Chi-Yue Chiu

Introduction Vaccination by enabling herd immunity was crucial to ending the COVID-19 pandemic. Collectivism as a cultural value prioritizes social responsibility over personal choice and prescribes the use of the wait-and-adjust heuristic in decision-making. Past COVID-19 research showed that in more collectivist cultures, enforcement of non-pharmaceutical interventions was more effective and infection and mortality rates were lower. However, more collectivist cultures, with their greater reliance on the wait-and- adjust heuristic in decision-making, might delay vaccination before the vaccines’ effectiveness and safety was ascertained.Methods The hypothesized relationship between collectivism and slow vaccination uptake was tested in two studies. In a national survey (n = 5,438) conducted in China (a country with significant regional variations in collectivism), 153 days after COVID-19 vaccines were available, respondents’ collectivism and their vaccination behavior and intention were measured (Study 1). Next, data on collectivism and daily changes in vaccination rates from 183 cultures were analyzed with a series of multilevel models to assess the relationship of collectivism with changes in the vaccination rates across cultures (Study 2).Results When vaccines were unavailable, more collectivist cultures had fewer COVID-19 infection and death rates. However, after vaccines were released in China, more collectivist Chinese citizens were less likely to receive early vaccination (Study 1). Furthermore, around the world, more collectivist cultures had slower vaccination rates in the first year of vaccination administration (Study 2). Conclusions Although collectivism motivates compliance with NPI requirements, it is associated with late vaccination uptake. Past research shows that strengthening a shared sense of identity and inoculation against misinformation are two effective COVID-19 control strategies. The present research suggests that for pandemic management, identity strengthening is particularly commendable in less collectivist cultures before and after vaccines are available, whereas misinformation inoculation is particularly commendable in more collectivist cultures when vaccines are available.

Meaning in life protects individuals from mental distress during social upheaval. We posit that a growth mindset and consistency of interest positively predict meaning in life during social upheaval. The present research tested the hypothesis that among adolescence living in a period of social upheaval, the presence of a growth mindset (the belief in malleability of valued personal attributes) positively predicts persistent engagement in purpose‐congruent interests (consistency of interest), which in turn positively predicts the feeling that life is meaningful (presence of meaning in life). To test this hypothesis and to clarify the temporal causal connections among growth mindset, consistency of interest, and presence of meaning in life, we conducted a 3‐wave longitudinal cross‐lagged panel study with 275 Hong Kong adolescents between late 2017 and early 2020, which covered a period of social upheaval. As hypothesized, having a growth mindset predicted meaning in life two years later through the mediating effect of consistency of interest. These findings extended past findings by identifying a new causal pathway for the temporal causal effects of a growth mindset on the presence of meaning in life over two years in a population and context with high vulnerability to mental distress. (193 words).

The JPRP Special Issue on Growth Mindset in Chinese Context was put together to address three questions. First, is the growth mindset less popular among the Chinese than Americans and Europeans? Second, is the growth mindset less relevant to human performance and psychological well-being in Chinese societies than in Western societies? Third, can the effectiveness of growth-mindset interventions in Chinese societies be enhanced, and if yes, how? In this editorial article, we review the research literature on growth mindset in the Chinese context. Our review focuses on articles published in the last five years (2019–2024). Most of these articles were published in English outlets. This review aims to situate the 13 articles included in the present issue in a broader theoretical background. The present editorial article consists of five sections: (1) the relative prevalence of the growth mindset in Chinese and Western societies; (2) evidence for the beneficial psychological and achievement effects of growth mindset in Chinese societies; (3) the supportive conditions for the development of a growth mindset; (4) the effectiveness of growth mindset interventions in Chinese societies; and (5C) future directions for growth mindset research in the Chinese context.

Teaching innovations can improve the quality of education and facilitate adaptation to environmental shifts caused by global shocks such as the COVID pandemic. However, the pressure to innovate and change may also cause erosion of teachers’ life satisfaction, especially when job resources are insufficient and support for the changes is inadequate, or when teachers lack confidence in mastering new teaching technology. In the present research, we showed that compared to those who did not, teachers who presented a growth mindset—the belief that one's abilities can grow by mobilizing effective effort—had a greater tendency to accept a new initiative in teaching and had higher life satisfaction, particularly when they perceived resources and support for the change were insufficient (Study 1). In addition, when schools needed to switch to online teaching because of school closure during the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers who presented a growth mindset, compared to those who did not, felt more self-efficacious in mastering online teaching and had higher life satisfaction (Study 2). We discuss these findings in terms of their implications on the management of teacher well-being and teachers’ professional development during significant environmental shifts.

Increasing the level of correspondence between measures of growth mindset and their related outcomes could afford more precise prediction of the relationships between growth mindset and social-emotional outcomes. To illustrate the value of measurement correspondence, two studies were conducted in Hong Kong. Study 1 showed that an agent-correspondent growth mindset measure (parents’ perception of the malleability of their children's personal qualities), compared to an agent-non-correspondent one (parents’ belief in the malleability of personal qualities of a generalized other), had stronger predictive relationship with children's likelihood of displaying difficult behaviors. Study 2 found that children's self-theories about the malleability of their intelligence (an intrapersonal construct) had stronger predictive relationship with academic engagement (an intrapersonal outcome) than did their perception of growth mindset norm (a normative construct). However, perceived growth mindset norm regarding personal qualities had stronger predictive relationship with peer relationship quality (an interpersonal outcome). Together these results demonstrated that when corresponding measures of growth mindset were used to predict an outcome, more reliable growth mindset effects would emerge.

Past research showed that people may hold contradictory ideas about something or someone. Mindset ambivalence refers to the psychological state in which a person holds contradictory beliefs about the malleability of a valued attribute and spontaneously expresses agreement with both the fixed and growth mindsets. Our past findings showed that a sizable proportion of Hong Kong Chinese adults possess the ambivalent mindset. In the present study, 101 Hong Kong Chinese parents completed a survey during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings provided further support for the prevalence of the ambivalent mindset. In addition, we found that parents with the ambivalent mindset tended to support several parental practices that would reinforce the relative ability rankings of their children. These practices included person praise, mobilization of effort to compensate for low ability, and lowering of expectation to avoid future failures. Finally, the use of these parental practices was accompanied by deterioration of parent–child relationship when children displayed undesirable self-regulatory behaviors. We discuss these findings’ implications for growth mindset interventions in Chinese societies.

Purpose: This paper aims to identify distinct consumption patterns among Asian consumers and examine how these relate to cultural antecedents and key human values.Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a large, representative sample of almost 7,000 Asian consumers in 10 culturally varying markets, using latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify the consumption profiles.Findings: The findings empirically demonstrate that the two profiles are “inner-directed nationalistic frugals” (IDNF) and “outer-directed self-eekers” (ODSS). IDNF consumers spend more time and money on education and prefer ethnocentric consumption. ODSS consumers emphasize individuality, self-expression, seeking novelty and impressing others. Consumers with more collective values in Schwartz's typology tend to demonstrate the IDNF pattern; those with more individualistic values demonstrate the ODSS pattern. The distribution of IDNF and ODSS profiles is influenced by demographics, religion and geographical region: IDNF is greater than ODSS in Southeast Asia; ODSS is greater than IDNF in East Asia; IDNF is roughly equal to ODSS in Northeast Asia. IDNF tends to be found among older and more religious consumers, while ODSS is the opposite. Importantly, in the more religious Southeast Asian countries, even younger consumers are more IDNF than ODSS.Research limitations/implications: This research uses an exploratory and discovery-oriented approach; future research can use more confirmatory approaches to systematically examine the relationship between cultural dimensions (e.g. individualism-collectivism) and consumption patterns.Practical implications: For their brands to grow in Asian markets, marketing practitioners are advised to use multiple brands to segment Asian consumers based on their values, demographics, geographical location and what religious/faith traditions they follow.Originality/value: This is the first paper to identify consumption profiles in Asian markets using LPA without prior conceptual biases and relate them to cultural values and demographic variables.

Past research on pathways to cultural influence on judgment has compared the explanatory power of personal preferences, perceived descriptive norms and institutionalization. Positive education is an education movement inspired by Western positive psychology. The present study examined how these factors jointly predict Hong Kong teachers’ evaluation of imported positive education programs in their schools. In a field study, we measured teachers’ personal endorsement of growth mindset (a positive psychology construct developed in the US) and their evaluation of adopting positive education programs in their schools. We also measured teachers’ perception of the extent of institutional and normative support for positive education in their schools. The results show that teachers’ personal preferences for growth mindset predict more favorable evaluation of positive education programs when institutional and normative support for positive education programs are both weak, or when they are both strong. We interpret these effects from the perspectives of the strong situation hypothesis and the intersubjective theory of culture.