced concepts of health lifestyles in several disciplines, but this approach neglects the st...