Most people hold beliefs about personality characteristics typical of members of their own and others' cultures. These perceptions of national character may be generalizations from personal experience, stereotypes with a “kernel of truth,” or inaccurate stereotypes. We obtained national character ratings of 3989 people from 49 cultures and compared them with the average personality scores of culture members assessed by observer ratings and self-reports. National character ratings were reliable but did not converge with assessed traits. Perceptions of national character thus appear to be unfounded stereotypes that may serve the function of maintaining a national identity.

The Big Five Inventory (BFI) is a self-report measure designed to assess the high-order personality traits of Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness. As part of the International Sexuality Description Project, the BFI was translated from English into 28 languages and administered to 17,837 individuals from 56 nations. The resulting cross-cultural data set was used to address three main questions: Does the factor structure of the English BFI fully replicate across cultures? How valid are the BFI trait profiles of individual nations? And how are personality traits distributed throughout the world? The five-dimensional structure was robust across major regions of the world. Trait levels were related in predictable ways to self-esteem, sociosexuality, and national personality profiles. People from the geographic regions of South America and East Asia were significantly different in openness from those inhabiting other world regions. The discussion focuses on limitations of the current data set and important directions for future research.

As part of the International Sexuality Description Project, a total of 17,804 participants from 62 cultural regions completedthe RelationshipQuestionnaire(RQ), a self-reportmeasure of adult romanticattachment. Correlational analyses within each culture suggested that the Model of Self and the Model of Other scales of the RQ were psychometrically valid within most cultures. Contrary to expectations, the Model of Self and Model of Other dimensions of the RQ did not underlie the four-category model of attachment in the same way across all cultures. Analyses of specific attachment styles revealed that secure romantic attachment was normative in 79% of cultures and that preoccupied romantic attachment was particularly prevalent in East Asian cultures. Finally, the romantic attachment profiles of individual nations were correlated with sociocultural indicators in ways that supported evolutionary theories of romantic attachment and basic human mating strategies.

Aim: This paper seeks to understand whether Maltese school counsellors are equipped to deal with dyslexic clients, considers whether specific strategies need to be used, and what positive effects, if any, counselling has on these clients. Previous studies: A literature review on self‐concept and techniques on how to improve the self‐concept of children with Learning Disabilities (LD)/Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) will place the current study in context. Method: Questionnaires (available from the authors on request) were distributed to all school counsellors on the island and analysed using content analysis. Findings: Findings from respondents indicate a need for more training, evidence‐based knowledge of specific techniques when dealing effectively and successfully with dyslexic clients, specific specialised training to understand dyslexic clients and that counselling has a positive effect on dyslexic clients.

This paper intends to explore emotional literacy (EL) in relation to Personal and Social Development (PSD) as implemented in the Maltese Islands. Self-empowerment, emotional literacy, and self-expression contribute to a good quality of life of self and others. These are addressed in Maltese schools during timetabled statutory PSD sessions. The authors argue the concept of EL as opposed to emotional intelligence and explain how and why EL is embedded in the methodology used in the Maltese PSD model. This includes the processing stage within the experiential learning cycle. They note that EL is so important that it should not only form part of the PSD syllabus but should also be a whole school approach.

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Self-esteem affects learning, performance, self-worth, and quality of life, particularly in persons with dyslexia, or rather how students with dyslexia are mis/understood and supported. Dyslexia does not only affect literacy but also affects emotional well-being. Webb concludes that for children to feel successful, they need to become aware of their unique learning strengths to apply them effectively to strengthen weaknesses. Drama and Performance Ethnography (PE) can be support strategies. Workshops were carried out with a group of adolescent youngsters with dyslexia. The aim was to provide a safe environment where they could find their voice and gain self-confidence through drama and PE to provide opportunities to address self-esteem and to provide insights for policies and practice. This article intends to listen to these youngsters’, also co-authors, and their parents’ narratives of this experience.

This chapter intends to discuss the experiences of university students with dyslexia and academic learning and assessment. It intends to challenge the traditional access to and production of examinations and to separate the ability to retrieve and produce verbal visual print from academic learning and performance in order to propose a model where educational systems join the fourth revolution. The intention is to address the brain drain that communities experience when students with Dyslexia are not able to show what they really know, due to possibly archaic access to and production of academic learning and assessment. The use of technology and independent access to printed material will also be discussed. The framework of this chapter is the Kannangara model of dyslexia: from Languishing to Thriving with Dyslexia. When reading this chapter, one also needs to remember that, whilst I refer to dyslexia, this profile more often than not co-occurs with other learning challenges and is often grouped with populations of Specific Learning Difficulties or Learning Disabilities in research and national data.