We examined the negative effects of individualism in an East Asian culture. Although individualistic systems decrease interpersonal relationships through competition, individualistic values have prevailed in European American cultures. One reason is because individuals could overcome negativity by actively constructing interpersonal relationships. In contrast, people in East Asian cultures do n...

Changes in foodways were an object of literary reflection on the Roman past in the early empire. They offered a rich set of ingredients with which to characterize social, economie, and cultural change. Varro is prominent in attesting and shaping this tradition, but it is an older, and more broadly based means of narrating Roman social history. Varro developed this material in his treatise, On t...

BACKGROUND The mini-mental state examination (MMSE) was adapted by individual countries according to their languages and cultures, though it has not been systematically compared. The objective of this study was to compare the linguistic and cultural variations of the MMSE used in various Asian countries. With this, we can analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the MMSE and consider using a com...

As online information dissemination and e-commerce transactions become globally popular, understanding the cultural aspects of Web site documents will gain critical importance. Hidden cultural dimensions could facilitate or inhibit the usability and communication effectiveness of Web sites. However, few studies have investigated the existence of cultural dimensions in Web sites. This study iden...

Many psychologists and philosophers have suggested that religious ideas emerge because they are motivationally attractive. This paper attempts to support a version of the motivational thesis by relying on religious creeds as a source of historical evidence. This simple source of evidence indicates that the cultural evolution of religious ideas is partly a function of the motivational attractive...

Research in cultural evolution has focused on the spread of intuitive or minimally counterintuitive beliefs. However, some very counterintuitive beliefs can also spread successfully, at least in some communities-scientific theories being the most prominent example. We suggest that argumentation could be an important factor in the spread of some very counterintuitive beliefs. A first experiment ...