"This work provides ways to characterize cultures, and gives researchers a set of lenses for looking at cultures. When researchers know what people value and how they use the axioms, they can predict what people will do in their cultural niche - how they are likely to interact with each other, how they are likely to relate to outsiders, how they are going to react to their jobs, what emotions they are likely to feel in different circumstances, and how are they going to deal with conflict."

-- Harry C. Triandis, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Illinois, U.S.A.

Positive and negative beliefs about human nature and the social world, the role of fate in life events, and the belief in the existence of a supreme being: social axioms as general beliefs exist both explicitly and implicitly in cultural values and traditions the world over. In Psychological Aspects of Social Axioms, an international team of researchers brings new depth to the study of these culture-bound belief systems as they inform interpersonal and organizational behavior, are passed from parents to children and sustained by social institutions, and contribute to both national character and individual personality.

The editors offer an insightful introduction to the social axiom framework and its basic issues, introducing studies from a variety of countries that explore the influence of these widespread beliefs as humans solve problems, pursue goals, and make sense of their lives.

A sampling of the topics:

• Transmission of social axioms during times of social change (Germany, Spain).


• Social axioms and behavior of college students (India, Indonesia).


• Relationships between axioms and locus of control (Italy, Greece).


• Proactive coping in Christians and Muslims.


• Cynicism in romantic and political relationships.


• Social axioms in the U.S.: ethnic and geographic studies.

With its groundbreaking constructs for intercultural understanding, Psychological Aspects of Social Axioms will find a wide and interested audience in cultural and clinical psychologists, cross-cultural trainers and educators. The book will also provide upper-level students in psychology and cultural studies with new directions for future research.

Kwok Leung is professor and Head of Management at City University of Hong Kong. He received his doctorate in social and organizational psychology at the University of Illinois. He is Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Journal of International Business Studies and senior editor of Management and Organization Review. His research areas include justice and conflict, cross-cultural psychology and research methods, and international business.

Michael Harris Bond is Professor of Psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He graduated from Stanford University, where he began his study of person perception, subsequently broadened to include research into the areas of justice, aggression, and impression management.

Integrative Reviews and Basic Issues.- The Mileage from Social Axioms: Learning from the Past and Looking Forward.- Social Axioms and Organizational Behavior.- Structural Equivalence and Differential Item Functioning in the Social Axioms Survey.- Exploring Ethnic Group and Geographic Differences in Social Axioms in the USA.- Social Axioms among Malay, Chinese, and Kadazan Students in Sabah, Malaysia: Differences in Gender and Ethnic Groups.- Transmission of Social Axioms.- Are Parents Decisive? The Intergenerational Transmission of Social Axioms Under Conditions of Rapid Social Change.- Processes of Transmission and Change of Social Axioms and their Behavioral Influence in Spanish Culture.- Nomological Network of Social Axioms.- Linking Social Axioms with Behavioral Indicators and Personality in Romania.- Exploring the Links between Social Axioms and the Epistemological Beliefs about Learning held by Filipino Students.- An Examination of Proactive Coping and Social Beliefs among Christians and Muslims.- Social Axioms in Greece: Etic and Emic Dimensions and their Relationships with Locus of Control.- Do General Beliefs Predict Specific Behavioral Intentions in Indonesia? The Role of Social Axioms within the Theory of Planned Behavior.- Cynicism in Love and in Politics.- Social Axioms in Italian Culture: Relationships with Locus of Control and Moral Development.- Social Axioms and Individualistic-Collectivist Orientations in Indian College Students.- Explaining Individuating Behavior Across Cultures: The Contributions of Values and Social Axioms.- Conclusion.- Believing in Beliefs: A Scientific but Personal Quest.