Preschoolers can recognize violations of the Gricean maxims

Grice (Syntax and semantics: Speech acts, 1975, pp. 41-58, Vol. 3) proposed that conversation is guided by a spirit of cooperation that involves adherence to several conversational maxims. Three types of maxims were explored in the current study: 1) Quality, to be truthful; 2) Relation, to say only what is relevant to a conversation; and 3) Quantity, to provide as much information as required. Three- to five-year-olds were tested to determine the age at which an awareness of these Gricean maxims emerges. Children requested the help of one of two puppets in finding a hidden sticker. One puppet always adhered to the maxim being tested, while the other always violated it. Consistently choosing the puppet that adhered to the maxim was considered indicative of an understanding of that maxim. The results indicate that children were initially only successful in the Relation condition. While in general, children performed better at first in the Quantity condition compared with the Quality condition, 3-year-olds never performed above chance in the Quantity condition. The findings of the present study indicate that preschool children are sensitive to the violation of the Relation, Quality, and Quantity maxims at least under some conditions.     

It's all good: Children's personality attributions after repeated success and failure in peer and computer interactions

The present study examined children's use of behavioural outcome information to make personality attributions in social and non‐social contexts. One hundred and twenty‐eight 3‐ to 6‐year‐olds were told about a story actor who engaged in primarily successful or primarily unsuccessful interactions with several different people (social context) or several different computers (non‐social context). Subsequently, children made behavioural predictions and trait attributions about the actor. Findings indicated that participants were more likely to use past information to make behavioural predictions and trait attributions when hearing about primarily successful than primarily unsuccessful interactions, although there were age‐related differences in trait attribution as a function of success and trait type. There was no support for differential use of information across contexts, as participants' predictions and attributions were similar regardless of hearing about interactions with computers or humans. Factors involved in the development of impression formation are discussed.     

Understanding the Pathways from Depression to Suicidal Risk from the Perspective of the Interpersonal–Psychological Theory of Suicide

Suicide is a major public health concern, especially in adolescence. Identifying risk factors for suicide is important to effectively prevent such behavior. Depression is one of the most widely examined risk factors for suicidal risk. How depression and suicidal risk are related, however, is still not clear. This study tested a model with three key constructs of the interpersonal–psychological theory of suicidal behavior (IPTS)—perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, and nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI)—as mediators in the relationship between depression and suicidal risk among Chinese adolescents. Chinese high school students (N = 1,074; 54.2% male; M_age = 13.87 years, SD = 1.48) completed questionnaires assessing all study variables. Results suggested that perceived burdensomeness and NSSI partially mediated the relationship between depression and suicidal risk. Findings of this study emphasize the importance of the IPTS framework in understanding the possible mechanisms underlying the relationship between depression and suicidal risk, and suggest a possible avenue for suicide interventions.     

Suicide Risk Among Wounded U.S. Service Members

The association between suicide and combat injuries sustained during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was examined. A retrospective population‐based cohort design was conducted using official military records to identify combat injuries (October 7, 2001, to December 31, 2007). Those who were injured during combat had higher crude suicide rates than those who deployed and were not injured (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.50; confidence interval [CI] = 1.06, 2.12), or never deployed (IRR = 1.46; CI = 1.04, 2.06). After adjusting for demographics, these findings were no longer statistically significant. Although our data did not support an elevated suicide risk among wounded service members, additional research is needed to examine the impact of injury severity.     

“做人”及其相关日常伦理观念分析——以廖申白先生“做人”和“做事”两文为基础

"做人"是一个基本的日常伦理观念。作为目标的"好人"和作为方法的"会做人"是"做人"的题中之义,在日常使用中显示出与现代公共生活不适应的问题。"做事"对"做人"的约束不等同于现代公共生活要求的客观性。即便如此,"做人"依然是一个具有生命力的观念,它越是接受符合时代共识的限制,越能焕发活力。"做人"观念起源于"家"这一独特的互动机制和关系网络,向家之外的语境扩展时不是推广某一种身份,不是推荐某一个品质,不是扩张某一类组织,具有开放的特点,这亦是它保持生命力的原因。     

Blue Monday Is Real for Suicide: A Case–Control Study of 188,601 Suicides

Many studies have reported that suicides tend to occur on Mondays. However, owing to a lack of controls, conclusive findings on the potential effects of a day of the week on suicides have been lacking. We analyzed public data for causes of death from 1997 to 2015 in the Republic of Korea. Accidental death was used as a control group. The probability of suicide on each day of the week according to age group was calculated. A total of 377,204 deaths (188,601 suicides and 188,603 accidental deaths) were used. The frequency of suicide was highest on Monday and decreased throughout the week until Saturday. Accidental death was highest on Saturday and showed no variations according to weekday. For people in their teens and 20s, the probabilities of suicide on Monday were 9% and 10% higher, respectively, than those on Sunday. As age increased, the differences in suicide probability according to the day of the week were attenuated. The so‐called Blue Monday effect is real, particularly for people in their teens and 20s. Suicide prevention strategies that aim to attenuate the burden and stress of Mondays should be planned.