Postdrinking Sexual Inferences: Evidence for Linear Rather Than Curvilinear Dosage Effects1

Observers infer more sexual availability and willingness from a drinking dater. We hypothesized that, as dosage rises, these sexual inferences follow a linear pattern. College participants rated a woman (Study 1) and man (Study 2) exhibiting a sober, moderate, or high level of intoxication while with a light-drinking companion. Alcohol was perceived as having linear effects on sexual availability; and, except for male participants in Study 2, alcohol was perceived as having linear effects on willingness. Thus, with rising intoxication and diminished capacity for arousal, drinkers are perceived as more available and willing. Findings are discussed relative to expectancy models of sexuality. Reasons for desynchrony between alcohol's actual supression of sexual arousal and its perceived enhancement of willingness are presented.     

Distinguishing Language from Thought: Experimental Evidence That Syntax Is Lexically Rather Than Conceptually Represented

It is generally assumed that syntax is represented linguistically rather than conceptually, consistent with the more general view that language and thought are coded separately. This claim is widely defended on logical grounds, but it has received little experimental support. In the present study, we asked Spanish and English speakers to make semantic and syntactic categorizations for pictures and their corresponding names. Consistent with past results, latencies to semantically categorize pictures and words were similar. The new finding is that participants were faster to make syntactic decisions for words compared with pictures, suggesting that syntactic features such as grammatical gender and the count-mass distinction are more closely linked to lexical than conceptual representations.     

应对癌：需要的不仅仅是科技，更是智慧

今天人类应对癌有很多方法,然效果不太佳。重要的不是高科技的缺失,而是智慧的离场。只是迷信科技,而令智慧虚化,以至于陷入癌症控制不佳的尴尬境地。从癌本身的特别之处、临床实际案例、正反经验教训等探讨了这一问题,指出既要认识癌的错综性,某些惰性癌无需大动干戈,又提出性质不明朗时的几种富含智慧之对策。并且,强调治癌既需向前探究高科技,也需不时向后寻求历史智慧照耀,包括可吸取《孙子兵法》中的很多真知卓见,诸如不战而胜、慎战等在防范癌症中都有意义。着重指出,需要时“观察,未尝不是积极的诊疗措施”。

     

不食人间烟火:是骗局,而不是奇迹

大千世界,无奇不有。世上苍生,出现个别非同寻常的奇人,原本也并不出人意料。但“奇”也要“奇”得有道理,不能“奇”得与真理相悖。 最近。北方某晚报刊载了一则名为《大连一女子三年不食人间烟火每天仅喝一杯冷水》的新闻,实属“奇”而无理的类型。新闻中提及的大连女子只喝不会给人带来任何能量的水,就“精神”地活了三年多,而且连身上的疾病都“不治而愈”了。这简直可以称得上是“生物永动机”了! 为此,我们特地请来中山大学附属第一医院消化内科刘思纯教授,剥开“不食人间烟火者”的神秘外衣。     

We Infer Rather Than Perceive the Moment We Decided to Act

ABSTRACT— A seminal experiment found that the reported time of a decision to perform a simple action was at least 300 ms after the onset of brain activity that normally preceded the action. In Experiment 1, we presented deceptive feedback (an auditory beep) 5 to 60 ms after the action to signify a movement time later than the actual movement. The reported time of decision moved forward in time linearly with the delay in feedback, and came after the muscular initiation of the response at all but the 5-ms delay. In Experiment 2, participants viewed their hand with and without a 120-ms video delay, and gave a time of decision 44 ms later with than without the delay. We conclude that participants' report of their decision time is largely inferred from the apparent time of response. The perception of a hypothetical brain event prior to the response could have, at most, a small influence.     

More Than Just IQ: School Achievement Is Predicted by Self-Perceived Abilities—But for Genetic Rather Than Environmental Reasons

ABSTRACT— Evidence suggests that children's self-perceptions of their abilities predict their school achievement even after one accounts for their tested cognitive ability (IQ). However, the roles of nature and nurture in the association between school achievement and self-perceived abilities (SPAs), independent of IQ, is unknown. Here we reveal that there are substantial genetic influences on SPAs and that there is genetic covariance between SPAs and achievement independent of IQ. Although it has been assumed that the origins of SPAs are environmental, this first genetic analysis of SPAs yielded a heritability of 51% in a sample of 3,785 pairs of twins, whereas shared environment accounted for only 2% of the variance in SPAs. Moreover, multivariate genetic analyses indicated that SPAs predict school achievement independently of IQ for genetic rather than environmental reasons. It should therefore be possible to identify "SPA genes" that predict school achievement independently of "IQ genes."     

Counseling Specialties: A Case of Basic Preparation Rather Than Advanced Specialization

This article focuses on many of the issues and questions involved in creating counseling specialties. The determination and means of creating specialties by other professions are discussed and compared with the current status and proliferation of means for determining specializations in the counseling profession. An argument, supported by relevant research, is presented to counter suggestions that specializations are necessary for counselor employment and competent practice with clients. Recommendations for providing a uniform approach to specialty designation and creation within the counseling profession along with potential outcomes affecting professional unity are included.     

Predicting the Outcomes of Disputes: Consequences for Disputant Reactions to Procedures and Outcomes1

Third parties in dispute settings often make predictions to disputants regarding the likely outcome of their dispute at arbitration. However, virtually no research has examined the impact of predictions on disputant satisfaction with dispute resolution procedures and outcomes. One explanation for the lack of attention to this variable may be that current theorizing regarding dispute resolution procedures is too narrowly stated to incorporate this procedural variation. Theories about predictability from nondispute settings are used to generate hypotheses regarding the consequences of such outcome prediction. In a laboratory setting, disputants prepared arguments in anticipation of an arbitration hearing. Prior to the arbitrator's decision, the experimenter read the disputants' arguments and made a prediction regarding the arbitrator's decision. Their arguments were then presented to an arbitrator who imposed a binding decision. Dependent measures include the disputants' anxiety while awaiting the arbitrator's decision, and their postdecision satisfaction with dispute resolution procedures and outcomes. Internal analyses support the hypothesis that outcome prediction has benefits for disputants' predecision coping, ratings of procedural fairness, and satisfaction judgments. Also, as hypothesized, correct predictions produced greater postdecision satisfaction with outcomes and decision-makers than did incorrect predictions.     

Emotional Reactions to Interracial Achievement Outcomes1

Students interacted with a White or a Black partner on an achievement task. It was predicted that the anxiety elicited by interacting with an outgroup member would lead to amplified emotional reactions to achievement outcomes. Consistent with this prediction, emotional reactions to success were more positive with a Black partner than with a White partner, whereas emotional reactions to failure were more negative with a Black partner than with a White partner. In addition, under conditions of low public self-awareness, Black partners were given less credit for success and blamed more for failure than White partners. This prejudicial pattern of attributions disappeared under conditions of high public self-awareness.     

贝叶斯推理的改进方法--以频率格式代替概率格式进行信息表征

贝叶斯推理规则是人工智能领域和认知心理学领域的一个重要理论,数学家、逻辑学家与心理学家都对其做了全面细致的研究。关于人的思维方式是否遵循贝叶斯推理规则,目前存在着两种截然相反的观点。一方面,古典的启迪概率主义者认为,概率理论是受过教育的人的基本常识,是思想的规律。Edwards(1968)最先用实验的方法测试人类的推理是否遵循贝叶斯定理,并认为,即使是“保守的”推理也在一定程度上与贝叶斯定理计算得出的结论相吻合。然而另一方面。Kahneman和Tversky(1972)却认为,人们明显地不是保守贝叶斯主义,甚至可以说根本就没遵循贝叶斯定理。古生物学者Gould(1992)持有更极端的看法,认为人们的大脑生来就不是遵循概率规则的。     

Cultural Effects Rather Than a Bilingual Advantage in Cognition: A Review and an Empirical Study

The bilingual advantage hypothesis contends that the management of two languages in the brain is carried out through domain‐general mechanisms, and that bilinguals possess a performance advantage over monolinguals on (nonlinguistic) tasks that tap these processes. Presently, there is evidence both for and against such an advantage. Interestingly, the evidence in favor has been thought strongest in children and older adults, leading some researchers to argue that young adults might be at peak performance levels, and therefore bilingualism is unable to confer an improvement. We conducted a large‐scale review of the extant literature and found that the weight of research pointed to an absence of positive evidence for a bilingual advantage at any age. We next gave a large number of young adult participants a task designed to test the bilingual advantage hypothesis. Reasoning from the literature that young adults from an East Asian (Korean) culture would likely outperform those from a Western (British) culture, we also compared participants on this factor. We found no evidence for a bilingual advantage but did find evidence for enhanced performance in the Korean group. We interpret these results as further evidence against the bilingual advantage hypotheses.     

Explaining the Relation between Religiousness and Reduced Suicidal Behavior: Social Support Rather Than Specific Beliefs

Religiousness has been associated with decreased risk of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and completed suicide, but the mechanisms underlying these associations are not well characterized. The present study examined the roles of religious beliefs and social support in that relation. A survey measuring religiousness, social support, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts was administered to 454 undergraduate students. Involvement in public, but not private, religious practices was associated with lower levels of both suicidal ideation and history of suicide attempts. Social support mediated these relations but religious beliefs did not. Results highlight the importance of social support provided by religious communities.     

Letters of Gratitude: Further Evidence for Author Benefits

This study examined the effects of writing letters of gratitude on three primary qualities of well-being; happiness (positive affect), life-satisfaction (cognitive evaluation), and depression (negative affect). Gratitude was also assessed. Participants included 219 men and women who wrote three letters of gratitude over a 3 week period. A two-way mixed method ANOVA with a between factor (writers vs. non-writers) and within subject factor (time of testing) analysis was conducted. Results indicated that writing letters of gratitude increased participants’ happiness and life satisfaction, while decreasing depressive symptoms. The implications of this approach for intervention are discussed.     

Further Evidence for Swimming-Based Pica in Rats

Aberrant pica behavior (i.e., kaolin clay ingestion) has been regarded as a behavioral marker of nausea in rats that cannot vomit because of anatomical and/or neural reasons. The previous study reported that a single swimming session of 40 min generated pica behavior, implying that swimming induces nausea in rats. However, the rats tested in that report were not experimentally naive. The present study successfully replicated swimming-based pica with experimentally naive rats (Experiment 1). It also showed that pica was observed with pool confinement of 20 min but not with that of 10 min (Experiments 2A and 2B) and that roaming in shallow water did not generate pica (Experiment 3). These results taken together suggest that swimming for at least 20 min induces nausea in rats, implying that rats’ taste aversion learning based on swimming is mediated by gastrointestinal discomfort.     

Conservatives Anticipate and Experience Stronger Emotional Reactions to Negative Outcomes

The present work examined whether conservatives and liberals differ in their anticipation of their own emotional reactions to negative events. In two studies, participants imagined experiencing positive or negative outcomes in domains that do not directly concern politics. In Study 1, 190 American participants recruited online (64 male, M_age = 32 years) anticipated their emotional responses to romantic relationship outcomes. In Study 2, 97 Canadian undergraduate students (26 male, M_age = 21 years) reported on their anticipated and experienced emotional responses to academic outcomes. In both studies, more conservative participants predicted they would feel stronger negative emotions following negative outcomes than did more liberal participants. Furthermore, a longitudinal follow‐up of Study 2 participants revealed that more conservative participants actually felt worse than more liberal participants after receiving a lower‐than‐desired exam grade. These effects remained even when controlling for the Big Five traits, prevention focus, and attachment style (Study 1), and optimism (Study 2). We discuss how the relationship between political orientation and anticipated affect likely contributes to differences between conservatives and liberals in styles of decision and policy choices.     

The Name-Pronunciation Effect: Further Evidence from Chinese

This study examined the Chinese name-pronunciation effect. The easy-to-pronounce and difficult-to-pronounce Chinese names were created using the same characters in order to control for visual perceptual and conceptual fluency. In Experiment 1, participants rated each name in terms of liking, electability as a state leader, income level, and baby name preference. An additional rating of prevalence was used to estimate familiarity. In Experiment 2, participants did not read the name aloud before rating and performed intentional recall and recognition tests. In both experiments, the easy-to-pronounce names were rated higher than difficult-to-pronounce names on liking. This effect generalized to judgments of electability and baby name preference but not to prevalence and income level. There were no differences in memory performances between the two types of names. Results are discussed in terms of the boundary condition of the name-pronunciation effect and the advantage of using Chinese names to study this effect.     

Learned Helplessness: A Factor in Counseling for Displaced Homemakers

The author describes the phenomenon of learned helplessness that may affect the ability of displaced homemakers to enter or reenter the work force successfully. Characteristics of helplessness-oriented persons are contrasted with those who are mastery-oriented.