Modern Chinese psychology: Its indigenous roots and international influences

Psychological thinking in China originated 2000 years ago when Chinese philosophers debated about the goodness and evilness of human nature. In the 16th and 17th centuries the Jesuit missionaries introduced the Catholic scholastic psychology into China. Modern Chinese psychology was mainly introduced from Germany, America, and Japan in the early 20th century. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Chinese psychology tried to stage a reform by taking the psychology of the Soviet Union as its model. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) psychology was abandoned due to its Western roots. In the late 1970s psychology was rehabilitated and new fields were opened up for study. Currently, Chinese psychology is adopting a multi‐dimensional approach to meet the demands of China's modernization movement.     

十斋日补说

对十斋日的来源及地藏菩萨十斋日,法国学者苏远鸣与中国学者张总、王承文等已进行了卓有成效的研究,但他们于佛教对十斋日的具体接受过程还缺乏深入的考察。本文就此提出补说。认为:佛教徒对十斋日的态度经过了由拒斥到吸收的过程;在统治者推行十斋日,以及民众修习实践的压力下,十斋日在盛唐、至少是中唐时期已进入佛教经典,至少在中唐时期已被信奉者归之于佛教;佛教徒对十斋日的改造使其反而取代了道教十斋日,在民众信仰生活中占据了主导地位;而目前将敦煌遗书中的十斋日统称为《地藏菩萨十斋日》是不恰当的,后者乃《地藏菩萨本愿经》吸收十斋日所产生的结果,而它的称谓,似也应以写本中用得较多的《地藏菩萨经十斋日》为准。     

Bridging the Gap: How Supervisors’ Perceptions of Guanxi HRM Practices Influence Subordinates’ Work Engagement

This study aims to provide new insights into the relationship between supervisors' perceptions of guanxi human resource management (HRM) practices and their subordinates' work engagement. We used a three time‐lagged sample from 45 work groups and 205 employees in a state‐owned organisation (Study 1) and cross‐sectional data from 101 work groups and 413 employees in 101 different organisations (Study 2) to test our hypotheses. The results revealed that supervisors' perceptions of guanxi HRM practices were positively related to subordinates' perceptions of guanxi HRM practices, which, in turn, negatively affected subordinates' work engagement. This indirect effect was stronger when group power distance was low or when individual power distance orientation was low.     

Children's use of inanimate transitional objects in coping with hassles.

This study examined children's use of inanimate transitional objects when coping with daily hassles. Mothers of 50 preschoolers rated their children on frequency of hassles, intensity of reaction to daily hassles, coping effectiveness, and frequency of object use. No significant differences were found between those children with an inanimate transitional object and those without such an object. Among those children with an object, a significant object effect on frequency of hassles (p less than .05) and a significant object effect on coping effectiveness were found. A significant age effect was also found, indicating that older children used their inanimate transitional objects more often than younger children. Among those children with an inanimate transitional object, significant positive relationships were found between frequency of hassles, intensity of reaction to hassles, coping effectiveness, and frequency of object use. The results indicated that children who used their thumb as an inanimate transitional object experienced fewer hassles than children who used a soft object. The results also suggested that an increase in the number of hassles experienced was related to more intense reactions to hassles, less effective coping, and an increase in object use. The nature of the object and the developmental issue of separation-individuation are considered as well.     

基诺族左右利手分布的再调查

1981年,全国利手研究协作组对基诺族的左右利手分布作了首次调查。这次调查的结果是,基诺族全部是强右利手。这是一个非常特殊的结论。为此,一九八九年我们对基诺族的左右利手分布又作了一次调查。调查发现,基诺族并不都是强右利手,他们当中既有一般的右利手,也有混合利手,还有左利手,甚至有1.79％的强左利手。基诺族的左利率高于汉族,但与其他少数民族接近。基诺族的左利率偏高占其传统文化有关。全国利手研究协作组的调查结果应该修正。     

Factors Influencing the Development of Psychology in China

The factors that have influenced the development of Chinese psychology are identified as: politics and ideologies, economic development, traditional culture, higher education, and human resources. This article focuses on the dynamics of the development of psychology as a discipline. Consideration is given to the process by which the discipline is facilitated or impeded in its development. Special emphasis is on those characteristics that are specifically relevant to the development of psychology in the Chinese social environment.     

Changes in Reporting of Suicide News After the Promotion of the WHO Media Recommendations

Media recommendations on suicide reporting are available in many countries and in different languages. Hong Kong newspapers have been found to be noncompliant with WHO recommendations. A booklet containing WHO media guidelines Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, and an awareness campaign were launched in November 2004 in Hong Kong. Content analysis was then conducted to compare the reporting of suicide news before and after the launch. Results indicate that certain reporting styles were changed in accordance with the recommendations; namely, lessened use of pictorial presentations and headlines mentioning suicides. Most of the changes were attributed to the tabloid‐style newspapers. This study suggests that programs to promote media recommendations tailored for journalists appear to be efficacious in altering their way of reporting.     

Mindfulness training for loneliness among Chinese college students: A pilot randomized controlled trial

Loneliness has been found to predict a wide range of physical and mental health problems. It is suggested that China's One‐Child Policy places young Chinese people at a particularly high risk for loneliness. Although loneliness is most prevalent in late adolescence and early adulthood, interventions have primarily targeted children or older adults with limited success. The current study examines a pilot randomized controlled trial of a mindfulness training program among Chinese college students. Participants with elevated loneliness (N = 50, ages 17–25) were randomized into either an 8‐week mindfulness training or a control group. Self‐reported measures of loneliness and mindfulness were administered at baseline and posttest. The training group also completed a program evaluation form and a 3‐month follow‐up assessment. Results provided preliminary evidence indicating that the intervention was feasible and effective at reducing loneliness among Chinese college students. Limitations and future directions were discussed.     

Speaking a tone language enhances musical pitch perception in 3–5‐year‐olds

Young children learn multiple cognitive skills concurrently (e.g., language and music). Evidence is limited as to whether and how learning in one domain affects that in another during early development. Here we assessed whether exposure to a tone language benefits musical pitch processing among 3–5‐year‐old children. More specifically, we compared the pitch perception of Chinese children who spoke a tone language (i.e., Mandarin) with English‐speaking American children. We found that Mandarin‐speaking children were more advanced at pitch processing than English‐speaking children but both groups performed similarly on a control music task (timbre discrimination). The findings support the Pitch Generalization Hypothesis that tone languages drive attention to pitch in nonlinguistic contexts, and suggest that language learning benefits aspects of music perception in early development. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/UY0kpGpPNA0