Postformal thinking and creativity among late adolescents: a post-Piagetian approach

This study investigated the relationship between cognitive development levels and creative performance among late adolescents from a post-Piagetian perspective. Participants were 386 college students, ranging in age from 19 to 26 years. The Social Paradigm Belief Scale was employed to measure the three cognitive styles of late adolescence: formal, relativistic, and dialectical thinking. The Divergent Thinking Test (DTT) was used to measure creative performance. Dialectical and relativistic thinking were positively correlated with creative performance, whereas formal thinking was negatively correlated. Planned contrasts revealed that postformal thinkers scored higher than formal thinkers in all dimensions of creativity, and additional MANOVA analysis exhibited a similar pattern. Multiple discriminant analysis showed that the linear combination of the six dimensions of creativity recognized in the DTT discriminated between formal and postformal thinkers, which supported our findings about the relationship between postformal thinking and creativity. Future research directions and implications for creativity pedagogy are discussed.     

Framing effects in group investment decision making: role of group polarization

Prospect theory proposes that framing effects result in a preference for risk-averse choices in gain situations and risk-seeking choices in loss situations. However, in group polarization situations, groups show a pronounced tendency to shift toward more extreme positions than those they initially held. Whether framing effects in group decision making are more prominent as a result of the group-polarization effect was examined. Purposive sampling of 120 college students (57 men, 63 women; M age = 20.1 yr., SD = 0.9) allowed assessment of relative preference between cautious and risky choices in individual and group decisions. Findings indicated that both group polarization and framing effects occur in investment decisions. More importantly, group decisions in a gain situation appear to be more cautious, i.e., risk averse, than individual decisions, whereas group decisions in the loss situation appear to be more risky than individual decisions. Thus, group decision making may expand framing effects when it comes to investment choices through group polarization.     

The motivations of adolescents who are addicted to online games: a cognitive perspective

This research explored, from the perspective of cognitive theory, the psychological motivations of Taiwanese adolescents who are addicted to online games. Study 1 focused on the differential motivations between the addicts and nonaddicts. The findings revealed that the addicts exhibited higher intrinsic than extrinsic motivation, whereas the nonaddicts showed an opposite relationship. The intrinsic motivation of the addicts was also higher than the nonaddicts. The results imply that intrinsic motivation plays a crucial role in gaming addiction. Study 2 was conducted to examine whether four factors that moderate the detrimental effect of extrinsic motivators on intrinsic motivation would function as predicted. Results indicated that extrinsic rewards would undermine intrinsic motivation when they were high expectancy, high relevance, tangible, and noncontingent. Thus, players' intrinsic motivation would be higher when extrinsic rewards were low expectancy, low relevance, intangible, and contingent. This article provides insights into the differential motivations of the addicted players and how to employ intrinsic motivators to affect their intrinsic motivation.     

Trust and respect as mediators of the other‐ and self‐profitable trait effects on interpersonal attraction

Mediators of the effects of other‐profitable (e.g., sincere vs. irresponsible) or self‐profitable (e.g., intelligent vs. unintelligent) traits on attraction were investigated. In Experiment 1 (N = 256), valence of a single other‐ or self‐profitable trait was varied, and trust in, respect for, and attraction toward the partner were measured. The three constructs were distinct. Moreover, the effects of the other‐profitable traits on attraction were solely mediated by trust, and those of the self‐profitable traits were mediated more strongly by respect than trust. In Experiment 2 (N = 144), an other‐profitable trait was crossed with the self‐profitable one, and diagnosticity ratings of those traits for the partner's warmth and competence and the previous three responses were taken. The five constructs were empirically distinct. Although trust mediated the effect of other‐profitable trait on attraction, there was a direct effect also. Respect was the sole mediator of the self‐profitable trait effect. Theoretical and methodological implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring social capital in rural settlements of an islander region in Greece

This paper reports on a large scale cross‐sectional study examining subjective perceptions of community social life held by a randomly selected sample of residents (n = 428) in all small rural settings (n = 89) of the region of North Aegean Sea. The notion of social capital was used as a conceptual tool in order to explore different aspects of the relational life of contemporary rural communities. This study has two aims: First to provide an account of rural residents' perceptions of village life in terms of interpersonal support, mutual aid, trust, social cohesion and community competence, and second to examine the suitability of the social capital notion within the specific cultural context. A combination of data collection procedures and a range of sources were employed, such as key informants, rural residents and researchers' field observations. The findings indicate that small farming communities of high devotion with deep roots and strong sense of belonging face severe demographic imbalance and experience low civic power given the limited links with external agents. The mainstream notion of social capital as an unconditionally beneficial factor is thus questioned. The findings call for revisiting its relevance across communities with varying capacities and needs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Collectivists' contingency and autonomy as predictors of buffet preferences among Taiwanese adolescents

In a culture or society with high collectivism, contingent orientation and constrained autonomy are the prominent characteristics of adolescents' self-construal. This article examined whether Taiwanese adolescents' contingency and autonomy were associated with their prevalent preferences for buffet consumption. Findings in a panel survey indicated that contingency was positively correlated with adolescents' buffet preference, whereas autonomy was negatively correlated. Moreover, the results showed that adolescents' contingent orientation and perceived autonomy could predict their subsequent buffet preference over a half-year period. A laboratory experiment showed that adolescents who perceived lower autonomy exhibited greater preferences for buffet over the other diet consumption. In general, the results suggest that collectivist adolescents' contingency and autonomy were related to their trait-like preferences for buffet, and the state-like preferences for buffet were affected by their perceived levels of autonomy. Findings provide further insights into the impact of adolescents' self-construal on their diet consumption.     

Adolescents' sexual self-disclosure on the internet: deindividuation and impression management

This study examined the effect of anonymity on adolescents' sexual self-disclosure on the Internet and the impact of topic intimacy on their reply intent for sexual disclosure by conducting a survey with 1,347 adolescents. It was found that male participants were more likely than females to engage in sexual self-disclosure and to correspondingly respond to cyber partners' sexual disclosure. Results showed that the greater the anonymity, the greater the intent for sexual self-disclosure. Participants exhibited greater reply intent when cyber partners self-disclosed sexual topics with greater intimacy, and the effect of topic intimacy was more pronounced in male participants. The findings suggest that male adolescents tend to adopt a reciprocal strategy in responding to partners' sexual disclosure on the Internet, whereas females tend to employ a conservative strategy. It was concluded that male and female adolescents revealed differential self-presentation and impression management for their sexual self-disclosing and responding on the Internet.     

An unintended consequence of social distance regulations: COVID-19 social distancing promotes the desire for money

Social distance regulations have been widely adopted during the global COVID-19 pandemic. From an evolutionary perspective, social connection and money are interchangeable subsistence resources for human survival. The substitutability principle of human motivation posits that scarcity in one domain (e.g., social connection) could motivate people to acquire or maintain resources in another domain (e.g., money). Two experiments were conducted to test the possibility that COVID-19 social distancing enhances the desire for money. Results showed that compared with controls, participants receiving social distancing primes (via recollection of experiences of social distancing or a Chinese glossary-search task) offered less money in the dictator game, showed lower willingness towards charitable donation (Experiment 1; N = 102), donated less money to a student fund, and rated money as having more importance (Experiment 2; N = 140). Our findings have far-reaching implications for financial decisions, charitable donations, and prosociality during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.     

Horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism among college students in the United States, Taiwan, and Argentina.

Among college students in the United States, Taiwan, and Argentina, the author examined the strength of 4 cultural patterns (horizontal collectivism, vertical collectivism, horizontal individualism, vertical individualism; H. C. Triandis, 1995). A 3-group confirmatory factor analysis established the measurement equivalence among the 3 samples before the comparison. The Taiwanese and the Argentine samples were more vertically collectivist than the U.S. sample. The U.S. and the Taiwanese samples were more vertically individualistic than the Argentine sample. The U.S. sample was more horizontally individualistic than the Argentine sample, which, in turn, was more horizontally individualistic than the Taiwanese sample.     

The psychological consequence of experiencing shame: Self-sufficiency and mood-repair

Studies in social psychology and clinical psychology have demonstrated that shame is associated with social disengagement. We incorporated self-sufficiency with the mood-repair hypothesis from the feelings-as-information perspective to provide viable explanations for the psychological consequence of shame, suggesting that the mood-repair goal primed by shame is an inclination to behave self-sufficiently. In Study 1a and 1b, shamed participants preferred to work and play alone compared with control participants. Specifically, participants who were induced to feel ashamed were less likely to perform a task with a co-worker than were no-shame-prime participants. Furthermore, participants experiencing shame chose more individually focused leisure activities than did participants in a neutral mood. In Study 2, participants experiencing shame worked longer on an unsolvable task than control participants did before requesting help, suggesting that shame increased the tendency to be independent. Based on these results, we concluded that experiencing shame was associated with an increased tendency to behave self-sufficiently and to exhibit an inclination toward passive avoidance and active independence in social relationships as a means of amending a threatened social self.