Quality of Life of the Hidden Youth in Hong Kong

Hidden youth was a phenomenon which originated in Japan and later spread to Hong Kong. The youth were described as being in a state of social isolation, marginalization, and prone to emotional disturbances. This may imply that they were suffering from a poor quality of life. However, direct contact with the hidden youth found that some of them are satisfied with their lives. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between the hidden youth’s quality of life and their period and level of social withdrawal. A total of 588 of the hidden youth took part in the study. With the use of mean plots in ANOVA, correlation analysis, regression analysis, and mediation analysis, it was found that the longer the period of social withdrawal, the better the quality of life. The positive correlation between the two variables was mediated by positive emotions derived from social support. On the other hand, as the level of social withdrawal increased, the quality of life decreased. The negative association between the two variables was mediated by negative emotions caused by low levels of social support and a high sense of loneliness. These findings suggest that being “hidden” is the preferred lifestyle of young people and it should not be regarded as a problem that undermines their quality of life.     

Exposure to national flags reduces tax evasion: Evidence from the United States,Australia, and Britain

There have been numerous theories from numerous academic fields explaining why individuals engage in tax evasion. Drawing broadly on Social Identity Theory, we predict that exposure to one's national flag can reduce tax evasion by making salient one's national identity, motivating one to sacrifice one's self-interests for one's country—which would presumably include paying one's fair share of taxes. In three experiments, we found that exposure to American, Australian, and British flags reduced Americans', Australians', and Britons' tax evasion in financially incentivized tasks (Experiments 1, 3) and increased tax-paying attitudes (Experiment 2). The effects arose because flag primes made salient participants' national identities that then motivated them to help their country. We ruled out social norms and trust in authorities as alternative explanations. As such, flag primes might reduce tax evasion and in doing so improve the economic and societal welfare of a country.     

The test taker's fallacy: How students guess answers on multiple‐choice tests

Many students and applicants take multiple‐choice tests to demonstrate their competence and achievement. When they are unsure, they guess the most likely answer to maximize their score. Despite the impact of guessing on test reliability and individual performance, studies have not examined how patterns of answer sequences in multiple‐choice tests affect guessing. This research presents the test taker's fallacy, which refers to an individual's tendency to expect a different answer to appear for the next question given a run of the same answer choices. The test taker's fallacy exhibits negative recency, similar to the gambler's fallacy. However, extending the sequential judgment literature, the test taker's fallacy shows that negative recency arises even when sequences may or may not be randomly generated. In three studies, including a survey and experiments, the test taker's fallacy is robustly observed. The test taker's fallacy is consistent with the operation of the representativeness heuristic. This research explains what and how test takers guess given a streak of answers and extends judgment under uncertainty to the test‐taking context.     

Academic entitlement: its relationship with academic behaviors and attitudes

Social Psychology of Education - The current study examined the relationship of academic entitlement with student attitudes (e.g., locus of control, motivation) and academic behavior. Participants...     

Shock and awe: Distinct effects of taboo words on lexical decision and free recall

Taboo stimuli are highly arousing, but it has been suggested that they also have inherent taboo-specific properties such as tabooness, offensiveness, or shock value. Prior studies have shown that taboo words have slower response times in lexical decision and higher recall probabilities in free recall; however, taboo words often differ from other words on more than just arousal and taboo properties. Here, we replicated both of these findings and conducted detailed item analyses to determine which word properties drive these behavioural effects. We found that lexical-decision performance was best explained by measures of lexical accessibility (e.g., word frequency) and tabooness, rather than arousal, valence, or offensiveness. However, free-recall performance was primarily driven by emotional word properties, and tabooness was the most important emotional word property for model fit. Our results suggest that the processing of taboo words is influenced by distinct sets of factors and by an intrinsic taboo-specific property.     

Assessment of Psychopathic Traits in Singaporean Adolescents: Validation of the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD)

There is little knowledge available concerning psychopathic traits in Asian adolescents; a lack of a suitable measurement instrument for assessing psychopathy in Asian societies may account for this. This study aimed to validate a widely used scale in the West — the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) — in Singaporean school-based and at-risk adolescents. Using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), this study examined the two-factor (i.e., grandiose-manipulative/impulsive traits and callous-unemotional traits) and three-factor (i.e., grandiose-manipulative traits, impulsivity, and callous-unemotional traits) models of the APSD in 1027 school-based and 113 at-risk adolescents. School samples are adolescents from three secondary schools, while at-risk samples are adolescents who manifest different types of delinquent behaviors and are either placed in more structured settings or need closer supervision although they have not violated the law. Gender invariance was further tested in the school-based sample by conducting a multigroup CFA. The convergent validity of the APSD was also investigated in the school-based sample. For the school-based adolescents, the APSD revealed that the three-factor model provided a superior fit over the two-factor model and the factorial invariance across gender. Significant relationships between the three dimensions of the APSD and aggression and delinquency support the convergent validity of the APSD. As for the at-risk adolescents, both the two- and three-factor models were acceptable, but the two-factor model was preferred as it was parsimonious and it aligned with the conceptualized characteristics of psychopathic traits. Findings suggest that the APSD is a reliable and sound instrument for measuring psychopathic traits in Asian school-based and at-risk adolescents.     

Assessment of the Language Preferences of Five Children with Autism from Spanish-Speaking Homes

Although the number of English Language Learner students is increasing in the US school system, little is known about the preferences of language of instruction, particularly among young students with autism. We implemented a choice assessment with five children with autism to determine preference between English and Spanish instruction using a concurrent-operant design. Participants were allowed to choose between English instruction, Spanish instruction, and a no-language control condition using BIGmack communication devices. We compared choice allocation between previously mastered skills (easy tasks) and targets in the acquisition phase of learning (difficult tasks). None of the participants indicated a preference for language of instruction during easy tasks, while four participants indicated a preference during difficult tasks. Results suggest that the concurrent-operant procedure is an effective method for assessing preference of language of instruction with students with autism.