Non‐linear structural equation models with correlated continuous and discrete data

Structural equation models (SEMs) have been widely applied to examine interrelationships among latent and observed variables in social and psychological research. Motivated by the fact that correlated discrete variables are frequently encountered in practical applications, a non‐linear SEM that accommodates covariates, and mixed continuous, ordered, and unordered categorical variables is proposed. Maximum likelihood methods for estimation and model comparison are discussed. One real‐life data set about cardiovascular disease is used to illustrate the methodologies.     

中小学生情绪调节策略与生理反应的关系

采用实验法探讨了巾小学生情绪调节策略与生理反应的关系。研究表明,悲伤情绪状态下,认知重评策略的生理反应要比表达抑制策略的生理反应小;快乐情绪状态下,两种策略的生理反应无显著差异;表达抑制策略下,悲伤情绪组的生理反应大于快乐情绪组的生理反应;认知重评策略下,悲伤情绪组的生理反应小于快乐情绪组;低年级学生比高年级学生情绪的生理反应大;女生比男生情绪的生理反应大;低学业水平学生比高学业水平学生情绪的生理反应大。     

为什么有些科学家信仰宗教

在科学家与宗教的关系问题上,所说的科学家往往以自然科学家为主,他们常常是:哥白尼、布鲁诺、伽利略、牛顿、康德、达尔文等人。他们相关的宗教为基督教,他们主要生活在欧洲,他们所处的历史进程自欧洲的中世纪到19世纪。这一历史阶段,基督教由教权至上走向衰落。在基督教鼎盛时期,政权屈从于教权,教育权被宗教所把持。科学家在青少年时期接受教育,受控于宗教,要接受神学训导。在这样的时代背景下,科学家不信仰宗教是不可能的。他们全都是基督徒,也与他们出生于基督徒家庭密切相关。哥白尼10岁丧父,由舅父抚养,他舅父是一个教区的主教,他曾…     

马克思劳动人本思想对资本逻辑的批判与超越

不断占有剩余价值以自我增殖,进而无度扩张,这构成资本的内在逻辑。资本提升了劳动能力,改进了劳动方式,变革了全部社会关系,瓦解了封建体系,为人的解放创造了前提。但在资本逻辑支配下,劳动采取异化形式沦为资本增殖的元素,引发资本统治劳动、人为物驭的发展悖论,此一洞见构成马克思劳动人本思想对资本逻辑的批判向度。透过劳动从属资本的迷雾,马克思深度揭示了劳动发展与社会演进和人的本质的内在同一性,确认了劳动者的历史主体地位,指明了经由劳动和劳动者解放实现人的解放以及资本逻辑消亡的必然性,彰显了劳动人本思想以劳动和劳动者为本的价值诉求及对资本逻辑的超越之维。     

学生成就目标结构研究的新进展

该文先回顾了传统的成就目标理论,然后对目前成就目标研究中关于“掌握—表现目标二分系统”的修正以及两种成就目标作用的争论问题给予了介绍和评价。文章最后对成就目标在今后研究中的一些重点问题提出了建议。     

目标激励对创业行动效能影响的情景模拟

通过情景模拟实验比较了愿景表征型目标激励与非愿景表征型目标激励对创业行动效能的影响,并且检验了成就目标导向与创业目标激励的交互作用。实验结果表明：（1）愿景表征型目标带来的激励效果显著优于非愿景表征型目标产生的激励效果。（2）目标激励与创业行动效能的关系受到成就目标导向的缓冲。（3）目标激励和成就目标导向都要通过个体感知的管理能力对创业行动效能起驱动作用。     

Cognitive correlates of performance in advanced mathematics

Background. Much research has been devoted to understanding cognitive correlates of elementary mathematics performance, but little such research has been done for advanced mathematics (e.g., modern algebra, statistics, and mathematical logic). Aims. To promote mathematical knowledge among college students, it is necessary to understand what factors (including cognitive factors) are important for acquiring advanced mathematics. Samples. We recruited 80 undergraduates from four universities in Beijing. Methods. The current study investigated the associations between students’ performance on a test of advanced mathematics and a battery of 17 cognitive tasks on basic numerical processing, complex numerical processing, spatial abilities, language abilities, and general cognitive processing. Results. The results showed that spatial abilities were significantly correlated with performance in advanced mathematics after controlling for other factors. In addition, certain language abilities (i.e., comprehension of words and sentences) also made unique contributions. In contrast, basic numerical processing and computation were generally not correlated with performance in advanced mathematics. Conclusions. Results suggest that spatial abilities and language comprehension, but not basic numerical processing, may play an important role in advanced mathematics. These results are discussed in terms of their theoretical significance and practical implications.     

Neural mechanisms underlying the higher levels of subjective well-being in extraverts: Pleasant bias and unpleasant resistance

The present study investigated the neural mechanisms that underlie the higher levels of subjective well-being in extraverts. The impact of extraversion on the human sensitivity to pleasant and unpleasant pictures of diverse emotional intensities was examined. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) for highly positive (HP), moderately positive (MP), and neutral stimuli in the pleasant session, and for highly negative (HN), moderately negative (MN), and neutral stimuli in the unpleasant session, while subjects (16 extraverts and 16 ambiverts) performed a standard/deviant categorization task, irrespective of the emotionality of the deviant stimuli. The results showed significant emotion effects for HP and MP stimuli at the P2 and P3 components in extraverts, but not in ambiverts. Despite a pronounced emotion effect for HN stimuli across the P2, N2, and P3 components in both samples, ambiverts displayed a significant emotion effect for MN stimuli at the N2 and P3 components that was absent in extraverts. The posterior cingulate cortices, which connect multiple neural regions that are important in interactions of emotion and extraversion, may mediate the extravert-specific emotion effect for pleasant stimuli. Thus, extraverts are less susceptible to unpleasant stimuli of mild intensity than are ambiverts, while extraverts have an additional enhanced sensitivity to pleasant stimuli, regardless of emotion intensity. Consequently, the decreased threshold for pleasant emotion and the increased threshold for unpleasant emotion might be essential neural mechanisms that underlie the higher levels of subjective well-being in extraverts.     

Constructing Self-Identity: Minority Students’ Adaptation Trajectories in a Chinese University

Researchers have gone beyond identity status and been putting more and more emphases on the dynamic process of identity development and its contextual embeddedness. Study of individual’s adaptation to the multicultural background is a good point of penetration. Because of the differences in regional conditions and cultural traditions, the minority youths who go to university in the mainstream culture would have special experiences and challenges in the development of their self-identities. Semi-structured interview and narrative were used in this research to discover the characteristics of the self-identity constructing processes of Mongolian undergraduates in a Shanghai university context. Their identity constructing process could be divided into three stages: difference-detecting, self-doubting and self-orienting. The main efforts of identity constructing in each stage could all be described as self-exploring and support-seeking. Special contents of internal explorations and sources of support were distinguished at different stages. As relative results, three main types of self-orientation were revealed: goal-oriented, self-isolated and unreserved assimilated. The characteristics of them are quite similar to those of three identity processing styles proposed by Berzonsky, which indicates there are some common elements lying in all self-development processes of adolescences and young adults. Ethnicity and culture could be background and resource or what Côté called identity capital that impacts the special course of self-identity constructing under similar principles. Different attitudes towards and relationships with their own ethnicity and new surroundings separated the three types of students from each other and interacted with the developmental characteristics and tendencies of their ethnicity identifications and self identities. It was found that minority youths’ self-identity constructing was based on their needs of self-value and interacted with their ecological niche constructing. Take ethnicity attachment and ethnicity responsibility as a typical example: the setting up of bi-direction relationship between individuals and their ethnicity (or other identity-related factors) was very important for minority youths to expand and integrate themselves. We also presented in detail our methodological exploring process so as to illuminate the limitation of traditional methods and the necessity and importance of methodological reform. Methodologically, both emic and etic positions were taken, interview and narrative approaches were adopted and individual angle of analysis was kept in the research. They were all proved to be effective to provide insight into the dynamic process of self identity constructing.     

Perceived Breast Development and Adolescent Girls’ Psychological Well-Being

This study, based on U.S. nationally-representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (8,593 13–18?year old girls), explored how perceived breast development was related to psychological well-being among adolescent girls including variations by age and race-ethnicity. It was hypothesized that greater breast development would detrimentally influence adolescent girls’ psychological well-being, although these associations were expected to be stronger for younger adolescent girls and for Whites. Results using multivariate regression analyses with robust standard errors showed that greater perceived breast development was associated with lower self-esteem and higher depressive symptoms for 13–15?year old White, African American (for self-esteem only), and Hispanic (for depressive symptoms only) girls. Although perceived breast development was not associated with 16–18?year old girls’ self-esteem, supplemental analyses found that 16–18?year old Asian American and White girls with considerable or little breast development had more depressive symptoms than those with some breast development. Menarche at a younger age, overweight BMI, perceptions of being overweight, and efforts to lose weight explained a substantial portion of these associations. This study shows that greater perceived breast development, particularly if it occurs at a younger age, is a risk factor for poorer psychological well-being among adolescent girls including racial-ethnic minorities.