The Mating Game

SUMMARY

Mate selection processes of couples have been of interest to a multitude of disciplines ranging from biology to psychology to social psychology. Debates usually center around “like marries like” or “opposites attract.” While generally the research indicates, at least with regard to social variables, that similarities among couples is the norm, little systematic empirical research exists which examined this basic belief. Family therapists, also adhering to this basic assumption in their notions of couple selection, collusion, and reciprocal patterns of interaction, have not empirically tested this assumption either. The present paper examines the literature from the biological, psychological, and social psychological disciplines and discusses these assumptions in family therapy theory. A discussion of the implications for couple therapy is then presented.     

暴力性视频游戏线索诱发游戏欲望的注意机制

以32名经常玩暴力性游戏的高中学生为被试,采用线索暴露范式、情绪Stroop范式和分离式情绪Stroop范式探讨了暴力性视频游戏线索对诱发游戏者游戏欲望的作用及其注意机制.结果发现:(1)暴露于暴力性视频游戏线索可显著提高游戏者的游戏欲望.(2)游戏者对暴力性视频游戏线索具有显著的注意偏向,但在注意的编码阶段未见同样的效应.     

电脑游戏对儿童和青少年心理发展的影响

电脑游戏对儿童和青少年的认知和社会性发展都会产生一定的影响.适度地玩电脑游戏能够提高儿童和青少年在知觉、注意等认知任务上的表现,电脑暴力游戏可能会增加儿童和青少年的攻击性,过度沉迷于电脑游戏对儿童和青少年的认知发展、社会性发展以及学业成就都会造成严重的负面影响.未来的研究可在电脑游戏对儿童和青少年发展的影响机制、电脑游戏的评价体系等方面深入探讨.     

电脑游戏与青少年问题行为、家庭各因素的关系研究

本研究着眼于探讨6、8、10年级的中学生的电脑游戏活动,以及游戏时间、游戏暴力程度、行为问题、父母教养方式、家庭收入等因素的相互作用。结果显示,6年级学生较之8和10年级学生有较少的行为问题。研究也发现,学生玩游戏时间越多,玩游戏的历史越长,具有行为问题的可能性越多。此外,那些游戏暴力指数较高的学生所得到的来自父母的温暖指数较少,有较多的问题行为。在游戏的暴力指数方面,女孩比男孩要低得多。父亲教养方式中的温暖和惩罚因子、母亲教养方式中的温暖、椎绡和惩罚因子可用于预测孩子的问题行为。     

Playing With Fire: The Impact of Football Game Chanting on Level of Aggression1

Studies report higher levels of spectator aggression at the end rather than the beginning of sports games. None of these studies have examined the effect of chanting in this context. Based on contagion theory, we hypothesized that at the end of a football (soccer) game, spectators who had taken part in collective chanting would report higher levels of aggression than would spectators who had not chanted. Male football fans (N = 80) participated in the study: Half completed the Buss–Durkee Hostility Inventory before the game, and half completed it after the game. Findings show that chanting spectators reported a heightened level of aggression in comparison with non‐chanting spectators. Theoretical explanations for these findings are discussed. Practical recommendations are suggested.     

Gender, Video Game Playing Habits and Visual Memory Tasks

The current research examined whether visuospatial recall of both abstract and common objects was related to gender or object familiarity. Seventy two undergraduates from a university in the Southern U.S. were asked to draw the Rey Complex Figure and a series of common objects from memory. A pilot sample of seventy three undergraduates had previously identified common objects as “male” “female” and “neutral” exemplars. Males were significantly better at drawing “male” and “neutral” exemplars whereas females were better at drawing “female” exemplars. Neither gender was significantly better at the Rey task. These results question whether males have an inherent advantage in visual memory. Results also found that experience with playing violent video games was associated with higher visual memory recall.     

Perception of Creativity and Game Intelligence in Soccer

A questionnaire was used to investigate the perception of creativity and game intelligence of coaches (n = 34, mean age 28.6 with an average of 14.3 years of experience) and players (n = 118, belonging to the ranks U-15 and U-19). Analyses indicated that there were statistically significant differences in most creative concepts inherent in the perception of creativity on the part of coaches. The results for the perception of the players showed that there were statistically significant differences in the importance attached to creativity and game intelligence. Apparently coaches mostly associate the creativity in soccer to a kind of magical thinking, adding also the game intelligence to the ability of rationality, problem solving, and decision. There was a strong correlation between creativity and game intelligence for the players.     

Improving Children's Mental Rotation Accuracy With Computer Game Playing

The authors investigated the relation between mental rotation (MR) and computer game-playing experience. Third grade boys (n = 24) and girls (n = 23) completed a 2-dimensional MR test before and after playing computer games (during 11 separate 30-min sessions), which either involved the use of MR skills (the experimental group) or did not involve the use of MR skills (the control group). The experimental group outperformed the control group on the MR posttest but not on the pretest. Boys outperformed girls on the pretest but not on the posttest. Children whose initial MR performance was low improved after playing computer games that entailed MR skills. The findings imply that computer-based instructional activities can be used in schools to enhance children's spatial abilities.     

Playing Mating Games in Foreign Cultures: A Conceptual Framework and an Experimental Paradigm for Inductive Trivariate Inference

A conceptual framework is presented for studying trivariate inference, in which the influence of a primary independent factor, x, on a dependent variable, y, depends on a secondary factor, z. In two experiments, this was operationalized as the contingency between mating strategies, x, and mating success, y, for targets stemming from different tribes, z. In Experiment 1, z was manipulated to produce four contingency types: control, orthogonal, suppressor, and spurious correlations. Performance variation was not restricted by encoding capacity; explicit and implicit measures were more accurate at the trivariate level than at the bivariate level of assessment. Aside from normal regression effects, neither task complexity nor competition among influence factors led to impaired performance. Impairment was evident mainly in a radical discounting effect for spurious correlations due to representational conflicts. Experiment 2 demonstrates that the difficulties with spurious correlations can be overcome when temporal cues disambiguate the joint influence of x and z on y.     

An Attributional Analysis of Social Accounts: Implications of Playing the Blame Game1

These studies proposed that effective social accounts should contain external, unstable, specific, and uncontrollable attributions. In Study I, managers provided accounts for a negative event. The accounts contained highly unstable and specific attributions but, contrary to original predictions, they also contained highly internal and controllable attributions. In Study 2, managers rated the effectiveness of the account. Account effectiveness was positively related to unstable attributions, but was negatively related to external and uncontrollable attributions. These relationships were stronger (more negative) for accounts communicated downward than upward. These results indicate that blaming others or deflecting personal responsibility for negative events may be ineffective, especially when one is in a high‐status role.     

乐商:一个比智商和情商更能决定命运的因素

乐商(或乐观智力)是指人乐观的能力,它既包括一个人乐观水平的高低,也包括个体从所经历的消极事件中获取积极成分的能力,以及影响或感染他人的能力.“杜乡微笑”是高乐商的一种主要外在表现形式.心理学过去的有关研究证实,高乐商不仅有利于个体的社会性发展、获得稳定的幸福婚姻、提高人的生理健康水平、提高学业成绩和减少坏事情的发生,而且高乐商还有利于促使个体寻求社会支持和社会交往.这些研究结果表明,乐商可能是一个比智商和情商更能决定人未来发展命运的因素.     

Psychometric properties of the Problem Video Game Playing scale in adults

IntroductionInternet Gaming Disorder (IGD) was introduced for the first time within the “conditions for further study” in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, and a systematic review has concluded that the only available instrument for its measurement is the Problem Video Game Playing scale (PVP). Nevertheless, this scale was presented as a diagnostic tool for adolescents, and to date no study has analyzed its properties amongst adults.ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to analyze and compare the diagnostic and psychometric properties of the PVP in adult and adolescent gamers.MethodTwo samples of adult (n = 525) and adolescent (n = 384) gamers completed a survey including patterns of play, PVP, Severity of Dependence Scale, and other measures of playing to excess.ResultsConfirmatory factor analyses revealed that the scale presents a one-factor structure that is similar to that of the original version, both in adults and adolescents. Construct validity was supported by highly significant associations between the PVP and all alternative measures of playing to excess. On the other hand, reliability values were lower than in previous studies.ConclusionsThe PVP scale's properties are appropriate for the measurement of problem video gaming in adults as well as in adolescents, but studies with clinical assessments are still needed before any cutoff value for diagnosis can be established.     

Argumentation: The Mixed Game

The paper introduces a new model of argumentation, the Mixed Game Model, that no longer separates rule-governed competence from actual performance but starts from human beings and their ability of competence-in-performance. Human beings are able to orientate themselves in ever-changing surroundings and to negotiate diverging views in argumentative action games. Argumentation is thus described as a mixed game played by human beings according to principles of probability. These principles include constitutive, regulative and executive principles. Constitutive Principles focus on the basic components of the game, that is, action, dialogue, and coherence as the interplay of different communicative means. Regulative Principles mediate between correlated human abilities and interests. Executive Principles guide the sequencing of action according to cognitive strategies. The mixed game no longer rests on pre-established harmony but describes performance as a non-equilibrial process of negotiation that mediates between order and disorder and is based on the integration of various parameters such as rationality, reason, persuasion and emotion. How the model works is exemplified by an analysis of part of a debate in the European Parliament.     

人类“性交往”的进化

性交往是人类繁衍出现差异的进化“引擎”。现代人继承了祖先成功繁衍后代的性交往策略。这些策略涵盖长期守诺的性交往（如婚姻）、短期性交往（如短暂的外遇）、婚姻外的性交往（如不忠）、私通他人配偶（引诱别人的配偶）以及配偶维持（与单一配偶性交往）等。两性在性交往过程中面临不同的适应问题,性交往问题的进化机制存在极大的性别差异。配偶偏好不同、短期性交往的愿望不同以及性嫉妒的诱因不同等都是性交往具有性别差异的表现。很多实证研究都证实了性交往策略的存在,人类性交往研究是进化心理学研究中较为成熟的一个研究领域     

Sexual Priming, Gender Stereotyping, and Likelihood to Sexually Harass: Examining the Cognitive Effects of Playing a Sexually-Explicit Video Game

The present study examines the short-term cognitive effects of playing a sexually explicit video game with female “objectification” content on male players. Seventy-four male students from a university in California, U.S. participated in a laboratory experiment. They were randomly assigned to play either a sexually-explicit game or one of two control games. Participants’ cognitive accessibility to sexual and sexually objectifying thoughts was measured in a lexical decision task. A likelihood-to-sexually-harass scale was also administered. Results show that playing a video game with the theme of female “objectification” may prime thoughts related to sex, encourage men to view women as sex objects, and lead to self-reported tendencies to behave inappropriately towards women in social situations.