Let There Be Variance: Individual Differences in Consecutive Self‐control in a Laboratory Setting and Daily Life

The large body of research used to support ego‐depletion effects is currently faced with conceptual and replication issues, leading to doubt over the extent or even existence of the ego‐depletion effect. By using within‐person designs in a laboratory (Study 1; 187 participants) and an ambulatory assessment study (Study 2; 125 participants), we sought to clarify this ambiguity by investigating whether prominent situational variables (such as motivation and affect) or personality traits can help elucidate when ego depletion can be observed and when not. Although only marginal ego‐depletion effects were found in both studies, these effects varied considerably between individuals, indicating that some individuals experience self‐control decrements after initial self‐control exertion and others not. However, neither motivation nor affect nor personality traits such as trait self‐control could consistently explain this variability when models were applied that controlled for variance due to targets and the depletion manipulation (Study 1) or days (Study 2) as well as for multiple testing. We discuss how the operationalization and reliability of our key measures may explain these null effects and demonstrate that alternative metrics may be required to study the consequences of the consecutive exertion of self‐control. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology     

6个月婴儿社会评价的个体差异初探

2007年Hamlin等人在《自然》上发表的研究表明6个月婴儿具备社会评价能力,对个体在社会互动中的“帮助”和“阻碍”行为产生不同反应,并对帮助者表现出偏好。此后,不断有学者对此结果的可复制性提出质疑。本研究采用Hamlin等人(2007)经典的“帮助者—阻碍者”选择范式和预期违背范式,考察了我国婴儿(月龄6.32±0.34;共179名,其中女孩86名)在社会评价任务中的选择偏好和注视时长,及其与婴儿气质的关系。本研究结果显示,在预期违背任务中,当第三方接近“阻碍者”时婴儿的注视时长显著高于当第三方接近“帮助者”时的注视时长;但在行为选择任务中,婴儿并未表现出Hamlin等人报告的帮助者偏好。然而,在气质的外向性维度上得分更高的婴儿越有可能在手动选择任务中选择“帮助者”。上述结果说明,6个月婴儿可能已经具备社会评价能力,能够理解行为并推断他人评价,但是这种能力存在一定的个体差异,这种差异可能与婴儿的气质有关。     

婴儿气质及母亲的养育态度与亲子日常活动的关系

本研究以430名母亲及其婴儿作为研究对象,应用婴儿气质行为评定量表(Infant Behavior Questionnaires,IBQ)、养育压力量表(ParentingStress Index,PSI)及母亲与婴儿的日常活动问卷对6个月婴儿气质、母亲的养育态度及母亲与婴儿的日常活动进行调查。结果表明婴儿气质中的积极情绪与母亲-婴儿日常活动有显著的正相关关系;母亲的养育态度,主要是母亲对养育困扰的评价,与亲子日常活动中的认知刺激活动呈显著的负相关性;多元回归分析表明母亲的受教育水平在婴儿气质、母亲的养育态度与亲子日常认知刺激活动之间的关系中具有调节作用。     

Coparenting Negotiation During the Transition to Parenthood: A Qualitative Study of Couples’ Experiences as New Parents

Abstract

Coparenting – how couples relate to one another in their joint roles as parents – is predictive of a wide variety of family and child outcomes. The current study used a qualitative, phenomenological approach to understand how couples negotiate the coparenting relationship during the transition to parenthood. The principal researcher interviewed 16 men and women of eight heterosexual, dual-earning, new parent couples. Themes emerged which were both conducive to successful coparenting and inhibitive of successful coparenting. Gender distinctions emerged between men and woman in their experiences of coparenting negotiation. Clinical implications of the themes are discussed.     

Reformative self‐control and discounting of reward value by delay or effort1

Abstract: The relation between reformative self‐control and discounting of reward value by delay or effort was examined. Thirty‐two Japanese undergraduates were selected based on their scores on a standardized pencil and paper test of self‐control, the Redressive–Reformative Self‐Control Scale ( Sugiwaka, 1995 ). The subjects indicated their preference (i) between a hypothetical 100 000 yen reward available with various delays and a certain reward of variable amount available immediately; or (ii) between a hypothetical 100 000 yen reward available with various efforts and a certain reward of variable amount available without effort. The discounting of delayed reward value was described well by a hyperbolic function proposed by Mazur (1987 ). The slopes of the delayed discounting curves were steeper for subjects who scored low on the Reformative Self‐Control Scale, which is a measure of reformative self‐control and a subscale of the Redressive–Reformative Self‐Control Scale. The discounting by effort was also described well by the hyperbolic function. The slopes of the effortful discounting curves did not correlate to those of the delayed discounting curves. The slopes were not systematically different across the groups of subjects with different scores on the reformative self‐control scale.