Control deprivation and styles of thinking

Westerners habitually think in analytical ways, whereas East Asians tend to favor holistic styles of thinking. We replicated this difference but showed that it disappeared after control deprivation (Experiment 1). Brief experiences of control deprivation, which stimulate increased desire for control, caused Chinese participants to shift toward Western-style analytical thinking in multiple ways (Experiments 2-5). Western Caucasian participants also increased their use of analytical thinking after control deprivation (Experiment 6). Manipulations that required Chinese participants to think in Western, analytical ways caused their sense of personal control to increase (Experiments 7-9). Prolonged experiences of control deprivation, which past work suggested foster an attitude more akin to learned helplessness than striving for control, had the opposite effect of causing Chinese participants to shift back toward a strongly holistic style of thinking (Experiments 10-12). Taken together, the results support the reality of cultural differences in cognition but also the cross-cultural similarity of using analytical thinking when seeking to enhance personal control.     

Trichotomous goals of elementary school students learning English as a foreign language: a structural equation model

This study applied structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques to define the relations among trichotomous goals (mastery goals, performance-approach goals, and performance-avoidance goals), self-efficacy, use of metacognitive self-regulation strategies, positive belief in seeking help, and help-avoidance behavior. Elementary school students (N = 105), who were learning English as a foreign language, were surveyed using five self-report scales. The structural equation model showed that self-efficacy led to the adoption of mastery goals but discouraged the adoption of performance-approach goals and performance-avoidance goals. Furthermore, mastery goals increased the use of metacognitive self-regulation strategies, whereas performance-approach goals and performance-avoidance goals reduced their use. Mastery goals encouraged positive belief in help-seeking, but performance-avoidance goals decreased such belief. Finally, performance-avoidance goals directly led to help-avoidance behavior, whereas positive belief assumed a critical role in reducing help-avoidance. The established structural equation model illuminated the potential causal relations among these variables for the young learners in this study.     

A Longitudinal Examination of Serious Adolescent Offenders’ Perceptions of Chances for Success and Engagement in Behaviors Accomplishing Goals

We examined antisocial adolescents’ perceptions of the importance of and their ability to accomplish positive life outcomes (e.g., employment) and avoid negative ones (e.g., arrests) during their transition from adolescence to young adulthood. Participants were 1,354 adolescents from the Pathways to Desistance project, a multisite longitudinal study of seriously antisocial adolescents. Participants’ perceptions of the importance and likelihood of accomplishing positive adult goals at one age uniquely predicted how often they engaged in behaviors that were consistent with these goals the following year. Our findings suggest that among serious adolescent offenders aspirations to achieve positive goals are related to engaging in behaviors that bring adolescents’ current selves more in line with their aspired-to future selves. We discuss the implications of these findings for prevention and intervention efforts.     

Social presence and service satisfaction: The moderating role of cultural value‐orientation

Two studies examine the role of the cultural value orientation, self‐construal, as a moderator of the relationship between social presence and service satisfaction. Cross‐cultural data are collected in China and the USA to maximize variation on self‐construal. Results suggest that social presence effects vary depending on the consumer's independent self‐construal. Regardless of whether the service encounter is positive or negative, social presence increases the strength of satisfaction or dissatisfaction for low independents but not for high independents. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

重复知盲效应产生的机制——来自汉语叠词加工的证据

以汉语中的叠词为实验材料,对重复知盲产生机制的类型标记个体化理论和建构理论进行检验。采用RSVP研究范式,在两个实验中让178名被试口头报告列表中出现的所有汉字（全部报告）或列表中最后两个字（部分报告）。结果发现：（1）在呈现速率为128ms和198ms时,完全重复的汉字在全部报告和部分报告任务中均存在RB效应,但在部分报告任务下出现的RB相比全部报告任务的减少了,符合建构理论的假设。（2）在全部报告条件下,不仅重复刺激的正确报告率会降低,而且与重复刺激相关的非重复刺激的正确报告率也会降低。研究表明建构理论比类型标记个体化理论更能解释RB效应的产生机制。     

Emotions and suicidal ideation among depressed women with childhood sexual abuse histories

Depressed women with sexual abuse histories have a heightened risk of suicidal ideation (SI), which may be only in part attributable to psychiatric symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Emotions and SI were studied among 106 women with histories of childhood sexual abuse enrolled in treatment trials for major depression. Assessments were conducted at baseline, 10, 24, and 36 weeks. Sadness, guilt, and shame-proneness were associated with self-reported and observer-rated SI across time after adjusting for depressive and PTSD symptoms, suicide attempt history, and sociodemographic characteristics associated with SI. These findings highlight the need for clinical attention to self-directed negative emotions to potentially reduce suicide-related risk.     

Semantic priming from crowded words

Vision in a cluttered scene is extremely inefficient. This damaging effect of clutter, known as crowding, affects many aspects of visual processing (e.g., reading speed). We examined observers' processing of crowded targets in a lexical decision task, using single-character Chinese words that are compact but carry semantic meaning. Despite being unrecognizable and indistinguishable from matched nonwords, crowded prime words still generated robust semantic-priming effects on lexical decisions for test words presented in isolation. Indeed, the semantic-priming effect of crowded primes was similar to that of uncrowded primes. These findings show that the meanings of words survive crowding even when the identities of the words do not, suggesting that crowding does not prevent semantic activation, a process that may have evolved in the context of a cluttered visual environment.     

哲学的“中道”与思想风险的规避

<正>一、哲学的"两面性"及其思想风险哲学作为人类思想文化的重要"扇面",包含着对于美好事物的执着而高远的憧憬和追求,于是,以哲学为志业的哲学家们自然会把自身对美好事物的憧憬和追求对象化和投射到哲学上,认为哲学具有毋需反思的美好甚至"神圣"的价值和品格。这种对哲学的自我理解无疑有其深刻的历史与现实根据。然而,当人们沉浸在对哲学的自我陶醉之中时,往往容易遗忘哲学的另一面,那就是它所蕴含的思想风险以及为此所应承担的重大思想责任。自觉地反思哲学的思想风险及其思想责任,对于深化哲学的自我理解、提升哲学的自觉意识具有十分特殊的意义。     

喻嘉言佛医思想初探

喻嘉言是清初三大名医之一，但他早年习儒，后又出家为僧，继又脱离僧团，四处云游，行医济世。在此之中，喻氏在继承中国医学传统的同时，坚持奉守佛门理论与戒律，留下了多本医学著作，形成了独具特色的佛医理论，付诸实践，活人不少，得到佳誉。喻氏的佛医思想一是对阴病诊治的突出。二是结合佛门明心见性之观念，而注重对病家的精神调养。三是以佛门素食原则为本的饮食和药饵之治则。四是对行医者的选定与仿佛门戒律的医门戒律的阐述。     

一段不寻常的岁月

在我写作五台山现代僧侣系列的时候，我又一次迈入寺庙山门，与僧家去作坦诚的交流。所到之处，都为他们恬淡平和的心态与慈悲为怀的胸襟所折服。在文殊祖庭殊像寺，75岁高龄的圣忠和尚侃佩而谈，我跟着这位爱国爱教的“革命和尚”走进了一段不寻常的岁月。