Bigrams and the richness of the stimulus

Recent challenges to Chomsky's poverty of the stimulus thesis for language acquisition suggest that children's primary data may carry "indirect evidence" about linguistic constructions despite containing no instances of them. Indirect evidence is claimed to suffice for grammar acquisition, without need for innate knowledge. This article reports experiments based on those of Reali and Christiansen (2005) , who demonstrated that a simple bigram language model can induce the correct form of auxiliary inversion in certain complex questions. This article investigates the nature of the indirect evidence that supports this learning, and assesses how reliably it is available. Results confirm the original finding for one specific sentence type but show that the model's success is highly circumscribed. It performs poorly on inversion in related constructions in English and Dutch. Because other, more powerful statistical models have so far been shown to succeed only on the same limited subset of cases as the bigram model, it remains to be seen whether stimulus richness can be substantiated more generally.     

Role of emotions and behavioural responses in mediating the impact of face loss on relationship deterioration: Are Chinese more face‐sensitive than Americans?

Face loss, defined as the deterioration in one's social image, has been regarded as a consequence of interpersonal conflict and a provocation for counter-attack. The present research was aimed at assessing whether the role of face loss in leading to relationship deterioration has more impact for Chinese than for Americans. We hypothesized that the linkage from face loss to relationship deterioration is mediated by two social-emotional complexes (anger and shame) and two behavioural reactions (retaliation and avoidance) arising from interpersonal harm. Structural equation modelling confirmed this mediation model, and indicated that in both cultures, the linkage between face loss and relationship disintegration was mediated by shame and avoidance, but not by anger and retaliation. Consistent with widely held hypotheses, face loss was found to be more influential in directly provoking a target's anger and relationship deterioration, and more influential in inhibiting a target's retaliating responses, for Hong Kong Chinese than for Americans.     

Exploring Rational and Non-rational Dimensions of Interpersonal Complexity

Journal of Adult Development - Contemporary models of psychosocial development include domains of development for interpersonal relations and cognitive complexity. Integrating these two domains to...     

Pilot assessment of pain of orthopaedic patients in Hong Kong

This pilot study examined the internal consistency and concurrent validity of the Chinese version of the Acute Lower Back Pain Screening Questionnaire. A sample of 45 acute low back pain patients (27 men and 18 women; mean age = 47.8) were recruited from the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology of the Tuen Mun Hospital in Hong Kong. Three items of the original questionnaire were excluded from the analyses because response was low by 30 of the 45 patients. The questionnaire showed good internal reliability (Cronbach alpha = .88) and correlated significantly with other test scores: the Faces Pain Scale-Revised (alpha = .74), the Chinese (Hong Kong) SF-12 Health Survey (Mental subscale, alpha = -.47; Physical subscale alpha = -.62), and the Chinese Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (Anxiety subscale, alpha = .42; Depression subscale, alpha = .43). The questionnaire could be used in research and clinical work to provide data on the multicomponents of a pain experience as well as psychosocial risk factors related to pain among the Chinese. Researchers might examine the course of change in chronic pain.     

应用心理测验评估轻度甲苯中毒者的脑功能状态

以２９名轻度甲苯中毒的工人和２９名作为控制组的工人,就一些神经心理测验上的作业水平,进行了比较。此两组工人工作场所的空气,以８小时的ＴＷＡ计算,所得甲苯含量分别为８８．０ｐｐｍ和１３．５ｐｐｍ。所实施的心理测验包括数字广度、ＷＭＳ视觉记忆测验、本顿视觉保持测验、连线测验、符号数字、栓子安插和手指敲击测验。结果发现,轻度甲苯中毒的工人,无论在语文或非语文的短时记忆、注意力或集中力、知觉运动或手巧等方面的作业水平,都比不上控制组,显示轻度甲苯中毒组之脑功能已受损害。该研究亦进一步表明了轻度毒害性化学溶剂所导致的脑功能损害,可通过简便的心理测验予以相当准确的测查。     

Probing item social desirability by correlating personality items with Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR): A validity examination

Researchers often include a social desirability measure in personality measures, commonly the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR), and correlate it with personality items to probe for social desirability of the items. A strong correlation between BIDR scores and a personality item would indicate high item social desirability. The current research assesses the validity of this practice. Results showed that these correlations have high validity only when BIDR scores are calculated as a continuous variable rather than as dichotomized item scores. In addition, self-deception scores have higher validity for detecting item social desirability than do impression management scores. The current research supported the use of the self-deception scores, in particular, to detect highly desirable or undesirable items.     

Effects of gender and sex role orientation on help-seeking attitudes

This study investigated the effects of gender and sex role orientation (masculinity and femininity) on attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help in a sample of 163 student trainee teachers (52 males and 111 females) in Singapore. The mean age of students was 25.39 years (SD = 3.80). ANOVAs revealed statistically significant main effects for gender and femininity on attitudes toward help-seeking. Specifically, females were reported to have more positive overall attitudes toward professional help-seeking and were more willing to recognize a personal need for professional help compared to males. Femininity significantly influenced students’ level of stigma tolerance. These findings suggest that both gender and sex role orientation play an independent role in influencing help-seeking attitudes. In addition, these variables appear to have a differential impact on different aspects of helpseeking.     

Psychometric properties of the Chinese Metaparenting Profile Questionnaire Short-form

Current Psychology - Research on deliberate and mindful parenting constructs, including metaparenting, has become increasingly popular. However, this topic has not been widely examined in China and...