家庭环境与高中生发展:自主的中介作用及其性别差异

从浙江省三所全日制高中选取348名高一到高三的学生为被试, 采用集体上机填答的方式实施问卷调查, 考察家庭环境对高中生发展的影响及作用机制, 探讨自主的中介作用及其性别差异。使用描述检验、相关分析和结构方程模型等方法, 结果发现:(1)男生的情感自主显著高于女生, 感知到的家庭亲密度水平显著低于女生;(2)家庭环境和自主与积极发展呈显著正相关, 与消极发展呈显著负相关, 积极发展与消极发展呈显著负相关;(3)家庭环境对积极发展有显著的正向预测作用, 对消极发展有显著的负向预测作用, 且对积极发展的预测作用显著高于消极发展;(4)总体上, 自主在家庭环境和高中生积极、消极发展的关系中起显著的中介作用;自主在家庭环境和积极发展间的中介作用在男生和女生样本中均达到显著水平, 而在家庭环境和消极发展间的中介作用在男生样本中为完全中介, 在女生样本中不显著。研究结果为从家庭角度促进高中生的积极发展、降低消极发展的可能性提供了依据。     

拼音学习对幼儿语音意识发展的影响

研究考察了拼音学习对幼儿汉语和英语语音意识发展的影响。结果发现,拼音学习对幼儿汉语和英语语音意识都有促进作用,但在不同成分上存在差异。这种促进作用主要体现在音节内的押韵和首音意识,而对幼儿原来已发展起来的音节意识和末位音位意识（英语）的影响作用很小。同时,研究还从跨语言角度分析了拼音学习对汉语和英语语音意识发展影响的相似性     

应用心理学的学科性质——基于钱学森学科结构模型的分析

纯粹应用观和独立观是解释应用心理学学科性质的两个代表性理论。前者认为应用心理学仅是基础心理学知识和方法的直接应用;后者则认为应用心理学有独立的本质特征。钱学森学科结构模型赞同独立观,认为应用心理学有三个本质特征：1）研究旨趣面向心理工程技术中的重大问题,生产应用性理论;2）内容体系由社会需求决定,随着需求的变化而变化;3）研究方法的个人经验成分多于基础心理学,少于心理工程技术。在应用心理学建设中,1）要敏于实际需求;2）要大力发展、创立我国需要的应用心理学分支;3）要统一人才培养规制。     

幼儿空间表征的初步实验研究

本实验分别从运动、照片和“地图”方面对4岁、5岁和6岁儿童在真实空间中的心理旋转及对参照信息的使用等空间表征的发展作了初步考察,结果发现,(1)运动部分客体定位最容易,“地图”部分其次,照片部分最难,(2)心理旋转能力在不同的实验方式下有不同的表现;(3)儿童的自我中心性反应也是相对的,并不一律依存于儿童的年龄,还与客观标记的作用有关。     

Parental Exposure to Mass Violence and Child Mental Health: The First Responder and WTC Evacuee Study

Children’s reactions after being exposed to mass violence may be influenced by a spectrum of factors. Relatively unexplored is the extent to which family exposure to mass violence may affect child mental health, even when these children have not been directly exposed. In a representative sample of NYC public school children assessed 6 months after the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center (WTC), seemingly elevated rates of psychopathology were recorded among children of WTC evacuees. Children of NYC First Responders (police officers, EMTs, and fire fighters) displayed a complex pattern of response to the WTC attack. Overall, the findings from this previous study support putative transmission of trauma to children whose parents were exposed to the WTC attack. The “Children of First Responder and WTC Evacuee Study”—a two-site longitudinal study—is currently underway in the United States (New York City) and in Israel (Tel Aviv area) in an effort to understand the impact of different patterns of mass violence. The NYC sample permits us to examine the impact of a rare instance of mass violence (e.g., WTC attack), while the Israeli sample provides information about repeated and frequent exposure to mass violence brought about by acts of terrorism. In addition, children’s exposure to mass violence is considered in the context of their exposure to other potentially traumatic events. This study aims to improve our general understanding of the impact of mass violence on children, especially the psychological effects on children whose parents’ work experiences are by nature stressful. Knowledge generated by this study has implications for guiding efforts to meet the needs of children who have, directly or through a family member, been subjected to rare or infrequent mass violent event as well as to children whose exposure to mass violence is part of daily life.     

Activation of amygdaloid PKC pathway is necessary for conditioned cues-provoked cocaine memory performance

Drug-associated cues are critical in reinstating the drug taking behavior even during prolonged abstinence and thus are thought to be a key factor to induce drug craving and to cause relapse. Amygdaloid complex has been known for its physiological function in mediating emotional experience storage and emotional cues-regulated memory retrieval. This study was undertaken to examine the role of basolateral nuclei of amygdala and the intracellular signaling molecule in drug cues-elicited cocaine memory retrieval. Systemic anisomycin treatment prior to the retrieval test abolished the cues-provoked cocaine conditioned place preference (CPP) memory. Likewise, a similar blockade of cues-provoked cocaine CPP performance was achieved by infusion of anisomycin and cycloheximide into the basolateral nuclei of amygdala before the test. Intra-amygdaloid infusion of H89, a protein kinase A inhibitor, or U0126, a MEK inhibitor, did not affect retrieval of the cues-elicited cocaine CPP memory. In contrast, intra-amygdaloid infusion of NPC 15437, a PKC inhibitor, abolished the cues-elicited cocaine CPP expression, while left the memory per se intact. Intra-amygdaloid infusion of NPC 15437 did not seem to affect locomotor activity or exert observable aversive effect. Taken together, our results suggest that activation of PKC signaling pathway and probably downstream de novo protein synthesis in the basolateral nuclei of amygdala is required for the cues-elicited cocaine memory performance. However, temporary inhibition of this signaling pathway does not seem to affect cocaine CPP memory per se.     

Social cognitive predictors of college students’ academic performance and persistence: A meta-analytic path analysis

This study tested Social Cognitive Career Theory’s (SCCT) academic performance model using a two-stage approach that combined meta-analytic and structural equation modeling methodologies. Unbiased correlations obtained from a previously published meta-analysis [Robbins, S. B., Lauver, K., Le, H., Davis, D., & Langley, R. (2004). Do psychosocial and study skill factors predict college outcomes? A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 261–288.] were used to create the input correlation matrices for subsequent path-analytic tests of the model, using both college GPA and retention as performance criteria. Results suggested that SCCT does an adequate to excellent job of modeling academic performance and persistence, but that model fit was better when general cognitive ability versus high school GPA was used to operationalize the ability/past performance variable. Results are discussed in terms of their fit with SCCT and their practical implications.