Retributive justice and social categorizations: the perceived fairness of punishment depends on intergroup status

In the current research, the authors investigate the influence of intergroup status and social categorizations on retributive justice judgments, that is, the extent to which observers perceive punishment as fair. Building on social identity theory and the model of subjective group dynamics, it is predicted that when the ingroup has higher status than the outgroup, people are relatively less concerned about punishment of an outgroup offender than when the ingroup has lower status than the outgroup. Two experiments revealed that participants are more punitive towards an ingroup than an outgroup offender when ingroup status is high but not when ingroup status is low. Furthermore, in correspondence with our line of reasoning, this finding emerged because participants were less punitive towards outgroup offenders when ingroup status is high than when ingroup status was low. It is concluded that the perceived fairness of punishment depends on the offender's social categorization and intergroup status. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What do we learn from the Implicit Association Test about intergroup attitudes in Hong Kong? The case of social identification inclusiveness and need for closure

The current study tests an implication of the Associative-Propositional Evaluation model of implicit and explicit attitude measures in Hong Kong's intergroup context. We argued that the Implicit Association Test taps associative intergroup evaluations that are not necessarily consistent with the propositional implications of one's social identification inclusiveness and need for closure. In contrast, explicit intergroup attitude measures tap propositional evaluations resulting from validating the inferences drawn from pertinent propositional information in the evaluation context. Thus, explicit intergroup attitude should be consistent with the propositional implications of social identification inclusiveness and need for closure. We tested and found support for these hypotheses in a study of Hong Kong adolescents' ( N  = 65) perception of Hong Kong people and Mainland Chinese.     

Embracing transformational leadership: team values and the impact of leader behavior on team performance

The authors investigated the relationship between transformational leadership behavior and group performance in 218 financial services teams that were branches of a bank in Hong Kong and the United States. Transformational leadership influenced team performance through the mediating effect of team potency. The effect of transformational leadership on team potency was moderated by team power distance and team collectivism, such that higher power distance teams and more collectivistic teams exhibited stronger positive effects of transformational leadership on team potency. The model was supported by data in both Hong Kong and the United States, which suggests a convergence in how teams function in the East and West and highlights the importance of team values.     

Time perception and time perspective differences between adolescents and adults

The present experiment aimed to investigate the differences in time perception and time perspective between subjects representing two developmental stages, namely adolescence and middle adulthood. Twenty Chinese adolescents aged 15–25 and twenty Chinese adults aged 35–55 participated in the study. A time discrimination task and a time reproduction task were implemented to measure the accuracy of their time perception. The Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (Short-Form) was adopted to assess their time orientation. It was found that adolescents performed better than adults in both the time discrimination task and the time reproduction task. Adolescents were able to differentiate different time intervals with greater accuracy and reproduce the target duration more precisely. For the time reproduction task, it was also found that adults tended to overestimate the duration of the target stimuli while adolescents were more likely to underestimate it. As regards time perspective, adults were more future-oriented than adolescents, whereas adolescents were more present-oriented than adults. No significant relationship was found between time perspective and time perception.     

Personal Spiritual Values and Quality of Life: Evidence from Chinese College Students

Values are guiding principles in our life. While some studies found spiritual values to be “healthier,” Sagiv and Schwartz (Eur J Soc Psychol 30:177–198, 2000) showed that people holding non-spiritual values were higher on affective well-being. We examined the predictive power of these two types of values with a longitudinal data set collected from Chinese students mainly in Hong Kong. Structural equation modeling revealed that spiritual values (as well as family income) positively predicted quality of life a year later. Non-spiritual, self-enhancement values, did not show any association. Results suggest that developing spiritual values may promote well-being through enabling individuals to find meaning and purpose in life.     

Three-Mode Factor Analysis by Means of Candecomp/Parafac

A three-mode covariance matrix contains covariances of N observations (e.g., subject scores) on J variables for K different occasions or conditions. We model such an JK×JK covariance matrix as the sum of a (common) covariance matrix having Candecomp/Parafac form, and a diagonal matrix of unique variances. The Candecomp/Parafac form is a generalization of the two-mode case under the assumption of parallel factors. We estimate the unique variances by Minimum Rank Factor Analysis. The factors can be chosen oblique or orthogonal. Our approach yields a model that is easy to estimate and easy to interpret. Moreover, the unique variances, the factor covariance matrix, and the communalities are guaranteed to be proper, a percentage of explained common variance can be obtained for each variable-condition combination, and the estimated model is rotationally unique under mild conditions. We apply our model to several datasets in the literature, and demonstrate our estimation procedure in a simulation study.     

School-Based Cognitive Mindfulness Intervention for Internalizing Problems: Pilot Study with Hong Kong Elementary Students

Childhood internalizing problems such as anxiety and depression can have serious personal, familial and societal repercussions, including drug and alcohol abuse, delinquency, unplanned pregnancy, and even suicide. There is little research on mindfulness interventions for children with clinical levels of internalizing problems, and school-based mindfulness research with children has focused on non-clinical groups. We employed a two-stage screening and intervention procedure to evaluate an in-school mindfulness-based cognitive intervention for Hong Kong children with subclinical internalizing difficulties. Ninety-three fourth to sixth graders were screened, and twenty students (age 9–13, median age 10) highest among their peers on internalizing problems, but lowest on externalizing problems, participated in a 9-week group mindfulness-based intervention. We employed a two-phase open trial design, with random assignment to an immediate intervention group or wait-list control group. In single-trial analysis, one-tailed dependent sample t-tests showed significant decreases in both worry and in symptoms of panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety and overall internalizing problems. In a randomized controlled trial analysis, the immediate intervention group evidenced larger but nonsignificant reductions on almost all measures. Eighty-five percent of the participants rated the program as helpful, and 65–80 % reported improvement in handling emotions and interpersonal relationships at post-treatment, with some treatment gains maintained at 3-month follow-up. These preliminary findings have encouraging implications for implementing time-limited school-based mindfulness interventions targeting elevated childhood internalizing difficulties.     

Mental health of Chinese primary care patients with lower urinary tract symptoms

The aim of this study was to evaluate the mental health of Chinese primary care patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). This was a cross-sectional observational study. Five hundred and nineteen subjects with LUTS completed a structured questionnaire containing the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-Short Form, the International Prostate Symptom Score, the adapted International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence Short Form and questions about socio-demographics. Overall, 17.7% of subjects reported depressive symptoms, 24.3% anxiety symptoms and 9.6% stress symptoms. In males, demographic factors associated with poorer mental health included being not married; clinical factors included higher LUTS severity, weak stream, straining and mixed urinary incontinence. In females, demographic factors associated with poorer mental health included being younger, not married and lower household income; clinical factors included higher LUTS severity, incomplete bladder emptying, urgency and weak stream. Chinese primary care patients with LUTS appear to be an at-risk group for poorer mental health with increased prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms and may require routine screening to identify those who may require more tailored interventions to address both their urinary symptoms and psychological distress.     

Sibling relationships and civic engagement: A longitudinal study of Chinese young adults

This study examined the longitudinal associations of sibling intimacy and conflict with civic attitudes and behaviours among Chinese young adults. At two time points separated by about 12 months, questionnaire data were collected from 272 Chinese college students (mean age at Time 1 = 19.68 years; 69% female), students who studied in Hong Kong and had at least one sibling. Students rated their intimacy and conflict with their siblings and their parents at Time 1, and their civic attitudes and behaviours at both time points. Hierarchical regression revealed that, controlling for demographic characteristics and parent–child intimacy and conflict, sibling intimacy predicted increases in both civic attitudes and behaviours. Sibling conflict was a non-significant predictor, however. Findings highlighted the roles of siblings in understanding civic development in young adulthood and the utility of targeting sibling intimacy as means to foster young adults' positive attitudes to and active participation in civic activities.     

Journalism as Model for Civic and Information Literacies

Journalism can serve as a generative disciplinary context for developing civic and information literacies needed to meaningfully participate in an increasingly networked and mediated public sphere. Using interviews with journalists, we developed a cognitive task analysis model, identifying an iterative sequence of production and domain-specific cognitive constructs of journalism expertise. We diagnose common discrepancies between professional practices and typical youth journalism pedagogies, and offer suggestions for teaching participatory politics and civic literacies through journalism.