Optimism across cultures: In response to the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak

Based on our early research, we predicted that the Chinese may be more optimistic and less pessimistic than North Americans in response to negative life events. A survey was conducted to investigate optimism cross culturally in the context of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreaks in Canada and China. Chinese students in Beijing and European Canadians in Toronto answered questions about their perceptions of SARS. No significant cultural difference was found on dispositional optimism, as measured by the Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R). Unrealistic optimism was measured in the context of SARS. Both groups demonstrated unrealistic optimism (i.e. reporting that the self was less likely than an average person to get infected with SARS). Such optimistic bias was stronger among Chinese than among Canadians. Compared to the actual infection rates in Beijing and Toronto, both Chinese and Canadian participants overestimated their own chances of getting infected, indicating that they were being pessimistic. Indeed, Chinese were less pessimistic than Canadians. In addition, even though the Chinese reported more inconvenience brought by SARS than did Canadians, they also reported more positive changes brought by SARS, reflecting the Chinese dialectical views of events. Implications for research on optimism in context are discussed.     

分部评分模型与其它几种多级模型的比较

项目反应理论(IRT)是当前教育与心理测量领域的一个重大进展,也日益成为当今测验领域的一个热点。本文对IRT理论中的二个重要评分模型PCM与GPCM作了简要的介绍。并较详细地对PCM与GPCM模型的逻辑结构及其适用范围进行了论述,指出了它们与其它几种重要模型之间的关系及不同之处。     

中小学生惯用语理解发展的研究

对惯用语理解的发展 ,是儿童语言发展的重要方面。本研究结果表明 ,在无语境条件下 ,中小学生对惯用语的理解年级差异显著 ,小学生和中学生差异较大 ,而小学和中学各年级内部差异不显著。学生对惯用语是先理解字面意义 ,再理解比喻意义。在有语境条件下 ,不同年级学生对惯用语的理解差异显著 ,惯用语语义倾向性的影响不显著 ,但语境对学生惯用语理解有重要影响 ,高年级学生能更好地利用语境。     

青少年科学创造力测验的编制

基于科学创造力的结构模型、青少年科学创造力的表现及托兰斯的创造性测验,编制了青少年科学创造力测验,并用该测验施测于英国的1087名中学生和中国的1087名中学生,结果表明:(1)《青少年科学创造力测验》具有较高的信度,Cronbachα系数、评分者信度、重测信度均达到心理测验学要求的水平;(2)《青少年科学创造力测验》具有较高的结构效度。     

浅谈我国应用ICD分类存在的问题

国际疾病分类（ICD）是目前国际公认的卫生信息标准分类,但是由于我国的ICD分类工作开展的时间还不是很长,推广还不够广泛和深入,目前我国应用ICD分类还存在很多问题,ICD分类质量有待进一步提高和完善,加强临床医师的ICD分类知识培训和编码人员的专业培训及责任心教育是提高ICD分类质量的重要途径。     

Parents Living with HIV in China: Family Functioning and Quality of Life

In China, HIV shifts the lifestyle of not only parents living with HIV/AIDS, but also their children, partners, and extended families. We examined factors related to the quality of life of parents living with HIV and the relation between family functioning and individual quality of life. Interviews were conducted with a total of 116 parents living with HIV/AIDS. Analyses of variance, Pearson correlations, and multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the relation between family functioning and quality of life. We found a significant association between family functioning and individual quality of life for parents living with HIV. In particular, family sociability had a strong relationship with the quality of life of parents living with HIV. Parents living with HIV from families where both parents are HIV-positive reported a lower level of family sociability than those from families with only one HIV-positive parent. HIV disclosure, family sociability, and number of children per family were found to be significant predictors of overall quality of life for the population. Study findings underscore the importance of developing interventions that improve family functioning for people living with HIV/AIDS in China.     

儿童心理折叠能力的发展

本研究主要考察儿童心理折叠能力的发展。结果表明：（１）一般情况下,学生的心理折叠能力随年级（年龄）的上升而提高;（２）智力高的学生的心理折叠能力显著高于常态学生,而且,智力与年级之间存在较强的交互作用说明,智力是影响心理折叠能力发展的主要因素;（３）在本文所涉及的条件下,就总体而言,男生的心理折叠成绩高于女生。但这种性别差异主要不是来自常态组,而来自超常组;（４）不同被试组儿童的心理折叠能力具有不定全一致的发展曲线。     

Cooperative tapping: Time control under different feedback conditions

The same isochronous tone sequence was presented simultaneously to two mutually isolated subjects. In half the trials, accentuation in this sequence was accomplished by doubling the duration of the first and then of every fourth tone; in the other half, by doubling the frequency of those tones. The subjects’ task was to follow the rhythm of the resulting four-tone patterns by finger tapping to tone onsets. There were four auditory feedback (FB) conditions: (1) no FB; (2) FB from the subject’s own motor responses; (3) “alien” FB from the motor responses of the other pair member who, in turn, was listening to FB from his/her own tapping; (4) mutually “crossed” FB, where each pair member listened to FB from the tapping of the other. Tap onsets regularly preceded stimulus onsets. The observed order of the amount of this anticipation (from least to greatest) was: (1) own FB, (2) no FB, (3) alien FB, and (4) crossed FB. No mutual dynamic influence between simultaneously performing subjects was-detected. Anticipation was more pronounced for sequences that were accentuated by frequency rather than by duration changes. The type of accent also influenced timing of intertap intervals in the rhythmic patterns. For the frequency accent, regular timing was produced, whereas for the durational accent, shortening of the second and lengthening of the fourth (the last) intertap interval were observed. The presence and source of feedback as well as the character of accentuation are therefore relevant factors in the timing of auditorally controlled rhythmic motor behavior.     

Decreasing Infant Mortality as a Global Demographic Change: A Challenge to Psychology

Decreasing infant mortality is taken up as a demographic phenomenon which constitutes one aspect of a broader conceptualization of “Global Change”. At the root of the global environmental problems faced today is the population issue. With sharp increases in the rates of infant and child survival, the question of what happens to those who survive assumes greater importance. With new policy shifts focusing on early childhood care and development, psychologists' expertise is now being called upon. Psychological knowledge is required especially in the cross-culturally valid conceptualization and assessment of human development. When made applicable to large numbers of children and parents, such knowledge can be used for detection and screening of risk cases and for establishing the environmental factors promoting psychosocial development.     

A cut-free gentzen-type system for the logic of the weak law of excluded middle

The logic of the weak law of excluded middleKC _p is obtained by adding the formula A A as an axiom scheme to Heyting's intuitionistic logicH _p . A cut-free sequent calculus for this logic is given. As the consequences of the cut-elimination theorem, we get the decidability of the propositional part of this calculus, its separability, equality of the negationless fragments ofKC _p andH _p , interpolation theorems and so on. From the proof-theoretical point of view, the formulation presented in this paper makes clearer the relations betweenKC _p ,H _p , and the classical logic. In the end, an interpretation of classical propositional logic in the propositional part ofKC _p is given.