Suchergebnisse

A review of Galen's Prophecy: Temperament in Human Nature, by Jerome Kaga.

The present study compared compliance, noncompliance strategies, and the correlates of compliance in 5‐year old Japanese and American children. Forty‐seven Japanese children and forty‐six American children were observed during three standardized laboratory procedures. Compliance, noncompliance strategies, and negative affect were coded during a Toy Pick Up procedure. Maternal directiveness and mother‐directed behaviors were coded during Mother‐Child play and Free‐play procedures, respectively. A baseline level of play was also obtained during the Free Play procedures to ensure that the childen's willingness to engage in the Toy Pick Up procedure would not be confounded with their level of involvement with the toys. Consistent with predictions derived from a review of cross‐cultural research on socialization practices, Japanese children showed longer latencies to begin picking up toys in response to maternal requests and were also more likely to engage in the "less skilled" noncompliance strategies of direct defiance and passive noncompliance than American children. The two groups of children did not, however, differ in their level of negative affect during the Toy Pick Up procedure. Contrary to expectations, maternal directiveness was not associated with compliance in either group of children. However, approach behavior to mother during Free Play was inversely correlated with compliance in Japanese, but not American children.

FORTY YEARS OF COLD WAR LEFT THE U.S. WITH MANY LEGACIES, MOST NOTABLY A HUGE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX AND A STAGGERING NATIONAL DEBT. AN ADDITIONAL LEGACY HAS BEEN ITS SELF-ASSIGNED ROLE AS WORLD POLICEMAN. THE U.S. LED THE WESTERN WORLD IN WHAT IT VIEWED AS RESISTING SOVIET EXPANSION; NOW IT'S DIFFICULT TO SURRENDER THE MARSHAL'S BATON--PARTICULARLY SINCE IT STILL MAINTAINS THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL MILITARY FORCES. UNFORTUNATELY, SERVING AS THE COP ON A GLOBAL BEAT COSTS A GREAT DEAL. WITH A MILITARY BUDGET OF $265 BILLION PER YEAR, THE U.S. SPENDS ABOUT 90 TO 95% AS MUCH, IN REAL TERMS, AS IT SPENT THROUGHOUT THE COLD WAR. BEING A GLOBAL COP IS ALSO COSTLY IN HUMAN LIVES. IN THE ARMED SERVICES EACH YEAR ABOUT 600 AMERICAN SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN DIE IN ACCIDENTS WHILE 1.5 MILLION TROOPS ARE KEPT AT A HIGH STATE OF READINESS FOR COMBAT ACTION. OTHERS DIE IN TERRORIST ACTS SUCH AS THE ONE IN SAUDI ARABIA IN JUNE 1996. BECAUSE AMERICANS MAY NOT BE FOREVER WILLING TO PAY, IN BLOOD AND TREASURE, THESE COSTS OF BEING THE GLOBAL POLICEMAN, AMERICANS SHOULD CONSIDER WHETHER ANY ALTERNATIVE TO U.S. MILITARY LEADERSHIP EXISTS. AND WOULD AMERICAN LEADERS BE WISE ENOUGH TO CONSIDER SUCH AN ALTERNATIVE?