儿童在认知物体时区分看见的和知道的观点采择能力发展的实验研究

本研究旨在探讨儿童认知物体过程中是如何发展区分自己的心理意象与他人现实环境中获得的视觉信息的能力,即区分看见的和知道的观点采择能力。结果发现:(1)5岁儿童才基本具备观点采择能力。(2)不同年龄的儿童具有不同的观点采择水平模型和年龄特征。(3)在不同的信息种类条件下儿童上述的观点采择能力的发展是不同步的。(4)呈现不同的视觉信息也影响儿童上述的观点采择。(5)儿童在观点采择过程中产生错误主要是由于儿童不能把自身对客体的不确定信息的区分外推到他人身上去而造成的。     

视觉观点采择的发生发展及其影响因素

通过总结视觉观点采择的概念和研究范式,概括发展心理学和比较心理学中视觉观点采择演化发生和个体发展的已有研究,分析视觉观点采择与心理理论的关系及语言和文化等影响因素,指出将来的研究需要归纳测验不同水平视觉观点采择的一系列研究范式,系统考察不同物种间视觉观点采择的演化发生过程,还可将不同水平的实验范式与脑成像研究相结合来考察视觉观点采择的脑神经机制,并关注影响视觉观点采择发展的因素.     

权力对观点采择的影响:权力动机的调节作用

本研究旨在探讨权力和观点采择之间的关系,以及不同类型的权力动机在其关系中可能起到的调节作用。实验通过图片故事练习测量被试的权力动机,使用语义启动法和书写经历法唤起被试的高低权力感,最后要求被试完成认知观点采择任务和情感观点采择任务以考察其观点采择表现。结果发现:(1)在认知观点采择任务中,权力和权力动机的主效应显著,低权力者比高权力者的认知观点采择更好;(2)在情感观点采择任务中,权力和权力动机的主效应不显著,说明权力不可预测情感观点采择;(3)两类任务中不同类型的权力动机在权力与观点采择的关系中均显示出显著的调节作用,相比于个人化权力动机为主的个体,社会化权力动机为主的个体的观点采择表现更好。     

儿童社会观点采择的发展及其子类型间的差异的研究

对幼儿园大班至小学阶段的４２５名儿童施以认知和情感两类观点采择测验,考察儿童社会观点采择发展的一般趋势以及两类观点采择的发展趋势及水平上的差异。结果发现：６岁左右儿童在准确推断他人观点方面还存在较大困难。６—１０岁左右是儿童社会观点采择能力快速发展的时期。１０岁左右儿童已能根据环境信息较准确推断他人的观点：儿童认知观点采择与情感观点采择能力的发展趋势基本一致,但后者的发展水平极显著地落后于前者。     

观点采择因素对3～4岁儿童延迟满足决策的影响

通过采用延迟满足决策任务,要求儿童分别为自己和他人做出决策,本研究考察了观点采择因素对儿童情感决策发展的影响。实验一选取3岁和4岁儿童各40名,结果发现3岁儿童和4岁儿童在为自己选和为他人选两种条件下的表现均无显著差异,都倾向于做出延迟选择。实验二选取3岁和4岁儿童各60名,在为他人的选择中进一步区分了不同的观点提示条件,并增加了观点采择测验任务。结果发现,4岁儿童的观点采择能力得到了初步的发展,在不同的观点提示条件下为他人选择时分别表现出了与为自己选择不同的决策趋势;3岁儿童尚未获得观点采择能力,在各种不同观点提示条件下为自己和为他人做选择时差异均不显著。本研究结果表明,观点采择能力对儿童情感决策的影响是发展性的。随着观点采择能力的发展,儿童逐渐能够确立正确的延迟动机,为他人做出有效的决策。     

语言加工过程中的观点采择及其认知机制

观点采择是指个体从他人或他人所处情境出发, 想象或推测他人观点与态度的心理过程。对相关研究综述发现: (1)观点采择是否存在自我中心偏向依然存在争论; (2)观点采择自我中心偏向不是始终存在的, 其原因可能是个体受到时间压力和特定类型任务的要求; (3)他人存在影响观点采择自我中心偏向, 并且这种影响是自动化的, 不受任务类型的影响; (4)观点采择的认知机制主要包括交互对齐、记忆提取和概率计算。未来研究需要: (1)整合已实现的计算模型; (2)进一步探究观点采择能力与心理理论的关系; (3)探究观点采择中私有信息的作用; (4)提高观点采择研究的生态效度; (5)采用不同的技术手段进行汇聚性验证。     

权力和地位对自利行为的影响及其机制

权力和地位对自利行为的影响不同。权力能够降低认知性观点采择水平,进而使个体更加关注自身利益;地位能够提升认知性观点采择水平,进而使个体推测他人思想与感受,考虑他人利益。然而,权力和地位通过认知性观点采择对自利行为的影响可能受到情境性质的调节。今后的研究应该对这些关系和解释进行验证,探索共情性关心的中介作用,以及权力和地位影响认知性观点采择的调节变量;探究权力和地位拥有者对群体内、外他人的自利行为差异;探讨权力和地位的交互作用对自利行为的影响。     

视觉观点采择需要抑制控制的参与：一项负启动研究

从抑制控制模型出发,采用负启动范式考察视觉观点采择的认知机制。实验1采用自身体转换任务(N=35) 、实验2采用圆点数量判断任务(N=33)分别考察成人在完成二级和一级视觉观点采择任务时是否需要抑制控制的参与。结果发现,成人在完成两类视觉观点采择任务时均出现了负启动效应,说明当他人观点和自我观点不一致时,个体需要抑制自我的观点才能成功采择他人的观点。     

社会观点采择与故事阅读的关系——字词认知的调节作用

以161名小学四年级（10岁）儿童为对象,探讨社会观点采择与故事阅读理解之间的关系。要求被试完成故事阅读理解测验,社会观点采择测验和字词认知测验。采用分层回归进行数据分析,结果发现：（1）被试的社会观点采择能力对阅读理解总分、直接理解、直接推论、诠释整合具有显著的预测作用,对检视评价的预测作用不显著;（2）字词认知调节社会观点采择对故事阅读理解成绩的预测作用。社会观点采择对故事阅读理解成绩的影响随着字词认知能力的减弱而增高。对于字词认知能力较低的儿童,社会观点采择在故事阅读理解中发挥更强的预测作用。     

儿童社会观点采择与分享行为关系的研究

本研究选取幼儿园大班、小学一、二、三年级共240名被试,每个年级各60名,男女各半,考察儿童的社会观点采择能力与分享行为的关系。结果发现:(1)社会观点采择的发展对儿童的分享行为有影响,其中主要是认知观点采择对实际分享行为的影响;(2)儿童分享行为的发展有阶段性;(3)儿童认知观点采择和情感观点采择的发展在幼儿园大班,二者之间存在较显著的差异,到了一、二、三年级二者之间无显著差异。     

Similarities and differences in visual and spatial perspective-taking processes

Processes for perspective-taking can be differentiated on whether or not they require us to mentally rotate ourselves into the position of the other person (Michelon & Zacks, 2006). Until now, only two perspective-taking tasks have been differentiated in this way, showing that judging whether something is to someone’s left or right does require mental rotation, but judging if someone can see something or not does not. These tasks differ firstly on whether the content of the perspective is visual or spatial and secondly on whether the type of the judgement is early-developing (level-1 type) or later-developing (level-2 type). Across two experiments, we tested which of these factors was likely to be most important by using four different perspective-taking tasks which crossed orthogonally the content of judgement (visual vs. spatial) and the type of judgement (level-1 type vs. level-2 type). We found that the level-2 type judgements, of how something looks to someone else and whether it is to their left or right, required egocentric mental rotation. On the other hand, level-1 type judgements, of whether something was in front of or behind someone and of whether someone could see something or not, did not involve mental rotation. We suggest from this that the initial processing strategies employed for perspective-taking are largely independent of whether judgements are visual or spatial in nature. Furthermore, early developing abilities have features that make mental rotation unnecessary.     

Disturbances of spontaneous empathic processing relate with the severity of the negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia: A behavioural pilot-study using virtual reality technology

Behavioural and neuroimaging data have recently pointed out that empathy (feeling into someone else) is associated with mental imagery and transformation related to one’s and other’s visuo-spatial perspectives. Impairments of both empathic and visuo-spatial abilities have been observed in patients with schizophrenia. Especially, it has been suggested that schizophrenics are altered in spontaneously simulating another individual’s first-person experience. However, there is so far only little evidence regarding the relationship between deficits in empathy and disturbances in spontaneous heterocentered coding in schizophrenia. In the present pilot-study, we tested with schizophrenic patients our behavioural paradigm that enables to measure from the bodily postures and movements whether individuals in ecologically more valid conditions are interacting with another individual by using egocentered – as in sympathy (feeling with someone else) – or heterocentered – as in empathy – visuo-spatial mechanisms. For that, ten patients and ten controls, standing and moving, interacted with a virtual tightrope walker, displayed life-sized, standing and moving as well. We show that patients with higher negative symptoms had, in most cases, deficits in spontaneously using heterocentered visuo-spatial mechanisms and employed preferentially an egocentered referencing to interact with the avatar. In contrast, preserved spontaneous heterocentered visuo-spatial strategies were not linked to a prevailing negative or positive symptomatology. Our data suggest that the severity of the negative symptoms in schizophrenia relates with disturbances of spontaneous (“on-line”) empathic processing in association with lower scoring self-reported trait cognitive empathy.     

Measuring Stigma Toward Mental Illness: Development and Application of the Mental Illness Stigma Scale1

Guided by theory on stigma, a Likert‐type scale was developed to measure 7 factors of attitudes toward people with mental illness: interpersonal anxiety, relationship disruption, poor hygiene, visibility, treatability, professional efficacy, and recovery. The scale was validated among college students and community members, measuring attitudes toward people with mental illness, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. In a second application, college students completed the scale from their own perspective, then from an imagined perspective of someone with mental illness, while psychiatric patients completed the scale from their own perspective, then from an imagined viewpoint of someone without mental illness. Psychiatric patients assumed that they were stigmatized to a greater extent than was admitted by the student sample.     

The Integrity Objection,Reloaded

Abstract

Bernard Williams’ integrity objection poses a significant challenge to utilitarianism, which has largely been answered by utilitarians. This paper recasts the integrity objection to show that utilitarian agents could be committed to producing the overall best states of affairs and yet not positively act to bring them about. I introduce the ‘Moral Pinch Hitter’ – someone who performs actions at the bequest of another agent – to demonstrate that utilitarianism cannot distinguish between cases in which an agent maximizes utility by positively acting in response to her duty, and cases in which an agent fails morally by relying upon someone else to perform the obligatory act. The inability to distinguish among these cases establishes a new, reloaded integrity objection to utilitarianism: utilitarianism cannot explain why it would be wrong to have someone else make difficult moral decisions, and to act on those decisions, for me.     

Are people with high and low mental rotation abilities differently susceptible to the alignment effect?

We investigated whether the alignment effect (Levine et al, 1982 Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 111 157-175) is influenced by mental rotation abilities. In two experiments, groups of undergraduate students with high and low performance in mental rotation tasks were required to study either schematic (experiment 1) or more complex (experiment 2) maps, and to perform a number of pointing tasks adopting a perspective which could be aligned, misaligned (45 degrees, 135 degrees), or counteraligned (180 degrees) with the perspective assumed during learning. Cognitive styles in spatial representation have also been considered. Results of experiment 1 show that people with low performance in mental rotation tasks prefer to adopt a representation of space focused more on landmarks. Their performance in the pointing tasks depends on the alignment conditions, with more errors in the counteraligned condition followed by the two misaligned and aligned ones. In contrast to this, high-ability mental rotators prefer survey and route spatial representations and are affected only by the aligned and non-aligned conditions. In the second experiment, practice was studied as a function of mental rotation and alignment. The group high in mental rotation ability was found to be free from the alignment effect in the pointing tasks performed after the final of four learning phases.     

On the relation between spontaneous perspective taking and other visuospatial processes

Common processes and representations engaged by visuospatial tasks were investigated by looking at four frequently used visuospatial research paradigms, the aim being to contribute to a better understanding of which specific processes are addressed in the different paradigms compared. In particular, the relation between spontaneous and instructed perspective taking, as well as mental rotation of body-part/non-body-part objects, was investigated. To this end, participants watched animations that have been shown to lead to spontaneous perspective taking. While they were watching these animations, participants were asked to explicitly adopt another perspective (Experiment 1), perform a mental object rotation task that involved a non-body-part object (Experiment 2), or perform a mental rotation of a body-part object (Experiment 3). Patterns of interference between the tasks, reflected in the reaction time patterns, showed that spontaneous and instructed perspective taking rely on similar representational elements to encode orientation. By contrast, no such overlap was found between spontaneous perspective taking and the rotation of non-body-part objects. Also, no overlap in orientation representation was evident with mental body-part rotations. Instead of an overlap in orientation representations, the results suggest that spontaneous perspective taking and the mental rotation of body parts rely on similar—presumably, motor—processes. These findings support the view that motor processes are involved in perspective taking and mental rotation of body parts.     

Theory of Mind in schizophrenia: first person vs third person perspective

Patients suffering from schizophrenia have an impaired meta-representation also known as Theory of Mind (ToM). Moreover, the presence of delusions or other positive symptoms of schizophrenia has been correlated to poor ToM performances. Lack of insight is a common symptom of schizophrenia and can be considered a critical manifestation of impaired ToM abilities. In particular, the present study addresses the role of perspective ToM ability in schizophrenic patients. Thirty severely delusional schizophrenic patients completely lack insight when interviewed about their delusions. Seven subsequently gain insight about their mental state when perspective is shifted from the first person to third person. These data suggest that in some delusional schizophrenic patients, it may be possible to gain access to and modify their mental states.     

Grandiose Narcissism Predicts Willingness to Behave Badly,Without Proportional Tolerance for Others’ Bad Behavior

Narcissists characteristically behave badly; our study investigated how they respond to experiencing others’ bad behavior. After completing the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, a measure of grandiose narcissism, participants reported their willingness to engage in different inconsiderate or unethical common behaviors. Then they reported how bothered they would feel in response to experiencing each of the same bad behaviors—perpetrated by someone else. Participants overall reported feeling bothered by others’ bad behavior, but narcissism was unrelated to intolerance judgments. Narcissists are often highly reactive when their inflated self-views are challenged, but our study suggests that narcissists are not uniquely bothered by everyday minor offenses. However, when viewed from a different angle, narcissists’ level of intolerance could be interpreted as unjustly high, because they reported more willingness to engage in behavior that could bother others, yet did not show proportional tolerance for others’ bothersome behavior.