Covariation in natural causal induction.

The covariation component of everyday causal inference has been depicted, in both cognitive and social psychology as well as in philosophy, as heterogeneous and prone to biases. The models and biases discussed in these domains are analyzed with respect to focal sets: contextually determined sets of events over which covariation is computed. Moreover, these models are compared to our probabilistic contrast model, which specifies causes as first and higher order contrasts computed over events in a focal set. Contrary to the previous depiction of covariation computation, the present assessment indicates that a single normative mechanism--the computation of probabilistic contrasts--underlies this essential component of natural causal induction both in everyday and in scientific situations.     

The social context of Hong Kong's booming elderly home industry

Hong Kong experienced a rapid increase in private homes for elderly people in recent years. This paper examines the social background of that development. Private elderly homes thrived in a context of rising demand due to changing demographics, particularly massive emigration secondary to political instability, which created a large potential market of elderly people in need of residential care. However, entrepreneurs would not be attracted unless it is a profitable business, and much of that profit is likely derived from social security payments to elderly people. Because the amount of social security benefits is way below the level required for purchasing good quality service in the private sector, many elderly people are bound to live in very poor residential settings. The preparation of this article was supported in part by CPHK Grant No. 903089. I am grateful to Alfred Chan, Man-fuk Leung, Alice Chong, Nicky Hamid, Murray Levine, and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of the article.     

Why Causation Need Not Follow from Statistical Association: Boundary Conditions for the Evaluation of Generative and Preventive Causal Powers

In experimental design, a tacit principle is that to test whether a candidate cause c (i.e., a manipulation) prevents an effect e, e must occur at least some of the time without the introduction of c. This principle is the preventive analogue of the explicit principle of avoiding a ceiling effect in tests of whether c produces e. Psychological models of causal inference that adopt either the covariation approach or the power approach, among their other problems, fail to explain these principles. The present article reports an experiment that demonstrates the operation of these principles in untutored reasoning. The results support an explanation of these principles according to the power PC theory, a theory that integrates the previous approaches to overcome the problems that cripple each.     

五四以来传统中医的命运与选择（对话）

通过五四以来传统中医境遇的回顾,分析了作为传统文化构件之一的中医学与现代生活的冲突、沟涌、融合,从思想史的层面审视了各种文化姿态、学风旨趣的价值支撑,揭示出人类医学多元共生的兼容特性。     

Gender-Role Differences in Susceptibility to the Influence of Support Availability on Depression

Previous gender-role research on depression has revealed a consistent inverse relationship between masculinity and depression, but a non-significant relationship between femininity and depression. In light of the stronger affiliative needs for feminine individuals, received social support was speculated to moderate the relationship between femininity and depression in the present research. In a longitudinal study of a sample of Hong Kong college students, the relationships among gender-role orientation, received social support, and depression were examined. Consistent with previous findings, masculinity and androgyny were inversely related to depression. Moreover, the present study supplemented previous research by revealing that femininity was related to depression through its interaction with received social support. When the amount of received social support was increased, femininity was associated with a reduction in depression level over time. In contrast, when the amount of received social support was decreased, depression tended to increase with femininity over time. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the gender-role literature.     

Landmark-based spatial search in honeybees. II.

Honeybees were trained to find sugar water at a fixed location in front of a rectangular block or a gap in a row of rectangular blocks aligned east-west. Bees learned to use both blocks and gaps to pinpoint a target place. In approach, the bees tended to head directly towards the block but not the gap. In approaching the gap, they tended to approach the wall, and then fly parallel to the wall until the gap was encountered. In approaching the block, they approached from varying directions. When the width of the block or gap was doubled, bees still searched at the same perpendicular distance from the landmark. When the height of the block was doubled, they searched farther away but not as far as double the distance on control tests, with variations across individuals. Near the target area, the bees tended to face almost parallel to the gap or block, turned slightly towards the landmark by 0–30°. In all setups, bees showed a tendency to search near the landmark, and to search on average closer than the training distance. The results confirm the basic processes identified for landmark-based search in bees, but show variations in how the steps are carried out.     

Parental stress, coping styles, and social supports in chinese families with hepatitis-b-carrying children

The purpose of the study was to examine the hypothesis that parents’ psychological well-being can be affected by a child’s illness and their social situations. In this study, we discuss the roles of coping, social support and situational context related to stress. These factors cannot only affect stress levels but can also influence whether the individual adopts a certain type of coping style for stressful events. Parental stress, coping styles and social support were compared between groups of parents of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) carrier children or healthy children. Results showed that parents of affected children were significantly more stressed and psychologically at risk, and tended to mobilize personal resources and to rely more on themselves to solve stressful life events. They also sought help from social resources more often than did parents of healthy children. Parents of healthy children had a higher number of close friends and relatives available to them. Ninety Chinese parents and their HBV or healthy children participated in this study. These families were all living in the city of Guangzhou, China.     

Mental Health, Social Environment and Sexual Risk Behaviors of Adolescent Service Users: A Gender Comparison

We examined individual mental health problems (depression, conduct disorder, and substance abuse) and social environment (family, peer, and neighborhood) factors associated with the sexual risk behaviors of male and female adolescents. Interviews with 778 adolescents, aged 14 to 18, showed that both mental health problems and social environment were related to adolescents' involvement in sexual risk behaviors. Conduct disorder symptoms, substance abuse or dependence symptoms, and the interaction between peer misbehavior and neighborhood problems were significantly associated with risky sexual behaviors. Peer misbehavior was a particularly strong factor related to sexual risk behaviors for youths who lived in neighborhoods with multiple problems. The only gender differences were found in age, with older males more likely to report engaging in high risk sexual behaviors. This study suggests the utility of multidimensional intervention strategies to deal with various adolescent problem behaviors, including risky sexual behaviors, within the context of their social environment.     

Role of Perceived Social Support on Depression in Chinese Adolescents: A Prospective Study Examining the Buffering Model

In response to the dearth of attempts to examine functions of perceived social support on depression in Chinese adolescents, a prospective study was conducted to examine the relationship among stressful life events, perceived social support, and depression. The present results provided support for the buffering model, indicating that the function of perceived social support in mitigating subsequent depression was prominent only under high stress levels. These results were discussed in terms of the socialized role of Chinese adolescents, as well as the function of esteem enhancement of perceived social support in alleviating depression. Reciprocal relationships between initial depression levels and subsequent levels of social support were also discussed. Possible counseling and prevention programs for Chinese adolescents are proposed.     

增龄性记忆改变规律及影响因素的研究

本研究用多维记忆量表对280名50～91岁的老年人做了测查,同时收集了一般资料,以探讨增龄性记忆改变的规律和年龄、教育和职业等因素对增龄性记忆改变的影响。结果表明：随年龄增长,各记忆组合分和分测验成绩均呈下降趋势,外显记忆成绩在70岁后呈快速下降,内隐记忆和日常生活记忆在75岁后才有明显下降;记忆总分、外显记忆和日常生活记忆均受年龄和教育的影响,内隐记忆不受教育的影响。结果提示老年人记忆随年龄增长呈渐渐下降,不同记忆功能开始下降的年龄和下降速率不同,教育对增龄性记忆改变有保护作用。