A historical analysis of empirical studies published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 1970-2004

Based on a random sample of 200 empirical articles, the present study made a historical analysis of the contents of Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (JCCP) in the period between 1970 and 2004. In comparison to older studies, recent studies tended to be more social-psychological, and more often employed self-reports, based the choice of cultures on theoretical grounds, and adopted a hypothesis-testing approach. A persistent strong focus on cross-cultural differences and a simultaneous underrating of cross-cultural similarities was found. The majority of studies in which only cross-cultural differences were expected, reported differences and similarities. Methodological and conceptual improvements characterized the past 35 years of publications in JCCP. Keywords: Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology; historical analysis; content analysis; cross-cultural differences; cross-cultural similarities; trends