Two studies investigated emic and etic aspects of social axioms and their correlates. In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis with Greek university students revealed five factors resembling the original structure presented by Leung and Bond (2004). There were also indications for a sixth factor comprising of some Reward for Application items and some Social Cynicism items, reflecting stereotypic beliefs about justice and success and the “just world ” belief. Based on a Procrustean rotated solution, five salient factors were identified and they were also in line with the original structure. A “hit matrix ” (Georgas & Mylonas, 2006) containing all possible Tucker Φ comparisons among the factor solutions for six countries — including Greece — supported factor equivalence. However, discrepancies were present for specific factors or specific countries, implying a possible need for emic items. This was attempted in Study 2, with 558 Greek students and 20 additional items for examining a culturally Greek approach to social axioms. The five social axiom dimensions were verified afresh, but an additional culture-specific factor of Social Cynicism stressing competition in human relations emerged. These six social axiom factors were correlated with locus of control. Based on canonical correlation functions, Religiosity and Social Cynicism were correlated, as expected, with External Locus of Control, and Reward for Application was correlated with Internal Locus of Control. These correlations were further supported by discriminant function analyses, with an additional link between Fate Control and External Locus of Control.
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Gari, A., Panagiotopoulou, P., Mylonas, K. (2009). Social Axioms in Greece: Etic and Emic Dimensions and their Relationships with Locus of Control. In: Leung, K., Bond, M.H. (eds) Psychological Aspects of Social Axioms. International and Cultural Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09810-4_12
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