The effect of superstitious thinking on psychosocial stress responses and perceived task performance

Previous research on superstitious belief, a subset of paranormal belief (Irwin, 1993 ), has suggested that people tend to invoke luck‐related superstitions in stressful situations as an attempt to gain an illusion of control over outcomes. Based on this, the current study examined whether luck‐related superstition, in the form of a “lucky” pen, could influence the psychological response to a psychosocial stressor. Participants (N = 114), aged between 17 and 59 years (M = 22.98, SD = 4.57) from James Cook University Singapore, were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: (a) no‐stress with no lucky pen; (b) no‐stress with a lucky pen; (c) stress with no lucky pen or; (d) stress with a lucky pen. The results revealed that participants provided with a lucky pen experienced lower state anxiety when exposed to the stressor. Further, participants provided with a lucky pen perceived their performance to be better than those without it. However, superstitious belief did not significantly change following exposure to stress. Taken together, the present findings add some support to the suggestion that belief in transferable luck may facilitate coping with a stressor. However, further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms behind the potential benefits of superstitious belief.     

工作家庭间跨界增益:逻辑主线与模型

已有工作家庭界面研究主要立足于冲突视角,近年来部分研究开始从积极视角揭示工作家庭关系的本质。工作家庭增益强调角色资源的跨界渗溢有助提升个体另一角色表现和生活品质的程度。工作家庭资源会增强个体心理资源,进而影响体验工作家庭间的跨界增益,资源的累积循环与工作家庭增益互为持续保障,跨界增益的程度受到工作家庭边界特征的调节影响。论证和提出了"角色资源累积-个体心理因素改变-跨界增益-角色评价与投入"的逻辑主线,以此构建工作家庭间角色资源跨界增益模型。     

A Rasch Measure of Fostering Creativity

A general creativity questionnaire of 21 stem-items was designed and based on 7 teaching aspects of fostering creativity in higher education students: (a) teaching the skills and attitudes of creativity; (b) teaching the creative methods of the disciplines; (c) developing a problem-friendly classroom; (d) using prior knowledge; (e) using different types of problems; (f) using multi-disciplinary hands-on projects; and (g) using appropriate lesson plans. Stem-items (21) based on these were conceptualized from easy to hard—3 stem-items for each of the 7 aspects—and answered in 2 perspectives: (a) an attitude self-view (ideally this is what I think I should do) and (b) a behavior self-view (this is what I actually do)—using 3 ordered response categories: none or some of the time (score 1), most of the time (score 2), and all of the time (score 3). This meant that the effective item sample was 42. The general questionnaire was applied to a lecturer sample from a higher institution, N = 124. Data were analyzed with a Rasch measurement model computer program. The item-trait interaction chi-square was not statistically significant (χ² = 87.6, df = 84, p = 0.37), meaning that a unidimensional trait (called fostering creativity) was measured in which the 42 items each fitted the measurement model with p > 0.02. The Person Separation Index was 0.78 and the Cronbach Alpha was 0.79 showing that the measures were well-separated along the scale in comparison to the errors.     

Hydrogen-induced cold cracking in heat-affected zone of low-carbon high-strength steel

The Y-groove cracking test by submerged arc welding was employed to study the susceptibility of a low-carbon high-strength steel to hydrogen-induced cold cracking (HICC). The morphology of hydrogen cracks was observed using an electron probe microscope. The results showed that the heat-affected zone (HAZ) has a higher susceptibility to HICC than the weld metal and that increasing heat input can improve the HICC resistance of the weldment. The intergranular microcracking is the main HICC mode at the lowest heat input condition, accompanied with some transgranular microcracks attached to complex inclusions. In combination with phase transformation behaviour in sub-zones, the effect of the phase transformation sequence is proposed to try to illustrate the fact that the fine-grained HAZ has higher probability of hydrogen cracking than the coarse-grained HAZ owing to the occurrence of hydrogen enrichment in the fine-grained HAZ after the transformation.     

我国研究生心理健康研究述评

研究生心理健康目前已逐渐引起人们的关注。本文以近年来我国有关研究生心理健康的研究为依据。对我国研究生心理健康的研究进行了总结与分析，提出了目前研究生心理健康研究的特点与问题，并提出未来研究发展的建议，以期加快我国研究生心理健康的研究步伐。     

Klaus Holzkamp and the rise and decline of German critical psychology

The history of German Critical Psychology focuses on the works of its most significant representative, Klaus Holzkamp (1927-1995), and reconstructs the development of his ideas, critiques, and results. For historical-systematic reasons his work is divided into a precritical period (until 1968), a critical-emancipatory period (1968-1972), a critical-conceptual period (1973-1983), and a subject-scientific period (1984-1995). Social movements and internal problems of traditional psychology are identified as factors in the rise of his psychology, whereas the decline of Critical Psychology in the 1980s and 1990s is attributed to social development, limitations of a systematic-foundational framework, and the emergence of alternative critical approaches. Despite these problems the article shows that Holzkamp is an eminent theoretical psychologist who has made significant contributions to psychological knowledge.     

Validation of a Chinese Version of the Psychological Sense of School Membership (C-PSSM): Tests of Measurement Invariance and Latent Mean Differences

This study examined the factorial structure of the Chinese version psychological sense of school membership scale (C-PSSM) (Cheung and Hui Asia Pacific Education Review, 4(1), 67–74, 2003). Five hundred and thirty-four university students from Hong Kong completed an 18-item C-PSSM and data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. In addition, tests of measurement invariance and latent mean differences were performed. From the results of the CFA, two items were deleted and a 3-factor, 16-item C-PSSM model was found to have an acceptable fit, with acceptable level of internal consistency for each factor and the overall scale. Measurement invariance (configural, metric, and partial scalar) of the 16-item C-PSSM was supported and the tests of latent mean differences revealed no statistical significance in factor score differences between male and female participants in this study. Overall, this study contributed to the literature by generating new insights on to the psychological sense of school membership through validating the C-PSSM on a sample from a culture and age group different from those reported in the current literature.     

Children's Understanding of the Instrumental Value of Products and Brands

Gelman and Echelbarger (2019—this issue) provide a valuable discussion about children's understanding of the inferred or nonobvious features of objects, which has implications for how children value products. We further this conversation by examining how children value products and brands as a means for meeting important goals, which we refer to as instrumental valuation. Specifically, we examine developmental trends in instrumental valuation for three goals—self‐concept development, self‐presentation, and happiness. Across these areas, we find that children place greater value on products and brands for meeting these goals as they grow older, particularly during late childhood and early adolescence. We conclude with a discussion of how age differences in instrumental valuation add to the general conversation about how children of different ages value objects.     

Child Characteristics,Parent Education and Depressive Symptoms,and Marital Conflict Predicting Trajectories of Parenting Behavior from Childhood Through Early Adolescence in Taiwan

The study examined how child and parent characteristics, and contextual sources of stress, such as marital conflict predict initial status and trajectories of parent involvement, support, and harsh control, over a 4‐year period in families in Taiwan (n = 4,754). Based on Belsky's (1984) ecological model of parenting, three domains predicting parenting were tested, child characteristics (age cohort and gender), father and mother characteristics (education and depressive symptoms), and contextual sources of stress (marital conflict). The study followed two cohorts of children; the younger cohort was followed from first to fourth grade and the older cohort from fourth to seventh grade. Initially, fourth graders reported more parental involvement, support, and harsh control than first graders. However, involvement, support, and harsh control decreased across the 4 years for the older cohort as they transitioned to early adolescence. In the first year, girls reported more parental involvement and support and less harsh control than boys. Across the 4 years, involvement and support increased, and harsh control decreased for boys; whereas involvement stayed the same, support slightly decreased, and harsh control slightly increased for girls. Children whose parents were more educated reported more parent involvement, support, and harsh control in the first year. Children whose fathers were chronically depressed and whose parents were experiencing marital conflict reported decreasing parent involvement and support over the years.