Brain Mechanisms for Interpreting the Actions of Others From Biological-Motion Cues

ABSTRACT— Humans are an intensely social species. Our social abilities depend upon specialized brain systems for rapidly recognizing the faces of others, for interpreting the actions of others through an analysis of biological-motion cues, and for determining the emotional states of others via inspection of facial expression. Recent work has implicated the superior temporal sulcus (STS) region as an important component of the social brain. Functional neuroimaging studies have provided clues about how this region is involved in the visual analysis and interpretation of other people's actions. STS activity is modulated by the context within which the actions of biological entities are observed. Such a contextual influence is consistent with a broader tradition within social psychology emphasizing the powerful influences of situational and contextual factors on behavior and perception. The STS region also shows promise as a region of importance in the investigation of both typical and impaired social-cognitive development. Future work should aim to inform us better of the development of interrelationships between the STS region and other regions of the social brain, including the amygdala and the fusiform gyrus.     

Relational Spending in Funerals: Caring for Others Loved and Lost

Funeral rituals perform important social functions for families and communities, but little is known about the motives of people planning funerals. Using mixed methods, we examine funeral planning as end-of-life relational spending. We identify how relational motives drive and manifest in funeral planning, even when the primary recipient of goods and services is dead. Qualitative interviews with consumers who had planned pre-COVID funerals (N = 15) reveal a caring orientation drives funeral decision-making for loved ones and for self-planned funerals. Caring practices manifest in three forms: (a) balancing preferences between the planner, deceased, and surviving family; (b) making personal sacrifices; and (c) spending amount (Study 1). Archival funeral contract data (N = 385) reveal supporting quantitative evidence of caring-driven funeral spending. Planners spend more on funerals for others and underspend on their own funerals (Study 2). Preregistered experiments (N = 1,906) addressing selection bias replicate these results and find generalization across different funding sources (planner-funded, other-funded, and insurance; Studies 3A–3C). The findings elucidate a ubiquitous, emotional, and financially consequential decision process at the end of life.     

The Role of Relational Contextual Cues versus Relational Coherence Indicators as Response Options on the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure

The Psychological Record - Recent research has indicated that the results of the implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP) may be affected by certain facets of the measure. The current...     

The Relational Value of Empathy

ABSTRACT

Philosophers and scholars from other disciplines have long discussed the role of empathy in our moral lives. The distinct relational value of empathy, however, has been largely overlooked. This article aims to specify empathy’s distinct relational value: Empathy is both intrinsically and extrinsically valuable in virtue of the pleasant experiences we share with others, the harmony and meaning that empathy provides, the recognition, self-esteem, and self-trust it enhances, as well as trust in others, attachment, and affection it fosters. Once we better understand in what ways empathy is a uniquely relational phenomenon, we can unveil its relevance to morality, which avoids the strictures of both partiality and impartiality. On the one hand, it is the relational value of empathy that grounds defeasible reasons to empathize insofar as empathy is morally called for by a particular relationship (or if we have defeasible reasons to establish a relationship by empathy). On the other hand, it is precisely empathy’s relational value that allows us to show that it can be kept within bounds. To realize empathy’s relational value, we are not constantly required to empathize. Instead, once we properly appreciate empathy’s distinct relational value, we can show that this leaves us room to respond to impartialist concerns.     

自我与他者:教师的伦理责任与价值

师生关系首先是伦理的为他关系,学生的他性外在于教师,具有无限性和神秘性,既依赖于教师这个自我又是对其的否定与超越.教师要获得存在的意义和价值,就得尊重学生这个他者,担负起对他者的伦理责任,回应他者的诉求,具备倾听能力,与他者对话以实现"和而不同"的课堂教育.     

I've Got My Eyes on You: Implicit Social‐Pressure Cues and Prosocial Behavior

Explicit social pressure has been shown to be a powerful motivator of prosocial behavior‐like voting in elections. In this study, I report the findings of a randomized field experiment designed to study the impact of more subtle, implicit social‐pressure treatments. The results of the experiment, conducted in the October 2011 municipal elections in Key West, Florida, demonstrate that even subtle, implicit observability cues can effectively mobilize citizens to vote, perhaps as much as explicit surveillance cues. The findings speak more broadly to our understanding of human decision making, and even evolution, and provide fodder for the claim that humans are evolutionarily programmed to respond to certain stimuli. I interpret the evidence to support the notion that evolutionarily charged impulses, like exposure to images that implicitly signal the potential for surveillance and observability, are sufficient to overcome powerful collective action incentives to free ride.     

论临终者关系生命中的死亡价值建构

通过阐述当今中国死亡价值日渐消解所致苦难,指明死亡价值建构的重要性,挖掘中华传统生死观的底蕴,探讨死亡价值建构的可行性;将关系生命理念引入安宁疗护领域,将其与中华传统生死观对话,总结具有中华文化特色的临终者关系生命向度,并分析关系生命对于临终者死亡价值建构的意义;基于此,聚焦安宁疗护领域,探讨如何通过维护临终者关系生命来帮助其建构死亡价值,以期为构筑和发展具有中华文化特色的安宁疗护照护体系贡献理论和实践智慧。

     

Metacomprehension Monitoring Accuracy: Effects of Judgment Frames,Cues and Criteria

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - This study aimed to investigate the effects of judgment frames, cues, and test criteria on the accuracy of metacomprehension monitoring. The design was a 2...     

In the Eyes of the Beholder: Personality and the Perception of Leadership1

This series of studies focuses on the extent to which the personality of followers is related to their perception of transformational leadership. Followers from 3 different companies and students from a Dutch university were questioned on their personality characteristics and their perception of a described leader (students) or the perception of their actual leader (employees). Although the results differ for the different samples, we found a relationship between followers' personality and the perception of transformational leadership for all of the different samples. The different relationship that we found may hint to the impact of context on the relationship between personality and the perception of leadership. In the discussion, we explain our results in light of these different contexts.     

In Defense of Relational Direct Realism

Abstract: According to proponents of relational direct realism, veridical perceptual experiences are irreducibly relational mental states that include as constituents perceived physical objects or intrinsic aspects of them. One consequence of the theory is the rejection of the causal theory of perception. This paper defends the relational theory against several objections recently developed by Paul Coates. He argues that the required experiential relation is incoherent and unmotivated. The argument that it is incoherent commits a fallacy. In reply to the argument that it is unmotivated, I suggest that the relational theorist's appeal to transparency provides sufficient motive and, when properly clarified, defeasibly justifies the theory as well. Coates also argues that rejection of the causal theory leaves relational theorists without any way of determining which object is perceived or of accommodating our scientific understanding of perceptual experiences as causally dependent on physical objects. I reply that relational theorists are able to provide the required explanations and discuss how the relational theory is consistent with this scientific understanding of perceptual experience.     

Acquiring Assistance from Others The Effect of Indirect Requests and Relational Intimacy on Verbal Compliance

This research examines the effectiveness of indirect requests in attaining assistance from intimate and nonintimate others. Prior research indicates that people are inclined to make requests using indirect forms. However, help-seeking research has neglected to consider request forms, and research on indirect requests has focused mainly on issues of interpretation. The results of this study indicate that the directness of a request increases request force and also interacts with relational intimacy to influence verbal compliance. Directness is more effective at eliciting verbal compliance at higher levels of intimacy. The experimental findings highlight issues concerning the definition of indirectness and also the utility of merging interpretation and compliance in language research.     

Mattering to Others: Implications for the Counseling Relationship

Although first conceived in the 1980s, mattering to others has only recently earned well‐deserved attention in social science research and literature. Subsequently, it seems that mattering may serve as a powerful dynamic in strengthening counseling relationships. This article reviews the empirical validation study of mattering recently conducted by G. C. Elliott, S. Kao, and A. M. Grant (2004), which was published in the journal Self and Identity. Implications for counselors, the counseling relationship, and counseling research are considered.     

Empathy,Awareness of Others,and Action: How Feeling Empathy for One-Among-Others Motivates Helping the Others

Feeling empathy for a member of the group may result in either favoring this individual at the expense of the group or helping the entire group. We explain these intriguing findings by proposing that the combined influence of feeling empathy for one individual and awareness of others enhances willingness to help both the individual and the others (taken as individuals). The results of three experiments showed that inducing empathy for one individual promotes favoring him or her at the expense of the group, whereas inducing empathy for one-among-others leads to helping these others individually, instead of as a group. Furthermore, the awareness of others mediated the proposed one-among-others effect.     

掌握程度和社会性线索对元认知监控的影响

元认知监控中信心判断和再认答案的调整不仅受到个体学习后掌握程度的影响,还会受到社会性线索的影响。本研究通过两个实验,考察了掌握程度和社会性线索对元认知监测和控制的影响。研究发现：第一,掌握程度和社会性线索独立影响元认知监测。第二,掌握程度和社会性线索显著影响元认知控制,并且掌握程度还起到了调节作用。具体来说,掌握程度高时,个体倾向于坚持自己的最初选择,较少受到社会性线索的影响;掌握程度越低,社会性线索的影响越大,个体倾向于使自己的选择与社会性信息保持一致。最后,研究总结了学习任务中掌握程度和社会性线索对元认知监控的影响机制,并提出了未来的研究思路。     

社会性线索对内隐和外显元认知监控的影响

本研究以词图匹配材料为学习材料,以“大多数人选择的情况”为社会性线索,通过分析行为表现和眼动指标,探讨了社会性线索对内隐和外显元认知监控的影响。结果显示：（1）第一次信心判断时,外显信心判断显著高估,内隐信心判断较为准确。第二次信心判断时,在线索一致条件下,外显信心判断等级显著高于内隐信心判断。（2）在提供社会性线索阶段和第二次再认阶段,与线索一致条件相比,线索不一致条件下被提示项的注视时间更短,而未提示项的注视时间更长,且个体改变选择的次数显著增多。结果表明：内隐和外显元认知监测存在分离,内隐监测的准确性更高,外显监测受社会性线索的影响更大;而内隐和外显的元认知控制受社会性线索的影响趋同。     

In the Eyes of the Beholder: how Adolescents,Teachers and School Counselors Construct Adolescent Images

This study had two objectives: (a) to examine the adolescent image teachers and school counselors construct (category-based images) by comparing it with the adolescent's self-image (self-as-target based), and (b) to explicate the discrepancy between category-based adolescent images as constructed by teachers, counselors, and adolescents by underlying social cognitive processes. To this end, 269 eighth-grade adolescents and 104 junior high school teachers and school counselors responded to the self-image questionnaire for young adolescents (SIQYA). Adolescents responded either to self-image questionnaires or to an adolescent-your-age version and school staff to an eighth-grader image version. One-way MANOVAs comparing the nine SIQYA scales indicated that overall, teachers' and school counselors' adolescent images were less positive than adolescents' adolescent images (as reported both regarding the self or another adolescent). These findings were interpreted in terms of two social psychological processes: positive illusion and adolescent stereotypes. Discussion also addresses the implications of these findings for educators' knowledge regarding normal adolescent processes and psychological hardships intensified during adolescence.     

Help for the Significant Others of Bulimics

A quasi-experimental design was used to assess the effects of a 5-week assistance program for the significant others of bulimics. A knowledge test, an attitude survey, and a behavior device were used to evaluate the effects of the program. One or more of the three instruments was administered to an experimental group of significant others before (pretest) and after (posttest) they attended the assistance program. One or more of the three instruments was also administered to a control group of significant others before (pretest) and after (posttest) a 5-week period. During this period they did not attend the assistance program. No significant difference was found between the pretest and posttest scores of the control group on the three instruments at the .05 probability level. Experimental group posttest scores were significantly higher than their pretest scores on the three instruments at the .05 probability level. An anonymous evaluation conducted following the program also indicated significant others who attended the program found it to be beneficial.     

小学低年级学生自我监控与监控他人的发展研究

元认知监控包括自我监控和监控他人。本研究用两个实验分别探讨了小学低年级学生自我监控和监控他人之间的关系及其发展趋势。实验一采用100以内加减法的计算任务,来探讨小学低年级学生的自我监测和监测他人。实验二采用难度不同、分值不同的计算任务,来探讨学生的自我控制和控制他人。研究发现:第一,小学低年级学生的自我监测和监测他人都会以前期任务表现为依据,支持MPT假说。而且,自我监测和监测他人都在二年级表现出了明显的转化和提高。第二,小学低年级学生在监测他人时,逐渐由以自我信息为依据调整到以他人认知状态为依据。第三,元认知控制能力的发展落后于监测能力。二年级和三年级学生仍旧不能很合理地进行自我执行和计划他人。