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The Activation of the representation of subject’s profession feature and action during language comprehension 2012, 35(6): 1282-1288.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Three experiments were designed to explore the activation of the representation of subject’s profession feature and action during language comprehension. Experiment 1 explored the activation of the subjects’ profession feature during the comprehension of the sentences which are in the pattern of “the person who does something is ……”, and Experiment 2 further explored the problem in “somebody does something……”. In Experiment 3, participants were asked to recognize the pictures through mouth instead of hands. To integrate the result of experiment 1, Experiment 3a explored the activation of the representation of the action performer during the comprehension of the sentences “the person who does something is ……”and whether the representation of profession feature will be activated at the same time. Experiment 3b explored the activation of the representation of the action performer during the comprehension of the sentences “somebody does something ……”and whether the representation of profession feature will be activated at the same time. The conclusions can be summarized as follows: The representation of subjects’ profession feature is activated during the comprehension of the sentences which are in the pattern of “the person who does something is ……”, while comprehending the sentences “somebody does something”, the representation of subjects’ profession feature is activated only when the participants’ performer is in accordance with the action performer in the sentence. The representation of the action performer is activated during the process of comprehending sentences which is in the pattern of “the person who does something is……”, while in the sentences “somebody does something”, the representation of the action performer is obviously activated only when the profession described in the sentence is in accordance with that in the picture. Both he representation of subjects’ profession feature and action performer are activated during the comprehension of sentences “the person who does something is ……”, while during the comprehension of sentences “who does something” , the occurrence of this phenomenon is affected by the matching of the other representation. While the other representation is in the matching condition, one representation can be activated at the same time, if not , no obvious activation . Related Articles | Metrics

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The Eye-movement Characteristics of Undergraduates with Depressed Mood in Their Response Inhibition xinyu luo Rui Chen xin gao renlai zhou 2012, 35(6): 1289-1293.  Abstract ( )   PDF   This study aims to investigate the response inhibition toward emotional faces in depressed mood (DM) by using antisaccade tasks. Subjects were rated 11 DM and 12 ND on the Beck depression inventory (BDI) and self-rating depression scale (SDS) with happy, neutral and sad facial expressions as stimuli. The results showed: the response times in DM group were slower than ND group in these two tasks; the error rate in DM group was higher relative to ND group while emotional faces were presented, especially for the sad faces in the antisaccade task. These findings suggest that individuals with DM are slower than the ones with ND in the speed of cognitive processing; furthermore, the ones with DM impaired inhibitory response to emotional faces, in particular sad faces. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Interpretation Biases for Positive Facial Stimuli in Social Anxiety 2012, 35(6): 1294-1297.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Previous research suggested that socially anxious individuals may form threatening interpretations of positive facial stimuli. However, some studies failed to evidence an interpretation bias toward positive faces. These studies may suffer from several methodological limitations that the present study attempted to overcome, and none of them assessed the interpretations bias, if exist, over time. The present study tried to figure out whether the socially anxious individuals are characterized by an interpretation bias towards positive facial stimuli, and investigated whether this interpretation bias tends to occur at an early stage in the interpretation process of positive stimuli, or it occurs at a later stage. The current study consisted of a 2 (stimulus duration type) ×2 (group type) mixed factors design. The within-subjects factor of duration type had two levels (long vs. brief durations), and the between-subjects factor of group type had two levels (high vs. low social anxiety groups). Before the experiment, participants first finished a package of questionnaires (SIAS, SPS, BFNE), then they were told that they would conduct an impromptu speaking task after the experiment, and their performance would be assessed. Participants were made to convinced that the experiment is about to test their social and presentation skills. After the experiment, no speaking task would be performed. Participants were debriefed and explained about the design. In the experiment, a positive face and a matched neutral face were presented on the screen at the same time each trial. Participants scoring high and low on Social Interaction Anxiety Scale were instructed to imagine these faces represented the audiences in their coming speaking task, and they were asked to identify the facial displays which they subjectively perceived to be more threatening. The matched positive and neutral facial displays were presented at both long (unlimited) and brief (60ms) stimulus durations. By doing so, interpretation biases to perceiving threat in positive facial stimuli were assessed over time under the public speaking situation. The numbers of the positive facial displays chose to be more threatening when compared with the neutral ones were recorded by the program. The dependent variables were analyzed with repeated measure ANOVA. Results showed that high social anxiety participants chose significantly more positive facial stimuli than low social anxiety participants at long stimulus durations, while no differences between groups could be found at brief stimulus durations. We come to a conclusion that, in contrast with the control group, high social anxiety participants are characterized by an interpretation bias towards positive facial stimuli, and are more likely to perceive them in a more threatening way in social interaction. It also suggested that only at long durations, participants with high vs. low social anxiety tended to interpret positive facial stimuli in different fashions. So based on these findings, we then propose that this interpretation bias for positive facial displays in socially anxious individuals may occur at a later stage in the interpretation process of positive stimuli. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Time Frequency and Source Location of Insight in the Three-Character Riddles Task 2012, 35(6): 1298-1303.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Insight is universal. It is also one of the components of creativity which lies at the core of numerous discoveries, such as, Archimedes’s discovery of the law buoyancy, Newton’s finding of the law of gravitation or Kekulé’s discovery of the ring structure of benzene. However, it attracts relatively little attention. Although gestalt psychologists have gotten path-breaking findings by phenomenal observations, until about recent ten years, a few studies have started to explore the cognitive process or mechanism of insight problem solving. The current study adopted normal three-word Chinese riddles and employed high-density event related potentials (ERPs) to detect the neural correlates of insight involved in problem solving. ERP waveform analysis revealed that, in the time course of 320-550 ms, “Aha!” responses elicited a more negative defection (N380) than No-aha ones did. For the difference wave, the latency of the negative defection was 380ms, and maximum amplitude located at Cz. Time-frequency analysis showed that, there were an decreased gamma power and an decreased upper beta power associated with N380 in the range of 320~550ms. Independent component analysis indicated that, there were four dynamic but independent dipole source related to N380 during its time course, which located at right middle frontal gyrus, left inferior parietal lobule, right superior temporal gyrus and left inferior frontal gyrus, respectively. These results suggest that the N380 is the N400, and is responsible for transformative processing from explicit meaning into metaphoric meaning in the three-charter riddles. Related Articles | Metrics

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Comparison of Different Cognitive Control Components in Non-proficient and Proficient Chinese-English Bilinguals 2012, 35(6): 1304-1308.  Abstract ( )   PDF   A large number of studies demonstrated bilinguals’ advantage in cognitive control and some researchers explored the components of cognitive control. Bialystok and Viswanathan(2009) compared three components of cognitive control between bilingual children and monolingual children. However, there are three gaps: (1) Whether existing results are suitable for Chinese-English Bilinguals? (2) Compared to non-proficient bilinguals, whether proficient bilinguals also have advantage in some components of cognitive control? (3) Whether the influence of bilingualism on some components of cognitive control in bilingual children is consistent with that in bilingual adults? The present study aims at solving these questions. Thirty non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals and thirty proficient Chinese-English bilinguals were asked to administer ‘faces task’. All participants were adults. Before this task, all participants should finish Raven Intelligence Test, culture, ethnic background and SES survey to eliminate the influence of some irrelevant variables. In face task, the colored eyes could be looking either straight ahead or towards one of the two boxes, creating straight eyes task and gaze shift task. Participants should press the key on the same side as the box containing the asterisk if the eyes turned green and the opposite side if the eyes turned red. Two methods were used to assess inhibitory control. One method was assessed by the difference in RT between trials in which the eyes looked towards the target and those in which the eyes looked away from the target in the gaze shift task. The result showed that non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals produced a larger cost than proficient Chinese-English bilinguals, t(57)=2.107，p=0.040. The other method was assessed by the difference between gaze shift and straight eye trials. The result showed that non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals produced a slightly larger cost than proficient Chinese-English bilinguals, t(57)=1.843, p=0.071. Switching was assessed by the difference between mixed and single block presentations. The result showed that non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals produced a larger cost than proficient Chinese-English bilinguals, t(57)=2.006， p=0.050. Response suppression was assessed by the difference between red and green eye trials. The result showed that the difference between the two groups was not significant, t(57)=0.964，p=0.339. These results demonstrate that bilingualism contributes to inhibitory control and switching, but does little help to response suppression. Compared to non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals, proficient Chinese-English bilinguals have advantage in inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility, but not in switching. These results not only enrich existing studies on bilingualism, but also help us understand the different effect of bilingualism on components of cognitive control. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Effect of Spatial-temporal Cueing on Representation Momentum ZHANG ZhiJie 2012, 35(6): 1309-1314.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Memory for the final location of a moving target is often displaced in the direction of anticipated target motion, and this has been called representational momentum. How the attention influence the representational momentum is a question of empirical and theoretical interest. Hayes and Freyd’s (2002) experiments the manipulation of attention occurred during presentation of the target and was relatively long in duration, in which forward displacement increased with decreases in attention. Whereas in Kerzel’s(2003) experiment, the manipulation of attention occurred after the target vanished and was relatively short in duration, in which forward displacement decreased with decreases in attention. In an attempt to consider whether methodological differences or effects of attention per se can account for the different results of Hayes and Freyd and of Kerzel, we considered the effects of a spatial cue in the experiments reported here. The cue presented at the same display coordinates of the final position of a horizontally moving target were considered the high-relevant cue; The cue presented at the same display coordinates of the first position of a horizontally moving target were considered the low-relevant cue, The research included two experiments. In experiment l, the high-relevant cue and the low-relevant cue was presented during of target motion. In experiment 2, the high-relevant cue and the low-relevant cue was presented the during the retention interval. Forty-eight undergraduates attended experiments. Each participant was assigned to either the experiment l group or experiment 2 group, who received 168 trials [3(Cue: the high-relevant cue, the low-relevant cue, cue absent) × 2(direction of motion: left, right) × 7(probes: -15,-10,-5, 0, +5, +10, +15) × 4 replications] in a different random order. These experiments resulted in three main findings: First, the high-relevant cue or the low-relevant cue was presented during of target motion or during the retention interval, forward displacement of target decreased, relative to when a cue was absent. Second, presentation of the high-relevant cue during of target motion or during the retention interval decreased forward displacement of the target. Representational momentum was marginally significant, but the high-relevant cue did not eliminate forward displacement of the target. Third, presentation of the low-relevant cue during of target motion interval decreased forward displacement of the target, representational momentum was significant; Presentation of the low-relevant cue during the retention interval, displacement of the target was opposite to the direction of motion. In conclusion, the results of this study indicated that cues provided information regarding the final location of the target, which suggested that representational momentum was a control process. The high-relevant cue played a critical part in localizing target motion, but it did not eliminate forward displacement of the target. This was consistent with hypotheses that representational momentum is at least partly automatic. However, the low-relevant cue presented at different timings or for different durations could have different effects upon the placement. To the further verified the two-process theory of representational momentum. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Influence of Emotion on Retrieval-induced forgetting Xiping Liu 2012, 35(6): 1315-1322.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Retrieval-induced forgetting refers to the finding that repeated retrieving a subset of previously studied items can cause forgetting of related non-retrieved items. Results from prior work suggest that emotions can influence how information is processed. There is evidence that negative emotions result in predominantly item-specific processing and positive emotions result in predominantly relational processing. Retrieval-induced forgetting which presupposes relational processing has been found to be eliminated if individuals process events in an item-specific way. Thus, positive and negative emotions may have opposing effects on retrieval-induced forgetting. Researches extending the procedure to autobiographical memory found forgetting may occur in both neutral and emotional autobiographical memories. However, research concerning the effects of mood on retrieval-induced forgetting has been argued that the experience of negative moods during retrieval can eliminate the later forgetting. The current study is to explore the influence of emotion on retrieval-induced forgetting from two dimensions. One is whether retrieval-induced forgetting would be different for emotional and neutral contents; the other is whether the affective state experienced during retrieval can influence forgetting. To examine whether the emotionality of material would affect retrieval-induced forgetting, experiment 1 selected sixty positive, negative and neutral words of three categories from the Chinese Affective Words System. Twenty-one students studied these emotional words and then practiced retrieving some of words for some of the categories. After a 1-minute distracter task, they tried to recall all these words. Recall performance was then compared for three types of items. To examine whether mood can modulate retrieval-induced forgetting, experiment 2 constructed three word lists, each of them including three semantic categories. Every category included six neural exemplars. Twenty-one students studied these materials and then were asked to repeatedly retrieve a subset of the material. Immediately before retrieval, positive, negative, or neutral moods were induced. Subjects were successively shown five pictures of the same valence which were selected from the Chinese Affective System, and were instructed to let the pictures influence their emotional state. In the final test, subjects were provided all category names to recall all words. Recall performance for words that received retrieval practice were reliably higher on final test than baseline level, whereas recall performance for words that were not practiced but belonging to the same categories as the practiced words were reliably lower than baseline level. In experiment 1, retrieval practice caused the same amount of forgetting for both neutral and emotional words, indicating that the emotionality of material does not affect retrieval-induced forgetting. This result was consistent with prior research. In experiment 2, when subjects were in positive and negative moods, repeated retrieval did not cause forgetting of the nonretrieved material, whereas when subjects were in neutral moods, they showed reliable retrieval-induced forgetting. The findings suggest that the affective state experience during retrieval can modulate retrieval-induced forgetting, that is, retrieval cannot induce forgetting in positive mood, whereas negative mood can eliminate such forgetting. The two experiments tested the effect of emotion on retrieval-induced forgetting from two related but separate dimensions. The results suggest that the emotionality of material does not affect retrieval-induced forgetting, but the affective state experience during retrieval can modulate such forgetting. These findings illustrate that the influence of emotion on retrieval-induced forgetting is predominantly the effect of affective state. Moreover, the present results which imply mood can affect retrieval-induced forgetting may provide information on the interplay between mood and episodic forgetting. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Effects of Belief in a Just World on Memory Bias 2012, 35(6): 1323-1327.  Abstract ( )   PDF   The belief in a just world (BJW) states that people have a need to believe that their environment is a just and orderly place where people usually get what they deserve and deserve what they get. The present research examined whether people would distort the past and reconstruct their memories to sustain the belief in a just world. Two experiments were conducted. In experiment 1, 40 college students were recruited. The participants were asked to read a piece of news that someone won a lottery prize. Then they were required to answer some questions about the news to make sure that they had read the material seriously. Next, 18 positive or negative sentences were presented in sequence to describe the prize winner as a “good” or “bad” person. Lastly, participants were asked to recall the lottery prize. The results showed that a prize close to the real number was recalled for a “good” winner and a much lower prize was for a “bad” winner, which reflected participants’ justice belief influencing the reconstruction of memory. Experiment.2 used 2X2 between-subject design and 124 college students were recruited. At first, the participants were presented one of the two stories about the same person and his incurring but different endings, with the purpose to affect the participants’ BJW state in advance (to threaten or affirm the BJW). The following steps were as experiment 1. The results showed an interaction between the BJW state and the quality of the prize winner. In details, the recalled prize was not affected by the pre-activated BJW state for a “good” prize winner, while the pre-threatened group recalled less money than real prize number for a “bad” winner and the pre-affirmed group showed no difference memory for “good” and “bad” winner. The results suggested that an unrelated experience could transfer to the current situation and influence the memory reconstruction in order to sustain BJW. Taken together, these findings support for the notion that the memory reconstruction can serve as a coping reaction to sustain a BJW. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Influence of Forms of Stimulus on Space–time Compatibility Effects Feng Kong 2012, 35(6): 1328-1332.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Past studies have shown that concepts related to the past are associated with left-side responses, whereas concepts related to the future are associated with right-side responses, which is called the space-time compatibility (STC) effect. Some researchers have considered the direction of habitual reading and writing as the origin of this compatibility effect. However, the hypothesis was supported from the evidence across different cultures, but lack of the evidence within a culture. Our goal of the study is to investigate whether orthography influence implicit spatial representations of time independent of other cultural and linguistic factors. Using the time discrimination task, two behavior experiments were conducted for this purpose. A total of 20 180-degree rotated (Experiment 1) or mirror-reversed (Experiment 2) time-related words were given, half of them referring to past time and the other half referring to future time. In the time discrimination task, participants were asked to decide whether the word referred to the past or the future by pressing A or L on the keyboards of the computer. The reaction time of participants were recorded and analyzed with repeated measure MANOVA. The results of experiment 1 indicated that there was a clear interaction between time-related words and response location. Participants’ responses were faster when past and future time were mapped onto left and right keys, respectively, than when the opposite mapping was used. The results in experiment 2 indicated that there was also a clear interaction between time-related words and response location. Participants were faster responding to past words with the right hand and to future words with the left hand. The pattern of results in experiment 2 was opposite to the pattern of results in experiment 1. The opposite pattern of reaction times in the mirror-reversed condition was consistent with those results found previously in native Arabic and Hebrew speakers. In conclusion, our results suggest that people activate implicit associations between spatial representation and temporal representation when processing temporal language, and that the specifics of these associations could vary systematically within a culture. These results demonstrate a causal role for writing direction in shaping implicit mental representations of time. Related Articles | Metrics

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The modulation of object-based attention on Simon effect 2012, 35(6): 1333-1337.  Abstract ( )   PDF   One of researchers’ interests in exploring the mechanism of Simon effect is to determine whether attention plays a critical role in the formation of spacial code. The attention shift account and referential coding account have been proposed to predict modulation effect of attention on Simon effect. However, most studies did not find any change in Simon effect when they manipulate different attention condition, and accordingly, these accounts were not supported by experimental studies. In contrast, some studies did suggest that Simon effect could be modulated by attention. Therefore, there are heated debates on whether attention could modulate Simon effect. In conclusion, we speculate that a possible reason for the contradictory results of previous studies is that the modulation effect of attention on Simon effect is object-based. To test our hypothesis, we used the experimental paradigm of Egly et al. (1994). If the hypothesis holds, we will observe that the object-based instead of space-based attention affects Simon effect. Thirty-four young participants (25 female) were recruited in this experiment. The study consisted of 24 trials full-feedback practice block and four experimental block of 128 trials each. In each trial, a fixation point was presented in the center of the screen, and two rectangular boxes were separately presented either above or below the fixation point, or left or right to the fixation point. After 1000 ms, one end of the rectangular box was flashed as cue for 100 ms. Then a screen with two rectangular boxes was presented for 100 ms. After offset of that screen, the target appeared in one end of rectangular box for 100 ms. Followed by a gray blank screen which was presented for 100 ms. Participants were instructed to respond as quickly and accurately as possible once the target appeared. Finally, a fixation point was presented in the center of the screen with a random duration of 600~800 ms. The E-Prime package was used to present stimuli and record and collect data. The results showed that when the rectangular boxes were vertically arranged, Simon effect had no significant change under the space-based and object-based attention conditions, while when they were horizontally arranged, Simon effect marginally significant increased under the object-based attention condition, but no significant change was found under the space-based attention condition. This confirms that the object-based attention could modulate Simon effect, but the modulation effect significantly depends on the arrangement of rectangular boxes in the paradigm. This study can deepen our understanding of the relationship between attention and Simon effect as well as the formation mechanism of Simon effect. Related Articles | Metrics

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Perceptual Learning of Peripheral Vision 2012, 35(6): 1338-1342.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Perceptual learning is defined as improvement of the performance on perceptual tasks after training. Perceptual learning of human visual system has been widely investigated. Previous studies on perceptual learning were focused on its specificity and generalization. In some visual tasks, such as retinal location, spatial frequency or orientation, the learned performance is limited to the specific stimulus. In some other visual tasks, the improved performance can be transferred to different stimulus or tasks. Specificity and generalization can be viewed as two ends of a transferability continuum, on which each task may have a specific position (or value). Neurophysiological findings suggested that perceptual learning of different complexities may involve different levels of visual cortical processing, and the neural mechanism involved may depend on the feature (e.g., the complexity) of the stimulus in the task. Perceptual learning can be divided into fast learning and slow learning. A number of studies have used ERP and other brain imaging techniques to investigate the neural mechanism of visual perceptual learning under different time scales. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) afflicts about 10% Americans aged over 80 years. The patients often feel bilateral central scotoma, because AMD damaged their fovea. Because reading is slow and difficult for these patients, they have to use their peripheral retina. In order to help these patients improve their reading, many researches focused on perceptual learning of peripheral vision. A research suggested that training on a letter-recognition task would lead young adults to improve reading speed in peripheral vision, and this learning effect would transfer to an untrained retinal location. For olds, researches showed that reading speed also improved in the trained field, but the training benefits for these old adults were weaker than the training benefits for young adults. Perceptual learning is still a potential method for low-vision reading rehabilitation among older adults, despite the training benefits is weaker. Some studies suggested a link between reading speed and the size of the visual span. Visual span means the number of characters that can be recognized on a single fixation. It is a bottleneck on reading speed, but it can be increased with practice. A study about comparing reading speed for vertical and horizontal English text using RSVP and flashcard (a block of text on four lines) showed that reading speed for horizontal text was faster. Size of the visual span was highly correlated with reading speed, both for RSVP and flashcard reading. It shows that slower reading of vertical text is due to a decrease in the size of the visual span for vertical reading. The RSVP reading and lexical-decision might plausibly produce more improvement in peripheral reading speed. Chinese character is important for any Chinese reader. Its perceptual learning of peripheral vision is an interesting research field of great value, but the paradigm should be improved. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Mechanism of the Information Processing of the Cross Stereotype in Impression Formation Wang Pei 2012, 35(6): 1343-1348.  Abstract ( )   PDF   On the undergraduates as subjects, the aim of the study is to explore: in cross stereotypes processing process, whether there is a integrated stereotypes processing advantage effect? If it presents, the difference of the target familiar degrees would affect integrated stereotypes processing advantage effect? Is the single stereotype processing influenced by other stereotypes processing? The Research results show that: (1) In the combination of sex-age stereotypes, by initiating of face, there is the processing advantage effect of gender stereotype and age under different conditions respectively, namely, the male or female gender characteristics of the faces are more dominant than the age characteristics. elderly male or female age characteristics of the faces are more dominant than the gender characteristics.(2) The familiarity affects the processing advantages of the one-dimensional stereotype, namely, when the young subjects perceive faces or word categories, the target hit rate difference of old men and women is significantly higher than the target hit rate difference of young men and women, in other words, young target differences between gender and age is significantly greater than young target, and there is a self reference phenomenon. (3)In the judgments of cross-stereotype, the coexisting cross stereotypes processing is weakened each other, and the processing of the dominant stereotypes is inhibited by the sub-dominant stereotypes processing.(4)In cross stereotypes processing, advantage stereotype processing will be inhibited by its relatively stereotypes processing, and its weakening or inhibiting extent is significantly less than the weakening degree that the processing of the dominant stereotypes is inhibited by exist simultaneously stereotypes. Related Articles | Metrics

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Difference between familiar face recognition and unfamiliar face recognition 2012, 35(6): 1349-1352.  Abstract ( )   PDF   The human face is an object most frequently viewed by humans and thus, human face recognition is such a familiar part of everyday life. Face recognition includes familiar face recognition and unfamiliar face recognition. The difference between the two kinds of recognition has been proved. Familiar faces were recognized more quickly and accurately than unfamiliar faces. The neurophysiologic study has found that there are different activation brain region between familiar and unfamiliar faces recognition. Comparing to recognition unfamiliar face, recognition familiar face can activate more region. They are the bilateral prefrontal, lateral temporal, hippocampus gyri, amygdala，posterior cingulated cortex and lower right frontal. There is the difference of the event-related potentials, including N400 and P600. Many factors affect face recognition, external features and internal features of face. Recognition is more dependent on the external features of the face, such as the outline of the head, than on the internal features. Of course, there are some same affecting factors between unfamiliar faces and familiar face recognition. There is sheltering, inversion and so on. There are different affecting factors. There are view angle, expression, internal and external features. Finally, the paper explores the process in which unfamiliar faces may become familiar faces. What is a main coding form during unfamiliar faces becoming familiar faces? Related Articles | Metrics

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Theory and Research of Negative Compatibility Effect Jia-ying Wang 2012, 35(6): 1353-1357.  Abstract ( )   PDF   The Negative Compatibility Effect (NCE) is the surprising result that masked prime arrows inhibition responses of compatibility target arrows and facilitate responses to opposite-direction target arrows at the Prime-Target Interstimulus Interval (ISI) of around 100ms, which is reversed when ISI less than 60ms. NCE is a kind of subliminal perception，arising lots of researches because it is subliminal and counterintuitive. This article reviewed the major theories and researches of NCE, Including two major theories: Self-Inhibition hypothesis and perceptual interaction theory, and other three theories proposed in recent years: Two-System Interpretation hypothesis, Cognitive aftereffects hypothesis and Evaluation window account. Self-Inhibition Hypothesis proposed NCE is due to the inhibition of response code, reflecting an automatic self-inhibition of the response triggered by the invisible prime. It has been proved by the Lateralized Readiness Potential (LRP) and most behavioral research，but challenged by researches get NCE with visible prime. According to the Perceptual Interaction Theory, NCE is due to the perceptual interaction between the arrow prime and the mask when they have properties in common. It is not the visibility but the perceptual properties decide the direction of priming. But there are researches find NCE without mask or with stimulus without similar properties. Two-System Interpretation Hypothesis tries to combine the two major theories, proposed different mechanisms operate simultaneity in different way. But there still have some details to be considered. Cognitive Aftereffects Hypothesis considered NCE as an aftereffect that produce a negative image due to overexposure and habituation to a stimulus for reducing source confusion between successively presented stimuli. This hypothesis tries to explain NCE together with other negative priming effects from the view of neurobiology, but need more proofs. Key principle of the Evaluation Window Account is that participants evaluation incoming evidence across a time window, and decisions about stimulus category are driven by changes in evidence weighted according to the Weber-Fechner law, leading to NCE for primes falling outside the time window and PCE for primes inside the time window. The authors analyzed the problems and difficulties in NCE research, such as different standards of visibility in experimental control and different definitions of stimulus similarity，make it inappropriate to compare the result and reach different conclusions. Another problem is the difficulty to apply cognitive neuroscience method to investigate the neuromechanism of NCE because the time course is too short for the Event-Related Potential (ERP) study. As subliminal negative priming, NCE provide an important channel to comprehend unconscious cognition. Future research should focus on the neural mechanism and ecological significance of the effect, investigate the mechanism and function of NCE systematic and deeply. . References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Retrospect and Prospect of Researches on Virtual Proxemics Kun DAI 2012, 35(6): 1358-1365.  Abstract ( )   PDF   American cultural anthropologist Hall took the initiative in proposing the concept of proxemics, which is the practical application of psycholinguistics under the context of cross-cultural communication. Proxemics focuses on investigating the behavior laws of human personal space and realizing the cultural construction of relevant theories. Most of the studies on traditional proxemics were conducted before the mid-1980s. The four major paradigms are as follows: simulation method/projective method, stop distance method, chair selection method and natural observation method. Thereafter, the academic attention on personal space significantly declined and the relevant studies almost stagnated. The major reasons are the diversified fundamental defects inherent in the paradigms of traditional proxemics, such as low ecological validity, lack of accuracy etc. 　　It is rather difficult for the paradigms of traditional proxemics to adapt to the current research needs of semiotics. Consequently, virtual proxemics dependent on virtual reality emerges. Virtual proxemics focuses on the applicability of the real-world implicit behavior norms of spatial language in the virtual world. Literature review of virtual proxemics reveals the following results: firstly, the real-world socio-cultural norms of personal space are also applicable in the virtual world; secondly, the adopted virtual field experimentation is characterized with high validity and reliability, random and representative sampling, and absolute reproducibility of the research results; thirdly, while guaranteeing high external validity, researchers can precisely control diversified experimental conditions, such as virtual avatars, details of virtual experimental environment and extraneous variables of nonverbal behavior; fourthly, the applicability of the relevant research results in the real world is considerably high. 　　Seven innovating breakthroughs of virtual proxemics are discussed: the ability to guarantee simultaneously high internal validity and high external validity, the ability to guarantee the unconscious processing of personal space, the ability to control precisely extraneous variables of nonverbal behavior, the ability to guarantee the equilibrium effect of gaze, the ability to realize experimental studies of crowding stressor, the ability to realize the accurate repeatability of experimental environment and experimental stimuli and the ability to optimize traditional ways of data collection. 　　Generally speaking, the emergence of virtual proxemics can not only effectively remedy the methodology deficiencies of traditional proxemics, but also possess important practical significance and broad research prospect. Currently, several domestic universities and research institutions have constructed virtual reality laboratories, which can provide a powerful high-end technical support platform for the indigenous pilot studies on virtual proxemics. The future virtual field experiments can realize cross-cultural studies by changing flexibly the nationalities of participants and virtual avatars. Moreover researchers can apply the relevant results of indigenous empirical studies to the preparatory trainings for the students intending to study abroad and the personnel trainings for the talents intending to engage in cross-cultural communication. Simultaneously, virtual proxemics can undoubtedly promote the further development of indigenous empirical studies on semiotics and cross-cultural nonverbal communication. Related Articles | Metrics

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Attachment and Interpersonal Adaptation in College Students：the Mediating Role of Autonomy 2012, 35(6): 1366-1370.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Interpersonal problem as a common phenomenon that Chinese college students may meet in their daily life is very important for individual’s mental health (Shen, Cheng, Jin & Xi, 2011). Researches of attachment have indicated that attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety would influence individual’s interpersonal adaptation in different ways (Rholes, Simpson, Tran, Martin, & Friedman, 2007; Edelstein & Gillath, 2008). Moreover, attachment is a relatively stable character which doesn’t change in a period of time. Thus it is important to find out the mechanism of the influences of attachment on individual’s interpersonal adaptation. Self-determination theory demonstrates that autonomy need is a basic need for individual’s development. One person is autonomous when his/her behavior is experienced as willingly enacted (Ryan & Deci, 2000). A growing body of research has documented the contributing role of the satisfaction of autonomy need in interpersonal adaptation (Soenens, et al., 2007). Notably, autonomy is not the opposite of dependence. Keeping a security relationship with important others is good for the development of autonomy (Niemiec, et al., 2006; Feeney, 2007). Overall, it is reasonable to assume that individual’s autonomy could have mediating effect on the relationship between attachment and their interpersonal adaptation. To investigate the possible initial mechanism of the influences of the attachment (attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety) on individual’s interpersonal adaptation, a total of 638 college students (349 men and 289 women) from four different universities in Xi’an, Shaanxi province were assessed by questionnaires. The present study used Relationship Scale Questionnaire (Wang, Zhang, Li, & Liu, 2007) to assess the attachment character of the participants, Self Regulation Questionnaire (Liu, 2006) to assess the participants’ autonomy, and Chinese College Student Adjustment Scale (Fang, Wo, & Lin, 2005) to measure the states of the participants’ interpersonal adaptation. The data was analyzed with SPSS 15.0 and LISREL 8.7. According to the structural equation models, the results indicated as follows: (1) the predictive effects of attachment and autonomy on interpersonal adaptation are significant and effective; they can explain 57.1% of the variation of interpersonal adaptation; (2) autonomy fully mediated the relation between the attachment anxiety and individual’s interpersonal adaptation; (3) attachment avoidance contributes to interpersonal adaptation directly. Individual’s autonomy is an important mediator of the influence of attachment on interpersonal adaptation. These findings suggest that teachers and parents can improve college students’ interpersonal adaptation through meeting their autonomy needs. There is important realistic significance in finding more effective ways to improve college students’ physical and mental health. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Effects of Error Information Features on Error Detection Among Different Abundance of Disciplinary Domain Knowledge Students’ Learning 2012, 35(6): 1371-1375.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Efficient learning performance requires an internal and continuous monitoring system which detects error information. Error detection plays an important role in cognitive control and behavior monitoring. The aim of the study is to investigate the ERP components of disciplinary domain knowledge teaching experiment on two kinds of errors features (verbatim features errors and gist features errors) under the subjects-based error response detection condition and objects-based error information detection condition. Verbatim features errors refer to the writings of chemical expressions are incorrect and gist features errors refer to the equations for chemical reactions violate the principles of replacement reaction. Twenty-six middle students (thirteen of them were chosen from the teaching experiment class and the rest were from the control class) participated in this ERP experiment and the Go/No-Go paradigm was used. Subjects were instructed to respond to the incorrect writing of chemical expressions or the equations for chemical reactions violated the principles of replacement reaction with a ‘Go trial’ button press and to withhold this response when they judged the present stimulus as correct. Recordings of the electroencephalogram (EEG) were made from FCz, Fz, Cz, CPz and were referenced to the activity recorded on the left and right mastoids. Vertical EOG was recorded with tin electrodes placed above and below the left eye and horizontal EOG was recorded from electrodes lateral to each eye. All electrode impedances were below 5kW. The EEG and EOG were amplified by a 0.10-30Hz bandpass and digitized with a sample rate of 500Hz. The results showed, (1) in the error response detection condition, the error-related negativity (ERN) amplitudes were elicited by teaching experimental group exhibited a larger negative deflection under gist features errors than verbatim features errors. On the contrary, control group produced a much more negative ERN deflection for verbatim features errors compared with gist features errors. (2) In the error information detection condition, the verbatim features errors elicited significant higher ERN amplitudes compared to gist features errors both in teaching experimental group and control group. (3) The effects of disciplinary domain knowledge teaching experiment existed both in error response and error information detection conditions, because the teaching experiment group produced ERN components of higher amplitude than control group in both verbatim features and gist features errors. To sum up, the present results indicate, although the ERN amplitudes are significantly elicited in error response and error information detection conditions, but their ERN effects are affected by different factors: the subjects-based error response detection condition is mainly modulated by the depth of error processing between subjects and the objects-based error information detection condition is associated with the clarity of error information. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Influence of Daily Stressful Life Events on Teenage Students’ Social Adjustment: Social Problem-Solving Ability as a mediator 2012, 35(6): 1376-1382.  Abstract ( )   PDF   This study focuses on 1) studying the characteristics of teenage students’ daily stressful life events, 2) examining how the occurrence of stressful events influences teenagers’ social adjustment, 3) elucidating the role of social problem-solving ability in mediating the relationship between stressful life events and social adjustment of teenage students. A sample of teenage students (n = 2157) from Beijing, Harbin, Xi’an, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Kunming participated in the study. The self-report measurements including 1) Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Checklist-Revised, 2) Adolescent Social Adjustment Assessment Scale, 3) Social Problem-Solving Ability Inventory were administered to the teenage students. The daily stressful life events of teenage students are mainly embodied by their academic stress and interpersonal conflicts with their peers. In general, girls undergo more negative life events than boys (p ＜ 0.001), so as the students of low level comparing to those of high level (p ＜ 0.001). Daily stressful life events significantly and positively predict teenage students’ negative social adjustment (p ＜ 0.001), and negatively predict their positive social adjustment (p ＜ 0.001). Moreover, social problem-solving ability mediates the effect of daily stressful life events on teenage students’ social adjustment, especially for the dimension of problem approaching and problem avoidance (p ＜ 0.001). A further structure equation modeling analysis reveals that social problem-solving ability partially mediates the relationship between stressful life events and social adjustment. Furthermore, the occurrence of negative life events gradually increases during the period from junior to senior high school, and girls undergo more negative life events than boys. Moreover, daily stressful life events significantly predict teenagers’ social adjustment, and this relationship is partially mediated by students’ social problem-solving ability. Related Articles | Metrics

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A Research of Empathic Responses ——Based on Dual Angle of Individual Tendency and Situation yan zhiying 2012, 35(6): 1383-1387.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Abstract: Empathy is a kind of ability which individual understand others’ emotion and make proper response. It make us to interact effectively in the social world, acting as the “glue”of the social world, drawing us to help others and stopping us from hurting others. Empathic responses refer to emotional responses and helpful response in the process of empathy. From the dual angle of individual tendency and situation, the present article explored the effects of empathic abilities on empathic reactions in different situations. The experiment used IRI—C scale, empathic responses questionnaire and story tapes as experimental material, employed a three-factor mixed design, as follows ( empathic ability: high versus low ) ×(situation arrangement: high versus low reality) ×(sex: male versus female), with empathic ability and sex as the between-subject, situation as the within- subject independent variable, empathic responses as dependent variable. 100 undergraduates as subjects, including 48 male and 52 female students, divided into two equal groups according to the score of empathy scale ( IRI—C) , group 1 and group 2. Each group included 25 high empathic ability and 25 low empathic ability , 24 male and 26 female subjects. Through the instruction to control the high and low reality situations before listening story tapes, group 1 and 2 listened different instructions. That is group 1 in high reality situation, group 2 in low reality situation. After listening story, subjects were asked to finish empathic responses questionnaire. The results showed: (1) empathic abilities had great effects on empathic responses. There were great difference between low and high empathic ability score (p? .001). (2) there were no significant difference between low and high reality situation . (3) on some concrete empathic responses, interaction of empathic abilities and situation was significant, such as distress in emotional responses, helpful intention in helpful response(p? .05). (4) there were no significant difference on empathic responses between male and female. These results indicated empathy acting as one type of ability, having certain individual tendentiousness, It has a certain stability. At the same time , empathy can be affected by different variety of situations. Though in this study, low and high reality situations had no obvious effects on empathic responses, but empathy shows the interaction with situation. Thus, empathic responses are the combination of individual tendency and situation. Related Articles | Metrics

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A Study on Multi-representations in 4-6 Years Old Children’s Mathematics Cognition 2012, 35(6): 1388-1392.  Abstract ( )   PDF   The study taking number、number operation and pattern as the starting point, use individual interviews to investigate 120 children aged 4-6 in Shanghai in order to investigate the developmental characteristics and trends of multi-representations in 4-6 year-old children’s mathematics cognition. The major findings of this study were as follows: The children aged 4 to 6 years have developed initial multi-representation ability in number, number operation and pattern in the development of mathematics cognitive. The children between 4 to 6 years have age difference in the number of the representation forms they used in the multi-representation tasks in number.The children between 4 to 6 years have significant age in the development of multi-representation in number operation. With the age, the number of the representation forms children used also increase. With the age, 4-6 year-old children’s multi-representation levels increase. Significant positive correlation emerged between their multi-representation levels in number operation and the number of the representation forms they used.No significant age or gender differences were found between the development of 4-6 year-old children’s multi-representation in pattern. But the children between 4 to 6 years have age difference in the number of the representation forms they used in the multi-representation tasks in pattern. With the age, the numbers of the representation forms children used increase. Children aged from 4 to 6 tend to use the real-world situations and manipulative aids which both were descriptive representations.Significant positive correlation emerged between the 4-6 year-old children’s multi-representation abilities in number and in number operation. Children’s multi-representation abilities in number operation and in pattern also have a certain correlation. Related Articles | Metrics

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Goal Orientation and Burnout: The Mediating Effects of Academic Self-efficacy among Junior High School Students 2012, 35(6): 1393-1397.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Goal orientation is emerging as a useful construct for understanding how people develop, attain or demonstrate competence in learning and performance. It is generally accepted that goal orientation comprises three factors–learning, performance approach, and performance avoidance orientations. At present, there is disagreement among achievement goal theorists regarding the beneficial r inimical nature of performance-approach goals. Although burnout has generally been regarded as a work-related disorder it may also be useful in the school context. School is a setting in which students work: Students attend classes and do assignments in order to pass exams and acquire a degree. Student burnout can be defined as consisting of exhaustion due to school demands, cynical, and detached attitude toward one’s school, and feelings of inadequacy as a student. In order to examine and investigate the mediating effects of academic self-efficacy on the relationship between goal orientation and student burnout, 1139 students as subjects were chosen randomly. SEM results revealed that(1) learning goal orientation and performance- approach orientation have significantly positive direct influence on student burnout, but performance- avoid approach can exert significantly negative direct effect on student burnout; (2)academic self-efficacy is one of the mediating factors that goal orientations affect student burnout. Learning goal orientation and performance- approach orientation influence student burnout fully through academic self-efficacy, but performance- avoid approach affects student burnout partly through academic self-efficacy. Related Articles | Metrics

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Self-Construal, Self-Serving Attributional Bias, and Self-Enhancement in Chinese College Students 2012, 35(6): 1398-1403.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Cross-cultural research pointed out the discrepancies of attribution tendencies in different cultures. Westerner tends to display Self-Serving Attributional Bias (SSAB), which is a tendency that people attributed own success to internal causes such as ability and effort, and attributed own failure to external causes such as luck and the difficulty of task. However, people of oriental countries such as Japanese are easily to show opposite Self-Effacing Attributional bias. One appropriate explanation is from the viewpoint of cultural Self-Construals. According to cultural Self-Construal theory (Markus & Kitayama, 1991), people in different cultures hold different Self-Construals. ‘Independent Self-Construal’ of Westerners addresses independence and pays attention to individual’s privacy, rights, and liberties, while ‘interdependent Self-Construal’ of Easterners such as Japanese and Chinese addresses coordination and relationship with others. Those disparate self views are reflected in eastern and western people' thoughts, cognition, and behaviors. Due to different Self-Construals, Easterners and Westerners show different attribution biases. Easterners are easily to show modesty attribution tendencies because of their interdependent Self-Construal. Their self-enhancement is through an indirect way. Westerners tend to show SSAB and direct self-enhancement due to independent Self-Construal. Cultural Self-Construals have strong impacts to attribution biases. Furthermore, according to Takata (2000), individual’s Self-Construal includes of independent aspect and interdependent aspect. It is likely that individual differences in Self-Construals influence attribution tendencies. However, it still lacks direct experimental evidences to confirm it. This study conducted an experiment to discuss the influences of individual differences of Self-Construal with SSAB and self-enhancement in Chinese college students. One hundred and four Chinese college students in Shanghai in mainland China completed a fictitious social sensation ability test. Then their Self-Construal and so on was measured. Finally they made attribution about their performance and evaluated the test. The results indicated that the Chinese college students showed significant SSAB and self-enhancement in attributions and evaluations of test. The individuals which independence is dominant (independent Self-Construal) showed a more pronounced self-enhancement than the individuals which interdependency is dominant (interdependent Self-Construal). Furthermore, either in success or in failure situation, there is a significant positive correlation between independence and self-enhancement, the stronger the independence is, the self-enhancement is more notable. Independence plays a crucial role for self-enhancement. Interdependency is positively correlative with self-enhancement also, especially in failure situation. The results of this research indicated that individual differences of Self-Construal influenced SSAB and self-enhancement significantly, and supported the viewpoint of cultural universalism referring to self-enhancement. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Development of Category Level Words in Mandarin Speaking Children before 6 Years Old 2012, 35(6): 1404-1409.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Two major theories on categorization are Prototype Theory and Decategorization Theory. The former claims children’s early dominant categories are basic and subordinate level ones, while the latter states decategorization process interacts with categorization process, cognitive process may be from general to specific and superordinate category is the first to be developed. Two different views correspond to children’s category development: one holds children’s first category is basic-level category (Rosch, et al., 1976; Lakoff, 1987; Jiang, 2000); the other holds superordinate ones develop first in early categorization (Mandler, 2008; Quinn, 2002; Younger & Fearing, 2000). The two controversial views can be attributed to different methods adopted. Studies holding basic-level categories were learned first often selected subjects older than 2 years old, focusing on production; while studies stating superordinate ones developed first focused on category comprehension, subjects were usually only 3 to 18 months old. To test which category level is dominant in comprehension and production separately, the present study conducted case studies of two Mandarin speaking children from 15 to 23 months, as well as controlled experiments of ninety 3 to 5 years old children with picture classification and naming. Data of case studies showed that a vast majority of children’s early words consisted of basic-level ones, occupying 95% of their vocabulary before 20 months. The elaboration of noun hierarchies consisted mainly in the addition of subordinate-level words. Data of controlled experiments indicated that 86.7% children classified superordinate level category correctly, and all children classified basic and subordinate level category correctly, showing that in category comprehension, children as young as 3 years old could classify category levels correctly. As to category production, all children named basic-level categories properly, and over 50% children correctly named subordinate categories, but, only 4% children could do that for superordinate ones. For age difference, only four 5-year-old children named superordinate categories correctly, younger children totally named wrong, but there was no age difference for basic-level category naming. These results reveal that basic-level category is dominant in early category development, followed by subordinate and superordinate category, according with Rosch’s prototype theory. Since 3 years old children can comprehend superordinate level categories easily, decategorization can be regarded as one part of categorization, interacting with categorization process. Both categorization and decategorization activities together contribute to children’s category development. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Influence of Temperament，Teacher Expectations and Peer Acceptance on Early Children’s Self Control 2012, 35(6): 1410-1415.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Self control is the core concept of construction of personality, and it helps individuals master their own mind and behaviors. Early childhood is a key period for formation and development of self control. The development of early children’s self control is a comprehensive process which is staggered complex, but highly interrelated. The development of children’s self control is inseparable from social environment and genetic factors. This research mainly examined the impact of the temperament and the social environment factors in the kindergarten (teacher expectations and peer acceptance) on children’s self control. We established a moderated mediator model by SEM trying to reveal comprehensive developmental characteristics of early children’s self control mechanism from the perspective of genetic and social environmental interaction. A total number of 684 3-5 years old children’s self control was tested by questionnaires(self control, temperament, teacher expectations) which were described by children’s teachers and peer nomination (peer acceptance) were completed by children themselves. All variables establish a moderated mediator model. We analyzed the data by multiple hierarchical regression analysis and structure equation model. The results showed that, (1) the dimensions of temperament, teacher expectations and peer acceptance predicted children’s self control in different degrees. Temperamental attention, temperamental reaction, peer acceptance, teacher’s expectations of interpersonal interaction and teacher’s expectations of daily behavior predicted children’s self control positively. Temperamental activity and temperamental emotionality predicted the development of self control negatively; (2) the temperament, peer acceptance and teacher expectations influenced children’s self control interactively, and the peer acceptance was the moderated mediator variable. It was the mediator from temperamental reaction, temperamental attention and teacher expectations of daily behavior to self control, and was also moderated by temperamental emotionality; (3) teacher expectation of interpersonal interaction and temperamental social inhibition influenced the children's self control interactively, and when teachers gave children high enough interpersonal interaction expectations, even if children had high level of social inhibition, they can also have good self control; (4) Peer acceptance and temperamental emotionality influenced the children's self control interactively. Children with high temperamental emotionality, peer acceptance did not affect self control, only for the children with low temperamental emotionality, peer acceptance can affect self control. The research suggested that the development of early children’s self-control was affected by the interaction of heredity and social environment; it was also a comprehensive process which was staggered complex, but highly interrelated. When we want to foster the children’s self control, teachers must pay attention to the peer acceptance; it is the core factor of formation of children’s self control. Peer interaction can give children more opportunities to develop their self control. Teachers also pay more attention to children with high temperamental emotionality, because children with high temperamental emotionality, the peer acceptance can not influence the self control. Related Articles | Metrics

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A Study on Affective Decision-making of Children with Different Aggression/Victim Groups by Gambling Task 2012, 35(6): 1416-1422.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Aggressive behavior has been a hot topic in the field of developmental psychology. One of the important problems in the field of aggressive behavior is that researchers neglect the influence of emotion on children's cognitive procession. In addition, there were few studies that probed the characteristics of decision-making of children who involved in aggression/victim. If researchers take the integrated process of emotion and cognition into considration when exploring children's decision-making, the results would reflect more truely and comprehensively the involved process of aggression/victim in the situation of social information processing. The gambling task paradigm of affective decision-making is thought to induce performance similar to the individual decision-making behavior in real life. A self-designed computer program of standard gambling task, in which 80 test items were divided into 4 blocks, was used therefore to compare decision-making achievement of children belonging to different aggression/victim groups in different periods from the process perspective so as to reveal the features of affective decision-making of children belonging to different aggression/victim groups. The above is the innovation of this study. Gambling task consisted of 80 test items, each involving four doors A, B, C and D, from left to right. The net losses of A and B are equal in general, so are C and D. But A or C belongs to the high-frequency small punishment, while B or D belongs to the low-frequency big punishment. In the long run, it is disadvantageous to choose A and B, but advantageous to choose C and D. Using the way of companion nomination and scales compiled by Masten and Salmivalli, the author first selected out 262 subjects, which were categorized into aggressors/victims and non-involved matching by grade and gender. The results show that there were obvious differences among different groups of children, comprising net difference of advantage-disadvantage selection, decision-making difference(style) of advantage-disadvantage selection and frequence of rewards and punishment. The performance of children in each block reveals the following conclusions. First, in net difference of advantage-disadvantage selection, the overall behavior of non-involved children is better than other groups of children with learning effect of performance gradually improved in the experimental process of decision making. Aggressive victim’s affective decision-making scores are worse than non-involved children’s, with improving prophase performance and unchanging anaphase performance. Indirect-aggressive children’s show strong learning effect during latter stage. Victim’s and direct-aggressive children’s decision-making scores are the worst in the overall trials, the former displaying the course of upgrading in prophase then descending in anaphase, and the latter exhibiting a little ascending of learning effect. Secondly, in acquirement style of advantage-disadvantage selection, all kinds of children manifest finally the trend of selecting more from advantage doors, but non-involved children the earliest display this tendency with the largest scope. Aggressive victim rank the second. Indirect-aggressive children show the last but display large scope afterwards. Victim’s and direct-aggressive children display comparatively smaller scope. Last, in frequency style （high-frequency small punishment vs. low-frequency of big punishment）, direct-aggressive children, aggressive victim children and non-involved children select more from choices of high-frequency but smaller punishment, whose risk is low and steady. The three kinds of children present punishment-oriented decision-making style. So, the gambling task paradigm of affective decision-making can distinguish different types of aggression/victim children, and children’s involving in aggression/victim behavior is closely related to their affective decision-making level and style. Related Articles | Metrics

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Social decision-making: The equilibrium between self-interest and the interests of others 2012, 35(6): 1423-1428.  Abstract ( )   PDF   The conflict between self-interest and the interests of others is assumed to be one of the key conflicts involved in social decision-making. The trade-off between self-interest and the interests of others becomes pivotal. In classical western economic theories, pursuing material self-interest was assumed to be the sole motivation of people. This assumption has been challenged recently in the field of Developmental Psychology, Comparative Psychology, Economic Psychology, Behavioral Economic, and Neuroeconomics. It is established that people also concern others’ welfare. The concurrence of pursuing self-interest and concerning the interests of others brings about the problem how people consider the equilibrium between them. Several important conceptions, such as proself behavior, strategic other-regarding behavior, prosocial behavior, cooperation, altruism, reciprocity, fairness and so on, involves the trade-off between self-interest and the interests of others. However, previous theories failed to integrate all these miscellaneous conceptions. In this review, self-interest and the interests of others were constructed as two sides of the equilibrium involved in social decision-making. Through the construction, such important conceptions involved in social decision-making behavior such as proself behavior, strategic other-regarding behavior, prosocial behavior, cooperation, altruism, reciprocity, fairness and so on, were integrated into one framework. The concept of fairness means considering self-interest and the interests of others to the same extent. The concept of proself means considering self-interest more than the interests of others. The concept of strategic other-regarding means strategically consider others in order to pursue self-interest. The concept of altruism means sacrificing self-interest to benefit others. The concept of cooperation means considering the interests of both sides simultaneously. The concept of reciprocity means sacrificing self-interest to benefit others in the first time, and get a pay back in the next time. Theories and empirical findings of each conception were discussed. In conclusion, under the construction of self-interest and the interests of others as two sides of the equilibrium, important conceptions such as fairness, cooperation and so on involved in social decision-making could be integrated into one unambiguous framework. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Role of Empathy on the Relationship between Moral Intensity and Ethical Decision Making in the Business 2012, 35(6): 1429-1434.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Abstract: Jones (1991) postulated ‘moral intensity’ of the issue as a starting point in the ethical decision making process. He argued that ethical decision making is issue contingent, and the characteristics of the moral issue itself affect ethical decision making of a moral agent. Jones identifies six categories of moral intensity: 1) magnitude of consequences, 2) probability of effect, 3) temporal immediacy, 4) concentration of effect, 5) proximity, 6) social consensus. The former study mainly explored the relationship between moral intensity and ethical decision making, but ignored investigating the influencing mechanism. The present study tried to include empathy into the Issue-Contingent Model to explore the mechanism of the influencing of moral intensity on ethical decision making in the business. The present paper reported the results of a vignette- and questionnaire-based research project. One scenario about the employee’s health was created allowing independent manipulation of the four MI components (magnitude of consequences, probability of effect, social consensus, proximity) as high or low moral intensity. All possible combinations were utilized, resulting in 16 different versions. The participants were presented with one version of the scenario. The scenario was followed by items assessing ethical perception, ethical judgment and ethical intention, empathic response, perceived moral intensity, dispositional empathy (including empathic concern and perspective-taking). All items were on 7-point anchored scales. The study selected 256 MBA students as participants. The LISREL8.51 was used to make the structural equation model of the role of empathy in the influencing of moral intensity on ethical decision making in the business. The results indicated that, 1) the empathic response completely mediated the relation between moral intensity and moral recognition, and partly mediated the relation between moral intensity and moral judgment, moral intent; 2) Dispositional empathic concern could influence ethical perception, ethical judgment and ethical intention through perceived moral intensity and empathic response; 3) Magnitude of consequence, social consensus, and probability of effect affected moral judgment and moral intent by different mechanism. Magnitude of consequence could not only influenced moral judgment and moral intent directly but also through the empathic response. Social consensus mainly had the direct influence on moral judgment and moral intent. Probability of effect influenced moral judgment and moral intent mainly through the empathic response. Those findings deepen our understanding of the influencing mechanism of moral intensity on ethical decision making, especially the role of emotions and reasons in ethical decision making. The future study is needed to extend the findings to the more ethical scenario in the business, such as some decisions which do goods for other people. In addition, the present study found that empathy had important role in the effect of moral intensity on ethical decision making, and the future researches can also manipulate the level of empathy response to explore whether the level of empathy can moderated the effect of moral intensity on ethical decision making. Related Articles | Metrics

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People’s Current Circumstances Modulate Interpersonal Curiosity 2012, 35(6): 1435-1439.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Interpersonal curiosity, which is the desire for new information about people, is of great importance in social interaction and human relationship. We aim to examine how an individual’s current social circumstance and gender influence interpersonal curiosity. Participants were asked to complete a two-person gambling task with an assistant unknown to them. Results demonstrate that (1) when people’s current circumstances are better than those of others under the same situation, the degree of their interpersonal curiosity is stronger; and (2) females are more curious about other people than are males when their exploratory behaviors are free. This study is an initial foray into providing comprehensive knowledge on interpersonal curiosity. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Relationships between Indigenous Personality Traits and Job Performance: Linear and Nonlinear 2012, 35(6): 1440-1444.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Chinese personality traits had uniquely differences from other culture due to the China’s special geography and collectivist culturally background, therefore, the philosophy of localization was accepted and advocated by more and more Chineses psychologist. Meanwhile, the nonlinear relationships between personality traits and job performance have been found in some studies. These results transformed the traditional top-down strategy to double strategies for the applications of personality tests in psychology of personnel management. However, there were no research to combine the linear and nonlinear models together to examine the relationships between indigenous personality traits and job performance in the Chinese working setting. In the current study, we explored the linear and/or nonlinear relationships between indigenous personality traits and job performance. The participants were 182 service employees from several service industries in Beijing, and the direct supervisors of the respondents provided ratings of job performance and returned independently to the interviewers. The ratings of job performance was self-compiled based on job analysis and deep interview. Confirmatory factor analysis found the one-factor performance model had a better goodness of fit (X2=27.79, df=8, CFI=.95, NFI=.93, RMSEA=.07), and coefficient alphas was .85. Meanwhile, the nine subscales from CPAI-2 were selected to assess the indigenous personality traits: face (FAC), family orientation (FAM), defensiveness (DEF), graciousness vs. meanness (G_M), veraciousness vs. slickness (V_S), traditionalism vs. modernity (T_M), renqing (REN), harmony (HAR) and thrift vs. extravagance (T_E). The mean Cronbach’s a coefficient for the entire set of personality scales was .70 in the representative normal sample in Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. The data were analyzed with spss 15.0, and the main statistics methods were correlation analysis and hierarchical polynomial regression analysis. The results were as follow: (1) HAR and job performance had a positive linear relationship(βL= .16, p < .05), the result was similar with the previous studies, and confirmed the important of relationship harmony in Chinese culture; (2) FAC and job performance had a reversed-U curve relationship(βQ =-.22, p <.05), indicated that compared to those who were low in face, highly gaining face persons tended to perform well on the job, and therefore were likely to achieve better performance depended on his/her personal efforts in order to ‘care for their face’ through hard work. However, after a certain point(ZFAC=-.07), excessively avoiding losing face in advance or retrieving face after the event may no longer be helpful to job performance. (3) REN and job performance had a letter U curve relationship(βQ = .15, p < .05), indicated that the low and high scores on the renqing scales had a better performance. This wasn’t consistent with our expectation, because of the personality traits and job performance usually had a reversed-U curve in previous study. The current result maybe due to the special status of renqing in Chinese society. In the end, we pointed that the results should be repeated in different samples and jobs before generalization. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The effect of CEO transformational leadership behavior on the job performance and job satisfaction of middle class manager:the roles of organizational support perception and values 2012, 35(6): 1445-1452.  Abstract ( )   PDF   This study examines the impact of CEO transformational leadership behavior on middle managers’ job performance and job satisfaction. Based on a sample of 66 CEOs and 557 middle managers from 66 Chinese companies, we found that CEO transformational leadership behavior has a significant and positive effect on middle managers’ job performance and job satisfaction. Moreover, based on social exchange and value-based leadership theories, we further examines the mediating role of middle managers’ perceived organizational support on the relationships between CEO transformational leadership behavior and middle managers’ job performance and job satisfaction, as well as the role of CEO values on the relationship between CEO transformational leadership behavior and middle managers’ perceived organizational support. Our results showed that middle managers’ perceived organizational support partially mediated the relationships between CEO transformational leadership behavior and middle managers’ job performance and job satisfaction, and that CEO other-oriented value strengthened the relationship between CEO transformational leadership behavior and middle managers’ perceived organizational support, while CEO self-enhancement value weakened the relationship between CEO transformational leadership behavior and middle managers’ perceived organizational support. Such findings contribute to the literature by unpacking whether, how, and why CEO transformational leadership is related to individual-level employee outcomes. Related Articles | Metrics

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Frame-of-Reference Effect on Personality Tests Xie-Feng LU Meng-Cheng WANG 2012, 35(6): 1453-1458.  Abstract ( )   PDF   The Frame-of-Reference (FOR for short) effect on personality tests refers to a kind of phenomenon that if a specific reference context is set for a plain personality test, the criterion-related validity of this test will be improved. In the past ten years, the focus of FOR effect studies had been gradually moved from collecting validity evidence to probing its internal mechanism. Making a general review of these studies, we think the psychometrics principle of FOR effect is that various reference inconsistency in subjects’ reaction courses, including the between-person variability and the within-person inconsistency of the FOR, will be reduced, when a concordant FOR matching with criterion is provided. It reflects that the relation between contextualized personality constructs and relevent criterion variables is closer in logical net. According to Wood’s Personality and Role Identity Structural Model, the origin of that relation is from the mediating mechanism of “general personality→ contextualized personality→ role behavior”. In practical applying, personnel assessment experts can use that conclusion, set proper FORs for personality tests, thus improve the effectiveness of assessment tools. However, that finding is only a beginning. Future reseaches should seek to breaks on three aspects. Firstly, on FOR operational paradigm, researchers could icorporate the context priming paradigm to the text induction to promote ecological validity. Secondly, reasercher can probe the moderator variables of FOR, such as individual difference variables like self-monitoring, and the cultural factor. Thirdly, future researches should expand subjects, and test the FOR effect in job applicants group. Because the future studies on those aspects have not finished yet, it should be very careful to apply any improving measure in assessment, according to FOR effect. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Impact Mechanisms of CPM Leadership on employees’ Altruism and Job involvement Ming LI 2012, 35(6): 1459-1465.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Leadership has attracted increasing attention of researchers from different fields of study. Though researchers carried out a large number of empirical studies, people still can’t get a adequate understanding of the mechanisms of leadership. The effectiveness of leadership theory is based on certain culture contexts. With traditional culture and modern culture integrating, people are more involved in questing what kinds of leadership will be more efficient, and how leadership functions in Chinese culture. In 1980s, Ling Wenquan put forward CPM leadership theory, which is featured with typical Chinese characteristics, provided a theory frame to understand the leadership effectiveness in Chinese organizations. But the function of CPM leadership has never been studied through empirical method. Hence, the purpose of this study was to discuss the impact mechanisms of CPM leadership on employees’ attitude and behavior, especially on employees’ altruism and job involvement. A questionnaire that included CPM leadership scale, trust in supervisor, affective commitment, job involvement and altruism was employed as the tool in this study. A total of 602 valid samples were collected from enterprises and institutions of more than 26 provinces and cities in China. And then analyzed the data with SPSS15.0 and AMOS7.0. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients indicated acceptable measurement reliabilities, and confirmatory factor analysis showed that the discriminated validity of the measurement was also satisfactory. The procedure of testing mediator proposed by Baron and Kendy (1986) was employed to examine the relations between variables. Path analysis was used to examine the hypotheses, alternative nested models were established and compared with the hypothesized model in two stages. In the first stage, we tested the hypotheses whether trust in supervisor mediates the relationship between CPM leadership and employees’ job involvement and altruism. In order to get a stringent examination of our hypotheses, two alternative nested models were constructed and compared with the hypothesized model. The results indicated that CPM leadership had positive effects on altruism and job involvement, C and M was fully mediated by trust in supervisor, while P was partially mediated by trust in supervisor. Through the comparisons and simplification in the first stage, we found that model 4 is superior to the hypothesized model. So the following analyses were based on model 4. In the second stage of data analysis, we examined the mediating role of affective commitment in the process of trust in supervisor impact employees’ job involvement and altruism. Following the same logic used in the first stage, four nested alternative models were established for comparisons. It was revealed that affective commitment had a fully mediating effect on the relation between trust in supervisor and job involvement, and a partial mediating effect on the relation between trust in supervisor and altruism. Related Articles | Metrics

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Climate strength: Theoretical foundation and research framework 2012, 35(6): 1466-1473.  Abstract ( )   PDF   For more than half a century, scholars have sought to understand the antecedents and influences of climates. Climate strength, an emerging concept in climate research, received little empirical exploration and much less validation. Research adopted dichotomous perspective has limited climate strength as a scientific construct. The dichotomous view suggests that dispersion of individual-level perception represents error, rather than theoretically significant phenomenon. Within-unit dispersion of individual-level constructs can be theoretically meaningful. During the application of multilevel theory in organizational and management research, climate strength, i.e., within-unit agreement among unit members’ climate perceptions, has received much attention from researchers. Two different literatures in organizational sciences, compositional models and culture strength, were useful as a basis for the development of the concept of climate strength. Based on extant research, we develop the research framework of climate strength. There are three perspectives to explain the antecedents of climate strength, i.e., organizational structure, Attraction-Selection-Attrition model, and social interaction approach. According to the organizational structure perspective, organizational forms that are clearly mechanistic or clearly organic have strong climates, with weaker climates emerging for organizations with more ambiguous forms. Research based on ASA model indicated average worksite tenure was positively related to climate strength such that higher average tenure was associated with stronger climates. Empirical research based on social interaction approach illustrated that climate strength is influenced both by leadership style and group social interaction. While concerning the effect of climate strength, studies have yielded contradictory and inconclusive results. In some research, climate strength has been shown to have a moderating effect on the relationship between climate level and organizational outcomes. While in other studies, significant main effects were found for some of the climate strength – outcome relationships. Potential reasons of the results were discussed. For example, the tasks used in different studies were various. In some research, tasks were completed by individuals, while in others tasks required cooperation within team members. Thus, work interdependence may be a potential factor moderating the relationship between climate strength and outcomes. In future research, we should pay more attention to the prerequisite of climate strength, broaden the conceptualization of organizational climate, explore the effect of climate strength in a variety of work types and industries, and test the potential moderator influence of work interdependent between climate strength and organizational outcomes. Related Articles | Metrics

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Theoretical views, Relevant Models and Prospects in Emotion regulation 2012, 35(6): 1474-1477.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Emotion regulation, which belongs to an important aspect of social development during early childhood and adolescence, is a critical mechanism of mental development for normal and abnormal individuals. Now emotion regulation takes on an interdisciplinary trend and has recently attracted widespread attention of many researchers. However, its definition and neural mechanism is still unclear. The review includes three parts as follows. In the first part, we reviewed two typical views in the field of emotion regulation, one-factor and two-factor approaches. One-factor approach proposes that emotion generation and emotion regulation are two distinct processes; researchers first induce emotion and then study the process of emotion regulation. In contrast, two-factor approach propose that emotion generation and emotion regulation is an inseparable phenomenon, produce and end simultaneously; emotion regulation occurs in all levels of emotion-generation processes. In the second part, we focused on Gross’s process model of emotion regulation, and stressed Ochsner’s cognitive control model of emotion from neuroscience. In Gross’s process model, individual difference emerges in five sub-processes: contextual selection, contextual modification, attention deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation; these processes form a continuum from effortful, controllable, and deliberate regulation to effortless, automatic, and unconscious regulation. In Ochsner’s cognitive control model, emotions originate from the interaction of multiple evaluation systems, bottom-up and/or top-down, including description-based appraisal system and outcome-based appraisal system. The neural correlates refer to the response evaluation system (e.g., amygdale, nucleus accumbens, insula) and the regulation system (e.g., prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex). In the third part, future researches should apply observation and experience sampling to carry out longitudinal studies, make neurobiological researches at multiple levels, and conduct molecular genetics of individual difference in emotion regulation. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The power cues Qiu-Jiang WEI 2012, 35(6): 1478-1483.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Power cues is the inside and outside stimulates that people utilize to judage the power of others and themselves. Recognizing people's power is the basic interaction in social and organizational life, which reduces the likelihood of conflicts within and between the groups and assigns resources effectively, and also sounds much to self-reinforcing and self-definition. Power cues are not only the statement of targets' power, but also can be used to predict people's minds and behaviours. Generally speaking, there are two kinds of coding, vision and audition, inputing informations. The visual codings include appearence, such as the formation of face, behaviors, espeically non-verbal behaviors, which always come out without consciousness but indicate peoples' power more exactly. The aural codings include several parameters of sound, such as formant dispersion (Df), fundamental frequency (F0), Variation in F0, Intensity, utterance duration. While some kinds of messages are different, such as semantic content, via the both ways, which connect with power basing on higher level of cognition. In this three viewpoints, there are still more cues needing to be explored. Surprisingly, there is another odd factor that is the gender, researches relating which were found out diversity of resualts, so gender is more moderator than a definite power cue, which calls for more attention to the interaction effect. Besides, the mental representation of power, which involving mental simulation of space and can be interfered with by perception of vertical differences, is another key cue for power judgement that are cognitive cues for power. And scholars pay special attention to this, mostly, in the perspective of embodiment. Due to the importance of power, people try their best to be accurate at the power of targets by integrating varieties of power cues as many as possible. The systematic researches of power cues just begin, there is still a long way to go, and that provide scholars valuable challenges. By this time, when exploring new power cues, researchers prefer physical attribution. Just for the found power cues, there are still problems, which are the false relationships between cues and power. Even so, the categories and standardizations of power cues are still not figured out officially, which handicap the relevant theoretical construct and application of them. Finally, the future research tendencies, at aspects of three current statements mentioned above, were discussed as well. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Teaching Efficacy Scale Based on Multi-facet Model 2012, 35(6): 1484-1490.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Facet theory was developed by Louis Guttman as a systematic approach for coordinating theory and research by means of formal a priori definitions of the domain of the study and of the variables that comprise the domain. And it serves as the basis for building a unified conceptual framework for the research. The main purpose of this study is to develop a new measurement instrument called teaching efficacy scale applying Facet Theory approach. Referencing to the findings of former studies and the interview results to 10 middle school teachers, a two-facet mapping sentence for the teaching efficacy concept was designed. Based on the structuples of the two facets 40 items for measurement of teaching efficacy were developed and a primary teaching efficacy scale (TES) was constructed. Based upon responses from 162 middle school teachers to the scale, using a combination of traditional reliability analysis and Smallest Space Analysis (SSA) 9 ambiguously located items in the SSA maps were removed and a formal 21-item teaching efficacy scale emerged. Using formal TES and the mapping sentence, hypotheses regarding the relations between the de?nitional framework and empirical observations were tested through smallest space analysis (SSA) and confirmatory factor analysis of data collected from a sample of 530 middle school teachers. The results demonstrate strong support for the de?nitional system and show a clear radax structure of teaching efficacy. The 2-dimension configurations of Facet A that was named tasks and Facet B that was named cognation resources and the 2-dimensional combination configuration of Facet A and Facet B had very small coefficients of alienation (<.14) suggesting that the configurations were very reliable. The region index of the configurations of Facet A, Facet B and the combination configuration of Facet A and Facet B are very large (>0.9) suggesting the facet definitions were strongly supported and the theoretical constructions were empirically confirmed. The items designed by Facet Theory approach empirically distinguish distinct character-based components of teaching efficacy. Facet A could be partitioned further according to the modality (knowledge transfer, organization and management of classroom and behavior and moral education of student) and Facet B could be partitioned further according to polarizing (the quality ability, student feedback, positive experience and emotionality). The combined 2-dimensional configuration of Facet A and Facet B turn out to be a radex presentation. By using the definitional mapping sentence of Facet Theory and SSA, the multidimensional theory and structural proposal was formed which was further tested by Confirmatory Factory Analysis (CFA). Obtained fit indices indicated a good fit between the data and the hypothesized factor structure. All parameter estimates were acceptable. Four conclusions could be summarized as: 1 Teaching Efficacy Scale can be defined from two facets. Facet A (task) consisted of three elements corresponding three factors and Facet B (cognitive source) consisted of four elements corresponding four factors. 2 The newly developed TES with two facets has high reliability and validity, which can be used as an evident instrument to measure teaching efficacy. 3 The teachers of secondary school concern more about students’ knowledge. For the evaluation of the teaching effects in their own, the teachers of secondary school tend to manifest multiple perspectives with similar levels concerning cognitive resources. Related Articles | Metrics

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Psychometric Properties of Chinese Edition MMCS and the Characteristics of Chinese Students’Locus of Control 2012, 35(6): 1491-1496.  Abstract ( )   PDF   The aim of this study is to investigate the psychometric properties of the Chinese edition of Multidimension Multiattribution Causality Scale (MMCS), and the structural and characteristics of Chinese students’ locus of control. 925 undergraduates from a national university were administered MMCS scale, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was employed to analyze the data. The relationship between Locus of Control and mental health (measured by SCL-90 scale) was also analyzed. The results show that the reliability of Chinese edition MMCS is equivalent to its English counterpart. In confirmatory factor analysis when negative-and-positively-worded-items effects induced into the model, 4 factor (effort, ability, context, luck) model and 8 factor (effort, ability, context, luck divided equally into two section, e.g. achievement and affiliation) model of MMCS attain comparatively good fit (CFI=IFI=0.89, RMAES and SRMR<0.05). when the 8 subscale scores were factor analyzed, 2 factors with eigenvalues higher than 1 were extracted, 4 internal scales load exclusively on one factor, and 4 external scales load exclusively on another factor. These results indicate that the internal-external control theory of Rottor is reasonable in Chinese subjects. Further analysis of the data shows that in Chinese subjects the tendency of internal and external control is positively correlated (r=0-31). Indicates in Chinese internal and external control are not extremes of one dimension, they are in some extent inter-connected. The subjects’ total scores on internal subscales are higher than that on external ones, indicates Chinese subjects tend to endorse internal control values. Internal and external control all correlate positively with SCL-90 subscales (r=0.151 for internal and r=0.416 for external). Shows that the more stronger a person is externally controlled, the worse is his mental health condition. But too stronger internal control is also harmful to mental health. As a conclusion, Chinese edition MMCS show satisfactory reliability and validity, it is an applicable in Chinese culture, in Chinese subjects there are also internal and external control dimensions in personality structure. But the dimensions are correlated rather than independent. External control is a stronger indicator of psychological unhealthy compared to internal control, the most adaptive control manner in Chinese culture maybe moderate and appropriate control in specific condition. Related Articles | Metrics

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The application and comparison of group-level item response theory model and IRT model 2012, 35(6): 1497-1501.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Traditionally the assessment of group is based on the assessment of individual, which is the mean of them. Now a new method, group-level IRT, which had more advantages over IRT, can realize the assessment of group without the individual assessment. This paper tried to apply the GIRT model into the assessment on English reading comprehension ability about school. Findings showed: All school abilities were almost within the internal [-1,1], there were no extreme ability values. When all schools were classified into three types according to the rules of this province, the mean of school abilities of them were different significantly. For school, almost all items were easy and had moderate discrimination. For students, all items were also easy, but they had good discrimination as a whole. Furthermore, the assessment consequences of school between GIRT and IRT were significant correlated, and they were also significant correlated with the mean scores of school. It could verified that the item parameters of student-level and group-level were significant correlated, which identified that the function relationships between the items parameters of GIRT and IRT model were existed. All these mean that GIRT model was a feasible group assessment method in practice. Related Articles | Metrics

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The discrepancy between Fisher and Neyman-Pearson on hypothesis testing and the Controversy on the Null Hypothesis Significance Test in Psychology Xiao-Kang Lu 2012, 35(6): 1502-1506.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Understanding the difference among Fisher’s and Newman–Pearson’s hypothesis testing models is vital to address the current controversy about the null hypothesis significance test in psychological studies. As the most prominent masters of hypothesis testing, Fisher and Neyman–Pearson differed sharply in the conceptualization of statistical model, the property of two types of errors, the nature of significance level, and the proper function of hypothesis testing. Fisher constructed his significance test theory based on the vague concept of hypothetical population, which he postulated as a vital pretence that made scientific inference possible. Fisher never considered a type II error was necessary in the statistical testing, and argued test of significance contained no criterion for accepting a hypothesis and did not lead to any probability about the real world, but to a change in the investigator’s attitudes towards the hypothesis under consideration. Hence, tests of significance served as a useful but conceptual tool of inductive inference, but not a practical tool of inductive behavior. However, Neyman–Pearson argued error of the type II error was the cornerstone of their hypothesis testing theory, without which no purely probabilistic test was possible. The two errors were interpreted from a strict frequency perspective, based on the same vague and unrealistic proposition of repeated sampling of the identical population. Uniformly most powerful test or unbiased uniformly most powerful test were recommended as perfect statistical testing procedures, though their application were rather limited due to the difficulty in calculating the power of test. Hypothesis testing implied a decision rule that either accepting the null hypothesis or rejecting it when certain events were observed and calculated. Their elegant verification won their theory considerable popularity among statisticians. It was widely considered as a refinement of Fisher’s significance testing, though Fisher himself kept a vehemently critical viewpoint on Newman–Pearson’s theory throughout his life. The discrepancy between the two models has triggered considerable attacks among psychologists, arguing and debating the nature and underlying drawbacks of the null hypothesis significance test, the most frequently applied test mode in psychological studies which hybrids Fisher’s and Neyman–Pearson’s statistical thoughts. No explicit information concerning the dispute between Fisher and Neyman–Pearson is given in the dominant statistics textbooks’ demonstration of NHST in psychology education field. NHST is known to many psychological students and researchers as a self consistent and only method of hypothesis testing, ignoring both the cleft between Fisher and Neyman–Pearson, and the existing and effective testing procedures, such as Bayesian hypothesis testing methods. It would be shortsighted to abandon NHST just because its vagueness, for it at least provides a convenient tool to judge whether an experiment effect is significant. The key point that should draw investigators’ attention is what is the real meaning of be significant and which alternative statistical tool kits they could apply other than NHST, considering the real context of experiment design. Reflections on the statistical education tradition in psychology and an open and diverse horizon of statistical application are recommended to facilitate the utilization of various statistical tools in psychological studies. Related Articles | Metrics

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Explore the Possibility of Using the Sandplay to Distinguish the Function of Autistic Spectrum Disorder Children Nianli Zhou 2012, 35(6): 1507-1512.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Abstract The sandplay is usually used to understanding the persons mind and emotion through projection, but seldom using to distinguish the function of autistic spectrum disorder children. This study would explore this possibility. 152 ASD children who had received the diagnosis in hospitals involved in this research. The range of their calendar ages is 3.2 to 14-year-olds, the average of their calendar age is 8.8-year-olds. Boys are 121, girls are 31. They were divided into four groups according to their IQ from the intelligence test they received in hospitals and results of their parents’ questionnaires, play observations and sand play observations. Group1 is low functions ASD children, N=45, Group2 is middle and low functions ASD children, N=44, Group3 is middle and near to high function s ASD children, N=33, Group4 is high functions ASD children, N=30. They were asked to play freely, but the toys into the sand box just according to their thinking. All processes of ASD children playing and the productions were collected by video camera and camera. Did value for each process and production according to the criteria we completed in this research. The results showed by quantitative analysis and quality analysis. In quantitative analysis, it displayed ASD children’s function are lower, the scores of process observation and production scores are lower. Through ANOVA analysis, it was showed that the differences among four groups are signified: p<.01～p<.0001. The correlation coefficient among the scores of sandplay observations dimensions from 0.441 to 0.854, It can explain that the criteria of assessing the ASD children’s sandplay have high reliability. Through the quality analysis, it showed that the higher function of ASD children are, the longer time they played, and the productions showed the higher cognitive level. It indicated that maybe we can use the sandplay to distinguish the function of ASD children. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Updating of Preventive Concept and Its Practical Implications 2012, 35(6): 1513-1518.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Caplan’s public health prevention model including primary prevention, secondary prevention and tertiary prevention exerted an important influence on the early development of prevention programs. Gordon indicated that most disorders might turn into the more serious psychological crisis without effective treatment. From a developmental perspective, all the treatment would be potentially labeled as prevention. Gordon thus claimed that the tertiary prevention in Caplan’s model, which refers to the rehabilitation of disability for those suffering from disorders, should not be included in the prevention system. Based on the costs and benefits of delivering the intervention to the different targeted populations, Gordon proposed an alternative threefold classification called comprehensive prevention model which included universal prevention, selective prevention and indicated prevention. After that, American Institute of Medicine emphasized the importance of putting prevention into a broader context and depicted a mental health intervention spectrum in which not only the prevention and treatment of disorders but also the maintenance interventions are Included. American National Research Council and Institute of Medicine insisted that the mental health promotion should be recognized as an important component of the mental health intervention spectrum so that it can serve as a foundation for both the prevention and treatment of disorders. Mental health promotion is characterized by focusing on people’s well-being or healthy outcomes rather than the prevention of illnesses and disorders. These outcomes are intrinsically valued in decreasing the incidence of disorders. Mental health promotion attaches importance to enhance individuals’ ability to achieve successes with positive self-identity or high self-esteem and strengthen their ability to cope with various adversities. Most researchers tend to accept the mental health promotion approaches and support a more synthetic prevention model. Although there is a considerable overlap between prevention and promotion, the mental health promotion in the mental health area is consistent with the recognition that health promotion is an important component of public health that goes beyond the prevention of disease. In conclusion, prevention, treatment and promotion are complementary components in a new comprehensive model. The development and renovation of the psychological prevention concept, especially the integration of mental health promotion into the psychological prevention system, suggests us to adopt an overall point of view and improve the pertinence and effectiveness of prevention. We also need to combine the negative mental prevention with the positive mental health promotion together. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Bidirectional Relationship between Psychological Distances and Construal Level Hou-Chao LV 2012, 35(6): 1519-1523.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Since the temporal construal was put forward by Liberman and Trope, it has formed a unified construal level theory, which extended from temporal distance to psychological distance. Psychological distance refers to the perception of when an event occurs, where it occurs, to whom it occurs, and whether it occurs. Psychological distance is egocentric: Its reference point is the self, here and now, and the different ways in which an object might be removed from that point—in time distance, space distance, social distance, and hypotheticality—constitute different distance dimensions. Construal level refers to the perception of what will occur: the processes that give rise to the representation of the event itself. There are two criteria that can be used to distinguish which features of an item or an event are more high level and which are more low level. The first criterion reflects centrality: Changing a high level feature has a greater impact on the meaning of an object than does changing a low level feature. The second criterion reflects subordination: The meaning of low level features depends on high level features more than vice versa. This paper discussed the bidirectional relationship between psychological distance and construal level. Psychologically distant makes people tend to construal objects in terms of high level, abstract and decontextualized aspects (high level construal), whereas psychologically near makes people tend to construal the same object in terms of low level, detailed and contextualized features (low level construal). On the contrary, high level construal makes people percept the psychologically distant, and low level construal makes people percept the psychologically near. The paper also reviews the cause of bidirectional relationship between psychological distance and construal level. The reason why psychologically distant makes people tend to construal objects in terms of high level aspects is that people have less available and concrete information about the psychologically distant objects, or that the high level aspects would keep constant when the psychological distance become more and more distant, or that the planning habit—when people make plan for the future, they will consider the goals first (high level construal), then the feasibility, for instance. The reason why high level construal makes people percept the psychologically distant is that high level construal is more general and abstract. Future researches should pay more attention to: (1) The relationship between construal level and the distance between two objects, which is not mentally represented as social distance from oneself, temporal distance from now, or spatial distance from here. (2) The psychophysics research of the relationship between psychological distance and construal level, such as the dynamic changes of construal level by the changes of psychological distance. (3) How different distances combine to affect construal level? (4) Is there the distinction of the bidirectional relationship between psychological distance and construal level? Related Articles | Metrics

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The Models of Biological Motion Perception 2012, 35(6): 1524-1529.  Abstract ( )   PDF   The perception of biological motion is crucial for the survival of human beings. By examining the models of biological motion perception, it is helpful to understand the complex process. The previous models emphasized how visual system encodes biological motion. The kinetic-geometric model for visual vector analysis originally developed in the study of perception of motion combinations of the mechanical type was applied to these biological motion patterns. For the "planarity assumption" in the interpretation of biological motion, the specific problem addressed is how the three dimensional structure and motions of animal limbs may be computed from the two dimensional motions of their projected images. Most recent studies taken the neural mechanism of biological motion perception into account. Hierarchical neural model by Giese and Poggio use a neurophysiologically plausible and quantitative model as a tool for organizing and making sense of the experimental data, despite their growing size and complexity. Template-matching model from configural form cues is addressed by Lange and Lappe. They present a computational model based on neurally plausible assumptions to elucidate the contributions of motion and form signals to biological motion perception and the computations in the underlying brain network. The model simulates receptive fields for images of the static human body, as found by neuroimaging studies, and temporally integrates their responses by leaky integrator neurons. The model reveals a high correlation to data obtained by neurophysiological, neuroimaging, and psychophysical studies. These above models were proposed to explain key experimental results and plan new experiments relating to the recognition of biological movements. The paper also points to issues that cannot be answered by these models and by the available experimental results. Related Articles | Metrics