SOCIAL DECISION-MAKING STRATEGIES AMONG FINNISH AND ESTONIAN ADOLESCENTS

Justifications for aggression and withdrawal were compared between Fin nish and Estonian adolescents. The former had grown up in a pluralisti c Western culture; the latter, in a communist Soviet culture. After re ceiving a questionnaire with descriptions of 2 everyday social problem s, teasing and backbiting, and a list of problem-solving strategies, t he participants were asked how they would justify the use of each stra tegy. The Estonian participants more frequently chose instrumental jus tifications for aggression, whereas the Finnish participants tended to report that aggressive behavior was ''fun.'' Aggression may be percei ved as more deviant in Finland than in Estonia. Among the Finnish part icipants, withdrawal was motivated by a desire to avoid harm; among th e Estonian participants, withdrawal reflected helplessness. The Estoni an participants experienced cognitive dissonance between official educ ation and the informal information learned in families; there was also dissonance between inner speech (banned history) and the official his tory taught in the schools.