The impact of self‐confidence on the compromise effect

This research reports an investigation into whether the personality aspect of self‐confidence affects the compromise effect. We hypothesize that highly self‐confident people have greater certainty in making decisions and are more attracted to risk‐taking, which makes them less likely to choose the safe or middle option in a large choice set. The three studies involved are conducted using between‐ and within‐subjects experimental designs. Various product categories are used to generalize the findings. Study 1 looks at purchasing decisions and utilizes three scales of self‐confidence, risk preference, and uncertainty; it demonstrates that consumers with high self‐confidence are less likely to choose a compromise option due to high certainty in their decision‐making. Study 2 discovers that people with low self‐confidence are more likely to choose the middle option in a risky condition than in a nonrisky condition. Study 3 decomposes self‐confidence into general and specific self‐confidence, and reveals that people with low general self‐confidence and low specific self‐confidence are more likely to choose the middle option.     

群体独特性对群际偏差的影响

群体独特性影响群体认同,较高或较低的群体独特性都可能引发群际偏差,分别称为“反射式独特性假说”与“反应式独特性假说”.调节作用研究揭示,在较低群体认同或上位群体分类凸显时,群体独特性越高越易引发群际偏差;而在较高群体认同时,独特性越低越易引发群际偏差.动机作用的研究表明,在具有群际竞争目标时,这两种过程分别受工具性动机与认同性动机的驱动.情绪与认知的中介作用研究显示,在低独特性条件下,社会身份复杂性与焦虑情绪可起中介作用引发群际偏差.     

The impact of the opinions of others on variety‐seeking behavior

One reason for consumer variety‐seeking behavior is interpersonal motivation. Building on previous theories, we suggest that the different information types of interpersonal sources influence the variety‐seeking behavior of individuals. Two laboratory experiments are conducted to examine the influence of the opinions of others on such behavior. The results support the author's contention that to derive more enjoyment from a shared product, an individual will make choices congruent with the opinions of others in online information. The managerial implications and study limitations are also discussed.     

Generalist genes and cognitive abilities in Chinese twins

This study considered how far nonverbal cognitive, language and reading abilities are affected by common genetic influences in a sample of 312 typically developing Chinese twin pairs aged from 3 to 11 years. Children were individually given tasks of Chinese word reading, receptive vocabulary, phonological memory, tone awareness, syllable and rhyme awareness, rapid automatized naming, morphological awareness and orthographic skills, and Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices. Factor analyses on the verbal tasks adjusted for age indicated two factors: Language as the first factor and Reading as the second factor. Univariate genetic analyses indicated that genetic influences were substantial for nonverbal cognitive ability and moderate for language and reading. Multivariate genetic analyses showed that nonverbal cognitive ability, language and reading were influenced by shared genetic origins, although there were specific genetic influences on verbal skills that were distinct from those on nonverbal cognitive ability. This study extends the Generalist Genes Hypothesis to Chinese language and reading skills, suggesting that the general effects of genes could be universal across languages.     

Living with Gratitude: Spouse’s Gratitude on One’s Depression

Research has shown that gratitude makes people happier (McCullough and Tsang in Psychol Gratitude, Oxford University Press, pp 123–141, 2004; Wood et al. in Clin Psychol Rev 30(7):890–905, 2010), healthier (McCullough et al. in J Pers Soc Psychol, 86(2):295–309, 2004), more considerate (Bartlett and DeSteno in Psychol Sci 17(4):319–325, 2006), and better evaluated (Gordon et al. in Pers Individ Differ 50(3):339–343, 2011), enabling more stable relationships (Algoe et al. in Pers Relationsh 17(2):217–233, 2010; Algoe et al. in Emotion 8(3):425–429, 2008; Lambert et al. in Psychol Sci 21(4):574–580, 2010). However, no study has extended research beyond individual persons to investigate the impact of one’s gratitude on the mental well-being of those who surround her or him. Thus, we tested this possibility and found in Study 1 that within marriage, husbands’ depositional gratitude negatively correlated with their wives’ depressive emotion. The results of Study 2 validated Study 1 by showing that a wife’s depression would be relatively palliated if her husband was assigned to express appreciation to her and not share daily hassles. While a causal relationship was demonstrated as hypothesized, a difference between genders also emerged. We discuss in particular the latter in terms of its mechanism, limitations, and practical implications for marriage.     

Kainic acid lesions disrupt fear-mediated memory processing

Previous research has shown that hippocampal lesions impair the expression of fear conditioning. This fear conditioning deficit may be due to memory impairment or a reduction in fear in lesioned animals. To address these possibilities, the authors examined unconditioned and conditioned fear in male Sprague-Dawley rats that had received intracerebroventricular (ICV) infusions of kainic acid (KA) 30 days prior to testing. Animals that had received bilateral ICV infusions of KA (1.0 microl of 0.8 mg/ml solution per side) exhibited cell loss that was primarily confined to the CA3 region of the dorsal hippocampus. Kainic acid lesions impaired contextual and cued fear conditioning but did not affect unconditioned fear in a light:dark test of anxiety. Moreover, animals with KA lesions did not habituate to the light:dark apparatus when tested over a 3-day period. These data suggest that decreases in fear conditioning produced by hippocampal lesions reflect a memory deficit and not a lack of fear.     

Is empathy associated with more prosocial behaviour? A meta-analysis

Empathy is an important prerequisite for prosocial behaviour (PB). However, different concepts and methodological tools have been used in research on the relationship between empathy and PB, leading to ambiguous results. This study used a meta-analysis to explore this relationship and to identify the moderating variables. After a literature search, 62 studies and 146 samples with 71,310 participants were included. Our random effects model revealed a positive correlation of PB with both cognitive empathy (r = .32) and affective empathy (r = .30). In addition, the relationship between empathy and PB is moderated by culture, publication type, education level, and empathy measures. Our conclusion is that there is a significant correlation between empathy and PB that is influenced by sample characteristics and methodological factors.     

血管平滑肌细胞——祸首还是福星

长期以来血管平滑肌细胞（ＶＳＭＣ）增殖被认为是动脉粥样硬化（ＡＳ）发生的绝对必要条件和介入性治疗后血管再狭窄（ＲＳ）的主要原因。许多搞ＲＳ的策略始终盯住抑制ＶＳＭＣ这一环节。然而这些方法在临床试验中很少邮到或基本没有益处。近来的临床和实验研究提示抑制ＶＳＭＣ可以导和脆弱的ＡＳ斑块不稳定而发生裂缝,破裂、血栓形成,引起心肌 死等急性冠状动脉症候群,因为ＶＳＭＣ合成释放的胶原等可以增加斑块的生物力学强     

增加卫生改革的伦理含金量——兼论卫生改革中的效率与公平

卫生改革需要有包括卫生改革伦理学理念在内的全方位改革理念的联手支撑。伦理含金量缺失或者不足,卫生改革实践就难以取得圆满成功。因此,目前展开的新一轮卫生改革,必须以“效率与公平合理兼顾”为核心准则,在完善政策、规划目标、组织实施等全过程中切实保证卫生改革伦理学理念准确到位和正常运作。