A Comparative Analysis of Social Values of Chinese and American Children

Abstract

A set of 701 stories generated by 80 Chinese and 80 American children was content analyzed, and submitted to a factor analysis that yielded four factors common to both groups, one unique factor for the Chinese sample and two for the American sample. A stepwise discriminant function analysis of the common factors indicated significant differences between Chinese and American children, and significant sex differences in the American sample only. The results support the hypotheses that Chinese stories evidence greater social orientation, greater concern with authority and with moral-ethical rectitude, and greater saliency of the role of natural forces and chance, and contain more affective elements, fewer instances of physical aggression, and less economic orientation. The results are taken to reflect cultural differences, which in turn are the result of myriad aspects, from differential child rearing to differing sociopolitical climates.

Learning considered within a cultural context: Confucian and Socratic approaches.

“…Bellah et al (1985) report& that Americans in their interview study fi-equently alluded to morality, but felt uncornfortable and lacked ski11 when asked to fiirther discuss their moral beliefs. This contrasts with a Chinese tradition in which virtue is more highly salient and more openly discussed (Domino & Hannah, 1987). Li (1996) reported the reverse effect in the emotional domain.…”

“…Even Triandis' phrasing, avoiding the use of the terni morality, may refled Triandis' sensitivity to a Western academic audience uncornfortable with discussion of mords. An alternative yet similar statement is simply that collectivist cultures, Chinese culture included (Domino & Hannah, 1987), promote salience of mord rules and encourage moral exhortations.…”

Enhancing Intercultural Collaborative Learning in a Multinational Classroom: Case of Taiwan

“…In the large-scale survey conducted by Hofstede, Chinese subjects scored low in the Individual Index Value (IDV), thus confirming Chinese culture's collectivist dimension (Hofstede, 2005;Ho, 1986). Domino and Hannah (1987) reported that stories written by young Chinese students contained many more references to teamwork than was the case for their American counterparts.…”

Responding to children's everyday transgressions in Chinese working‐class families

“…Wilson, 1970;Domino & Hannah, 1987;Chiu, 1990;Lee et al, 1997;Fung, 1999;Wang & Leichtman, 2000;Carlsson et al, 2001). The Chinese caregivers' success can perhaps be attributed to their use of guan (governing and caring through education) in responding to children's transgressions.…”

“…Ekblad, 1984;Fung, 1999Fung, , 2001Miller et al, 2001). As a result, Chinese children at a very young age have been found to be more concerned with moral standards and behavioural correctness than their counterparts in other cultures, such as in the US (Wilson, 1970;Domino & Hannah, 1987;Chiu, 1990;Wang & Leichtman, 2000), Canada (Lee et al, 1997), Hungary and Sweden (Carlsson et al, 2001).…”