Some Crossand Intracultural Comparisons of Expressed Values of Arab and American College Students

Abstract

Comparisons of expressed values were made between Arab and American university students, and between groups within the Arab sample. The values expressed consisted of ratings of 55 statements representing situations commonly thought to involve morality. The Arab-American comparisons yielded significant differences between the median ratings on 21 of the 55 items. The large differences occurred in unexpected areas, whereas the expected differences tended to be small. Overall, the obtained expressed values of the Eastern and Western students were similar both in terms of general level of severity and the rankings of the situations presented. The intra-Arab (Moslem-Christian and malefemale) comparisons produced few significant differences. A systematic interpretation of the obtained differences between Moslems and Christians was not evident, while the males and females differed primarily on questions involving sexual behavior. The purpose of this study was to compare the expressed values of Arab and American college students, and to make some comparisons within the Arab sample. The Arab students were attending the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, and the Americans were obtained from Memphis State University, Memphis, Tennessee. Both samples were secured primarily from undergraduate psychology courses. Among the topics discussed by Pittel and Mendelsohn (1966) in their review of the measurement of moral values was that of the intention of the investigator in measuring values. They listed individual assessment, prediction of moral behavior, development of moral values and the comparison of groups with respect to position on various moral issues. It was the last of these aims wxhi ch m ot iv ated thi s study.