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20 November 2023, Volume 46 Issue 6 Previous Issue    Next Issue
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General Psychology，Experimental Psychology & Ergonomics
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General Psychology，Experimental Psychology & Ergonomics

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Inducing High Self-Efficacy Improves Cognitive Control after Self Depletion Wang Guanhua, Lu Jiachen, Li Hong, Lei Yi 2023, 46(6): 1282-1289.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230601 Abstract ( )   PDF (515KB) ( )   The depletion of cognitive resources will make individual perform worse in subsequent tasks. The results of many empirical studies have showed that once individual is in self-depletion condition, one’s social adaptability will be damaged. Therefore, it is interested in understanding strategies that contribute to one’s recovery from self-depletion to regain the ability to effectively control cognition. This study was designed to explore the influence of self-efficacy on cognitive control after the depletion of cognitive resources, and proposed a new model paradigm for how to improve cognitive control. We designed two experiments to examine the effect of self-efficacy on cognitive control after cognitive resource depletion. Our hypothesis was that individuals with high self-efficacy exhibit better function than those with low self-efficacy after experiencing attrition tasks. In experiment 1, cognitive resource depletion was achieved by non-hand writing tasks, and then participants were asked to recall an experience that resulted in a sense of accomplishment (or frustration) to mobilize subjects’ self-efficacy. The differences in response time between Stroop task consistent and inconsistent tests were used as indicators of cognitive control to explore the cognitive control ability of different states of self-efficacy on the effect of cognitive depletion. Experiment 2 further explored whether self-efficacy performance at a higher or lower than normal level on cognitive control performance level on cognitive control performance was improved or decreased , and added a control condition to the induction task in which a group of subjects was asked to recall neutral experiences (such as daily chores). In addition we added objective self-efficiency evaluation of all recall content. The results of Experiment 1 showed that individuals who induced high self-efficacy performed significantly better in following Stroop tasks than the subjects who induced low self-efficacy. The results from Experiment 2 also showed that individuals who induced high self-efficacy performed significantly better in following Stroop tasks. The performance of this group was significantly better than control group and low self-efficacy group, while there was no significant difference in performance of the low self-efficacy group and the control group for the Stroop tasks. Inducing self-efficacy effectively improved cognitive control ability after cognitive depletion, as shown by improved self-control ability after the induction of high self-efficacy, with little effect of induced low self-efficacy on subsequent cognitive control. In general, the results of the two studies showed that the cognitive control ability after self depletion can be effectively regulated by inducing high self-efficacy. This study induces individual self-efficacy, so that it can regulate cognitive control at any time in real life. It contributes to our understanding on how to make up for the loss of cognitive resources, and provides a new model paradigm in how to improve cognitive control, so that individuals can complete subsequent tasks more efficiently. In practice, college students could be helped by induction of a sense of self-efficacy to counter the effects of cognitive resource depletion for better cognitive control. The innovations of this article include following aspects. First, although the influence of glucose intake on subsequent cognitive control tasks has been mentioned in prior studies, excessive glucose intake can lead to obesity and other diseases. Thus, this article uses the method to induce the participants'sense of self-efficacy, which has higher validity. Secondly, the predecessors explored the correlation between self-efficacy, self-depletion and self-control, but did not directly manipulate the individual’s self-efficacy. This article asks the participants to recall a sense of accomplishment (or frustration) experience to induce participants'high (or low) self-efficacy and makes up for its shortcomings. Finally, this article distinguishes between high and low self-efficacy that have an impact on the cognitive control of subsequent tasks. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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How can Warnings be More Effective? Evidence from Chinese-English Differences in Self-relevance Li Yingxiang, Li Hongping, Chen Jun 2023, 46(6): 1290-1297.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230602 Abstract ( )   PDF (637KB) ( )   Warning refers to a notice or suggestion that reminds and warns others to pay attention to safety and to follow the rules. It is essentially a speech act. Many factors affecting the effectiveness of warnings have been investigated. However, no research has yet examined the influence of language and self-relevance on warnings. Thus, this study chose alertness, pleasure, and compliance as indicators, and conducted two experiments with text modal and image-text modal warnings to investigate the influence of language and self-relevance on the effectiveness of warnings. In Experiment 1, 30 college students were recruited, and text modal warnings were used as stimuli in a 2 (language: Chinese vs. English) × 2 (self-relevance: high vs. low) within-subjects design, with participants’ scores of alertness, pleasure, and compliance of warnings as the dependent variables. E-Prime 2.0 was applied to compile experimental programs and record experimental data. During the experiment, the stimuli were presented on a 25-inch desktop computer with a screen resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. The screen background was black, and the font color of materials was white. Materials were presented in the center of the screen in 48pt Songti. Participants were required to complete a 7-point rating of alertness, pleasure, and compliance to the warnings. The results of the experiment showed that, for warnings with high self-relevance, there were no differences in the alertness, pleasure, and compliance scores of warnings in Chinese or English (alertness: F(1, 29) = 3.13, p > .05; pleasure: F(1, 29) = 2.41, p > .05; compliance: F(1, 29) = 1.47, p > .05), while for the warnings with low self-relevance, the alertness and compliance scores of warnings in Chinese were higher than those of in English (alertness: F(1, 29) = 15.50, p < .01,ηp2 = .35; compliance: F(1, 29) = 26.87, p < .01, ηp2 = .48), and the score of pleasure is lower than that of in English ( F(1, 29) = 4.51, p < .05, ηp2 = .13). Experiment 2 also recruited 30 college students. Image-text modal warnings were used as stimuli. The graphic signs corresponding to the text modal warnings in experiment 1 were selected. After Photoshop 20.0.2 software processing, the length and width of graphic signs were 634 and 475 pixels respectively. The screen background was black, and the font color of the text modal warnings was white. The text modal warnings were presented .5 cm below the graphic signs in 48pt Songti. The experimental design and experimental procedure were the same as Experiment 1. The results suggested that compared with low self-relevance warnings, warnings with high self-relevance had higher scores for alertness (F(1, 29) = 13.19, p < .01, ηp2 = .31) and compliance (F(1, 29) = 5.22, p <.05, ηp2 = .15), but not pleasure (F(1, 29) = 1.73, p > .05). In addition, there were no significant differences in alertness, pleasure, and compliance scores for image-text warnings in different language (alertness: F(1, 29) = 3.85, p = .06; pleasure: F(1, 29) = 1.23, p > .05; compliance: F(1, 29) = 3.51, p > .05). The results of the two experiments indicated that self-relevance influences the cognitive processing of language on the effectiveness of text modal warnings. Moreover, image-text modal warnings are more effective than text modal warning. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Effects of Reward Learning on Attention Capture of Task-Irrelevant Emotional Faces Zhou Xing, Hao Shuang, Zhao Lili, He Weiqi 2023, 46(6): 1298-1304.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230603 Abstract ( )   PDF (888KB) ( )   Reward facilitates performance and improves cognitive ability in many tasks. In recent years, with the deepening of the research on reward learning, it has been found that the stimulation after reward learning can always get priority in processing. Reward learning refers to establishing an association between characteristics of stimuli and rewards through accentuation training. At the same time, emotional stimuli were consistently prioritized for attention as task-irrelevant stimuli, compared to non-emotional stimuli. As significant stimuli, both emotional and non-emotional stimuli can affect attention processing. At present, the research on reward is mainly focused on the attention processing of physical stimuli with low visual features, such as stimulus color, shape, spatial position, and neutral face. Emotional faces are more salient than the above stimuli, and the top-down perceptual priming is faster. The association of emotional face attention processing advantage and different levels of reward signals may further strengthen the individual's inhibition of distractor, attention modulation, and enhance the processing of target. Therefore, this study uses the associative learning paradigm to establish the learning association between rewards and emotional faces. In the test task, it is further investigated that whether establishing association of different reward value can regulate the allocation of attention resources and influence the processing of non-target emotional stimuli on the target task. Twenty-nine participants (14 males, 15 females) were recruited according to the sample size calculated by G-power. Participants completed a line segment orientation task. Emotional faces were presented as non-target interfering stimuli in the experiment. First, the participants completed the baseline task, and then performed training and test. During the training phase, participants were given value feedback when they correctly responded to the target to establish reward association between emotional faces (happy, fearful and neutral) and reward (low reward and high reward). The test would begin in 30 minutes after the training. The test was similar to the reward training, but did not present any information related to reward value. At baseline, the mean reaction times (RTs) of the three emotional faces were significantly different, with that of fear slower than those of happy and neutral. The reward training results indicated that RTs to high reward were faster than low reward and no reward. There was no significant difference between emotions. The results of the test phase were similar to those of the reward training. As the reward level increased, the emotional faces responded faster. The RTs to fearful faces were the fastest compared with happy and neutral faces at the high-reward intervention. There was no significant difference between the three emotions under low reward. In summary, these findings suggest that reward can effectively regulate cognitive resources and reduce the deleterious of processing of task-irrelevant emotional faces during target identification. Moreover, different rewards have diverse moderating effects on task-irrelevant emotional faces. As the reward value increased, the interference of fearful faces decreased in target recognition. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Influence of Text Interface Factors on Digital Reading in Older Adults Tan Xiaolei, He Canqun 2023, 46(6): 1305-1312.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230604 Abstract ( )   PDF (1051KB) ( )   Traditional media is gradually being replaced by new media with digital information technology, and digital reading has become a new choice for older adults to learn knowledge and information. However, the deteriorating vision and declining energy of the elderly lead to higher requirements for the readability and legibility of the text interface. Compared to traditional reading media, digital reading adds carriers (e.g., audio, video, and tactile feedback), improves the quality of picture information, and more importantly, provides flexible and variable text layouts to adapt to different types and sizes of display interfaces. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of font size, spacing (e.g., word spacing, line spacing), and margins in text interface factors on digital reading for the elderly. The study designed reading materials with different combinations of factor levels according to an orthogonal experimental protocol. Reading performance data were collected respectively from the older and younger subjects through an eye-tracking device and a post-measurement scale. The experiment was evaluated in two dimensions, including cognitive load and user experience. Cognitive load indicators included total gaze time, number of gaze points, and pupil diameter. The user experience indicators included subjective comfort and usability scores. Among the cognitive load indicators, the total gaze time and the number of gaze points reflect the subjects'effort, and the larger the value of these two indicators, the more easily people are fatigued, indicating that their cognitive load is higher. On the contrary, the larger the value of pupil diameter, the more relaxed people are, and the lower their cognitive load is. The usability score reflects the user's evaluation of the usability of the text interface, and a higher score indicates that the user approves of the product; while subjective comfort intuitively reflects the user's perception of their comfort and fatigue level. Combining objective data records and subjective evaluations for data analysis, the analysis results showed that there was no significant difference between the digital reading performance levels of the elderly and the young, except for pupil diameter. The objective data showed that the performance level of the elderly was lower, but the subjective evaluation of digital reading was higher among the elderly. The factors that had the greatest effect on digital reading among older adults were margin and font size, both of which had higher performance on different indicators. Word spacing and line spacing had a smaller effect on older adults'reading performance, but there were significant interactions between the two and other factors. Older adults'reading performance showed a non-monotonic trend with increasing levels of each factor, i.e., there was an ideal range of factor levels that made users perform best on a particular indicator. The study explored interface factors and their levels that affect older adults'digital reading. By comparing the differences in reading experience and performance between younger and older adults, it was found that although older adults do not perform as well as younger adults, they have a higher level of acceptance to digital reading. Previous studies have shown that font size affects the efficiency and experience of digital reading for older adults. Surprisingly, this study found that page margins also have a significant effect on digital reading for older adults, which had been rarely examined before. These findings suggest that different text interface factors have different effects on older adults'digital reading, and that seniors can benefit more from digital reading with a reasonable design of text interface. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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An Exploration of the Mechanisms of Contagious Yawning Su Jinlong, Su Yanjie 2023, 46(6): 1313-1319.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230605 Abstract ( )   PDF (343KB) ( )   Seeing someone yawning or hearing the sound of yawn, we may also yawn involuntarily. This phenomenon is labeled as contagious yawning. Contagious yawning is different from spontaneous yawning and might be related to high-level psychological components. In the current review, we try to explore the ultimate and proximate explanations of contagious yawning to better understand this phenomenon. Phylogenetically, contagious yawning was first observed in primates such as chimpanzees and bonobos besides humans. Then it was also found in sheep, wolfs, dogs, and elephants. However, except for primates and dogs, contagious yawning in other animals was mostly examined in a single study, which needs replications. In the repeatedly confirmed species, contagious yawning showed similar characteristics as in humans. For example, infant chimpanzees were not susceptible to contagious yawning. Compared with the yawn of the unfamiliar conspecifics, the yawn of familiar ones was more contagious. The comparability between human and non-human species suggested that contagious yawning might evolved to serve adaptative functions. Studies have found that baboons yawned to make their canine teeth prominent when encountering predators or in competitive contexts. Accordingly, when canine teeth are broken, they yawn less frequently. It seems that contagious yawning serves communicative functions. Indeed, when danger is detected, individuals could yawn to transmit the signals to let others keep alert. Accordingly, contagious yawning would help synchronize group movement and keep group members alert so to better defend potential threats. On the proximate level, contagious yawning is influenced by many factors. For the neural aspect, mirror neurons might serve as important neural substates of contagious yawning. Studies found that when people watched yawning videos or heard the sound of yawning, their mirror neurons would activate. Furthermore, the extent of activation was positively related to the frequency of yawning. On the psychological level, contagious yawning might be based on social cognitive ability such as empathy. For example, the age four is not only critical for the emergence of cognitive empathy, but for contagious yawning; children with autism not only have diminished empathy but less contagious yawning. Also, the relation between contagious yawning and empathy gains some direct support - some studies found a positive correlation between them. Moreover, environmental factors also cause an effect on contagious yawning. Compared with summer, outdoor individuals in winter are more susceptible to contagious yawning. Further studies showed that ambient temperature could predict participants’ contagious yawning. Not restricted to temperature, stress also plays a role in contagious yawning. Interestingly, psychological stress and physiological stress have different influences on contagious yawning, with the former facilitating contagious yawning while the latter playing an inhibition role. Regardless of the above findings, studies on contagious yawning are still rare. More studies are needed to unveil the mechanisms of contagious yawning and meanwhile, some questions should be taken into consideration. First, research methods should be consistent among different studies so as to make them comparable. Besides, studies on contagious yawning were mainly conducted by researchers in neuroscience, which put less weight on psychological variables. But as theories hypothesized, contagious yawning might serve social functions, which implied that social cognitive abilities might be scaffolded on it both phylogenetically and ontogenetically. In future studies, it would help if scholars from different disciplines could study contagious yawning coordinately. After all, it is an inter-discipline phenomenon. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Sense of Immorality Can be Purified by Water Splashing? The Influence of Cleansing Method on Moral Judgment and Behavioral Preference in Dai People Feng Xiaohui, Zhang Hang, Zhang Jijia 2023, 46(6): 1320-1328.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230606 Abstract ( )   PDF (899KB) ( )   Cleanliness is next to godliness. Although the metaphorical association between physical cleansing and moral concepts has been widely confirmed, it remains unclear whether the concept of cleanliness in different cultures affects moral cognition. The concept of cleanliness includes a sense of physical cleanliness and a sense of spiritual purification. Previous research has found that physical cleanliness (e.g., hand washing) can make moral judgments more severe. On the other hand, Dai culture endows the water splashing ceremony with a sense of spiritual purification. Water splashing as a ritual of interaction with others can purify both themselves and others. Therefore, it may make moral judgment less severe. Additionally, a threat to one’s moral purity induces the need to cleanse oneself. However, the difference between eastern and western cultures affects the choice of cleaning method. In Eastern culture, face represents dignity and achievement as a symbol of social self-image. Therefore, people in face cultures may choose face washing to remove the sense of guiltiness while Dai people may choose the water splashing ceremony. To clarify the influence of cleanliness concepts in different cultures on moral judgment and preference for cleaning methods and contrast the effects of spiritual purification and physical cleanliness, four experiments were conducted. In experiment 1, 58 middle school students were randomly selected, including 31 Dai (14 males) and 28 Han (17 males). The semantic priming paradigm was used to explore whether face washing, hand washing, and water splashing could activate the participants’ sense of cleanliness. In experiment 2, 183 Dai (92 males) and 189 Han (97 males) participants were recruited to explore the effect of priming on moral judgment. The number of participants in each group was as follows: control group (47 Dai, 46 Han), hand washing priming group (45 Dai, 48 Han), face washing priming group (47 Dai, 48 Han), and water splashing priming group (44 Dai, 47 Han). In experiment 3, 363 Dai (107 males) participants were recruited to explore the effect of clean concepts on moral judgment. The number of participants in each group was as follows: control group (45), hand washing cleaning group (44), face washing cleaning group (43), water splashing cleaning group (48), hand washing purification group (44), face washing purification group (47), water splashing purification group (46), and water splashing over evil and bring good fortune group (46). In experiment 4, 200 Dai (108 males) and 200 Han (102 males) middle school students were randomly recruited to explore the participants’ preference for cleaning methods after recalling immoral events. The study used SPSS 24 to perform analysis. The results of experiment 1 found that water splashing activated the Dai people’s sense of cleanliness, but had no effect on the Han people. Hands washing and face washing activated the sense of cleanliness in both groups. Experiment 2 showed that water splashing made Dai participants’ moral judgments less severe, but no effect was found in the Han groups. Hand washing and face washing made the Dai people and Han people’s moral judgment more severe. The results of experiment 3 showed that Dai people had a sense of spiritual purification of the water splashing ceremony. That is, the purification effect of water splashing made their moral judgments less severe. Hand washing and face washing activated the sense of physical cleanliness, which made the moral judgment more severe. In experiment 4, Dai participants preferred to splash water to purify their sense of immorality after recalling immoral events, while Han participants preferred washing their faces. Taken together, there are cultural differences in the concept of cleanliness. Dai people regard water splashing as an important method of cleaning. The sense of spiritual purification endowed by culture to cleaning method that makes Dai people separate themselves from immorality. Spiritual cleanliness is different from physical cleanliness, it can more effectively eliminate the sense of immorality. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Developmental & Educational Psychology

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The Influencing Factors of Word-Class and Semantic Identification in Parent-Child Interaction Chen Yongxiang, Li Yan, Peng Yuanyuan 2023, 46(6): 1329-1335.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230607 Abstract ( )   PDF (574KB) ( )   How do language learners infer the meaning of words through language input and situational factors is a complex and interdisciplinary problem. Based on the human simulation paradigm, the present study used 2 (word types: noun, verb) × 3 (language input clues: linguistic + situation, situation, linguistic) within-subjects design to investigate the influence of different language input clues in the situation of parent-child interaction on word-class and semantic identification of nouns and verbs. The present study was carried out in two steps. First, we recorded the experimental materials. Five 18~24-month-old infants and their mothers were selected to record parent-child interactive videos and transcribe the videos word for word. The frequency of nouns and verbs used in the video was counted and 16 frequently used target words (8 nouns and 8 verbs) were screened out. For each target word, 6 video clips in different situations were cut as experimental materials. A total of 96 experimental materials and 2 exercise materials were edited. Second, the video clip was processed and the target word was replaced by the onomatopoeic word "beep". Then the video clip of each target word was coded, including syntactic information (word length, position of target word, sentence length) and situational factors (time interval between the occurrence of target words and indicators). In the formal experiments, thirty college students were recruited. After each video clip was played, 6 options were presented for the participants to choose from. Participants needed to complete 96 selection tasks of target words, which were divided into three blocks (three types of input clues). Each block contained two video clips of each target word, with a total of 32 video clips (trials). Video clips and input clues were presented to each subject in a random order. The results showed that: (1) For word class decision, the accuracy of verb class was higher than that of noun, and the accuracy of linguistic clue is higher than that of situation clue. (2) The interaction of word types and input clues together affected the accuracy of word class identification. That is, for nouns, the accuracy of linguistic + situation clues was higher than that of single clues (situation, linguistic). For verbs, the accuracy of linguistic + situation clue and linguistic clue was better than that of situation clue. (3) The semantic accuracy of verbs was higher than that of nouns, and the accuracy of voice clue was higher than that of situation clue. (4) The interaction of word types and input clues affected semantic accuracy. That is, for nouns, the accuracy of linguistic + situation clues was better than that of single cues (situation, linguistic). For verbs, the accuracy of linguistic + situation clues was higher than that of linguistic clues, and the accuracy of linguistic clues was higher than that of situation clues. (5) The analysis of syntactic information and situational factors showed that word length, and time interval between the occurrence of target words and indicators were significantly related to word class and semantic decision accuracy. To conclude, (1) in the situation of parent-child interaction, the word class and semantic decision of Chinese verbs were easier than nouns. (2) The interaction of Chinese input clues and word types affected word class and semantic decision. (3) To identify nouns needed to combine situation clues with linguistic clues in order to better decide word class and semantics; for the word class and semantic decision of verbs, linguistic clues were more important than situation clues. The innovation of this study is reflected in the following aspects: (1) This study adds linguistic cues on the basis of previous studies to distinguish the role of situational cues and linguistic cues more systematically. (2) This study changed the open response program of human simulation paradigm, so that participants can choose answers from six options. On the one hand, it reduces the difficulty of the task, and on the other hand, it makes the analysis of the results more quantitative and feasible. (3) Finally, it is noteworthy that the research shows that verbs are easier to infer than nouns in Chinese parent-child interaction, which is different from English learners in previous studies. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Teacher’s Autonomy Support and High School Students'Online Learning Engagement: The Roles of Autonomous Motivation and Proactive Personality Jiang Tiantian, Cao Yang, Gong Shaoying, Liu Xiaoxian, Wu Yanan, Lang Yueru 2023, 46(6): 1336-1343.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230608 Abstract ( )   PDF (792KB) ( )   Online learning has been widely accepted by learners. While bringing convenience, it also exposed some drawbacks, such as poor learning efficiency and low online learning engagement. Students’ online learning engagement is associated with learning satisfaction and academic performance. Therefore, it is significant to explore the predictors and mechanism of online learning engagement. This study considered teachers'autonomy support and learners'proactive personality, constructed a moderated mediation model to examine (1) whether autonomous motivation mediated and (2) proactive personality moderated the relation between teachers'autonomy support and online learning engagement among high school students, and (3) whether the relation between teachers'autonomy support and autonomous motivation was moderated by proactive personality. The learning climate scale, the academic self-regulation scale, the proactive personality scale, and the online learning engagement scale were administered to 1480 high school students. Participants aged from 14 to 19 years old (M =16.2, SD = .86) with 614 boys and 866 girls. Data analysis was performed with Mplus8.3 and Process macro program of SPSS 20.0. All variables were standardized. The correlation analysis showed that teachers'autonomy support, students’ autonomous motivation, proactive personality and online learning engagement were positively correlated respectively. We took grade and gender as control variables. The testing of a moderated mediation model showed that: (1) Teachers'autonomy support significantly and positively predicted online learning engagement; (2)Autonomous motivation partially mediated the relationship between teacher’s autonomy support and learning engagement; (3) Proactive personality moderated the mediating effect of autonomous motivation, with the stronger effect for students with higher level of proactive personality; (4) Proactive personality moderated the direct influence of teacher’s autonomy support on learning engagement. For students with high proactive personality, teacher’s autonomy support directly and positively predicted their learning engagement; whereas for ones with low proactive personality, the direct predictive effect of teacher’s autonomy support on learning engagement was not significant. The main theoretical contributions of this study are as follows. First, it deepened people’s understanding on the mechanism of teacher’s autonomy support affecting online learning engagement, and found the distinctive effect of teacher’s autonomy support for the students with different levels of proactive personality. Second, it expanded the application scope of the Proactive Motivation Model and provided empirical support for the theory in educational field. Finally, it also verified the applicability of the Self-Determination Theory in online learning environment. This study also brings us some educational implication. First, it would be better for teachers to adopt the autonomy-supporting teaching style. Second, teachers should provide high-proactive-personality students with more autonomy. In addition, for students with low proactive personality, more specific learning guidance should be given, such as the ways to set reasonable goals and plans. Finally, teachers are also supposed to cultivate students'proactive personality, for example, encouraging students to express their ideas and complete tasks independently. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Intergenerational Transmission of Psychological Flexibility: The Mediating Role of Parent-Child Relationship and the Moderating Role of Teacher-Child Relationship An Dandan, Zhang Xiaoyong 2023, 46(6): 1344-1351.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230609 Abstract ( )   PDF (891KB) ( )   The influence of parents'psychological flexibility on children's psychological flexibility has attracted researchers'attention. However, there are still a few limitations. First of all, most existing studies focus on the individual level when they explore the mechanism of psychological flexibility. Few scholars pay attention to the role of parents'psychological flexibility in childcare, and few researchers investigate the mechanism of psychological flexibility from the perspective of intergenerational transmission. Secondly, the underlying mechanism through which parents'psychological flexibility promotes children's psychological flexibility is unclear. There is no research on the relations among parents'psychological flexibility, parent-child relationship, and children's psychological flexibility. Thirdly, few studies applied the boundary conditions in the intergenerational transmission of psychological flexibility to reduce bad transmission and to improve favorable transmission. Finally, previous studies rarely use a multilevel perspective to analyze the influencing factors of children's psychological flexibility, ignoring the nested nature of influencing factors. Therefore, it is necessary to use the method of multilevel analysis to discuss the impacts of individual level and class level on children. This study introduced the intergenerational perspective and analyzed the mediating mechanism and boundary conditions of intergenerational transmission of psychological flexibility, expanding the research on the mechanisms of psychological flexibility. This study used parents'psychological flexibility scale, children's psychological flexibility scale, the teacher-child relationship scale, and the parent-child relationship scale to explore the intergenerational transmission of mechanisms of psychological flexibility. We tested this model with data from teachers in 51 classes and 318 parents. Due to the nested nature of our data, we adopted the multilevel path analysis approach using Mplus 7.4 to test the proposed hypotheses. Indirect effects were calculated using Monte Carlo parameter sampling to estimate 95% confidence intervals to determine their significance. It controlled the problems of the indirect effect caused by nonnormal sampling distributions. Mplus 7.4 software was used to report the multilevel moderation effect and the multilevel moderated mediation effect. The results of multilevel path analysis showed that parents'psychological flexibility significantly predicted children's psychological flexibility. Besides, parent-child closeness and parent-child conflict mediated the relation between parents'and children's psychological flexibility. Teacher-child relationship not only moderated the relations among parent-child closeness, parent-child conflict and children's psychological flexibility, but also moderated the mediating effects of parent-child closeness and conflict in the relation between parents'and children's psychological flexibility. This study constructed a moderated mediation model to investigate the intergenerational mechanism of parent-child relationship and teacher-student relationship on the intergenerational transmission of psychological flexibility. The results showed that there was intergenerational transmission between parents'psychological flexibility and children's psychological flexibility. Parent-child closeness and conflict mediated the intergenerational transmission of psychological flexibility, and the teacher-child relationship moderated the second half of the dual mediation path. This research verifies the intergenerational transmission of psychological flexibility and clarifies the mechanism of different interpersonal relationships on psychological flexibility in different systems, which has a certain practical significance for effectively improving children's psychological flexibility. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Co-Occurrence of Externalizing and Internalizing Problems from the p Factor Perspective: A Literature Review Ma Yuxin, Zhang Liang, Cai Qingyu, Liu Lin, Zhang Wenxin 2023, 46(6): 1352-1359.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230610 Abstract ( )   PDF (547KB) ( )   The co-occurrence of externalizing and internalizing psychopathology problems is the norm rather than the exception. Understanding the externalizing-internalizing co-occurrence depends on theories of psychopathology structure. The splitting-oriented theory treats each internalizing and externalizing problems as relatively separated entity. This theoretical perspective leads to problems in the externalizing-internalizing co-occurrence research, the most problematic of which is that almost every psychopathology problem co-occurs with each other. Thus, it is difficult to ensure whether an observed co-occurrence represents an authentic functional connection between psychopathology problems, or if it is just a spurious relation derived from methodological fallacies. The p factor theory breaks this logjam. As an innovative theory about the structure of psychopathology, it proposes that an unobserved propensity to psychopathology, the p factor, gives rise to all forms of psychopathology problems, thus leading to the co-occurring phenomenon. Additionally, there are also propensities specific to certain clusters of problems, which are the specific internalizing factor and externalizing factor. Compared to former psychopathology structure theories, the p factor provides a direct theoretical representation of the co-occurrence phenomenon. In terms of methodology, the bi-factor model serves as the statistical representation of the p factor theory. The bi-factor model is characterized by all indicators loading onto a general factor (g factor); meanwhile, certain clusters of indicators also load onto their specific factors (s factors) respectively. In recent years, there has been an increasing number of empirical studies investigating the externalizing-internalizing co-occurrence from the perspective of p factor theory and utilizing the bi-factor paradigm. When comparing the bi-factor model with other competing models, researchers have consistently found that the bi-factor model best fits psychopathology data, providing strong support for the validity of the p factor theory in delineating psychopathology structure. By integrating predictors into the bi-factor model, researchers have identified important etiology factors. Specifically, the p factor has a solid genetic basis and is related with neurobiological characteristics. Additionally, there is a significant link between the p factor and the temperament of negative emotionality. Individuals with stronger negative emotionality tend to experience the co-occurrence between internalizing and externalizing problems. Contextual factors also contribute to the p factor. For example, adverse family factors, such as poverty, parental substance use, and maternal depression, can place children and adolescents at elevated risks of externalizing-internalizing co-occurrence. Harsh parenting could be a risk factor, while positive parenting practices may protect children from developing psychopathology. Studies on peer and social factors have also revealed that peer victimization and peer rejection play significant roles as etiology factors of the p factor, which in turn may contribute to the development of both externalizing and internalizing problems. Furthermore, by evaluating relations between the outcome variable and the p factor, researchers found that the p factor of children and adolescents correlated with a much wider range of negative outcomes in the future. Future research should focus on improving the research design and statistical modeling when using the bi-factor paradigm to ensure the reliability and validity of the findings. For instance, employing a multi-informant design can be important and even necessary to prevent potential biases caused by the common-method issue. Additionally, given that general and specific psychopathology factors are theorized as orthogonal to each other, caution should be exercised in allowing correlations among these factors in bi-factor modeling. Furthermore, to enhance the validation of the p factor theory and to develop a comprehensive etiological framework of psychopathology, future research from the p factor perspective should aim to integrate with the perspective of developmental psychopathology. By incorporating developmental perspectives, researchers can gain a more holistic understanding of the development and expression of psychopathology over time. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Children’s Prospective Memory:The Role of Executive Functions Xin Cong, Liu Guoxiong, Cheng Li 2023, 46(6): 1360-1367.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230611 Abstract ( )   PDF (337KB) ( )   Prospective memory refers to the ability to remember to perform a delayed intention at an appropriate time or situation in the future, such as remembering to return a book to the library tomorrow morning or to take a daily medication. Over the course of childhood, a key developmental task is to gain independence from parents and caregivers to become increasingly autonomous. Children are not sufficiently capable of completing future intentions independently early on and often need help from their parents and caregivers to complete future intention activities. As they enter school age, children are expected to be able to complete prospective memory tasks independently. If children are unable to complete these tasks, their academic performance may be negatively affected. And as the transition from kindergarten to primary school requires more and more self-management skills from children, it follows that prospective memory is a key factor in children’s development independent of their caregivers. Children’s prospective memory is an important expression of their developing independence, and good prospective memory is beneficial to their future growth and development. The development of prospective memory follows an inverted U-shape function from childhood to old age, with young and middle-aged adults having peak prospective memory. Executive functions, the conscious control of thought and action, develops rapidly in early childhood. Executive functions capacities are linked to successful prospective memory. Firstly, both are related to making and executing plans, and both take action to achieve goals. Secondly, developmental psychology research suggests that executive functions and prospective memory have similar developmental trajectories. Finally, patients with damage to brain regions associated with executive function also have deficits in prospective memory. Both depend on a similar brain network structure, namely the prefrontal regions. The successful execution of children’s prospective memory relies on executive functions, and the various subcomponents of executive functions (working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility) play different roles in children’s prospective memory processing, depending on their level of development. Among them, working memory plays an important role in the intention encoding and intention retention stages, and its effect on prospective memory is mainly in early childhood. The inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility play a key role in the intention extraction and intention execution stages and the effects of these two subcomponents on children’s prospective memory are mainly in middle and late childhood. Exploring the relationship between children’s prospective memory and execution function in future research needs to improve research methodology, especially by selecting age-appropriate task paradigms and theoretical models for children, by combining different types of prospective memory in the same sample, and by increasing the evidence from longitudinal studies. There is also a need to explore in greater depth the relationship between executive function and different types of PM. In addition to this, future studies need to investigate the processing phases of children’s prospective memory in detail by combining brain imaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging and functional near-infrared spectroscopy. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Comparison of Preferences For Sequences of Consumption with that of Money: The Mediating Role of Goal Salience Jiang Chengming, Chen Lina, Ma Jiatao, Wang Lei, He Quan, Sun Qingzhou, Sun Hongyue 2023, 46(6): 1368-1374.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230612 Abstract ( )   PDF (357KB) ( )   Researchers have generally accepted the conclusion that people prefer improving sequences to deteriorating ones since the work of Loewenstein and his colleagues in the 1990s. Nevertheless, recent research using unlabeled money as outcomes has found the opposite preference. Because these contradictions are found in different studies, it is difficult to compare them directly. The aim of the current study is to directly compare the preference for sequences of unlabeled money with the preference for sequences of consumption. This research consisted of four experiments. A total of 1498 participants finished those experiments. One hundred and ninety-nine participated in Experiment 1A, 428 in Experiment 1B, 445 in Experiment 2A, and 426 in Experiment 2B. Experiments 1A and 1B used between-subject and within-subject designs respectively to compare the sequence preferences for money outcome with that for consumable outcome, with these two outcomes controlled (Experiment 1B) or not (Experiment 1A). Experiment 2A asked participants to recall and qualify the importance of two goals which are “getting better outcomes as soon as possible” and “outcomes becoming better” in the decision-making process. The aim of Experiment 2A was to examine the mediating roles of these two goals. Experiment 2B further tested the roles of the two goals in the preference for monetary sequence by manipulating the gradient of the sequence outcomes. The results of Experiments 1A and 1B showed that the preference for deteriorating sequences was stronger in the sequence of monetary outcomes than for the sequence of consumable outcomes (in Experiment 1A: χ2(1) = 68.37, p < .001, φ = .59; in Experiment 1B: χ2 (1) = 88.53, p < .001, φ = .45). Furthermore, participants preferred deteriorating monetary sequence, while preferred improving consumable sequence. Experiment 2A indicated the mediating role of the goals of “getting better outcomes as soon as possible” and “outcomes becoming better”. Specifically, it demonstrated that, compared to participants in the condition of consumable outcomes, those in the condition of monetary outcomes attached more importance to the goal of “getting better outcomes quickly” while attached less importance to the goal of “outcomes becoming better”. That is, they preferred deteriorating sequences to improve ones(the indirect effect value of “getting better outcomes quickly” is .246 (95% CI: .120~ .404), and the indirect effect value of “outcomes becoming better” is .131 (95% CI: .042~ .239)). Furthermore, Experiment 2B showed that in the condition of sequence of monetary outcomes, “getting more money quickly” may be a salient goal which is not susceptible to the gradients of sequence, while the goal of “outcomes becoming better” is susceptible to the gradients of sequence, thus weakening a preference for deteriorating sequence when the gradient is smaller (the indirect effect value of “getting better outcomes quickly” is -.069 (95% CI: -.209~ .067), the indirect effect value of “outcomes becoming better” is -.070 (95% CI: -.159~-.003)). In summary, the results of four experiments show that participants are more preferable to deteriorating sequences when outcomes are money than when outcomes are consumable ones and the preference is meditated by the goals of “getting better outcomes quickly” and “outcomes becoming better”. The results have implications for researchers when studying intertemporal choice and for practitioners when designing policies or management measures involving intertemporal sequences. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Effects of Mind Perception and the Belief in A Just World on Innocent Victim-Blaming Wang Yue, Li Zhengqing, Wang Kun, Li Ying 2023, 46(6): 1375-1382.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230613 Abstract ( )   PDF (659KB) ( )   Abundant research on the Theory of Dyadic Morality has shown that the perceived harm is the core of moral judgment. The pain of the victim is one of the constituent elements of the perceived harm, and the judge's assessment of the pain of the victim is affected by mind perception. There are two important elements in mind perception, including agency and experience. Agency is corresponding to the moral responsibility, while experience is corresponding to the moral rights. The Theory of Dyadic Morality sticks to the view that agents are blameworthy, and patients deserve sympathy. In other words, the judge will blame the perpetrators more and sympathize with the victims more. However, the Belief in A Just World Theory gives different suggestions. The justice threat posed by the innocent victim suffering more serious harm is very likely to lead the judge to stay away from and blame the victim instead of sympathizing. This study explored the effects of mind perception, the effects of mind perception and belief in a just world on innocent victim-blaming through two studies. Study 1 used a single-factor between-subject design. The independent variable was the victim's minds(including agency and experience), and the dependent variable was the degree of blame on the innocent victim. According to the mind perception,113 participants were randomly divided into the agency group and experience group to read a story about an agency victim or an experience victim. After reading the victim scenario ,they were required to score the degree of blame on the victim. A two(BJW: the high BJW threat, the lowBJW threat)*two(mind perception: agency, experience)between-subject design was made in study 2, and the dependent variables were the degree of blame on victims and the willingness to help the victims.178 participants were subjected to different manipulations of the BJW threat and mind perception. A story about an unjust world was used to prime the high BJW threat, and another story about an just world was used to prime the low BJW threat. The results were as follow: (1) Mind perception affects the observers’ behavior of innocent victim-blaming, and the experience victim got less blaming than the agency victim. (2) The BJW and mind perception had an interactive effect on the behavior of blaming in the low-threat condition. That is, the experience victim got less blaming from observers who were not threatened by injustice than the agency victim. In contrast, in the high-threat condition, the observers were threatened by strong injustice and might be in an irrational state, so the agency victim got less blaming than the experience victim. (3)There was no interaction effect between the BJW and mind perception on the willingness to help victims. Observers with high BJW threat were more willing to help victims than observers with low BJW threat. The present study suggests that mind perception influences the behavior of innocent victim-blaming, which may be limited by observers’ Belief in A Just World. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Linking Supervisor Negative Workplace Gossip with Employee Thriving at Work: A Perspective of Attribution Theory Zhu Qianlin, Wei Feng 2023, 46(6): 1383-1390.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230614 Abstract ( )   PDF (1153KB) ( )   Thriving at work refers to an individual’s experience of vitality and learning at workplace and marks individual’s growth and progress. Thriving at work is of great importance to both individuals and organizations from the perspective of positive organizational behavior. Previous research has suggested that work situations, such as social interactions, are important factors shaping employees’ thriving at work. Based on this, research on the impact of leadership behavior, a key work situation, on employees’ thriving at work is emerging. However, such research mainly focuses on the influence of a few leadership behaviors, which makes the leadership factors that may affect employees’ thriving at work to be insufficiently explored. Drawing upon the attribution theory, this study examined how supervisor negative workplace gossip negatively affects thriving at work by reducing employees’ job self-efficacy. The moderating role of internal attribution and external attribution were also examined. To test the hypotheses in our model, we conducted a survey on 226 employees from several companies located in China. The survey was conducted in two waves. In the first wave, employees were asked to complete a questionnaire, including demographic information (gender, age, tenure), perceived supervisor positive workplace gossip, perceived supervisor negative workplace gossip, relational attribution, internal attribution, and external attribution. In the second wave, employees reported job self-efficacy and thriving at work. We tested our hypotheses with PROCESS macro for SPSS. The results indicated that internal attribution strengthens the relationship between supervisor negative workplace gossip and job self-efficacy, whereas external attribution weakens the relationship between and supervisor negative workplace gossip and job self-efficacy. Job self-efficacy is positively related to employees’ thriving at work. The indirect effect of supervisor negative workplace gossip on thriving at work via job self-efficacy was stronger when employees had a low level of external attribution. This study makes several contributions. First, this study uses the attribution theory to explain the influence mechanism of supervisors’ negative workplace gossip on employees’ thriving at work, expanding the theoretical perspective and outcomes of negative workplace gossip. Second, we contribute to the literature on antecedents of thriving at work by applying supervisor negative workplace gossip to the field of leadership and revealing how and when this stressor inhibits employees’ thriving. To our knowledge, we are the first to provide evidence for the negative effect of supervisor negative workplace gossip on employees’ thriving, thus broadening the understanding of the role of leaders’ informal communication behaviors in the development of employees’ thriving. Finally, drawing upon the attribution theory, we clarify that internal and external attribution are moderators, noting that individual characteristics play a vital role in the formation of employees’ thriving. Our results also offer implications on the practical interventions that organizations can take to develop a thriving workforce. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Can Goal Conflict be Beneficial to Well-Being? The Chain Mediating Role of Meaning Seeking and Meaning Experience Sun Wujun, Jiang Yuan, Fang Ping 2023, 46(6): 1391-1398.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230615 Abstract ( )   PDF (639KB) ( )   Multi-goal pursuit and goal conflict are common phenomena in individual development. Although theoretical studies have shown that goal conflict has a negative effect on well-being, empirical studies have not provided consistent evidence. These contradictory findings may be due to the different nature of the impact path between goal conflict and well-being, making the relationship between the two presents different results in different contexts or conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to further explore the mechanism of the effect of goal conflict on well-being and analyze under what conditions and in what ways goal conflict has positive or negative affects well-being, in order to improve the understanding of the relationship between the two. Meaning in life is an individual's perception of himself or herself and the nature of his or her existence and what he or she thinks is more important, including two dimensions of meaning experience and meaning seeking. When an individual has two or more conflicting goals at the same time, the current system of meaning is challenged and threatened, and the experience of meaning is reduced or lost. According to the view of eudaimonia, meaning experience is an important prerequisite for well-being and individuals achieve happiness by engaging in activities that realize their potential and bring meaning to life. Therefore, we believe that goal conflict negatively predicts well-being through meaning experience. According to the perspective of the Meaning-making Model, goal conflict, as a kind of pressure event, is an important motivation to drive individuals to seek meaning, which can improve the level of individuals'meaning seeking. The meaning therapy theory also suggests that meaning seeking helps to stimulate one's internal strength, which is an important prerequisite for happiness and health. So we speculate that goal conflict positively predicts well-being through meaning seeking. Furthermore, meaning seeking is an important way of reconstructing meaning and helping individuals regain meaningful experiences, may promote well-being by increasing the experience of meaning. Therefore, we speculate that goal conflict can also positively predict well-being through the chain mediation of meaning seeking and meaning experience. Based on these considerations, in order to explore the influence and mechanisms of goal conflict on well-being, the Conflicting Goals Scale, the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale and the Satisfaction with Life Scale were used to investigate 627 college students. The results found that: (1)The direct effect of goal conflict on well-being was not significant, but there were two mediating paths of different nature. (2) Meaning seeking and meaning experience as a chain mediating path positively predicted well-being. (3) The path mediated by meaning experience negatively predicted well-being. Whether goal conflict has a positive impact on well-being is related to whether it triggers a meaning-seeking process and whether it results in a positive outcome that enhances the level of meaning experience. This study provides an explanation for the current contradictory results of the relation between goal conflict and well-being and suggests conditions under which goal conflict positively affects well-being. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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A Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis of Structural Social Capital and Depression in Older Adults Yu Yi, Li Guangming 2023, 46(6): 1399-1407.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230616 Abstract ( )   PDF (856KB) ( )   Background:The physical and mental health problems among older adults have gradually become the focus in the field of mental health. The Social Capital Theory is a new approach to improve the mental health of the elderly and alleviate depression. Structural social capital originates from the concept of social capital and emphasizes practical participation in various networks, including formal activities and informal contacts. Previous studies have shown that structural social capital has a negative impact on depression. Specifically, regular participation in social activities and frequent contact with others can reduce the risk of depression. However, most prior studies were cross-sectional, which identified the impact of structural social capital on depression among foreign residents, middle-aged and young people. There is a lack of longitudinal research investigating the impact of depression on structural social capital among the elderly. Based on the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), this study used a random intercept cross-lagged panel model to explore the causal relationship between structural social capital and depression in older adults. Methods:CHARLS is a large-scale longitudinal survey designed to investigate the social, economic, and health status of residents aged 45 and over in Chinese Mainland. This study used three waves of data, including 2013, 2015, and 2018 data from CHARLS. Structural social capital was measured by participation in 9 activities in the past month, and the depressive symptom was assessed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. First, the Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to examine the association between structural social capital and depression. Next, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to investigate the difference between different sex and marriage. At last, A random intercept cross-lagged panel model was used to find the cross-time relationship between structural social capital and depression. All data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 and Mplus 8.3. Results:The results indicated that: (1) The random intercept cross-lagged panel model revealed that depression had a significant negative impact on the structural social capital, while the impact of structural social capital on depression was not significant. (2) The significant impact of depression on structural social capital was found in the latter stage (T2→T3). Compared with the former stage (T1→T2), it showed a significant upward trend in the latter (T2→T3). (3) There was a significantly different cross-lagged relationship between a widow and married elderly, while no difference existed between males and females. Conclusion:The one-way impact of depression on structural social capital among older adults was found. This significant impact only occurred in the latter stage owing to the development and severity of the depression. This evidence highlights the importance of depression in older adults and suggests the impact of structural social capital to prevent subsequent depression among widowed adults. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Influence of Deprivation Curiosity on Consumers' Variety-Seeking Behavior Yang Pianpian, Zhao Yating, Yang Congcong, Wang Xuehua, Jiang Yufan 2023, 46(6): 1408-1416.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230617 Abstract ( )   PDF (546KB) ( )   Based on the compensatory control theory, this research explores the effect of deprivation curiosity on variety-seeking behavior. It proposes the mediating role of loss of control and the moderating role of the need for structure. We conducted five experiments to test the hypotheses. Study 1 tested whether deprived curiosity would increase variety-seeking behavior. In study 1, participants were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions (deprived curiosity: high vs. low). This study followed the method of Wang et al. (2018) to manipulate participants’ deprived curiosity. All participants were presented with four riddles. Participants in the low-deprived curiosity condition were told the answers, while those in the high-deprived curiosity condition were not. Participants were then asked to select 5 out of 6 lollipops of different flavors. The results showed that, participants in the high-deprived curiosity condition revealed higher variety-seeking tendency than those in the low-deprived curiosity condition, which supported hypothesis 1. Study 1b aimed to replicate the results of study 1a by using a different method to manipulate deprived curiosity and a different way to measure variety-seeking tendency. Study 1b adapted the method of Kashdan et al. (2004) to manipulate deprived curiosity. Participants were presented with a TV drama. In the low-deprived curiosity condition, participants were told the end of TV drama while those in the high-deprived curiosity condition were not. Next, participants were asked to select 3 out of 4 packages of tissues of different brands. The results showed that participants in the high-deprived curiosity condition showed higher variety-seeking tendency than those in the low-deprived curiosity condition. The results of study 1a were thus replicated. Study 2a examined the mediating effect of loss of control. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions (deprived curiosity: high vs. low). The procedure of study 2a was similar to that in study 1b. The results showed that participants in the high-deprived curiosity condition showed higher variety-seeking tendency than those in the low-deprived curiosity condition. Bootstrapping analysis results showed that loss of control mediated the effect of deprived curiosity on variety-seeking. Study 2b manipulated loss of control to examine its mediation effect. The results showed that for participants with weak personal control, those in the high-deprived curiosity (vs. low-deprived curiosity) condition revealed higher variety-seeking tendency. For participants with strong personal control, there was no significant difference in variety-seeking edency between the high- vs. low-deprived curiosity conditions. The results showed that the need for structure moderated the effect of deprived curiosity on variety-seeking . Overall, this research found that: (1) High (vs. low) deprivation curiosity would increase (vs. decrease) variety-seeking behavior; (2) Loss of control mediated the effect of deprivation curiosity on variety-seeking behavior; and (3) The need for structure moderated the effect of deprivation curiosity on variety-seeking behavior. To the best of our knowledge, this article is among the first to examine the effect of deprivation curiosity on variety-seeking behavior. Moreover, this research demonstrates a novel antecedent for variety-seeking behavior: deprivation curiosity. The findings of this research could help marketers to better understand how deprivation curiosity affects variety-seeking behavior and thus enhance marketing effectiveness. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Social，Personality & Organizational Psychology

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Savings from A Psychological Perspective: Influencing Factors and Research Prospects Yang Wenjing, Teng Fei, Huang Xishan, Li Wen, Xu Xiaoqian 2023, 46(6): 1417-1424.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230618 Abstract ( )   PDF (670KB) ( )   As a daily economic decision-making behavior, saving refers to postpone the consumption of current income. Saving has profound and long-lasting effects on individuals and society. In this review, in line with prior research, we conceptualized saving as the behaviors and inclination to put part or all of one’s current income on storage rather than using it for consumption or investment. Therefore, purchasing low price goods and services or withholding from consumption can also be regarded as saving. We reviewed the theories focusing on explaining the reasons why people save, such as the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Behavioral Life-Cycle Theory, to name a few. Among them, behavioral life cycle theory incorporates self-control, mental accounting and framing into the life cycle theory, which has stronger explanatory power for savings. In addition, we summarized the measurements and research methods of savings in previous studies. The psychological research of savings mainly adopts self-report methods, which can be divided into three types: (a) Traditional measurement of savings, which directly examines the attitude toward saving, intention and habit through self-report; (b) Based on the relation between savings and consumption, savings were assessed by investigating people’s daily financial decisions and strategies and consumption expenditure; (c) Savings were indexed by delayed gratification. Furthermore, we reviewed and summarized the factors that affect individuals’ saving behaviors. To illustrate, there are demographic variables, personality and other individual traits at the internal individual level and economic environment, family education, regional sex ratio, culture at the external situational level. From the perspective of social psychology, we focused on theories of savings, its psychological mechanisms and potential interventions. We elaborated on psychological mechanisms that drive savings behaviors, which involve three components: cognition, emotion and will. For cognition, time-related cognition, such as time perspective, time horizon and future orientation can exert significant effects on savings. For emotion, positive and negative emotions have different effects on savings. For will, self-control and delayed gratification have a positive impact on savings. Moreover, from the perspective of practical application, we discuss and suggest some methods to promote savings, such as nudging, the default option, framing effect, reminding and “use of funds as ear-marked”, etc., which are proven ways to increase savings. The psychology of savings warrants further investigation. Firstly, future research should continue to explore the influence of personality traits on savings as well as the effects of savings on people’s subjective well-being and interpersonal relationships. Secondly, more research should be devoted to developing effective measurement means to facilitate the further investigation, including the attitude of subdividing savings. It is of great importance to develop indigenous measurement tools to facilitate cultural comparisons. Moreover, future research should be based on the perspective of psychology and constantly improve the theory of savings in order to accommodate the extension of the concept of savings. In sum, the continuous attention and in-depth investigation of savings from a psychological perspective would be beneficial for the society to formulate reasonable economic policies and for individuals to better understand financial concepts and make wise economic decisions. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Has the Elderly's Emotional Perception Ability Deteriorated? Query, Evidence and Analysis Ding Xiaobin, Kang Tiejun, Wang Rui, Zhao Jing 2023, 46(6): 1425-1431.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230619 Abstract ( )   PDF (327KB) ( )   Whether the increase of age will lead to the decline of emotional perception in the elderly? Previous studies believe that, compared to young adults, the elderly have lower performance in recognizing negative facial expressions such as fear and anger, and the ability of the elderly to recognize emotions decreases with age. However, a large number of studies in recent years have failed to replicate similar age effects of emotional perception, and have even shown the opposite conclusion that the emotional recognition ability of the elderly does not decrease significantly with age. Several current studies have found that: First, the age difference in the recognition of negative emotions may be exaggerated, and when recognizing facial expressions of fear, sadness, disgust, and happiness, the difference between the elderly and the young people may be further reduced or not significant. Second, when body expressions and facial expressions are presented at the same time, compared to young adults, the recognition of facial expressions of the elderly is more easily affected by the body expressions. Thirdly, although the elderly are impaired when recognizing emotions in a single channel (face or voice), the age difference is eliminated when recognizing cross-channel emotions, and elderly benefit from consistent multi-sensory emotional integration processing. The reasons for many inconsistent conclusions may lie in following considerations. (1) The continuous expansion of the concept of emotional perception, from the early research mainly focused on “emotional faces” to the “face-voice” or “face-body” emotional integration that the current researchers are interested in, and concept extension has led to the controversy over the "aging" of emotion recognition ability. (2) It may be related to confusion between visual processing preference and emotional face processing strategy. (3) Selected reflecting indicators are more sensitive to age changes and are more susceptible to the decline abilities of cognitive processing and attention in the elderly, which to some extent aggravate the age difference of emotion recognition. The motivation of the elderly is different in different experimental task conditions. That is, the closer the experimental task is to the real life phenomenon, the easier it may be to mobilize the motivation of the elderly subjects to participate in the experimental task. So the differences in task performance between the elderly and the young people is smaller. According to the theory of social cognitive function, social individuals continue to accumulate social perception experience throughout their lives, and their expertise (or skills) of social interaction is also increasing. The focus of social professional knowledge theory is not the traditional accuracy itself, but the sensitivity and selectivity to relevant clues in the social field. The elderly may use different rules and strategies in the process of social perception. In the future, more ecological stimuli and comprehensive indicators should be used to evaluate the emotion recognition ability of the elderly, to pay attention to the impact and mechanism of cognitive ability on emotion recognition of the elderly, and to reflect the development and changes of interpersonal accuracy with more comprehensive indicators. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Associations of Parenting Stress, Mindful Parenting and Parent-Child Relationship: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model Li Yan, Ju Jiawen, Liang Lichan, Bian Yufang 2023, 46(6): 1432-1439.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230620 Abstract ( )   PDF (732KB) ( )   Purpose: Parenting stress, a type of role-related stress, is perceived by parents when they experience child-rearing issues. Parenting stress causes parents to give up their roles or to become passive, which often prevents them from shaping an intimate parent-child relationship. In that process, mindful parenting, referring to a set of skills or practices in parenting, may become a vital factor and play a mediating role in it. According to the Family System Theory, fathers and mothers are inherently dependent in interdependent relationships. Therefore, parents’ characteristics cannot solely explain their parenting behavior, and researchers should also consider their partners’ influence. However, there is limited research that treats parents as an integral unit in data analysis or investigates such questions. As a result, this study aims to examine how parenting stress experienced by mothers and fathers influences their own (actor effects) and the partner’s (partner effects) parent-child relationship. Furthermore, we test the mediating role of mindful parenting and the gender differences in both actor effects and partner effects. Methods: Written consent forms were given to school administrators, students, and parents to obtain their consent. Students brought questionnaires for parents and then brought them back to school after parents filled them respectively. A total of 700 families rated their parenting stress, mindful parenting at T1, while 560 families rated parent-child relationship at T2, and FIML was used to deal with missing data. The final example included 700 families, consisting of parents of 336 boys and 363 girls. At T1, on average, children were 14.26 years old (SD = .45 years old). Percentages of the maternal and paternal educational level were 73.3% and 71.0% for junior college and above. The study first used SPSS 25.0 to analyze general descriptive statistics and pairwise correlations (Pearson's r) and then used MPLUS 8.3 to build the Actor Partner Interdependent Model(APIM), which was useful to analyze non-independent data. Results: (1) Parenting stress had both negative actor and partner effects on the parent-child relationship. It showed that parents with higher parenting stress at the first measurement occasion perceived worse parent-child relationship 1 year later, and so do their partners’. (2) The mediating actor effects showed that mindful parenting played a mediating role in their owned parenting stress and parent-child relationships. Specifically, parenting stress negatively predicted mindful parenting, and mindful parenting positively predicted the parent-child relationship. (3) Regarding mediating partner effects, maternal parenting stress predicted the father-child relationship only through paternal mindful parenting, while paternal parenting stress predicted the mother-child relationship only through maternal mindful parenting. (4) The statistical tests indicated that there were no gender differences between fathers and mothers in both actor effects and partner effects. Conclusions: This study improves our understanding of the underlying mechanism involved in the family by showing the relationship between parenting stress and parent-child relationship. Parenting stress affects both parents themselves and their partner's mindful parenting and the parent-child relationship. The findings demonstrate the significance of including both fathers and mothers in one study to enhance our understanding of the mutual influence among family members. It also provides not only a basis for parent-child relationship promotion but also targeted intervention programs for families. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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A Review of Adaptive and Maladaptive Risk Taking Behavior among Adolescents Yu Tengxu, Hu Jinsheng 2023, 46(6): 1440-1446.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230621 Abstract ( )   PDF (377KB) ( )   Adolescence, a period of life between the onset of puberty and adulthood, is a high-incidence period for risk-taking behaviors. Here are two opposing views on the value of risk-taking in adolescents:Adaptive or maladaptive. Researchers focusing on the problematic behaviors of adolescents tend to hold the view that risk-taking is maladaptive. They propose that adolescents lack enough cognitive control for reasonable risk-taking. On the contrary, researchers with the view of positive youth development (PYD) are more likely to agree that risk-taking is adaptive for adolescents. They believe that risk-taking plays an important role in the independence and self-development of adolescents. Additionally, other researchers tend to integrate the two views above. In this view, adolescents’ risk-taking behavior can be divided into two categories: adaptive and maladaptive risk-taking. Problem behavior theory proposes that adolescents take risks without enough control and consideration, which supports that risk-taking could be maladaptive for adolescents. Further, according to the dual systems model on the neural level, cognitive control system is gradually developing while social emotional system develops rapidly in adolescence and this imbalance contributes to adolescents’ poor ability of cognitive control and more risk-taking behaviors. Similar to the dual systems model, the triadic model also emphasizes that prefrontal cortex mainly underlying cognitive control is undeveloped for adolescents and cannot regulate amygdala and striatum properly. Specifically, the activation of striatum is promoted, while the activation of amygdala is inhibited. This pattern leads to approaching behaviors, such as risk-taking. In addition, from the perspective of neurotransmission, the enhanced dopamine activity in adolescence could account for individual’s high levels of risk-taking behaviors to obtain reward. Some other theories also support that risk-taking can be adaptive for adolescents. According to the fuzzy-trace theory, the accumulation of experience through risk-taking can lead to more adult-like decision-making and gist-based intuition for adolescents, who prefer making decisions based on verbatim representations. Further, according to the experience-driven adaptive cognitive model on the neural level, adolescence is a unique period of plasticity and refinement of memory circuits for the establishment of contextually-relevant responses to guide and optimize goal-oriented behaviors, and the risk-taking behaviors during this period serve adaptive purposes. These two theories both emphasize that adolescents accumulate experience via risk-taking behaviors, and the accumulation of experience facilitates their following adaptive decision making. Moreover, from the neurotransmission perspective, the enhanced dopamine activity can not only drive adolescents’ approaching behaviors, but also strengthen their cognitive control ability. In summary, risk-taking can either be maladaptive or adaptive. A dual-pathway perspective of adolescents’ risk-taking behavior could integrate the two views above. Adolescents with high cognitive control are more likely to take adaptive risks, whereas adolescents with low cognitive control are more likely to take maladaptive risks. Furthermore, we propose the dual-pathway model drawing from the expected-value-of-control model and stress the importance of cognitive control. Specifically, maladaptive risk-taking driven is habitual behavior, while adaptive risk-taking is under effortful control. Future studies may need to verify the dual-pathway model from three perspectives, including the classification, influencing factors, and neural mechanisms of adolescents’ risk-taking behavior. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Positive Self-Presentation in Social Networking Sites: From the Perspective of Evolutionary Psychology Wang Caiyu, Wang Huili 2023, 46(6): 1447-1453.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230622 Abstract ( )   PDF (514KB) ( )   Positive Self-presentation in social network sites refers to one’s control of the content of the information and the way it is presented, to affect the formation and change of their impressions on others. With the popularity of the Internet, more female college students prefer to share their life, photos, and other information on social networking sites, presenting a selective image through social networking sites. Do they want to gain the favor of the opposite sex? On this basis, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of mate attraction on positive self-presentation of female college students in social network sites, and to further explore the mediating role of female student appearance-management behavior between mate attraction and positive self-presentation, and whether the mediating role is regulated by self-esteem. The participants were 659 female college students. Four questionnaires were used in this study, including the mate attraction questionnaire, the positive self-presentation questionnaire, the appearance-management behavior scale, and the self-esteem scale. Cronbach’s alpha for the above measures ranged from .80 to .87, showing good measurement reliabilities. This study indicated that: (1) Mate attraction had a significantly positive relation with positive self-presentation of female college students in social networking sites. (2) Female students’ appearance-management behavior mediated the relation between mate attraction and their positive self-presentation in social networking sites. Specifically, the mediating effect accounted for 40% of the total effect. (3) The relation between mate attraction fatigue and appearance-management behavior was moderated by self-esteem. That is, with individuals’ self-esteem being strengthened, the influence of mate attraction on the positive self-presentation was also improved. Both low self-esteem group and high self-esteem group, the effect were statistically significant (β = .18, t =3.65, p < .001; β = .37, t = 7.87, p < .001). Therefore, there was a moderated mediation model between mate attraction and positive self-presentation in social networking sites. From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, based on the gender selection theory and the self-esteem social measurement theory, our findings showed that the positive self-presentation in social networking sites was the communication strategy of female spouses in the Internet era. Our findings contributed to the literature in several ways. First, this research offered a new perspective to study the mediating mechanisms between mate attraction and positive self-presentation. Second, our result concerning the moderating effect of self-esteem contributed to the moderating mechanism between mate attraction and positive self-presentation. More importantly, the integration of the mediating and moderating models provided a more comprehensive and elaborative interpretation of the linkage between mate attraction and positive self-presentation. Furthermore, our findings also had some practical significance. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Frequency of Posting on Social Media and Subjective Well-Being among Chinese Youth: The Mediating Role of the Satisfaction of Basic Psychological Needs Zhou Yingnan, Wang Junxiu 2023, 46(6): 1454-1461.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230623 Abstract ( )   PDF (845KB) ( )   In recent years, social media has become increasingly popular in our daily life. WeChat moment, QQ space, and microblog become the most popular social media platforms, accounting for 83.4%, 58.8% and 42.3% of all mobile phone users, respectively. These social media users are mainly young people. Young people aged 20~39 take up 70.8%, 75.2% and 70.9% of the users of WeChat moment, QQ space, and microblog respectively. The use of social media has increasingly become an important part of the life of Chinese youth. Posting on social media about their lives is becoming more and more popular among them. It is of great significance to explore the influence of this phenomenon on young people. Previous studies mainly focused on the negative effects of social media use. In this study, we explored the positive impact of posting on social media on subjective well-being among Chinese youth. Based on the use and satisfaction theory, we hypothesized that posting on social media can meet the psychological needs of young people and further improve their subjective well-being. That is, psychological needs satisfaction plays a mediating role between posting on social media and subjective well-being. In order to test the above hypothesis, we conducted a nationwide online survey to collect data. The Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Chinese version of SDT Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction Scale, the Emotion Scale and the Social media use questionnaire were used. A total of 7667 Chinese young people (5213 males and 2454 females) aged 18~44 completed the survey. Descriptive statistical analysis and multi-group analysis using structural equation model (SEM) were conducted. The results showed that: (1) The majority of young people in China posted on social media, with an average of 6.48 posts per week. (2) The frequency of posing on social media was positively associated with subjective well-being and satisfaction of psychological needs among Chinese youth. (3) The frequency of posting on social media could meet the psychological needs of young people and therefore, improved their subjective well-being. (4) Compared with females, the frequency of posting on social media had more impact on their subjective well-being among males, and psychological needs satisfaction played a stronger mediating role as well. These results indicated that active use of social media such as posting can meet people’s psychological needs and therefore has positive effects on people’s mental health, and the positive impact is much stronger on male than on female. These findings can provide some insights on the positive usage of social media and how to improve male’s wellbeing through active use of social media. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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COVID-19 and Happiness:The Protective Effect of Relational Self Wei Chaoxuan, Wang Lei, Xu Suyuan, Bi Chongzeng 2023, 46(6): 1462-1469.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230624 Abstract ( )   PDF (1152KB) ( )   The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is a major social disaster that led to stress reactions that negatively affect the mind and body, causing lasting psychological stress and reducing well-being. Even after entering the regular phase of pandemic prevention and control, the negative impact on mental health and well-being continues due to the uncertainty of the pandemic development. In this paper, we use Oishi's three-dimensional model of well-being to understand the breadth of the impact of the pandemic on well-being. That is, the impact of the pandemic on well-being will be reflected in the three sub-dimensions of happiness, meaningfulness, and psychological richness. In addition, studies have shown the influence of self-construal of happiness and environmental congruence. Individuals with different dominant self-construal orientations have different access to psychological resources when coping with the pandemic, which in turn affects their coping outcomes with pandemic stress. Thus, the interaction between individual self-construal and the pandemic can result in different changes in well-being. In summary, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of pandemic focus on well-being and the moderating effect of self-construal. Study 1 used a one-way between-subjects experimental design to manipulate individuals'attention to pandemic information to explore the effect of pandemic focus on well-being and to verify the moderating role of self-construal between pandemic focus and well-being by measuring individuals'self-construal orientation. We collected experimental data from 119 subjects (41 males and 78 females) in an online experiment. The results showed that (1) Pandemic focus reduce individuals'well-being and is reflected in all three dimensions of well-being. (2) Relational self-construal moderates the relationship between pandemic and happiness and can buffer the negative effects of pandemic. However, the moderating effect found in Study 1 occurred at the trait level, and the relational self-construal was a measurement variable rather than a manipulation variable. Therefore, the definite relationship between the moderating effect of the relational self-construal on pandemic focus and happiness needs to be further demonstrated. Study 2 focused on the protective mechanism of the relational self on happiness by using a 2 (pandemic focus, control group) × 2 (relational-self priming, control group) between-subjects experimental design to manipulate the pandemic focus and the relational self, respectively, to explore their causal relationship with happiness by activating the relational self. We collected experimental data from 203 subjects (59 males and 144 females) in an online experiment. The results showed that activation of the relational self enhanced individuals'well-being regardless of whether they focused on the pandemic or not. People's perception of information about the pandemic can have a lasting and widespread negative impact on well-being, but the relational self can buffer the negative effects of the pandemic and maintain individuals'well-being. In addition, this positive benefit can further flood into individuals'daily life. These findings have important practical implications for public psychological protection under the pandemic. Under the regular phase of pandemic prevention and control, firstly, reducing the attention to pandemic information can avoid the loss of individual happiness. Second, individuals should be aware of the preventability and controllability of the pandemic from a rational and objective perspective, and pay attention to their personal pandemic prevention behaviors to increase their immunity to pandemic information. Finally, individuals are able to use the relationship to construct the adaptability in culture and context, such as increasing the importance of interpersonal relationship, deriving positive benefits from it as a way to enhance the overall level of well-being. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Job Crafting and Successful Aging at Work in Older Workers: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis Chang Yurong, Wang Yiguang, Wang Zhongjun, Yang Yinyin 2023, 46(6): 1470-1477.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230625 Abstract ( )   PDF (828KB) ( )   With the aging of the population, the labor force is aging as well with the increasing proportion of older workers. However, most Chinese older workers may possess inadequate psychological and physical resources to adapt to the current work, which means that it is difficult to achieve successful aging at work. Therefore, how to help older workers to achieve successful aging at work is an urgent problem to be solved. Although researchers noted that job crafting is an important factor in achieving successful aging at work from a theoretical perspective, few studies have investigated the association between job crafting and successful aging at work. Moreover, the direction of causality between job crafting and successful aging at work has yet to been examined. Thus, to solve above problems, this study explored the likely causal direction between job crafting and successful aging at work. This study adopted two-wave data with an interval of six months and used the Dutch job crafting scale (JCS) and the Work-Life Extending Strategies Inventory (W-LESI) as measurements. Specially, the score of prevention-focused job crafting was calculated as the sum of the dimension of decreasing hindering job demands, and the score of promotion-focused job crafting was calculated as the sum of the other three job crafting dimensions. A total of 476 workers over the age of 40 in China participated at T1. For T2, 145 questionnaires were collected and 140 questionnaires were valid. The average age of these valid participants is 47.5. There was no statistically significant difference in age, gender, job crafting and successful aging at work between valid and invalid questionnaires. The reliability of the measurements met the psychometric standard. We analyzed a cross-lagged panel model with Mplus 7.0. Our analysis showed that T1 job crafting was a significant positive predictor of T2 successful aging at work (β = .16, p <.05). However, T1 successful aging at work did not predict T2 job crafting (β = .11, p >.05). It showed that more job crafting predicted a higher level of successful aging at work among workers over the age of 40, rather than in the reversed direction. Thus, job crafting is most likely to be the cause of successful aging at work. Furthermore, the results showed that promotion-focused job crafting can be a better way to achieve successful aging at work(β = .15, p < .05), while prevention-focused job crafting may not be useful to keep good work outcomes(β = .12, p >.05). In summary, this study is an important step towards a better understanding of the relationship between job crafting and successful aging at work. For the first time, empirical research is used to test the relation between job crafting and successful aging at work and provides evidence for the direction of causation. According to the results, older workers could adopt effective behavioral and emotional strategies to improve their work well-being and job performance. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Research on Social Psychological Service in the New Era

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The Effects of Congruence and Incongruence on Children’s Perceived Paternal and Maternal Involvement on Subjective Well-Being: Using Polynomial Regression with Response Surface Analysis Ju Jiawen, Zhou Xinran, Liang Lichan, Bian Yufang 2023, 46(6): 1478-1485.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230626 Abstract ( )   PDF (990KB) ( )   Parental involvement refers to parents'engaging in children’s school, family, personal life, and other aspects, which reflects parents’ understanding, interest, and willingness to participate in children’s daily activities. Previous studies have shown various benefits of parental involvement on children’s development. Based on the structural family theory, the balance of paternal and maternal involvement is essential for children, which may enhance their attachment and reduce anxiety. However, the empirical studies showed inconsistent results. The current study aims to examine how congruence or incongruence of children’s perceived paternal and maternal involvement may relate to their subjective well-being. The specific research goals are: (1) If the maternal and paternal involvement are incongruence may influence subjective well-being; (2) If the maternal and paternal involvement are congruently high, compared with congruently low, may influence subjective well-being; (3) If the maternal and paternal involvement are in incongruence, in which paternal involvement is relatively high or low, may influence subjective well-being; and (4) Child’s gender may differ in these associations. The study utilized a two-year longitudinal design. Participants were 1145 four-grade students from dual-earners families of 13 elementary schools in Beijing and Haikou. Written consents were sent to schools, parents, and children themselves. Experienced experimenter paid annual visits to collect data from students. Participants filled in maternal and paternal involvement questionnaires at the first wave, and subjective well-being scale at two time points. Some demographic characteristics such as gender, age, home possessions, parents’ job status, and parents’ educational level were also collected for controlling variables. Regarding statistical analysis, the study conducted independent t-tests and Pearson’s correlation to get basic statistics of variables. By using polynomial regression and response surface analysis, the main research goals were examined. Preliminary results showed girls scored higher in subjective well-being at the second wave. No significant child’s gender difference was found in maternal involvement, paternal involvement, and subjective well-being at the first wave. Correlation results showed that maternal and paternal involvement were significantly associated with subjective well-being at two waves. The results of polynomial regression and response surface analysis showed that: (1) If the maternal and paternal involvement were in congruence or not did not influence subjective well-being; (2) If maternal and paternal involvement are congruently high or low significantly influenced subjective well-being, in which children’s subjective well-being were relatively high when maternal and paternal involvement were congruently high; (3) When the maternal and paternal involvement were in incongruence, in which paternal involvement was relatively high or low, only had a significant association with boys’ subjective well-being, but not for girls. Specifically, more paternal involvement versus maternal involvement was associated with boys'higher concurrent and over time’s subjective well-being. After controlling variables such as family socioeconomic status, children’s age, and children’s subjective well-being at the first wave, the primary results and the significance of the coefficients were still stable. In contrary to structural family theory, there was no congruence effect of parental involvement on children’s subjective well-being. Both high in maternal and paternal involvement manifested its benefits for children’s subjective well-being, compared with congruently low in parental involvement. Regarding incongruent situations, the incongruence effect was only significant in boys not for girls, suggesting gender differences. The study was unique in examining the congruence and incongruence effect of parental involvement on children, as well as considering the gender of students and utilizing the polynomial regression and response surface analysis to reduce possible errors. Implications of this study included enhancing both maternal and paternal involvement to improve children’s positive development, as well as paying more attention to the father’s essential parenting role, especially for boys. Further research may expand the sample, specify different types of involvement, and develop more time points to generalize these findings. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Nonparametric Diagnostic Classification for Polytomous Attributes: A Comparison of 18 Distance Discriminant Methods Xu Huiying, Chen Qipeng, Liu Yaohui, Zhan Peida 2023, 46(6): 1486-1494.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230627 Abstract ( )   PDF (881KB) ( )   In the past decades, there has been increasing interests in cognitive diagnostic assessment (CDA) that allows identifying the mastery or non-mastery of specific fine-grained attributes required for solving problems in educational and psychological assessments. In the field of cognitive diagnosis, researchers have proposed a variety of methods to classify respondents into several classes according to their attribute patterns. In general, existing methods can be classified into two categories, including parametric and non-parametric diagnostic methods. Parametric diagnostic methods are based on psychometric models. For different test situations, the theoretical relationship between observed response pattern (ORP) and latent attribute vector is described by cognitive diagnosis models (CDM), such as the DINA model and its generalized models. In contrast, the distance discrimination method in non-parametric diagnostic methods generally assigns respondents directly to a latent category by minimizing the distance between the ORP and the ideal response pattern (IRP). The most important feature of non-parametric diagnostic methods is that they do not involve any CDM and can be computed at arbitrary sample sizes. Examples include the Hamming distance discriminant and the Manhattan distance discriminant. However, the majority of current methods (both parametric and non-parametric diagnostic methods) assumes that attributes are binary variables (e.g., "0" for "non-mastery" and "1" for "mastery"). This "black-and-white" classification is too coarse and may not be able to meet the needs of refined measurement in practical scenarios. With the increasing demand for refined diagnosis, several CDMs with polytomous attributes have been proposed in recent years. However, non-parametric diagnostic methods have not yet touched on polytomous attributes, which leaves a gap for researchers and practitioners to understand the performance of non-parametric diagnostic methods in the diagnostic assessments with polytomous attributes. To investigate the performance of non-parametric diagnostic methods in the diagnostic assessments with polytomous attributes, two simulation studies were conducted to compare the diagnostic classification accuracy of 20 non-parametric distance discrimination methods under different test conditions consisting of 5 independent variables, including sample size, item quality, test length, number of attribute levels, and number of attributes, and to compare them with a CDM with polytomous attributes. In simulation study 1, three independent variables were manipulated, including sample size (N = 30, 50, and 100), test length (I = 25 and 50), and item quality (IQ = high; i.e., the mean value of guessing and slipping is around. (1) And low (i.e., the mean value of guessing and slipping is around .(2) All 18 non-parametric methods were implemented using Python's SciPy package; the CDM with polytomous attributes was implemented using the full Bayesian MCMC algorithm. The weighted- and exact-attribute pattern correct classification rates were used to evaluate the classification accuracy. In simulation study 2, two independent variables were manipulated: the number of attributes (K = 3, 5, and 7) and the number of attribute levels (Lk = 3 and 5). The sample size was fixed as 100, the test length was fixed as 50, and the item quality was fixed as high, respectively. All other conditions were consistent with simulation study 1. The results of studies indicated that: (1) The effect of sample size on the classification accuracy of all non-parametric methods was small; (2)The classification accuracy of non-parametric methods increased with increasing item quality and test length, but decreased with the increasing number of attributes and number of attribute levels; and (3) In two simulation studies, the performance of the 18 non-parametric distance discrimination methods was robust across all test conditions, with the 8 distances of Canberra, Manhattan, Euclidean, Seuclidean, Sqeuclidean, Minkowski, Hamming, and Sokal-Michener dissimilarity distance discrimination methods performing relatively better. (4) In empirical study, the classification findings of the majority of nonparametric distance discriminant approaches match well with the RPa-DINA model. In conclusion, this study is the first attempt to explore the performance of non-parametric diagnostic methods in the diagnostic assessments with polytomous attributes, which expands the application of non-parametric diagnostic methods and enriches the data analysis methods for polytomous attributes. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Psychological statistics, Psychometrics & Methods

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A Comparative Study of Item Selection Methods in CD-CAT based on Nominal Response Model Zhang Jie, Luo Zhaosheng, Yu Xiaofeng, Qin Chunying 2023, 46(6): 1495-1503.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230628 Abstract ( )   PDF (1041KB) ( )   Cognitive Diagnostic Computerized Adaptive Testing (CD-CAT) combines the advantages of cognitive diagnosis and CAT, which could improve the efficiency and accuracy of CD-CAT. CD-CAT can be divided into two types, including dichotomous and polytomous. Presently, the majority of researches on CD-CAT are based on dichotomous CD-CAT. However, among the practical tests in psychology and education, there are many polytomous items, which can be further divided into nominal polytomous and ordinal polytomous items according to whether there is an order or grade between every response category. Nominal polytomous items are items whose response categories are independent and without orders or grades between every response category. Although researchers have developed (ordinal) polytomous CDMs and corresponding CD-CAT, few nominal CDMs and CD-CAT are based on nominal responses. This study introduces seven commonly used item selection methods in dichotomous CD-CAT into NCD-CAT (CD-CAT based on nominal response models). PMR (pattern match ratio) and test efficiency index are evaluated under different conditions between these item selection methods. Here are details of two simulation studies below. Study 1 compared the performance of NR_PWKL, NR_PWCDI, NR_PWACDI, NR_MPWKL, NR_SHE, NR_MI, and NR_GDI methods under different test lengths (5, 10, 15, 20) and item pool qualities (high and low) in NCD-CAT. Results showed that: (1) the PMRs of NR_PWCDI, NR_PWACDI, NR_MPWKL, NR_SHE, and NR_MI are higher than or equal to that of NR_PWKL, especially in short tests. (2) As test length gets longer, that PMR advantage is missing, which is the same as the results of Zheng and Chang (2016). (3) Compared to test length, item quality has a greater impact on PMR. For instance, with item quality descending, the PMR declined about 30% among all conditions. Study 2 was an experiment study on variable-length NCD-CAT that was conducted to compare the performance of each item selection method under the conditions of three maximum posterior probabilities ( .8, .85, .9) and two item qualities (high and low). The results showed that: (1)under all experimental conditions the average test lengths of NR_PWCDI, NR_PWACDI, NR_MPWKL, NR_SHE, and NR_MI are shorter than that of NR_PWKL; the difference is more than .738; (2)affected by item quality, the average length of NR_GDI is smaller than that of NR_PWKL under high-quality conditions and larger than it under low-quality conditions. To sum up, this study compared the performance of 7 commonly used item selection methods of dichotomous CD-CAT in NCD-CAT with different conditions (fixed and variable length). The simulation study showed that, under most conditions, the NR_PWCDI, NR_PWACDI, NR_MPWKL, NR_SHE, and NR_MI methods performed well when compared to baseline algorithm NR_PWKL. This study has expanded the alternatives of item selection methods in NCD-CAT. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Clinical Psychology & Consulting

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Identity and Smoking Refusal Self-Efficacy in Chinese Male Smokers: The Mediating Role of Smoking Refusal Outcome Expectancies and the Moderating Role of Social Norms Chen Haide, Wang Yiwen, Zhao Boqiang, Yao Jingjing, Li Weijian 2023, 46(6): 1504-1510.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230629 Abstract ( )   PDF (867KB) ( )   The smoking refusal self-efficacy, which refers to the ability and confidence of an individual to refuse a cigarette, may be one of the risk factors for initiating and maintaining smoking. The previous studies have showed that the smoking refusal self-efficacy would be predicted by identity. However, little is known about the influence of smoker's identity on smoking refusal self-efficacy as well as its potential psychosocial mechanisms. According to the Theories of Social Identity and Theories of Self-categorization, smoker self-identification effects on the smoking refusal outcome expectancies, then affecting the smoking refusal self-efficacy. Additionally, a large number of studies have shown that individual behavior is often affected by subjective norms. Researchers further distinguished subjective norms into descriptive norms and injunctive norms. They may have different effects on an individual's behavior. Given these, the present study aims at examining (a) the relation between smoker's identity and smoking refusal self-efficacy, (b) the mediating effect of smoking refusal outcome expectancies in the relation between smoker's identity and the smoking refusal self-efficacy, and (c) the moderating effects of descriptive norms and injunctive norms between smoker's identity and smoking refusal self-efficacy and in the relation between identity and smoking refusal outcome expectancies in Chinese smokers. A sample of 924 Chinese current daily male smokers was recruited to complete several self-report questionnaires, including the Perceived Smoking Social Norms Scale, the Smokers Identity Scale, the Refusal Outcome Expectation Scale, the Refusal Skill Efficacy Scale, and the Demographic Characteristics Questionnaires. All analyses were conducted using SPSS 23.0. Partial correlation analyses (i.e., to control the following covariates: age, marital status, nicotine dependence, socioeconomic status and health status) were conducted to examine the relationsamong study variables. Then, the mediation model and moderated mediation models, which controlled for a forementioned covariates, were examined by using Model 4 and Model 10 in PROCESS macro for SPSS respectively. The results showed that(1) The smoking refusal self-efficacy negatively related to norms, smokers’ identification, and smoking refusal outcome expectancies. (2) The relation between the smokers’ identification and smoking refusal self-efficacy was partially mediated by the smoking refusal outcome expectancies. (3) The moderated effect of injunctive norms on the relation between the smokers’ identification and smoking refusal self-efficacy was significant. (4) The moderated effect of descriptive norms was not supported. This study provides a more comprehensive explanation for how the identity of smokers affects the smoking motivation of Chinese smokersand has a certain contribution to the theory of smoking cessation. The results are consistent with the hypothesis of cognitive dissonance theory and suggest that individuals should reduce the status of smokers in their multiple identities. It also adds the explanation of self-efficacy theory to the change of smokers'quitting motivation and the explanation of identity theory to the change of behavioral intention. The results of this study also have some implications for the practice of tobacco control in China. It is necessary to guide smokers to reduce the status of smokers in their multiple identities. Further studies should use multiple methods and construct diverse models to explore the underlying mechanisms. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Theories & History of Psychology

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The Fudan School of Anti-Instinct Studies:From Zing-Yang Kuo to Loh-Seng Tsai Wang Yong, Chen Wei, Guo Benyu 2023, 46(6): 1511-1517.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230630 Abstract ( )   PDF (375KB) ( )   Instinct has been always an old controversial issue in the history of behavioral science. The European school has always maintained a tradition of instinct research from McDougall’s teleological claims of behavior to the approach of Lorenz and Tinbergen’s Ethology. Zing-yang Kuo, the Chinese psychologist who is the main architect of anti-instinct movement, explicitly denied that the concept of instinct was merely a label that could not explain how these behavioral patterns were formed over the course of an individual’s life. Since Kuo returning to China as a professor of Fudan University in 1923, he used his limited laboratory to conduct a series of methodologically innovative experiments on animal behavior to critique the European school’s instinct claims. Loh-Seng Tsai, a postgraduate student of Kuo at Fudan University, endeavored to promote Kuo’s early armchair ideas and complement his later experimental studies. This led to the formation of the Fudan school of anti-instinct studies with Kuo as its founder and Tsai as its successor. The claims of this school include: (1) Using rigorous experimental evidence to address scientific problems, denying the scientific existence of the concept of instinct through a series of cat & rat experiments; (2)Rejecting teleology and using a systemic developmental perspective on behavior occurrence, and thus questioning Darwinism; (3) Attempting to go beyond the nature-nurture dichotomy and construct a new theory that could explain the dynamic development of human behavior, that is, probabilistic epigenesis of behavioral development. This theory proposed that individual’s behavior comes out of his or her own experience in the process of growth, which is thought to be probable but unable to forecast the course of individuals’ growth. Instead, one’s growth can be reflected in behavior gradients and behavior potentials. Based on these propositions, Kuo and Tsai opened up a new path for the Fudan school of anti-instinct behavior research. Invited by Gottlieb, Kuo returned to the America in the 1960s. His work also attracted a host of developmental psychologists such as Gottlieb, Schneirla, and Lehrman, who later became the backbone and core member of this camp. When analyzed from the perspective of the history of psychological science, the Fudan school’s critique of instinct is undoubtedly interspersed with the strong dissatisfaction of the scientific psychological forces represented by the behaviorist movement with armchair psychology. Kuo’s idea of probabilistic epigenesis developed and polished a conceptual framework for systematic analysis of behavioral development. This framework viewed the organisms as a developing system, and the dynamic and bidirectional interactions among the elements, either internally or externally, and environment shape the emergent characteristics concerning genes, nervous system, environment and other factors that had a thorough and comprehensive influence on the development of behavior. The framework also facilitated the establishment and development of a new path of the epiphenotype epigenetics. The school developed around Kuo continues to regard development as the core theme of comparative psychology research and consciously distanced itself from the evolutionary perspective. Tsai, Schneirla, Lehrman and Gottlieb et al. criticized nativists and promoted behavioral development science directly based on Kuo’s theory system. During the process, they laid a solid foundation for the developmental psychobiology, an emerging inter-discipline, which is of immense significance to revealing developmental differences in biological behavior of organisms. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Application and Prospect of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Aviation Psychology Liu Yu, Pan Yingduo, Li Meng, Li Chenlin, Wang Xinye, You Xuqun 2023, 46(6): 1518-1528.  DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230631 Abstract ( )   PDF (515KB) ( )   As the operational subject of aviation activities, the cognitive activity of pilots has a significant impact on flight safety. In decades, researchers are unable to obtain information about the neural activity of pilots during simulated or real flights efficiently because of the limitation of technology, which greatly hinders the understanding of the mental processing processes and the way pilots work. The development and application of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) provides a solution to this problem. It allows continuous, non-invasive, portable monitoring of hemodynamic changes associated with human brain function. Compared to the physical limitations of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the low spatial resolution of the electroencephalogram (EEG), the portability and hypersensitivity to the body movement of fNIRS makes it more suitable for detecting cortical hemodynamics during exercise tasks. The brain functional activation and functional connectivity states of pilots in different cognitive task demand states can be revealed through fNIRS to provide a realistic basis for neuroergonomics studies of flight safety, and provide valid physiological neurological indicators for identifying different cognitive states. To this end, this paper reviewed studies in aviation psychology applying fNIRS, and summarized some general findings that can provide reference and guidance for maintaining aviation safety. The aeropsychological studies applying fNIRS can be divided into three themes: (1) The usability studies of fNIRS in the assessment of brain activation patterns, which focus on mental load assessment and skill training assessment. The assessment of mental load refers to the detection of brain activation patterns under different task difficulties (i.e., the examination of the similarities and differences of brain activation patterns under different mental loads), aiming to confirm the reliability of fNIRS in assessing mental load. The assessment of skill training refers to the use of fNIRS to measure the changes of brain activation patterns of individuals during the same training task and the differences of brain activation patterns of different individuals on the same training task. (2) The accuracy studies of fNIRS in brain activation pattern recognition. That is, using the neural signals evoked by the task as brain activation indicators, combined with specific statistical methods (e.g., machine learning algorithms) to perform discriminative analysis at the individual level to correctly classify different mental loads. (3) The applicability study of fNIRS in special events, emphasizing the use of fNIRS to detect brain tissue blood oxygenation in pilots experiencing special events (e.g., loss of consciousness under high +Gz) to reveal the neurophysiological mechanisms. With the widespread use of fNIRS, more relevant research can be conducted around pilots. It can be used in pilot selection and training, flight cockpit design, and crew cooperation. In addition, fNIRS also can be used to assess pilots'cognitive load states and mental fatigue as a staffing tool. When focusing on the impact of workload on individual performance, a pilot's emotional perceptions or preferences should be seriously considered. Typically, we monitor individual pilots'workload to measure the blood oxygern concentration changes in the prefrontal cortex, which is an important region that facilitates emotion regulation, in individual pilots. Functional neuroimaging of the prefrontal cortex has been applied to study the neural correlates of emotional processing. In terms of fNIRS device configuration, the addition of an emotional computing interface to the workload interface needs to be considered, so that the cognitive state of pilots can be monitored and identified in terms of both workload and emotional experience. In addition, passive brain-computer interface (pBCI) technology and multimodal technology can be applied in the future in real environments to assess the mental state of pilots and team resources in real flight and to dynamically plan programming pilots and automated interactions. Finally, in the future, fNIRS research should also focus on methodological advances (e.g., signal quality control, motion artifact correction strategies, etc.), and standardization of the analysis process. On the one hand, it can provide guidance for future fNIRS studies on pilots; on the other hand, it can help promote the application of fNIRS in aviation psychology research, which ultimately serves aviation safety directly or indirectly. References | Related Articles | Metrics