A Discussion on Governmental Research Grants

Governmental research grants are financially supported by taxpayers to meet financial requirements of research, particularly research that is unlikely to be supported by private funds. Researchers reward donors by producing knowledge. Publishing research results in an academic journal reflects achievement by researchers; however, receiving a grant award does not. The latter only provides the researcher with the capacity to perform his/her research. Applicants may receive more financial support than they actually need because there is no strict audit on the amount of money requested by each research proposal. There are fewer opportunities to apply for a governmental grant than there are for publishing an academic article, and the application process for governmental grants is not flexible. Some potentially innovative research may be impeded by the intense competition among scientific researchers applying for financial support. Researchers face stiffer competition at this stage than at the stage of publishing results. This paper suggests that scientific foundations can improve their efficiency by giving funding preference to economic proposals. Methods for estimating the efficiency of grants are proposed. The practice followed by the Small Grants for Exploratory Research programme of the National Science Foundation validates my analysis and recommendations.     

‘In Our Country it's Just Poor People who Ride a Bike’: Place,Displacement and Cycling in Australia

This study investigates relationships and characteristics of participation in cycling in Melbourne, Australia, as an expression of place and displacement among persons from culturally and linguistically diverse origins including Asia (i.e. Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Japan) and Arab Africa (i.e. Saudi Arabia, Eritrea and Sudan). Using a mixed‐method approach, results indicated that despite a significant number of migrants to Australia with origins in places where cycling is a common mode of transport and activity, a large number of newly arrived and marginalised migrants and refugees are less likely to engage in cycling. Cyclists' identity, citizenship, social‐economic marginalisation and residential geographic isolation significantly impacted on their cycling in Melbourne. Although cycling is considered accessible, environmentally friendly, healthy and functional, the results indicated that this view may only represent and be shared by selected citizens. In short, culturally and linguistically diverse participants identified cycling behaviour differently in Australia in comparison with cycling in their countries of origin. The results contribute to knowledge in highlighting the extent of displacement facing marginalised communities that evolves in everyday practices of local mobility. The study identified a number of paradoxes facing mainstream policy makers, researchers and cycling advocates who tend to take cycling participation for granted as non‐political and universal. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Male vocal competition is dynamic and strongly affected by social contexts in music frogs

Male–male vocal competition in anuran species is critical for mating success; however, it is also highly time-consuming, energetically demanding and likely to increase predation risks. Thus, we hypothesized that changes in the social context would cause male vocal competition to change in real time in order to minimize the costs and maximize the benefits of competition. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the effect of repeating playbacks of either white noise (WN) or male advertisement calls on male call production in the Emei music frog (Babina daunchina), a species in which males build mud-retuse burrows and call from within these nests. Previous studies have shown that calls produced from inside burrows are highly sexually attractive (HSA) to females while those produced outside nests are of low sexual attractiveness (LSA). Results showed that most subjects called responsively after the end of WN playbacks but before the onset of conspecific call stimuli although call numbers were similar, indicating that while males adjusted competitive patterns according to the biological significance of signals, their competitive motivation did not change. Furthermore, these data indicate that the frogs had evolved the ability of interval timing. Moreover, when the inter-stimulus interval (ISI) between playbacks was varied, the subjects preferentially competed with HSA calls when the ISI was short (<4 s) but responded equally to HSA and LSA calls if the ISI was long (≥4 s), suggesting that males allocate competitive efforts depending on both the perceived sexual attractiveness of rivals and the time available for calling. Notably, approximately two-thirds of male calls occurred in response to HSA calls, a preference rate comparable to that previously found for females in phonotaxis experiments and consistent with the idea that the mechanisms underlying both the male’s competitive responses to rivals and the female’s preferences toward potential mates coevolved under the same selective pressure.     

Effects of program‐advertisement congruity and advertisement emotional appeal on memory for health and safety advertisements

The aim of this study was to examine the memory for health and safety advertisements (HSAs) embedded within a congruent (documentary) or incongruent (sitcom) program. A total of 80 participants aged 16–25 years took part. Participants watched either a sitcom or a health‐related program with health and safety and “filler” advertisements. After they watched the 30 minute program, they were given free and cued recall measures as well as program evaluation. These showed that the free recall scores were generally better for HSAs than filler advertisements across both program types, while the cued recall and advertisement recognition scores were better for filler advertisements than HSAs. Memory scores revealed that the HSAs were better remembered than filler advertisements in an incongruent program environment. Health advertisements are better recalled in non‐health‐related programs. This supported the interference hypothesis.     

基于结构方程模型的有调节的中介效应分析

有调节的中介模型是中介过程受到调节变量影响的模型。指出了目前有调节的中介效应分析普遍存在的问题：当前有调节的中介效应检验大多使用多元线性回归分析,忽略了测量误差;而基于结构方程模型(SEM)的有调节的中介效应分析需要产生乘积指标,又会面临乘积指标生成和乘积项非正态分布的问题。在简介潜调节结构方程(LMS)方法后,建议使用LMS方法得到偏差校正的bootstrap置信区间来进行基于SEM的有调节的中介效应分析。总结出一个有调节的中介SEM分析流程,并有示例和相应的Mplus程序。文末展望了LMS和有调节的中介模型的发展方向。     

Parental Rearing Behaviors and Adolescent’s Social Trust: Roles of Adolescent Self-esteem and Class Justice Climate

Research on the antecedents and underlying mechanisms of the formation of adolescent social trust is scant. Family and school are two major environments in which adolescents become socialized. The current study examined the effect of parental rearing behaviors (rejection, emotional warmth and overprotection) on adolescent social trust, exploring the mediating role of adolescent self-esteem and the multilevel moderated role of the Level 2 variable class justice climate. The sample included 612 (12–16 years old) middle school students in China. Participants completed the s-EMBU, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, Rosenberg’s Faith in People Scale and the perceptions of class justice scale, along with other control variables. The results suggested that parental rearing behaviors significantly predicted adolescent social trust, regardless of adolescent gender or age. Additional mediation analysis suggested that parental rearing behaviors had both direct effects on adolescent social trust and indirect effects through adolescent self-esteem. Further multilevel structural equation modeling indicated that class justice climate moderated the effect of parental rejection on adolescent self-esteem. The findings suggest that family and school practice jointly shape adolescents’ social trust. How parents treat their children has a huge influence on the degree to which their children trust other people. In addition, perceived class justice could buffer the harmfulness of negative parental rearing behaviors.     

心理理论与社会互动方式对初中生社会善念发展的影响

为了探讨初中生社会善念的发展特点及相关影响因素,实验1采用卡通插图范式和SoMi范式,以628名7~9年级初中生为被试,考察不同心理理论类型初中生的社会善念的发展;实验2使用社会互动情境和SoMi范式,以360名7~9年级初中生为被试,考察社会互动方式与反馈类型对不同年级初中生社会善念的影响。结果发现:(1)初中生的社会善念不存在年级和性别差异,但7年级中高情感心理理论初中生的社会善念显著多于高认知心理理论初中生;(2)7年级初中生在积极反馈条件下的社会善念较多,而8年级初中生在消极反馈条件下较多,9年级初中生在这两种条件下则不存在显著差异;(3)在合作情境中,初中生在积极反馈下的社会善念更多,而在竞争情境中,初中生在消极反馈下的社会善念更多。研究说明初中生的社会善念具有跨年龄和跨性别的稳定性,并且会受到心理理论、社会互动方式及反馈类型的影响。     

农村儿童社会性发展问卷的编制

为考察农村儿童社会性发展的现状,本研究编制了农村儿童社会性发展问卷,并对2681名农村中小学生进行了调查。结果发现,农村儿童社会性发展包括社会道德、社会态度、社会情感、社会行为和社会交往等五个方面,部分维度存在显著的性别和年级差异,非留守儿童的社会态度和社会交往水平明显高于留守儿童。该问卷具有良好的信度和效度,可以作为评估农村中小学生社会性发展的有效工具。