Limits on efficient human mindreading: Convergence across Chinese adults and Semai children

We tested Apperly and Butterfill's (2009, Psychological Review, 116, 753) theory that humans have two mindreading systems whereby the efficient‐system guiding anticipatory glances displays signature limits that do not apply to the flexible system guiding verbal predictions. Experiments 1 and 2 tested urban Mainland‐Chinese adults (n = 64) and Experiment 3 tested Semai children living in the rainforests of Peninsular Malaysia (3‐ to 4‐year‐olds, n = 60). Participants – across different ages, groups and methods – anticipated others’ false‐beliefs about object‐location but not object‐identity. Convergence in signature limits signalled that the early‐developing efficient system involved minimal theory‐of‐mind. Chinese adults and older Semai children showed flexibility in their direct predictions. The flexible mindreading system in ascribing others’ beliefs as such was task‐sensitive and implicated maturational and cultural contributions.     

Self‐Control Moderates Decision‐Making Behavior When Minimizing Losses versus Maximizing Gains

We examined (1) whether people would be more responsive to the delayed consequences of their decisions when attempting to minimize losses than when attempting to maximize gains in a history‐dependent decision‐making task and (2) how trait self‐control would moderate such an effect. In two experiments, participants performed a dynamic decision‐making task where they chose one of two options on each trial. The increasing option always gave a smaller immediate reward but caused future rewards for both options to increase. The decreasing option always gave a larger immediate reward but caused future rewards for both options to decrease. In Experiment 1 where the two options had equivalent expected value in the long run, participants were more prone to select the increasing option, which yielded larger benefits on future trials, in the loss‐minimization condition than in the gain‐maximization condition. Trait self‐control moderated the effect of losses by enhancing the effect for low self‐control participants while attenuating it for high self‐control participants. In Experiment 2 where selecting the increasing option was suboptimal, low self‐control participants still attempted to reduce losses on future trials by selecting the increasing option more often than high self‐control participants. These results suggest that decision makers value delayed consequences of their actions more in a losses domain relative to a gains domain and low self‐control individuals are more susceptible to such an effect. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

暴力犯攻击行为与焦虑的关系:CU特质的调节作用

采用冲动性/预谋性攻击量表、冷酷无情特质量表和特质焦虑量表,以山东省某中型监狱341名成人暴力犯为被试考察两类攻击、CU特质水平和特质焦虑之间的关系。结果表明:(1)CU特质水平与两类攻击正相关,与特质焦虑呈负相关,特质焦虑水平能够预测成人暴力犯的冲动性攻击。(2)个体的CU特质水平能够调节特质焦虑与冲动性攻击之间的关系,具体表现为特质焦虑水平对低CU特质个体的冲动性攻击影响大于高CU特质个体。     

“揭开黑箱”——变革型领导中介变量的研究现状与展望

变革型领导作用机制的研究目前是国内外学者关注的一个热点.大家比较一致的结论是心理授权在变革型领导行为与领导有效性之间起到中介作用,其中,心理授权中工作意义和自我效能两个维度起主要作用.学者们还发现信任和组织公平在变革型领导与员工工作绩效之间能起到显著的中介作用;另外,领导一成员交换关系和工作特征等作为变革型领导行为过程中的中介变量也得到验证.在未来,基于目标设置的变革型领导作用机制的构思将为今后研究提供一条新思路.     

中国医疗保障制度发展的历史演进（1949年～1978年）——兼论医疗保障政策史

1949年~1978年这一历史阶段, 受计划经济管理的影响, 中国医疗保障制度建设始终未能走向现代医疗保障制度发展的道路。但改革开放前中国医疗保障制度却以“低水平、广覆盖”为原则, 在经济发展水平较低的历史时期, 树立了世界初级卫生保健榜样的形象。从新中国建立到改革开放前, 城市医疗保障建立在公费医疗和劳保医疗两大制度之上, 在农村则由农民自发创举了农村合作医疗制度。     

Achievement motivation in the social context: Implicit and explicit Hope of Success and Fear of Failure predict memory for and liking of successful and unsuccessful peers

The authors examined relations between implicit and explicit Hope of Success (HS) and Fear of Failure (FF) and memory and liking for successful and unsuccessful peers. Implicit motives were expected to predict memory and explicit motives to predict liking of peers. Results from 106 American and 79 Singaporean students supported the implicit–explicit motive distinction as well as a link between HS and the successful peer and between FF and the unsuccessful peer. In both samples, explicit HS predicts liking while implicit HS predicts memory about the successful peer, and implicit FF predicts memory about the unsuccessful peer. Findings indicate achievement motives affect interest in and reaction towards peers and provide evidence for differential validity of implicit and explicit motives.     

Episodic Memory in Adult Age and Effects of Sibship Size and Birth Order: Longitudinal Data

This study examined the effects of sibship size and birth order on episodic memory performance in adulthood and old age. Participants were 1,141 healthy individuals aged 35–80 years, who took part in a longitudinal project on age, health, and memory. Episodic memory measurements over a 5-year interval included tests of recognition (recognition of faces, family names, first names, and nouns) and tests of recall (free recall of sentences, free recall and cued recall of nouns, and recall of activities). Results showed significant effects for both recall and recognition, that is, the smaller the sibship size is for an individual and the earlier born, the better memory performance. These results demonstrate that the effects of sibship size and birth order previously shown in children and adolescents (Belmont and Marolla, Science 182:1096–1101, 1973; Zajonc and Markus, Psych Rev 82:74–88, 1975; Zajonc, Am Psychol 56:490–496, 2001) are robust over time and hold over a large adult range.     

An Analysis of Student Privacy Rights in the Use of Plagiarism Detection Systems

Plagiarism detection services are a powerful tool to help encourage academic integrity. Adoption of these services has proven to be controversial due to ethical concerns about students’ rights. Central to these concerns is the fact that most such systems make permanent archives of student work to be re-used in plagiarism detection. This computerization and automation of plagiarism detection is changing the relationships of trust and responsibility between students, educators, educational institutions, and private corporations. Educators must respect student privacy rights when implementing such systems. Student work is personal information, not the property of the educator or institution. The student has the right to be fully informed about how plagiarism detection works, and the fact that their work will be permanently archived as a result. Furthermore, plagiarism detection should not be used if the permanent archiving of a student’s work may expose him or her to future harm.