Resetting the pitch-analysis system: 1. Effects of rise times of tones in noise backgrounds or of harmonics in a complex tone

The question of whether sudden increases in the amplitude of pure-tone components would perceptually isolate them from a more complex spectrum was investigated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, a 3.5-sec noise was played as a masker. During the noise, two pure-tone components of different frequencies appeared in succession. Subjects were asked to judge whether the pitch sequence went up or down. The rise time of these components had only a small and inconsistent effect on discrimination. In Experiment 2, the 3.5-sec background signal was a complex tone. The amplitudes of two of its components were incremented in succession. Again, subjects judged whether the pitch pattern went up or down. This time there was a sizable, monotonic effect of the rise time of the increments, with more rapid increments leading to better discrimination. The difference between the two results is interpreted in terms of the auditory system’s response to changing and unchanging signals and the role of its “sudden-change” responses in attracting perceptual processing to certain spectral regions.     

Conceptual memory for picture and prose episodes

In two experiments, subjects decided whether probes were true or false of one of some previously studied picture and prose episodes. The results indicated that response times to probes depicting explicit events were faster when they were in the same modality (picture or prose) as their episodes than when they were in the opposite modality, but response times to probes depicting implicit events were as fast when they were in the opposite modality as when they were in the same modality. These results suggest that the conceptual representations of picture and prose episodes are identical in form. The second experiment indicated that probes could be evaluated as fast from long as from short episodes. This result is consistent with the notion that retrieving information from episodes is done, not by scanning all the events of an episode, but by restricting the search only to the relevant slot in the schema into which the episode is assimilated.     

A comparison between the development of the appearance-reality distinction in the People's Republic of China and the United States

A study of the appearance-reality distinction in American 3- to 5-year-olds was replicated with Chinese 3- to 5-year-olds. The error patterns, age changes, and absolute levels of performance were similar in the two samples. It was speculated that the acquisition of this distinction may be a universal, possibly age-linked development that is probably fueled by experiences with appearance-reality discrepancies that are available in all cultures.     

The role of cosmetics in attributions about sexual harassment

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of cosmetics use on attributions concerning the likelihood of provoking sexual harassment and of being sexually harassed. Subjects were 85 female and 76 male undergraduate volunteers. The study was a 3×2 between-subjects design with three levels of cosmetics use (heavy, moderate, no cosmetics) and two levels of sex of subject (male, female). Each subject viewed one of three colored photographs of a model wearing either heavy, moderate, or no cosmetics, and then indicated how likely the model was to provoke sexual harassment and to be sexually harassed. Data were analyzed using analyses of variance and the Newman-Keuls test. When the model wore heavy cosmetics, she was rated as more likely to provoke sexual harassment than when she wore moderate cosmetics. Similarly, when the model wore moderate cosmetics, she was rated as significantly more likely to provoke sexual harassment than when she was not wearing cosmetics. When the model wore either heavy or moderate cosmetics, she was also rated as more likely to be sexually harassed than when she did not wear cosmetics. In addition, male subjects rated the model as more likely to provoke and to be sexually harassed than did female subjects. Results are discussed in terms of sex role spillover.     

China's importation of Western psychiatry: Cultural relativity and mental disorders

As one aspect of China's modernization, the importation of Western psychiatric ideas poses a mystery. How are such ideas integrated with traditional assumptions? The apparently wholesale adoption of Western psychiatric categories runs counter to the fact that the Chinese have been generally reluctant to define problems in highly individualized psychiatric terms. Our lack of knowledge as to how the Chinese and Western medical models interface raises questions about the cross-cultural applicability of psychiatric theory. Ironically, the very conceptual categories intended to facilitate professional discourse obscure cultural, political, and epistemological differences between Chinese and Western thought. This paper focuses on certain incongruities in psychiatric theory and practice in order to underscore many unresolved issues that still exist with respect to our cross-cultural understandings of ‘mental illness’. Insofar as the trend has been towards standardizing methodology, taxonomies have been generated without a corresponding development in textured comparison. Originating from Western theoretical frameworks, comparative analyses have been otherwise devoid of culture-specific knowledge. The goal of this paper is to show that these categorical assumptions are still premature, and that examining the meaning of current ‘rates of mental illness’ in China specifically raises more questions than it answers. Hopefully, this discussion will stimulate a renewed interest in ethnographic methods that would uncover locally-based understandings and thereby create the basis for a more sophisticated epidemiological comparison.     

平行斜线诱导的垂直错觉之规律及原因初探

此实验测定了20个大学生和青年工人的垂直错觉。错觉模式的诱导部分为一组平行斜线,测试部分为差不多互相垂直的竖直线和水平线。在平行斜线诱导下,被试产生了把测试部分看成垂直的错觉。错觉量的大小与诱导线的倾斜角度有关。把此错觉模式的诱导部分与测试部分分开,以实体镜观察时(一个眼各看一部分,两眼同时观察)则没有发生错觉,说明此错觉最初可能发生于视网膜上。此错觉可用侧抑制理论来解释。     

Invariance of the weight parameter in information integration

The relative effect of each informational dimension in an information integration task is a joint function of its weight and the range of values over which it is varied. A method is developed for separating these two factors. Weights obtained by this method were compared across variations of stimulus range. Subjects rated the performance of students on the basis of midterm exam scores and final exam scores. For some subjects, the range of scores on the final exam was twice that on the midterm and the reverse was true for other subjects. An averaging model was shown to describe the results, and weights did not differ for different stimulus ranges. This was true for each of two instructional conditions: one in which a particular weighting strategy was prescribed and one in which there was no prescribed weighting. Students who were instructed to use a 2∶1 weighting were found to assign more than twice as much weight to the final as to the midterm.     

动机性访谈：一种以咨客为中心的行为改变咨询技术

动机性访谈是目前在西方国家比较流行的一种以咨客为中心的行为改变咨询技术,但在我国关于这一技术的研究和应用都还比较少。本文概述了动机性访谈技术的理论基础、应用原则(表达神入;发展差异;接受阻抗;维持自我效能)和基本技能,并介绍了这一咨询技术的应用现状与研究方向。     

基层党政领导干部的人格特点与行为类型

本研究旨在系统研究基层党政领导干部的人格特点及其与行为风格的关系。采用中国人人格量表对1237名基层党政领导干部和419名对照组被试的人格特点所作比较表明,党政领导干部比对照组更外向、更善良、行事更严谨和自我克制、对人更热情,而且更注重成功和成就,但同时也更加爽直、更优柔寡断,对工作的坚定、认真程度也低于对照组,而且党政领导干部中女性化人数的比例远远高于对照组。党政领导干部的行为风格与人格特点之间也存在显著的相关。文中还对这一结果的含义及进一步研究的方向进行了讨论。     

社会生物学伦理观评介

威尔逊通过社会生物学的研究,指出动物的社会行为有其生物学的基础。他认为人类的利他主义伦理也同样有着生物学基础,从而提出了以生物行为科学解释伦理本质的伦理观。社会生物学伦理观,是一座联接伦理学与自然科学的桥梁。当今时代,进一步深入研究社会生物学伦理观,对于完善伦理学的科学基础,对于如何恰当地开展社会伦理教育都具有重要的意义。