Semantic processing of unattended parafoveal words

The influence that a context word presented either foveally or parafoveally, may exert on the processing of a subsequent target word was studied in a semantic decision task. Fourteen subjects participated in the experiment. They were presented with word-nonword pairs (prime). One member of the pair (which the subjects had to attend to) appeared centrally, the other parafoveally. The prime was followed by a target at two inter-stimulus intervals (ISI; 200 and 2000 msec). The word stimulus of the pair could be semantically related or unrelated to the target. The subjects' task was to classify the target as animal or not animal by pressing one of two buttons as quickly as possible. When the target word was semantically associated with the foveal (attended) word the reaction times were faster for both ISIs; when it was associated with the parafoveal (unattended) word in the prime pair, there were facilitatory effects only in the short ISI condition. A second experiment was run in order to evaluate the possibility that the obtained results were due to identification of the parafoveal stimulus. The same prime-target pairs of experiment 1 (without the target stimuli) were used. The prime-target pairs were presented to fourteen subjects who were requested to name the foveal (attended) stimulus and subsequently, if possible, the parafoveal (unattended) one. Even in this condition, percentage of identification of the unattended word was only 15%, suggesting that previous findings were not due to identification of unattended stimuli. Results are discussed in relation to Posner and Snyder's (1975) dual coding theory.     

Effectiveness of the career interest profile

This study examined the effectiveness of group‐based career counseling using the Career Interest Profile (CIP). The study used an experimental design involving 2 groups of Italian university students: an experimental group (42 participants) who received narrative career counseling and a control group (47 participants) who did not. Results indicated more specific life and occupational goals after the intervention among members of the experimental group in addition to a decrease in career decision‐making difficulties and an increase in career decision‐making self‐efficacy, thus suggesting the value of group‐based career counseling on the basis of the principles embodied in the CIP.     

How Can We Study Heroism? Integrating Persons,Situations and Communities

Heroism—an individual's commitment to a noble purpose, usually aimed at furthering the welfare of others, and involving the willingness to accept the consequences of achieving that purpose—has received little attention from political psychologists, even though a person is arguably as liable to act heroically as she is to act in a morally reprehensible manner. Specifically, important questions remain in how heroes can be identified beforehand and how such behavior can be successfully studied and promoted. We posit that recent work in genocide studies, positive psychology, personality psychology, ecological psychology, and moral psychology provides new and promising directions for better understanding heroic behavior. These developments can provide the tools for understanding the complex interplay of factors—including traits, situations, and communal beliefs—motivating heroic behavior.     

文化对个体风险感知的影响:文化认知理论的解释

文化认知理论旨在从个体层面研究与文化因素相关的个体风险感知差异。它以"格-群"维度划分文化世界观,"格"维度衡量社会的制度化程度,"群"维度衡量社会群体对个体的影响程度,由此编制文化认知量表以测量个体文化理念差异。目前已验证认同保护认知、偏见同化与群体极化、文化易得性、文化可信性、文化认同确认五种作用机制,并在情感启发式研究的基础上引入文化冲突模因作为中介变量建立理论模型。后续研究可推进文化认知测量工具的跨文化检验与本土化修订,并在具体风险主题研究的基础上探索切实可行的公共风险管理对策。     

Running with emotion: When affective content hampers working memory performance

This study tested the hypothesis that affective content may undermine rather than facilitate working memory (WM) performance. To this end, participants performed a running WM task with positive, negative and neutral words. In typical running memory tasks, participants are presented with lists of unpredictable length and are asked to recall the last three or four items. We found that accuracy with affective words decreased as lists lengthened, whereas list length did not influence recall of neutral words. We interpreted this pattern of results in terms of a limited resource model of WM in which valence represents additional information that needs to be manipulated, especially in the context of difficult trials.     

改革开放30年中国农村土地承包经营权制度流变——一个法经济学的视角

农村土地承包经营权是改革开放以来我国农地制度在法律上的具体体现.随着我国改革开放的不断深入,土地承包经营权的边际效用逐渐降低,需要合理的制度供给和相应的制度变迁.从制度供给的角度来看,改革开放以来我国农村土地承包经营权的制度变迁主要经历了政策推动阶段、政策法律化开启阶段、政策法律化深入阶段和政策法律化完善阶段.通过对各阶段土地承包经营权的产权结构和实施绩效的分析,可以发现在土地承包经营权自下而上的需求诱致性制度变迁过程中,今后制度变迁的发展路径应更注重法律合理化、类型化变迁和政府守法等方面的改良.     

元记忆监测研究综述

元记忆监测是元记忆能力的重要部分,元记忆监测能力是元记忆能力的关键。近年来元记忆监测引起越来越多人的研究兴趣,这种研究兴趣渗透到心理学的不同领域,如记忆心理学、认知神经心理学和社会心理学等。本文探讨了元记忆监测的含义、类型、机制理论和研究方法,也指出了存在的问题并进行了展望。     

The contribution of agreeableness and self‐efficacy beliefs to prosociality

The present study examined how agreeableness and self‐efficacy beliefs about responding empathically to others' needs predict individuals' prosociality across time. Participants were 377 adolescents (66% males) aged 16 at Time 1 and 18 at Time 2 who took part at this study. Measures of agreeableness, empathic self‐efficacy and prosociality were collected at two time points. The findings corroborated the posited paths of relations to assigning agreeableness a major role in predicting the level of individuals' prosociality. Empathic self‐efficacy beliefs partially mediated the relation of agreeableness to prosociality. The posited conceptual model accounted for a significant portion of variance in prosociality and provides guidance with respect to interventions aimed at promoting prosociality. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy: A Comparison Between Paper-and-Pencil Versus Online Formats in Italian Samples

The most recent conceptualizations of empathy recognize affective empathy as distinct from cognitive empathy. Consequently, instruments that assess these 2 types of empathy have been developed. Among them, the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE) is a particularly promising, relatively new, self-report measure consisting of 31 items. To examine the cross-cultural adaptability of the QCAE, we investigated the psychometric properties of an Italian version in 2 samples and with 2 different formats of administration. Study 1 (n = 407) used archival data collected via paper and pencil; Study 2 (n = 285) used newly collected data, obtained with an online format. In these studies, in addition to the QCAE, 6 other instruments measuring empathy-related constructs (i.e., interpersonal competence, well-being, personality traits, emotion regulation, alexithymia, and emotion recognition) were administered, too. Data analysis focused on factor structure, internal consistency, and convergent validity. The findings of both studies provide support for the cross-cultural applicability of the QCAE, and reveal interesting associations between empathy and the other constructs under examination.     

A cross-national comparison of Mexican and Mexican American couples using the Marital Satisfaction Inventory-Revised (Spanish)

This study examined psychometric properties of the Spanish translation of the Marital Satisfaction Inventory-Revised (MSI-R) in a sample of 71 Spanish-speaking couples in Mexico. Results from this sample were compared to findings obtained from 65 Mexican American couples who completed the MSI-R in Spanish. Both the internal consistency and factor structure of the Spanish MSI-R with Mexican couples were found to be comparable to findings on the Spanish MSI-R for Mexican American couples. Moreover, multivariate analysis indicated no significant mean profile differences between these two groups as a function of nationality, gender, or nationality-by-gender interaction. These findings offer initial evidence toward establishing the appropriateness of the Spanish MSI-R for use with Spanish-dominant Mexican couples.