Relation-Centred Ethics in Confucius and Aquinas

In recent years, it has become a popular trend for the scholars in comparative philosophy to interpret Confucian moral theory by means of Aristotelian virtue ethics. However, this interpretation overlooks the relation-centred characteristics of Confucian ethics that is lacking in Aristotelian ethics. In this article, I will argue that there is relation-based ethics in the Western tradition—the ethics of Thomas Aquinas. By examining Aquinas's theory of love, I will show the relational characteristics of his ethics. I will use Aquinas's theory of love to interpret three important points of Confucian ethics: filial reverence and material support are both integral parts of xiao孝 (filial piety); the importance of remonstration for xiao; and the symmetrical features of Confucius's virtues.     

Spatial updating during locomotion does not eliminate viewpoint-dependent visual object processing

Two experiments were conducted to investigate whether locomotion to a novel test view would eliminate viewpoint costs in visual object processing. Participants performed a sequential matching task for object identity or object handedness, using novel 3-D objects displayed in a head-mounted display. To change the test view of the object, the orientation of the object in 3-D space and the test position of the observer were manipulated independently. Participants were more accurate when the test view was the same as the learned view than when the views were different no matter whether the view change of the object was 50° or 90°. With 50° rotations, participants were more accurate at novel test views caused by participants’ locomotion (object stationary) than caused by object rotation (observer stationary) but this difference disappeared when the view change was 90°. These results indicate that facilitation of spatial updating during locomotion occurs within a limited range of viewpoints, but that such facilitation does not eliminate viewpoint costs in visual object processing.     

Incidental encoding of numerosity in visual long-term memory

The visual system can readily extract numerosity information from brief experiences. This numerical perception is characterized by diminishing accuracy as numerosity increases, and impaired discrimination for similar quantities and large magnitudes. Here we assess whether these properties apply more broadly to numerosity in visual long-term memory. In surprise memory tests, we observed: Remarkable accuracy in estimating the number of repetitions of an exemplar image (Experiment 1a), that this accuracy decreased but remained high when estimating over categories (Experiments 1b and 1c), that numerical discrimination from memory exhibited psychophysical distance and size effects (Experiment 2), that these effects may derive from stored representations rather than post hoc approximation (Experiment 3a), and that they can reflect total elapsed experience in addition to discrete counts (Experiment 3b). Similar to how numerosity is readily extracted during visual perception, our results suggest that numerosity is encoded incidentally in visual long-term memory.     

叙事治疗在创伤领域的应用及其与EMDR的异同

叙事治疗是以后现代哲学为基础,并整合人类学、叙事文学和发展心理学而发展出的家庭治疗方法.在创伤领域,叙事治疗通过识别来访者对创伤的回应,发展替代人生故事和身份认同,使来访者获得心理和情感的安全感,并促使创伤记忆被整合进替代故事中,从而消除创伤影响.在儿童创伤领域,生命树技术通过生命树、生命森林、当暴风雨来临以及证书和歌曲四个部分,帮助患儿发展替代人生故事.本文还比较了创伤叙事治疗同眼动脱敏与再加工治疗的异同及创伤叙事治疗国内外应用进展.作为一种创伤治疗方法,叙事治疗在创伤领域应用具有很好的疗效.     

人际关系互动中人际特质的环形模型探索

人际环是以水平轴亲和维度和垂直轴控制维度为核心,按照规定序列排列在一个环形的空间。研究目的:研究融合人际互动与人格特质两个心理学研究领域,探讨中国文化下人际互动中人际环状结构。研究方法:本研究以人际环为理论基础,设计三种不同关系类型:夫妻关系、同性好友关系和恋人关系,采用多元变量分析和随机化测验方法检验本土文化下人际互动中个体的人际特质结构。研究结果:显示互动中个体人际特质以两个基本维度(亲和维和控制维)为核心,这两个维度体现出人际关系互动中的两个重要信息:地位和爱。人际特质包含六个因子,分别是人际冷漠性、人际亲和性、人际开放性、人际退缩性、社会支配性和社会服从性。此六因子以水平轴亲和维度和垂直轴控制维度为核心,形成一个不规则的六边环形,并以规定序列排列成环形空间。     

双任务干扰的注意资源限制机制:来自汉字笔画数效应的证据

该研究的两个实验采用心理不应期范式,探讨了重叠任务情境下双任务的相互干扰机制。实验中被试相继完成高低音的辨别任务(T1)和汉字外在特征(颜色或笔画数)的任务判断(T2),T1和T2间采用变化的SOA。结果发现:(1)T1的反应选择导致T2的加工成绩大幅下降,PRP效应非常显著。(2)当T1占据中枢瓶颈时,T2和T1在中枢瓶颈中并行得到加工并导致T1的加工效率显著下降。(3)由于注意资源的有限性,具有自动激活特征的汉字同样受瓶颈机制的限制。只要存在对注意资源的二次分配就会存在瓶颈的调节机制。     

Right Hemispheric Dominance of Creative Insight: An Event-Related Potential Study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the hemispheric effect of creative insight. This study used high-density ERPs to record participants' brain activity while they performed an insight task. Results showed that both insight solutions and incomprehension solutions elicited a more negative ERP deflection (N320～550) than noninsight solutions in the time window of 320～550 msec. Scalp ERPs and topographical maps revealed that the insight N320～550 exhibited a relative RH dominance, whereas the incomprehension N320～550 exhibited a relative midline dominance. Dipole source analysis showed that the generator of N320～550 elicited by insight and incomprehension solutions was localized in the right middle frontal gyrus and the right parahippocampus gyrus, respectively. These distinct spatiotemporal patterns involved in insight processing and incomprehension processing suggest that the observed N320～550 might reflect the processing of set-shift and the formation of novel associations. Moreover, the spatiotemporal pattern of brain activation associated with insight solutions supported the idea that the right hemispheric dominance theory of creative thinking also applies to creative insight.     

Player–Spectator Discrepancies on Risk Preference during Decision Making

Risk preference during decision making depends not only on the potential risk and profits but also on the roles taken in the current task. Those who perform tasks are more risk-seeking than those who only watch. Given the prominent effect of experiencing the task, the player–spectator discrepancies are supposed to arise in the experiencing phase instead of the choosing phase. In the present study, the authors separated the experiencing role and the choosing role through a stylus maze task in which participants first performed in pairs—one as the player and the other as the spectator—and then chose from two rewarding options for themselves or their partners. The findings show that the experience as players induced a risk-seeking tendency in decision making, which suggests that it was the experiencing role, rather than the choosing role, that caused the difference of risk preference, at least for financially motivated groups and under similar task conditions.     

Effects of Accuracy Motivation and Anchoring on Metacomprehension Judgment and Accuracy

The current research investigates how accuracy motivation impacts anchoring and adjustment in metacomprehension judgment and how accuracy motivation and anchoring affect metacomprehension accuracy. Participants were randomly assigned to one of six conditions produced by the between-subjects factorial design involving accuracy motivation (incentive or no) and peer performance anchor (95%, 55%, or no). Two studies showed that accuracy motivation did not impact anchoring bias, but the adjustment-from-anchor process occurred. Accuracy incentive increased anchor-judgment gap for the 95% anchor but not for the 55% anchor, which induced less certainty about the direction of adjustment. The findings offer support to the integrative theory of anchoring. Additionally, the two studies revealed a “power struggle” between accuracy motivation and anchoring in influencing metacomprehension accuracy. Accuracy motivation could improve metacomprehension accuracy in spite of anchoring effect, but if anchoring effect is too strong, it could overpower the motivation effect. The implications of the findings were discussed.