Predicting Marital Satisfaction From Self,Partner, and Couple Characteristics: Is It Me,You, or Us?

Past research on the link between personal characteristics and marital satisfaction has taken either an individual or a dyadic approach. The individual approach examines how self and/or partner characteristics are associated with satisfaction, whereas the dyadic approach focuses on couple characteristics such as couple similarity. The current research was designed to integrate both approaches. A modified Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (Kashy & Kenny, 2000) was proposed to test simultaneously the contributions of self characteristics, partner characteristics, and two types of couple similarity (level similarity measured by the absolute difference score and shape similarity measured by the profile correlation) in predicting husbands' and wives' marital satisfaction. This model was tested by structural equation modeling in two large, nationally representative, urban samples (N=536 and 537 couples) from China. The results were largely replicated across four personality domains and two value domains, suggesting that all predictors tended to make independent contributions to satisfaction except the absolute difference score.     

"大一统"中国的重新塑造:近代边疆危机与建省改制

领土与国家权力的严格重合是现代民族国家的一个特征.现代意义的国界与古代意义的边疆之内涵差别,体现了现代民族国家国际体系不同于与传统国际关系的特征.在现代民族国家国际体系的冲击和压力下,为了抵抗外来威胁、保持国家统一,清朝末年采取了的一系列边疆建省举措,使中国传统"大一统"框架内的边疆意识和边疆政策发生了根本变化,从而实现了从边疆向国界的转化.国家主权在边疆地区得到更确实的体现,这是一个使疆域"领土"化的过程,也是从传统性国家向现代民族国家转化的体现.国际体系的压力导致了国家内涵的改变,但中国的统一内涵并没有丧失.     

Simulation, projection and empathy

Simulationists have recently started to employ the term “empathy” when characterizing our most basic understanding of other minds. I agree that empathy is crucial, but I think it is being misconstrued by the simulationists. Using some ideas to be found in Scheler’s classical discussion of empathy, I will argue for a different understanding of the notion. More specifically, I will argue that there are basic levels of interpersonal understanding—in particular the understanding of emotional expressions—that are not explicable in terms of simulation-plus-projection routines.     

Cognitive-affective neuroscience of somatization disorder and functional somatic syndromes: reconceptualizing the triad of depression-anxiety-somatic symptoms

Somatization disorder is a somatoform disorder that overlaps with a number of functional somatic syndromes and has high comorbidity with major depression and anxiety disorders. Proposals have been made for revising the category of somatoform disorders, for simplifying the criteria for somatization disorder, and for emphasizing the unitary nature of the functional somatic syndromes in future classifications. A review of the cognitive-affective neuroscience of somatization disorder and related conditions suggests that overlapping psychobiological mechanisms mediate depression, anxiety, and somatization symptoms. Particular genes and environments may contribute to determining whether symptoms are predominantly depressive, anxious, or somatic, and there are perhaps also overlaps and distinctions in the distal evolutionary mechanisms that produce these symptoms.     

Psychobiology of mindfulness

There is controversy about whether mindfulness-based approaches to psychotherapy represent a new wave of cognitive-behavioral therapy or a core process in all psychotherapies. One way of conceptualizing mindfulness is in terms of emotion regulation; mindfulness is a strategy aimed at opposing suppression and avoidance. Dispositional mindfulness has been associated with greater activation in prefrontal cortex and greater deactivation of amygdala during affect labeling. A number of rigorous studies of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression have been positive. However, much remains to be discovered about the underlying mechanisms of and clinical indications for mindfulness-based approaches.     

Better than average? When can we say that subsampling of items is better than statistical summary representations?

Myczek and Simons (2008) have described a computational model that subsamples a few items from a set with high accuracy, showing that this approach can do as well as, or better than, a model that captures statistical representations of the set. Although this is an intriguing existence proof, some caution should be taken before we consider their approach as a model for human behavior. In particular, I propose that such simulation-based research should be based on a more expanded range of phenomena and that it should include more accurate representations of errors in judgments.     

初中生自我调节学习的类型及对学习的影响

自我调节学习是一种学习者主动激励自己并积极使用适当的学习策略的学习,研究利用潜在剖面分析法和辨别分析法对316名初中生自我调节学习的类型进行考察,探讨不同自我调节学习类型初中生的特点,分析自我调节学习类型对学习动机、焦虑、学习成绩的影响。结果表明:(1)初中生自我调节学习分成综合发展型、均衡调节型和策略滞后型3种。(2)综合发展型初中生的自我调节学习水平最高,策略滞后型初中生的自我调节学习水平尤其是学习策略水平最低,而均衡调节型初中生的自我调节学习水平处于综合发展型和策略滞后型之间。(3)自我调节学习类型对学习动机、焦虑、学习成绩有影响。     

Contra Cartwright: Structural Realism, Ontological Pluralism and Fundamentalism About Laws

In this paper I argue against Nancy Cartwright’s claim that we ought to abandon what she calls “fundamentalism” about the laws of nature and adopt instead her “dappled world” hypothesis. According to Cartwright we ought to abandon the notion that fundamental laws (even potentially) apply universally, instead we should consider the law-like statements of science to apply in highly qualified ways within narrow, non-overlapping and ontologically diverse domains, including the laws of fundamental physics. For Cartwright, “laws” are just locally applicable refinements of a more open-ended concept of capacities. By providing a critique of the dappled world approach’s central notion of open ended capacities and substituting this concept with an account of properties drawn from recent writing on the subject of structural realism I show that a form of fundamentalism is viable. I proceed from this conclusion to show that this form of fundamentalism provides a superior reading of case studies, such as the effective field theory program (EFT) in quantum field theory, than the “dappled world” view. The case study of the EFT program demonstrates that ontological variability between theoretical domains can be accounted for without altogether abandoning fundamentalism or adopting Cartwright’s more implausible theses.     

Path dependent preferences: The role of early experience and biased search in preference development

What is the role of early experiences in shaping preferences? What are the mechanisms by which such early encounters influence the way preferences are formed? In this research, we examine the impact of the entry position and favorability of initial (and ongoing) experiences on preference development. We predict that the starting point will heavily influence which particular region people select from initially, and favorableness of early experiences and myopic search will both limit their search to that particular region. Across four studies, we find that when the initial experiences are favorable, subjects engage in lower levels of search, experience only a narrow breadth of possible alternatives, demonstrate less ongoing experimentation, and have a reduction in the amount of preference development.