Does Theory of Mind in Pre-kindergarten Predict the Ability to Think About a Reader’s Mind in Elementary School Compositions? A Longitudinal Study

A critical skill in emergent writing is the developing ability to take the perspective of different readers; however, the precursors of this skill have not yet been identified. In this longitudinal study, 105 children (90 after attrition) were tested at 3 time points: pre-kindergarten (3–4 years old, n = 105), kindergarten (5 years old, n = 97), and Grade 1 (6–7 years old, n = 90). Theory of mind (ToM) in pre-kindergarten significantly predicted children’s awareness of a reader’s epistemic state when they dictated letters in both kindergarten and Grade 1 even after controlling for language (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Task [PPVT]) and inhibitory control. In addition, ToM in pre-kindergarten remained a significant predictor of reader awareness in Grade 1 after further controlling for reader awareness in kindergarten. There was little relationship between higher-order ToM tasks in kindergarten and reader awareness, but higher-order ToM in Grade 1 concurrently predicted reader awareness. Receptive vocabulary (PPVT) was significantly related to reader awareness at all time points, longitudinally and concurrently. This study has both theoretical implications for the relationship between ToM and emergent literacy and practical implications for the early identification and remediation of children at risk for later writing difficulties.     

Multidimensional assessment of empathic abilities in patients with insular glioma

Recent studies have provided evidence that there are two possible systems for empathy: affective empathy (AE) and cognitive empathy (CE). Neuroimaging paradigms have proven that the insular cortex is involved in empathy processing, particularly in AE. However, these observations do not provide causal evidence for the role of the insula in empathy. Although impairments in empathy have been described following insular damage in a few case studies, it is not clear whether insular cortex is involved in CE and whether these two systems are impaired independently or laterally in patients with insular gliomas. In this study, we assessed 17 patients with an insular glioma, 17 patients with a noninsular glioma, and 30 healthy controls using a method that combined a self-report empathy questionnaire with the emotion recognition task, assessment of empathy for others’ pain, and the emotional perspective-taking paradigm. We found that patients with an insular glioma had lower scores for empathic concern and perspective taking than did either healthy controls or lesion controls. The patients’ abilities to recognize facial emotions, perceive others’ pain, and understand the emotional perspectives of others were also significantly impaired. Furthermore, we did not observe a laterality effect on either AE or CE among those with insular lesions. These findings revealed that both AE and CE are impaired in patients with an insular glioma and that the insular cortex may be a central neuroanatomical structure in both the AE and CE systems.     

Discrimination of Lexical Tones in the First Year of Life

In the current study, we examined the developmental course of the perception of non‐native tonal contrast. We tested 4, 6 and 12‐month‐old Dutch infants on their discrimination of Chinese low‐rising tone and low‐dipping tone using the visual fixation paradigm. The infants were tested in two conditions that differed in terms of degree of variability. The 4‐month‐olds did not show discrimination effect in either condition. The 6‐ and 12‐month‐old infants, however, discriminated the tones in both conditions. The improvement of perception might be the result of cognitive development carried over from learning the native phonology. Infants can become better listeners in general in the first year of life, as well as get cognitively better equipped in dealing with the variable input in speech in general. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Both non-symbolic and symbolic quantity processing are important for arithmetical computation but not for mathematical reasoning

This study investigated whether numerical processing was important for two types of mathematical competence: arithmetical computation and mathematical reasoning. Thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven Chinese primary school children in third through sixth grades took eight computerised tasks: numerical processing (numerosity comparison, digit comparison), arithmetical computation, number series completion, non-verbal matrix reasoning, mental rotation, choice reaction time, and word rhyming. Hierarchical regressions showed that both non-symbolic numerical processing (numerosity comparison) and symbolic numerical processing (digit comparison) were independent predictors of arithmetical computation but neither was a predictor of mathematical reasoning (assessed by number series completion). These findings suggest that the cognitive basis of mathematical performance varies depending on the type of mathematical competence measured.     

Impacts of growth mindset and concern with performance on resilience to self-doubt in american and chinese students

Social Psychology of Education - The current study examined how growth mindset of intelligence and concern with performance impact resilience to chronic self-doubt in American and Chinese students....     

Sexism and the Effectiveness of Femvertising in China: A Corporate Social Responsibility Perspective

The present study draws on theories and prior research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and gender attitudes (i.e., sexism) to understand young Chinese peoples’ responses toward women-empowering advertising (i.e., femvertising). We conducted two experiments in which male and female Chinese college students (232 in Study 1 and 231 in Study 2) were exposed to either women-empowering or control advertisements (traditional ad in Study 1 and gender-irrelevant ad in Study 2) and reported their attitudes about the ads as well as their purchase intentions toward the advertised products (shampoo and smartphone, respectively). In line with our predictions, both experiments showed that messaging about women’s empowerment in advertising can induce perceptions of CSR, thereby increasing favorable responses such as enhanced positive ad attitudes and increased purchase intentions toward the advertised products. Moreover, hostile sexism was negatively associated with consumer responses toward femvertising such that the lower participants’ hostile sexism, the more positive ad attitudes and stronger purchase intent participants they reported. However, benevolent sexism was not predictive of consumer responses toward femvertising. These results offer insights into people’s responses toward women-empowering advertisements and also have practical implications for advertisers and marketers who are interested in using such an advertising tactic to promote products and services.

     

The Mediation Effect of Ethical Leadership and Creative Performance: A Social Information Processing Perspective

Drawing upon social information processing theory, the study examined how ethical leadership shapes creative performance. Specifically, we tested a theoretical model integrating the sequential roles of psychological safety and creative self‐efficacy. A two‐waved sample of 512 supervisor‐subordinate dyads from frontline employees of three service industries located in Ghana was administered. The results of the hierarchical linear modeling analysis revealed that there is a positive relationship between ethical leadership and creative performance and that psychological safety positively and significantly mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and creative performance. Similarly, creative self‐efficacy significantly and positively mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and creative performance. Moreover, both psychological safety and creative self‐efficacy sequentially mediate the relationship between ethical leadership and creative performance. We discuss the implications of these results for research and practice.     

Inferring the Number of Attributes for the Exploratory DINA Model

Psychometrika - Diagnostic classification models (DCMs) are widely used for providing fine-grained classification of a multidimensional collection of discrete attributes. The application of DCMs...     

人格智力:一种被“冷落”的“热智力”

人格智力(PI)是指个体在对人格及其相关信息推理的基础上,利用这些信息提高一个人的思想、计划和生活经验的能力,包括识别人格信息、形成人格模型、引导个人选择以及系统化计划和目标等相关领域。作为一种新兴的“热智力”,PI并没有像当年情绪智力(EI)那样受人关注。文章从PI的范畴、领域及其局限性等角度分析了这一新能力遭遇“冷落”的原因,指出了PI在整合以人为中心的智力过程中存在概念宽泛、界限模糊、测量的科学性及其形成与发展等诸多值得反思的问题。