The “Obama Effect”: How a salient role model reduces race-based performance differences

Barack Obama, the first Black-American president, has been widely heralded as a role model for Black-Americans because he inspires hope. The current study was conducted to assess whether, beyond simply inspiring hope, this “Obama Effect” has a concrete positive influence on Black-Americans’ academic performance. Over a three-month period we administered a verbal exam to four separate groups of Black- and White-American participants at four predetermined times. When Obama’s stereotype-defying accomplishments garnered national attention - just after his convention speech, and election to the presidency - they had a profound beneficial effect on Black-Americans’ exam performance, such that the negative effects of stereotype threat were dramatically reduced. This effect occurred even when concerns about racial stereotypes continued to exist. The fact that we found performance effects with a random sample of American participants, far removed from any direct contact with Obama, attests to the powerful impact of ingroup role models.     

内隐记忆中通道效应的认知与神经机制

通道转换是使内隐和外显记忆任务之间产生功能性分离经常操纵的典型变量之一,被看作是内隐记忆主要依赖刺激知觉住处加工的有利语气。该文回顾了近些年通道效应实验和理论研究的有关文献。对产生通道效应的认知机制和神经解剖基础进行了总结和分析,并提出了有待于进一步验证的问题。     

句子语境中语义联系启动作用的研究

通过对比研究正序和乱序两种句子语境对目标词加工的不同影响,来探讨句子语境中语义联系启动作用及作用点问题。实验一采用词汇命名任务研究发现,句法成分影响命名任务,句法违反对命名任务产生较大的抑制作用。语义违反则对命名任务没有产生显著的抑制作用。实验二利用词汇决定任务发现,词序影响决定任务,乱序对词汇决定产生很大的抑制作用。语义违反对决定任务地产生较大的抑制作用。结果表,中义联系启动是短暂的,它的保持和传递需要句法成分的支持。     

耳标在小屏幕界面设计中的应用

耳标是一种向用户提供计算机客体、操作或交互信息的非言语听觉信号。本文比较了言语听觉界面与非言语听觉界面的特点 ,并就非言语听觉界面设计中的两种基本表征方式———耳标技术和听标技术的优缺点做了简单介绍 ,指出耳标技术是用于小屏幕界面设计的有效方式之一。作者重点概述了耳标的构成元素、构成方式以及信息呈现方式 ,并从功效学角度对耳标设计原则作了简要总结     

Continuous and discontinuous drawing: high temporal variability exists only in discontinuous circling in young children

The authors studied whether the drawing variability in young children is best explicable by (a) demands on the explicit timing system, (b) an underdeveloped ability to control limb dynamics, or (c) both. The explicit timing demands were lower in continuous drawing in comparison with the discontinuous task. The authors manipulated limb dynamics by changing the number of joints involved, with line drawing requiring fewer joints than circle drawing. Results showed that young children had high temporal variability in discontinuous circling but not in other conditions. The authors argue that both explicit timing and dynamic complexity of limb control may be determinants of temporal consistency and may thus play an important role in the development of drawing and writing skills in children.     

大学生成就目标与主观幸福感的关系研究

目的：探讨大学生成就目标与主观幸福感的关系。方法：采用成就目标量表、主观幸福感量表整群抽样调查247名大学生。结果：①来自乡村的大学生的掌握目标显著高于来自城镇的大学生,女生的成绩回避目标显著高于男生。②掌握目标与积极情感显著正相关,与消极情感显著负相关;成绩接近目标与生活满意度、积极情感显著正相关;成绩回避目标与消极情感显著正相关。③掌握目标正向预测积极情感,负向预测消极情感;成绩接近目标正向预测生活满意度和积极情感;成绩回避目标正向预测消极情感,负向预测积极情感。结论：掌握目标和成绩接近目标有利于主观幸福感,成绩回避目标不利于主幸福感。     

Rainbows in the society: A measure of hope for society

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a measure of social hope. Previous studies have extensively reported on personal hope and its outcomes. Although a few studies have suggested the concept of collective or social hope, there is no instrument to assess the construct. In this study, we created a 5‐item scale, drawing on Snyder's hope theory, and collected two sets of survey data online. Analysis of these data sets revealed that the new scale was structurally unidimensional and internally consistent. In association with Snyder's State Hope Scale, the Social Hope Scale showed convergent and discriminant validity. The social hope construct also exhibited theoretically meaningful relationships with political efficacy and self‐construal (concurrent validity). Finally, social hope was higher for those who had participated in certain types of social activism than it was for those who had not (predictive validity). These results suggest that the Social Hope Scale is a reliable and valid self‐report measure of hopeful thinking for society.     

Impact of Handedness Consistency on Bimanual and Unimanual Continuous Movements

Bimanual coordination is an essential human function requiring efficient interhemispheric communication to produce coordinated movements. Previous research suggests a “bimanual advantage” phenomenon, where completing synchronized bimanual tasks results in less variability than unimanual tasks. Additionally, of hand dominance has been shown to influence coordinated performance. The present study examined the bimanual advantage in individuals with consistent and inconsistent handedness. It was predicted that participants with consistent handedness would not display a bimanual advantage unlike those with inconsistent handedness. Fifty-six young adults completed a finger-tapping paradigm in five conditions: unimanual tapping with either left or right hand, in-phase bimanual tapping, and out-of phase bimanual tapping led by either left or right hand. Results were not consistent with the hypothesis that participants with consistent handedness displayed the “bimanual advantage”. However, the “bimanual advantage” was not evident for the inconsistent handers when the temporal consistency was measured with either the left or right hand only. Overall, the “bimanual advantage” may be dependent upon consistency of hand preference, as well as the direction of hand dominance.     

主题关系对无线索回忆再认效应的影响

本研究采用RWCR范式,从无线索回忆再认的视角考察了主题关系对熟悉性的影响。结果发现,主题关系能够引发无线索回忆再认效应。具体表现为,在回忆错误项目中,被试对与学过项目有主题关系线索的熟悉性评分显著高于与学过项目无主题关系线索的熟悉性评分。这一结果表明,个体在信息提取失败时,概念形式的语义信息也能引发基于熟悉性的再认判断。