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One hundred fifty-nine male African adults from the Belgian Congo were given a paper-and-pencil perceptual task devised by A. Rey and consisting of drawing lines between randomly arranged black dots so as to isolate simple geometrical figures. A practice task, where the perceptual difficulty was reduced by printing in different colors the dots corresponding to the different figures, was always given first. Both tasks were given without time-limit. Scores were number of correct patterns on the black test, and time taken to complete each of the two tasks. Both time scores were combined by Hotelling's principal components method. Two independent variables were obtained, one of which (J) expresses the general tendency to be slow on both tasks and the other the tendency to be slower on the (difficult) black patterns than on the (easier) color ones. The relationship of these components to accuracy on the black patterns was determined. Africans were compared on both time components with Belgian Ss at the same accuracy level. (It was necessary to use children because European adults are too accurate en this test.) It appears that, for the same degree of accuracy, Africans are always slower on J, but no difference is apparent on B. It is concluded that, as far as these tasks are considered, the slowness of the Africans--defined by comparison with Europeans of the same level of accuracy--is not related to task difficulty. This finding is more easily explained by a general lack of interest in speed performance than by a slower operation of mental functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the decision to utilize the social set as the rating frame in the Japanese cross-cultural comparison of the social-desirability (S-D) of trait-descriptive terms was a highly arbitrary one. Indeed, from the larger body of literature, somewhat discrepant findings have been reported with respect to the effects of variations in instructional set upon S-D ratings. Several investigations have reported that differing instructional sets produce substantial rating differences. Illustratively, college students have made rather low correlations for S-D ratings under a social and personal set. Other investigations, however, report the opposite--i.e. a very high degree of relationship among S-D ratings across diverse sets. For example, some scholars have found that found a 0.90 correlation between "personal" and "social" desirability ratings of personality-test items. It is difficult to know whether such discrepant findings reflect true differences in rating sets, or whether they may, at least in part, result from differences in testing conditions, content, etc.

The article cites a study which presents a cross-cultural comparison of hostility in children's drawings. Subjects were 2382 boys, the majority of whom were 11-13 years of age, comprising 26 cultural groups. The method employed was the interpretation of children's drawings which is a useful approach in the design of cross-cultural investigations. These included the following: presence of weapons (any figure with a gun, knife, sword, etc.), figures of boxers, wrestlers, soldiers, or other persons shown in a posture preparatory for physical struggle--i.e. bared fists or kicking--representations of death or injury, and the delineation of insignias (badges, emblems, medals) commonly associated with cowboys, military figures, etc. Previous research drew attention to the considerable social and psychological strain produced in Thais as a result of an early emphasis upon the desirability of harmonious interpersonal relationships and prohibitions against extreme emotional expression, particularly hostility and aggression. The present study demonstrated differences revealed by children's drawings which, broadly speaking, appear to differentiate a broad range of cultural groups on the variable of hostility.