A Cross-Cultural Reflection on Shusterman’s Suggestion of the “Transactional” Body

This short article explores the meaning of Shusterman’s “transactional body,” derived from his statement that the will is not a purely mental affair that is independent of physical modality but is always an interaction with its environment. While he appreciates the Deweyan interactional model, he develops the “transactional mode,” which he implies should expand the body-mind unity to the level of social and cultural conditions. Shusterman finds similar integrations and transactions among the mental, psychophysical and physical levels in Asian philosophical traditions. This article conducts a comparative study between his theory and Mencius’ understanding of the body. Within the discussion, the analysis of aesthetic experience explicated by Dewey and Shusterman is reviewed as the link to the comparison.     

父母控制、自尊与小学生社会创造力的关系

考察父母行为控制、心理控制与社会创造力间的关系、以及自我肯定、自我贬低在其中的中介作用,采用小学生社会创造力测验,父母控制量表和自尊量表对540名5、6年级学生进行研究。结果发现:(1)父母行为控制正向预测社会创造力(γ=0.18),心理控制负向预测社会创造力(γ=-0.28);(2)行为控制通过自我肯定的完全中介作用影响社会创造力(中介效应值为0.09),心理控制则通过自我贬低的部分中介作用影响社会创造力(中介效应值为0.05),模型的总解释率R2=0.20。     

Genetic moderation of contextual effects on negative arousal and parenting in African-American parents

A three-stage context amplification model was tested with a sample of 345 African-American parent-child dyads. The model combined the conceptual structure of stress generation with recent findings regarding genetic susceptibility. Because the 7R + allele of the dopamine transporter (DRD4) has the potential to enhance contextual priming and arousal, this allele was examined as a potential moderator of each stage of the amplification process. Particular attention was given to the hypothesized influence of parental negative arousal on valence of parent-child interactions. The literature on genetic susceptibility led to the hypothesis that DRD4 would moderate each stage of the model in a "for better or for worse" manner. The model was partially supported. DRD4 moderated effects at all three stages of the model and, as hypothesized, DRD4 moderated contextual effects on negative arousal in a "for better or for worse" manner. Effects on parent-child interaction, however, were moderated in a "for worse" manner only. These results indicate that parenting interactions may amplify the effects of positive and negative contexts in a stress-generating manner, and that a susceptibility framework captures the way in which DRD4 moderates the impact of context on negative arousal.     

Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Adults’ Childhood Recollections: How are Peak-Experiences Described in China and Portugal?

Peak experiences are joyous and fulfilling moments in life, and thought to be associated with happiness and well-being. However, whether peak experiences vary from culture to culture is still under-researched. The current study investigated the autobiographical memories of peak experiences in Portugal and China. College students from Portugal and Mainland China (N = 161) reported their memory of a peak-experience occurring before the age of 14 and provided a self-rating on its enduring impact. We found that participants from Portugal reported peak-experiences involving a developmental landmark more frequently than did Mainland Chinese. In contrast, Mainland Chinese reported peak-experiences involving serenity more frequently than did Portuguese participants. Although Mainland Chinese provided more details about their peak-experiences, their narratives were more generic and emotionally mild. In particular, memory specificity (specific vs. general) significantly mediated the association between culture and developmental landmark, whereas memory emotionality (low arousal emotions) significantly mediated the link between culture and serenity. This study extends previous research on youthful peak-experiences to a cross-cultural context by incorporating measures of autobiographical memory to analyze variations between these two cultural groups.     

Neurotic Nucleus and Test Anxiety

Undergraduate university students (N = 103) participated in a study of the relationship between test anxiety and the variables of trait anxiety, self-esteem, locus of control, mental ability, and gender. Results indicated bivariate associations between total test anxiety and the other measures except for mental ability. Further analyses revealed independent relationships between the “worry” component of test anxiety and the variables of trait anxiety, intemality, chance, and mental ability. We also found independent associations between the “emotionality” aspect of test anxiety and the measures of trait anxiety and chance.     

Factor Analysis of a French-Canadian Form of the Parental Attitude Research Instrument

We analyzed the factorial structure of a French version of the Parental Attitude Research Instrument (PARI), a questionnaire designed to measure parental attitudes toward child rearing and family life. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation of data of a sample of 98 French-Canadian mothers revealed three factors: Authoritarian-Control, Hostility-Rejection, and Democratic Attitudes. Results were compared with the findings of Schaefer and Bell (1958), and of Zuckerman, Barrett-Ribback, Monashkin, and Norton (1958). We determined that a French translation of this questionnaire had the same factorial structure as the English original.     

Eye-tracking the own-gender bias in face recognition: Other-gender faces are viewed differently to own-gender faces

Research on the own-gender bias in face recognition has indicated an asymmetrical effect: an effect found only in women. We investigated the own-gender bias, using an eye-tracker to examine whether the own-gender bias is associated with differential processing strategies. We found an own-gender bias in our female participants. Our eye-tracking analysis indicated different scanning behaviours when processing own- and other-gender faces, with longer and more fixations to the eyes when viewing own-gender faces. Our results favour the socio-cognitive model, whilst acknowledging the role of perceptual expertise in the own-gender bias.     

A Strengths-Based Longitudinal Career Intervention for Junior Secondary School Students with Special Educational Needs: a Mixed-method Evaluation

The mixed-method study reported here was designed to evaluate a strengths-based career intervention program for secondary school students with mild special educational needs (SEN). A sample of 32 SEN students (19 boys: 13 girls) from 5 inclusive schools in Hong Kong were recruited to a treatment group. An additional 32 SEN students (19 boys: 13 girls) were selected to form the control group matched for age, gender and parents’ education level. The special needs exhibited by both groups were in areas of literacy and numeracy, attention deficits, and social-emotional problems, but did not include severe or complex disabilities. Participants in both groups responded to pre- and post-intervention questionnaires covering career development self-efficacy, personal and social development self-efficacy, and meaning in life. As a follow-up, two teachers and three social workers providing support to SEN students, and the 32 participants were interviewed several months after the intervention. Interviews also took place with teachers, social workers and students to evaluate the perceived effects of the intervention. Findings indicated significant interactions between Time 1 and Time 2, and between groups (control vs. treatment) in personal goal-setting, career goal-setting, and the presence of meaning in life. Additionally, several themes were identified from the interviews suggesting that the intervention did have positive effects on SEN students’ career, personal and social development self-efficacy, and acquisition of meaning in life.

     

注意偏向训练：起源、效果与机制

近年来注意偏向被证明是一些心理疾病产生、维持和复发的原因。因此, 注意偏向训练成为一种前景性的治疗方法, 对低自尊、焦虑障碍、物质成瘾有良好的干预效果。它可能作用于注意的晚期加工阶段, 通过调节 “自上而下”的注意系统来改变相关症状。干预效果的条件、机制与神经机制的探索应成为今后的研究方向。     

母婴分离的动物模型及其神经生物学机制

利用社会环境剥夺建立的精神分裂症动物模型,是当前研究精神分裂症神经生物学机制的一个热点课题.作为一种重要的早期社会剥夺方式,出生后至断乳前的母婴分离日益受到关注.文章综合阐述了母婴分离对啮齿类动物行为及神经发育影响的最新研究成果,表明母婴分离可以部分模拟精神分裂症的行为及中枢表现,证实了该模型的可行性;并进一步分析了影响实验结果的各种相关因素,为今后采用该模型进行深入研究提供一定的理论支持.