Newsletter No. 397

8 No. 397, 4.5.2012 …… 如是說 Thus Spake… Prof. Cheung Mui-ching Fanny, Chairperson, Department of Psychology 心理學系系主任張妙清教授 為甚麼會對心理學感興趣？ 小學的時候，我在觀察到別人的行為時，就常會想他們有 甚麼思想？為甚麼會這樣想？為甚麼有這樣的反應？會有甚 麼感受？而心理學是有系統和以科學方法認識人的行為的 學科，後來發現美國中學有心理學課程，所以在香港沒唸完 中學就去了美國。其中一個原因就是給心理學課程所吸引。 為何在19 9 6至9 9年暫離教職，擔任平等機會委員會 （平機會）創會主席？ 我那時是社會科學院院長，也曾猶豫應否離職，但我在社會 上一直推動婦女權益發展，另外也許沒有太多人留意的是， 我同時也推動殘疾人士，特別是精神病康復者的服務和權 益的發展，這些經驗剛好配合平機會在那時推動制訂這兩 方面的條例，就是《性別歧視條例》和《殘疾歧視條例》。 我當時覺得，以往自己做了這麼多工夫，希望社會在這兩方 面有所進步，所以在它漸見成果時，暫離教職，為社會推動 這方面的努力，是很值得的。 中大女教授不少，管理層的女性卻不多，對此你有何看法？ 中大和全香港的情況差不多，在許多機構裏面，女性在領 導階層佔很少數。為甚麼會有這樣的現象？這就要看歷史 發展。女性受基礎教育和高等教育，然後出任一些專業職 位，再晉升領導階層，是要有一段過程。香港女性受教育 的轉變是由70年代後期開始，即1978年實施九年免費義務 教育，至90年代初大學學位增加，女學生的比例逐漸增加， 男女大學生的比例到2000年左右開始逆轉，女生開始佔多 數。我加入中大時，女教師人數不用雙手可數盡。時至今日， 你會看到中層的女性多了很多，這需要慢慢地逐級去演變， 但還需有敏銳的支持和制度去培植女性領導人才。 出色的女性領導須要犧牲家庭嗎？ 現在家庭的兩性分工，還是偏重於傳統觀念，女性通常要 負擔家庭照顧者的主要角色，而社會常將事業與家庭兩極 化，使得年輕女性以為只能二擇其一。我的書《登上巔峰的 女性》探討傑出女性領導者，她們並非要放棄家庭，而是可 以內外兼顧。但須要考慮處事的先後次序，採用不同的策 略，懂得善用時間，甚至尋找不同的社會資源幫忙，當然配 偶合作亦很重要。你會看到很多成功女性，都會感激她們 的配偶認同兩性平等的觀念，支持她們發揮所長。 可否介紹一下你制訂的跨文化（中國人）個性量表（CPAI)？ 心理學常會使用一些有科學根據的測量工具，幫助我們客 觀分析、檢視或者形容人的某些特徵，將人分類。個性測量 除了在臨床評估方面能協助診斷和治療外，還可在工業及 組織管理方面用於選拔、培訓、晉升人才，或幫助員工在考 慮事業發展時加深對自己的認識，用途很廣泛。過去心理學 測量工具多是借用西方制訂的，我剛回香港時就翻譯了有 名的明尼蘇達個性測量表（MMPI）。後來我與中國科學院 心理研究所合作把MMPI中文版本標準化。我們之後再想， 何不自己發展一套適合華人社會文化的個性測量表呢？所 以就以心理科學的測量方法，結合本土文化的個性特徵，發 展出CPAI。 我們在研究中發現了有些個性特徵是文化共通的，但有一 個特徵是過去西方心理學工具比較忽略的，就是人際關係 的角度，西方心理學比較着重個人主義，中國人則很着重從 人與人之間的關係去反映他的性格，例如和諧、人情，在過 往西方的量表裏不大着重。而CPAI的跨文化研究顯示，這些 特徵並非局限於華人文化，在其他着重集體主義的文化也 非常切合。 美國心理學會今年向你頒發「推動心理學國際發展傑出貢 獻獎」，你有何感受？ 我希望能令國際心理學界更認識我的工作背後的一些理 念。藉着這次獲獎，推動他們更加認識文化，包括中國文化， 對心理學的影響。中大心理學系很強調我們是中國人在心理 學界的聲音。中國人佔世界人口的五分之一，中國人的文化 經驗，中國人的心理學，對主流心理學應該有更大影響。 Why were you interested in psychology? When I was in primary school, I liked to observe people’s behaviour, wondering what they thought, what they felt and why they had such reactions. Psychology is a scientific field that systematically investigates human behaviour. I was interested in it and learned that American high schools had psychology courses. That’s why I went to the US before I finished my secondary school education in Hong Kong. Why did you choose to leave the University to serve as the founding chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) from 1996 to 1999? I was the Dean of Social Science at that time. I did hesitate over leaving that position. I had been advancing women’s rights. But not many people knew that I had also been active in promoting the services for and the rights of people with disabilities, especially those of ex-mentally ill persons. At that time the EOC was set up to implement the Sex Discrimination Ordinance and the Disability Discrimination Ordinance. I felt obligated to help with the implementation of these two ordinances at a nascent stage. So I decided to take leave from my academic career. I think it was worth it. CUHK has many female professors. But we don’t have many women in senior management. What do you think of this? CUHK is no different from other corporations in Hong Kong, in which women leaders are rare. Why? You have to put it in its historical context. It is a long process of social change that involves education, especially higher education, for women, their career advancement, and their ascension to senior positions. In Hong Kong, it was not until the late 1970s that the majority of women began to receive proper education after the introduction of nine- year compulsory education. By the early 1990s, with the expansion of higher education, the numbers of female university students began to increase. By around 2000, their numbers began to exceed those of male students. When I first joined CUHK, I could count on two hands the number of female teachers on campus. Now you can see that there have been more and more women in middle management of their professions. Social change takes time. But it’s also important that we have sensitive support and systems for mentoring women leaders. Is it inevitable that women can only achieve success in their careers at the expense of their families? Now the gender division of labour is still very traditional— the role of family caregiver is chiefly played by women. The dichotomy between career and family is still perceived to be true by many in our society and many young women think that they’re mutually exclusive. My book Women at the Top is a study of outstanding women leaders. Instead of foregoing a happy family for a successful career, they combine work and family life. To achieve this, you have to set priorities, adopt innovative strategies, make good use of time, and enlist support of social resources. Of course, spousal cooperation is very important. Many successful women leaders are grateful to their husbands for embracing gender equality. What is your Cross-cultural (Chinese) Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI) meant for? In psychology, we often use certain scientifically-based assessment tools to evaluate, analyse or describe a person’s personality and categorize them. Personality assessment tools are not only useful for diagnosis and treatment in clinical practice, they can also be used in the organizational context to recruit, train and promote employees, or to help employees get a better understanding of themselves in their career development. In the past, many of these tools originated in the West. When I returned to Hong Kong, I translated the famous Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and worked in collaboration with the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to standardize the Chinese version of the MMPI. After that we thought: why don’t we develop a personality assessment that is culturally relevant to the Chinese society? That’s why we developed the CPAI by combining scientific assessment methods of psychology and personality traits of Chinese. In our study we found that certain personality traits are universal across cultures. But there is a dimension that had been neglected by Western assessment tools— interpersonal relatedness. Western psychology is more individualistic in nature while the Chinese personality is characterized by elements of the interpersonal dimension, such as harmony, relationship orientation, which are not highlighted in Western assessment tools. The cross-cultural studies relating to the CPAI show that these elements are not only specific to Chinese culture, but also relevant to other cultures characterized by collectivism. You’ve been selected as the co-recipient of the American Psychological Association 2012 Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology. How do you feel about it? I hope that it would help international psychologists to better understand the notions underlying my work and the relevance of cultures, including Chinese culture, to psychology. Our department is committed to promoting a distinctive Chinese voice in psychology. The Chinese make up one-fifth of the world’s population. The cultural experience of the Chinese and Chinese psychology should have a bigger influence on mainstream psychology.