When Is Seeking Safety Functional? Taking a Pragmatic Approach to Distinguishing Coping From Safety

Currently, most exposure-based treatments call for clinicians to assess for and remove all safety behaviors during exposure tasks. However, the notion that safety behaviors are detrimental across all scenarios has recently been challenged, and research regarding the effects of safety behaviors on exposure outcomes is limited and inconsistent. In clinical practice, classifying a strategy as a safety behavior can be a complex and challenging endeavor, particularly when distinguishing between harmful safety behaviors and helpful coping behaviors. We outline an approach that emphasizes the pragmatic truth criterion and uses functional outcomes to classify behaviors as serving either safety or coping functions. Our focus on doing what “works” simplifies decision-making for clinicians and maintains the focus of treatment on enhancing functioning. We propose a model for using functional outcomes to distinguish between safety and coping behaviors and illustrate our approach through case examples.     

The Mechanism of the Emergence of Nihilism from the View of Intentional Tenacity

This paper sets forth the reasons why Nietzsche thought nihilism to be inevitable from the perspective of the tenacity of the intentional. Through distinguishing two ordered intentional states—first-order and high-order—and two kinds of objects respectively, the paper illustrates that it is impossible to find a new ultimate value to replace Christian values when Nietzsche announced “the death of God.” Inspired by Nietzsche’s thoughts, the paper concludes by briefly discussing the possibility of comparing Confucian and Nietzsche’s ideas concerning nihilism.     

Physical stature influences character perception in women

It is well established that height influences the perceived character of men but very little evidence exists that the same influences of height exist for women. To investigate the effects of female height on perception of their character, we used a novel technique of digitally altering the perceived height of two women depicted in photographs such that the same targets appeared to be of tall or short stature to different participants. We asked participants to rate each of the two women on personal qualities and characteristics that reflected the instrumental/expressive distinction in masculine/feminine stereotypes. Overall, tall women were rated as more intelligent, affluent, assertive and ambitious than shorter women. A perceiver-sex difference was found such that men rated short females more highly than tall females on expressive characteristics while women raters did not. Thus, we provide the first direct evidence that female height influences perception of their character.     

面孔-词Stroop范式中的情绪冲突效应研究

为探究面孔-词Stroop范式中的情绪冲突效应,本实验给被试呈现两种时长（150ms或1500ms）的刺激,令其分别完成对面孔-词Stroop范式中的“面孔任务”和“词任务”。结果发现：只有“面孔任务”中出现Stroop效应,产生情绪冲突,而在“词任务”中未出现Stroop效应;当呈现时间为150ms时,情绪词影响情绪面孔加工从而引发个体的情绪冲突,出现Stroop效应;当呈现时间为1500ms时,“面孔任务”中的Stroop效应消失。这提示了呈现时间是影响面孔-词Stroop范式中情绪冲突效应的一个重要因素。     

11~14岁超常儿童与普通儿童问题解决能力的发展比较

以北京市某中学和某小学11~14岁之间294名学生为被试, 其中超常儿童131人, 普通儿童163人。采用推箱子任务, 结合横向比较和纵向追踪数据, 从认知能力、元认知能力和认知效率三个维度来考察超常儿童与普通儿童问题解决能力的发展差异。结果发现超常儿童在问题解决能力的三个维度上均优于普通儿童, 两类儿童问题解决能力的发展模式不一致：超常儿童的问题解决能力发展先快后慢, 快速发展期在11~12岁半之间; 普通儿童的问题解决能力发展先慢后快, 快速发展期在12岁半~14岁之间。超常儿童与普通儿童的问题解决能力差异随年龄增大逐渐减小。     

Paradoxical cross-over due to attention to high or low spatial frequencies

The mechanisms underlying the right hemisphere's dominance for spatial and attentional functions lacks a comprehensively explanation. For example, perceptual biases, as observed in line bisection and related tasks, might be caused by an attentional asymmetry or by perceptual processes such as a specialization of the left and right hemisphere for high and low spatial frequencies (SFs), respectively. Here we used the gratingscales task to measure perceptual bias in SF judgements, and we cued participants' attention either to high or low SFs. Participants showed a leftward bias when comparing the high SF components of the stimulus, and a rightward bias when comparing the low SF components-opposite to what would be expected from a hemispheric lateralization for SFs. Two control experiments used different strategies to manipulate the width of the attentional window. However, we observed no influence on perceptual bias, thus ruling out the possibility that the results in Experiment 1 were due to differences in attentional window size. These data support the idea of an attentional asymmetry underlying perceptual bias. Our results provide novel support for the role of attentional asymmetry in perceptual biases.     

应激干预对抑郁症患者心率变异性的影响

探讨分别以放松训练和静坐两种干预方式对抗心算对抑郁症患者心率变异性的影响 ,以及正常人、单纯抑郁症患者和伴焦虑症状的抑郁症患者在心率变异性上的差异.结果显示,静息状态下伴焦虑症状的抑郁症患者的交感神经功能亢进,兴奋性高于另外两组;放松训练可以缓解交感神经的紧张程度,并能够较静坐更好得对抗应激引起的交感神经活动增强;静坐对单纯抑郁症患者和对照组有放松作用,但引起伴焦虑症状的抑郁症患者紧张情绪.     

How do people apprehend large numerosities?

People discriminate remarkably well among large numerosities. These discriminations, however, need not entail numerical representation of the quantities being compared. This research evaluated the role of both non-numerical and numerical information in adult judgments of relative numerosity for large-numerosity spatial arrays. Results of Experiment 1 indicated that judgments of relative numerosity were affected by the amount of open space in the arrays being compared. Further, the accuracy of verbal estimates of the numerosities of the arrays made upon completion of the comparison task bore little relation to performance on that task. Experiment 2, however, showed that numerical estimates for individually presented arrays were affected in much the same way by open space within or around the edges of the array as were the comparative judgments examined in Experiment 1. The findings suggest that adults heuristically utilize non-numerical cues as well as numerical information in apprehending large numerosities.