FU Berlin Digitale Dissertation
Judith Bäßler : The understanding of 'happiness' and 'meaning of life' in the concept of human nature An empirical cross-cultural comparison Das Verständnis von "Glück" und "Sinn des Lebens" im Menschenbild von Deutschen und Peruanern
|Abstract| |Table of Contents| |More Information|

Abstract The study identifies universal and culture-specific characteristics in the concept of human nature in a sample of young Peruvian and German adults. The characteristics which emerged as predominant in both cultures were maturity, defined as being autonomous and emotional stable, and a social attitude, defined by tolerance and accepting others in their differences. The perception of meaning in life and happiness was also explored. While Indian sub-samples declared 'Relationships' to be their most prevalent meaning in life, all other sub-samples placed 'Growth', defined mainly as the pursuit of personal goals, in this position. The hypothesis that Peruvians would provide more collectivistic and Germans more individualistic answers could not be confirmed. A stage model, designed to capture the structural differences in conceptualising human nature, was adapted for the Peruvian sub-samples. The data revealed that formal education has a strong influence on how people construct the world around them and which thinking style they develop.

Table of Contents Download the whole PhDthesis as a zip-tar file or as zip-File For download in PDF format click the chapter title 0. Title and contents 1. Introduction 2. Theoretical part 3. Methodological part 4. Hypotheses 5. Results 5.1 General remarks and testing hypothesis 1 5.2 Testing hypothesis 2 5.3 Testing hypothesis 3 5.4 Testing hypothesis 4 6. Discussion 7. References 8. Deutsche Zusammenfassung   Appendix A Appendix B

More Information:
Online available:	http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/2001/232/indexe.html
Language of PhDThesis:	english
Keywords:	concept of human nature; meaning of life; cross-cultural comparison
DNB-Sachgruppe:	11 Psychologie
Date of disputation:	17-Jul-2001
PhDThesis from:	Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaft und Psychologie, Freie Universität Berlin
First Referee:	Prof. Dr. Ralf Schwarzer
Second Referee:	Prof. Dr. Rolf Oerter
Contact (Author):	baessler@zedat.fu-berlin.de
Contact (Advisor):	health@zedat.fu-berlin.de
Date created:	27-Nov-2001
Date available:	28-Nov-2001

 

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