Loss context enhances preferences for generosity but reduces preferences for honesty: Evidence from a combined behavioural-computational approach

The current literature has revealed mixed evidence on whether loss (vs. gain) context promotes or curtails human prosociality. The current study (N=96) aimed to address this issue by examining whether gain/loss context has distinct effects on different prosocial preferences combining computational modelling with Dictator Game and Message Game. These interactive games allow for dissociating preferences for generosity and honesty, which have been respectively associated with intuitive and deliberative systems. Our behavioural and computational modelling results indicate that loss context enhances concerns for generosity but reduces concerns for honesty. These findings support an account under the framework of dual process model asserting that loss facilitates intuitive responses during social decision-making, regardless of whether they are prosocial or proself. The current findings reconcile previous debates on the relationship between loss-gain context and human prosociality and shed light on the design of institutions to promote human prosocial behaviours.     

Dogs’ ability to follow temporarily invisible moving objects: the ability to track and expect is shaped by experience

Animal Cognition - Visually tracking a moving object, even if it becomes temporarily invisible, is an important skill for animals living in complex environments. However, this ability has not been...     

Are older adults in Hong Kong “living in history” in their autobiographical memories?

Transition theory posits that autobiographical memories are organized by major life transitions, which is often supported by the Living-in-History effect that occurs when people frequently refer to public events to support their date estimates of personal events. In the present study, 52 Chinese older adults in Hong Kong recalled autobiographical events using cue-word method and justified the date estimates of the events. They also reported the most important events and assessed their impacts. Results showed that participants referred to public events only when estimating the date of 5.5% of word-cued events and reported a few public events as personally important, suggesting an absence of the Living-in-History effect. Nonetheless, word-cued events and important events accumulated around major life transitions to form a transition bump; the material change that important events brought about predicted whether the important events were used to organize autobiographical memory, thereby providing new evidence for the transition theory.     

Low-ball and compliance to a request: an application in a field setting

The low-ball refers to a compliance technique in which a demand of someone to agree to a request is followed by telling the person the real cost of the request. The number of people who maintain their first decision is larger than the number in the condition in which the real cost of the request is stated prior to the initial compliance. Researches in this paradigm traditionally included a request addressed by a professor to students but was never tested between strangers. So, an experiment was carried out in which people were solicited to keep a dog (8 kg) on a lead until a male confederate returned from a visit to someone in a hospital. In low-ball condition, the confederate told the subject who agreed to the request that it would take 30 min., whereas in the control condition the confederate gave this information when stating his request. Analysis showed that low-ball technique leads people to maintain their first decision.     

Touch,awareness of touch,and compliance with a request

In certain situations it has been shown that touch has a positive effect on the compliance with a request expressed by a stranger. However, the difference between the effect of touch on request compliance between people who had noticed and those who had not noticed this contact has never been taken into account. In this experiment a female confederate asked 227 women to answer a questionnaire. When asking for their collaboration the forearm was or was not touched for a brief period of 1 to 2 seconds. Analysis showed that touch was associated with significantly higher compliance to the request but no difference was found between subjects who had noticed the tactual contact and subjects who had not noticed.     

中国古代心理学思想中的注意问题

本文根据古代思想家的有关言论,探讨了他们的注意心理思想,即注意的慨念。特征,分心与分散,分配与集中,注意与感知、记忆、思维的关系,注意在学习中的作用。     

Neuropsychological findings of extrapontine myelinolysis without central pontine myelinolysis

Central pontine myelinolysis (CPM) and extrapontine myelinolysis (EPM) are well recognized syndromes related to the rapid correction of hyponatremia, which are reported to show brain stem signs and various movement disorders. Cognitive dysfunction and neuropsychological findings, however, have seldom been reported. Cognitive manifestations in osmotic myelinolysis may have been underestimated due to the prominent brain stem symptoms and movement disorders. We report a case of EPM without CPM and describe the neuropsychological findings of EPM. The absence of CPM in this case made it possible to test neuropsychological function in the acute stage. Neuropsychological testing showed severe impairment of attention, verbal and visual memory, visuospatial function, and frontal/executive function. Language and language-related functions were normal except naming.     

从《游叙弗伦》看苏格拉底的敬神

由苏格拉底之死而引发的苏格拉底敬神之探讨,迄今为止仍为许多研究者孜孜以求。文章试图以柏拉图这篇专门探讨敬神主题的对话《游叙弗伦》为切入点,来考察苏格拉底的敬神。前三节逐一分析该篇对话所探讨的关于敬神的三种定义:1.敬神即做神所做;2.凡神所喜即敬神;3.敬神即在于侍奉神。一则考察习俗敬神观的根据,以及游叙弗伦对这种敬神观的立场,二则从苏格拉底对游叙弗伦的回应来看苏格拉底对这种习俗敬神观的态度。最后一节试图考察苏格拉底自身的敬神态度,以及这种态度与其作为哲人的智慧之间的内在关联。     

上海市大学生网络成瘾调查报告

本调查使用大学生网络成瘾量表,调查了上海市八所高校近四千名大学生。调查结果显示:上海市大学生网络成瘾的发生率为12.9%,其中轻度者为9.12%,中度者为3.60%,重度者为0.18%。上海市大学生网络成瘾的发生率存在显著的性别、年级差异,但不存在文理科差异。