Acute pain in a clinical setting: Effects of cognitive-behavioural skills training

The present study evaluated the efficacy of cognitive-behavioural skills training, patterned after stress-inoculation training, as a preventive intervention for the attenuation of acute clinical pain during a noxious X-ray procedure—the knee arthrogram. Thirty-six adult male outpatients were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Skills Training. Attention-Placebo, and No-Treatment Control. An experimental pain test was administered before and after the interventions, as a generalization measure. Arthrogram pain was assessed by three dependent measures: patient's ratings, radiologist's ratings and videotape ratings completed by two‘blind’ raters. The results failed to support the efficacy of skills training for the attenuation of acute clinical pain, or its generalization to the experimental pain test. Although Skills Training subjects reported using significantly more coping strategies during the arthrogram. many subjects in the two control groups also reported using their own spontaneous strategies. Equivocal data were obtained on the role of ‘self-efficacy’ expectancies in mediating pain behaviour and experience. Experimental pain threshold but not pain tolerance was significantly related to acute clinical pain experienced during the arthrogram.     

Bemerkungen zum Grundlagenstreit in Logik und Mathematik

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Effects of training in rapid decoding on the reading comprehension of adult ESL learners

We report an experimental investigation of the effects on comprehension of increasing the decoding speed of three adult learners of English as a Second Language (ESL). Participants were taught to read lists of 25 difficult words in isolation until they could read the entire list at a mean rate of not more than 1.5 secs per word. They were then asked to read passages containing these words. Decoding speed and accuracy measures, for both the word lists and passages, and passage comprehension measures, were obtained. In a temporally contiguous within-subjects repeated trials reversal design, decoding training on isolated words was shown to be associated with significant increases in decoding speed and accuracy both in isolation and context, and improvements in the participants' comprehension. With all participants rate and accuracy gains in context were maintained in the final reversal phase, though the comprehension score gains did not. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for a decoding sufficiency hypothesis.     

Age and sex differences in health habits and beliefs of schoolchildren

All children in Grades 3 through 12 of one school system completed a survey about health habits and beliefs including smoking and eating habits, perceptions of exercise, weight, and parental involvement in health. The surveys were factor-analyzed within grade and sex, and the overall factors that emerged were Smoking Habits, Family Discussion of Health, Family Thinking About Health, Nutritional Habits, and Health Locus of Control. Analysis of variance of each factor revealed that girls generally reported healthier food habits than did boys. However, girls reported more smoking and less exercise. There are also changes in habits and belief with age; junior high school is a particularly important time for the development of several habits. The findings are discussed in relation to theories of child development and the implications for the content and timing of future health education intervention programs with children.     

Evaluating the filial behaviour scale across three cultural groups using exploratory structural equation modelling

Filial piety is a Confucian concept that guides how children treat and take care of their parents. The Filial Behaviour Scale (FBS) is a 25-item instrument developed in the Chinese context measuring behavioural manifestations of filial piety. Although the components of filial piety have been found to be relevant across cultures, little research has investigated the psychometric properties of the FBS in other cultural contexts. The present study evaluated the factor structure, internal consistency, measurement invariance and construct validity of the FBS across three cultural groups: the United States, Italy and Malaysia. Participants were 1090 emerging adults (67% females; M_age = 21.29 years, SD = 1.97; White Americans: n = 455, White Italians: n = 428, Malays: n = 328). A two-factor structure emerged across groups: Obedience/Obligation (behaviours showing obedience and obligation towards parents) and Relationship (behaviours expressing affection and promoting positive parent–child relationships). The two factors demonstrated adequate internal consistency, full configural, partial metric and partial scalar invariance, as well as unique associations with depressive symptoms and parent–child relationships across groups. These findings yielded a more nuanced understanding of filial behaviour and supported the utility of a two-factor FBS among emerging adults in various cultural contexts.     

Adolescents’ Change in Motivation as a Result of Buddhist Education: How Does It Make a Difference in Their Learning Outcomes?

Motivation significantly influences students’ learning outcomes. Changing their learning motivation improves their performance. This study used an exploratory sequential mixed methods approach, with the participation of 140 adolescents attending retreats at three Zen monasteries belonging to the Truc Lam (Bamboo Forest) Zen sect, to examine how they changed their motivation, what made them change, and how the change improved their learning outcomes. The study also evaluated the effect of gender and age on changes in motivation. The results indicated that many teenagers had changed from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation thanks to Dharma lessons, teacher support, and leisure activities. Compared to students who maintained their extrinsic motivation unchanged, they had better learning outcomes. Age, but not gender, had a considerable effect on changes in teenagers’ motivation. These findings provide more evidence for extending Buddhist education and conducting further research on young Buddhist learners’ motivation in various contexts.     

Cultural group norms for harmony explain the puzzling negative association between objective status and system justification in Asia

Why do poorer and less educated Asians trust their institutions of governance more than their richer and well educated counterparts, despite their disadvantaged position within society? System justification theory (SJT) assumes that this trust is driven by a system-level motivation that operates independently from social identity needs. In two nationally representative surveys spanning several years (N_total = 221,297), we compared SJT's explanation with a newer social identity model of system attitudes (SIMSA): that system justification amongst disadvantaged Asians is driven by a group norm for harmony, especially amongst those who are strongly invested in their national ingroup. The results supported SIMSA more than SJT. Specifically, a strong sense of national identification boosted trust in systems of governance amongst poorer and less-educated Asians, both when societal norms for harmony (Study 1), and personal endorsement of this norm (Study 2) were strong. Hence, social identity needs help to explain stronger system justification among objectively disadvantaged Asians.     

累积情境风险与职业女性自杀意念的关系：有中介的调节模型*

采用自编基本情况问卷、紧张性生活事件评定量表、社会支持评定量表、工作家庭冲突量表、坚韧性人格量表、心理痛楚量表和Beck自杀意念量表中文版对广东、河南、天津、北京等地的1092名职业女性进行调查,建立有中介的调节模型,考察坚韧性人格对累积情境风险与职业女性自杀意念关系的调节效应,以及心理痛楚在该调节模型中的中介效应。结果表明：（1）累积情境风险可正向预测职业女性的自杀意念;（2）坚韧性人格对累积情境风险和职业女性自杀意念之间的关系具有调节效应;（3）该调节效应以心理痛楚为完全中介,即,心理痛楚是坚韧性人格调节累积情境风险和职业女性自杀意念关系的中介变量。     

从《阿含经》看释迦牟尼的商业思想

<阿含经>为原始佛教、部派佛教所公认的根本佛法,其中包含了大量释迦对商人的说法,从中可看出释迦商业思想的主要特点是以因缘果报为中心,既重视经济发达,又提倡超越财利;既崇尚积累财富,又要勤俭节用;虽提倡自己勤俭又号召不吝惜地布施众生、慈悲利他.     

不同感觉通道词汇影响聋生汉字加工的实验研究

本研究为考察聋生在接受不同感觉通道词汇时的汉字加工特点和听觉编码所起的作用,采用听觉词汇、视觉词汇和其他感觉词汇等三类词汇为实验材料,对手语聋生组、口语聋生组以及大学生进行了新旧词汇判断、包含与排除两个实验。实验表明,聋生在汉字加工中不仅使用视觉编码,而且无意识地、自动地使用了听觉编码,这在内隐测验中可表现出来。由此可推断,聋生汉字加工困难的原因在于有意识地使用听觉编码的能力较低。