Emotional and autonomic responses to visual traumatic stimuli

A fine-grain analysis of autonomic responses are presented with the purpose of extending the conclusions from a previously published paper (Christianson & Nilsson, 1984) on emotional and memorial responses to traumatic visual stimuli. Control subjects were presented with a series of 18 slides of neutral faces, whereas the experimental subjects were presented with six slides of horrible facial injuries in positions 7–12, interspersed between six slides of neutral faces in the beginning, and six slides of neutral faces at the end of the series. The time course of heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) during stimulus presentation was recorded. These data showed an initial pattern of increase in SC, but not in HR. This pattern was subsequently replaced by a combined increase in both SC and HR. The results are discrepant to previous work and are interpreted as effects of not informing the subjects about the gruesome slides to be presented.     

The role of age on reactivity and memory for emotional pictures

The purpose of this study was to investigate subjects' reactivity to emotional pictures and their recollection of these pictures, and to examine these two factors as they relate to age. Adolescents and young adults were shown emotionally arousing scenic pictures for long (4-s) and very brief (50-ms) durations. Recognition of the pictures and recall and recognition of words presented along with the pictures were assessed both immediately after the presentation and six weeks later. The results showed that very negative pictures are retained better than neutral or even positive pictures, and that very negative pictures reduce memory for associated information. It was also found that adolescents show a somewhat lower reactivity to very negative pictures and a higher degree of retention of these pictures than adults. The results are discussed in relation to (a) habituation effects, (b) strategies that subjects might develop to block emotional involvement, and (c) the notion that watching violence might serve as a powerful prime to socially undesirable behaviour.     

Personality organization defined by DMT and the Structural Interview

The psychoanalytic concept of Personality Organization (PO) may be operationalized by means of a Structural Interview as well as by means of psychological tests. The present study utilized the Structural Interview and a projective test called the Defence Mechanism Test (DMT) to operationalize the PO concept on a sample of 50 psychiatric inpatients. The reliability of the PO judgements were found to be acceptable for both the Structural Interview and the DMT. The validity, which was estimated as the correlation between the two methods, was also found to be substantial. The conclusion is that the concept of PO may be reliably operationalized for psychiatric patients and seems to have concurrent validity. Both the DMT and the Structural Interview may be used for differential diagnosis of PO.     

Evaluation of long term effects of phonemic awareness training in kinderarten: Illustrations of some methodological problems in evaluation research

The long-term effects of phonemic awareness training in kindergarten were evaluated by studying various aspects of reading, spelling, and oral phonological skills in school. In the kindergarten-part of the study 95 children divided into three experimental and two control groups took part. One year later 83 of them were identified and tested in school. The children who participated in the phonemic training program seemed to have benefited from it to some extent. At least they improved their scores on phonemic synthesis tests in school. Some children in the middle and high range of pretest performance seem to have avoided a risk for reading failure to a greater extent than the corresponding children in the control groups. It is suggested that phonemic training contributes to the development of accurate concepts of reading in the preschool child and makes the child less confused when confronted with formal reading instruction in school. Great variances, ceiling effects, and group heterogeneity created many difficulties in evaluating the training effects. The various methodological problems implied in evaluation research with nonequivalent control group design were analysed and illustrated with data from the present research.     

Can phonemic awareness be trained in kindergarten?

The effect of a training program designed to develop phonemic awareness skills in kindergarten was assessed in a study involving three experimental groups and two control groups. The degree of structure imposed upon the program was varied in the experimental groups. One control group was trained in non-verbal auditory discrimination, and the second control group followed the ordinary preschool program during the 6–8 week observational period. A clear improvement in the ability to segment and blend three-phoneme words was observed in the highly structured training cohdition, especially among the children with poor pre-test performance, while no clear changes from pre- to post-test were found in the other groups. It was concluded that phonemic awareness can be developed in prereaders outside the context of formal reading instruction.     

内隐关系评估程序(IRAP)：测量原理及应用

内隐关系评估程序(Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure, 简称IRAP)是基于关系结构理论直接测量社会认知、信念或态度的新内隐测量方法, 具备一定的可靠性和有效性, 并与其它相关测量方法的适用性存在一定差异。不同的理论模型为IRAP的不同效应提供了解释。IRAP最初应用于临床诊断性研究, 新近已扩展到自我、社会认知、群体和态度等研究领域。进一步验证不同形式IRAP的信效度、探究IRAP的心理机制及产生的心理效应、在不同领域发挥IRAP的方法优势等将是未来研究的重要方向。     

EMPLOYEE SELF-SERVICE TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE: A COMPARISON OF PRE-IMPLEMENTATION AND POST-IMPLEMENTATION RELATIONSHIPS

Implementation of employee self-service (ESS) technology presents a variety of challenges for organizations as they strive to maximize return on investment and change management. Using a research framework grounded in the theory of planned behavior, this study examines factors that enhance user acceptance of ESS technology both before and after implementation. Results suggest that employees are more likely to intend to use ESS technology when they have positive attitudes toward using it and when subjective norms in the organization support use of the technology. Perceived organizational support (POS) enhanced the effect of managerial pressure on perceptions of normative beliefs supporting use of the technology post-implementation. Implications of the research and future research directions are discussed.     

流动儿童的问题行为与人格、家庭功能的关系

以北京市806名流动儿童和319名城市儿童为被试,采用问题行为问卷、小五人格问卷和家庭功能问卷,考察流动儿童问题行为的特点及其与城市儿童的差异,并探讨人格和家庭功能对流动儿童问题行为的影响。结果发现:(1)流动儿童内、外化问题行为的自我报告率分别达到了31.0%2、0.1%,与城市儿童相比,流动儿童的内化问题行为较为突出。(2)人格的情绪性、开放性显著正向预测流动儿童的内化问题题行为,外向性、家庭功能的亲密度显著负向预测其内化问题行为,情绪性、开放性显著正向预测流动儿童的外化问题行为,宜人性、谨慎性、亲密度显著负向预测外化问题行为。(3)人格在家庭功能的亲密度与内化问题行为之间起部分中介作用,在亲密度与外化问题行为之间起完全中介作用。     

《乾卦》爻辞中星宿信息钩沉

先贤用天象来解释乾卦六龙,但由于未涉及具体的星宿证据,不能断定乾卦爻辞只能来自与苍龙有关的天象。本文发现乾卦爻辞中按天象出现的先后顺序,除了容易被泛哲理化解释的“龙”之外,还隐含着五个星宿信息,即天田、健闭、天渊、鱼、天渊,因此可断言这些爻辞的原型来自天象。