The Divine Command Theory of Mozi1

In this study, I will examine the famous ‘divine command theory’ of Mozi. Through the discussion of several important chapters of Mozi, including Fayi (law), Tianzhi (the will of heaven), Minggui (knowing the spirits) and Jianai (universal love), I attempt to clarify the arguments of Mozi offered in support of his distinctive ideas of serving heaven, knowing the spirits and loving all. The analysis shows that there are serious problems with his assumptions, hence they fail to support his conclusions as to the heaven–human relationship, and the man–man relationship. That is to say, at least in the texts covered, Mozi did not justify the moral or social relationship in society by appealing to the religious relationship.     

Cognitive decline in old age: separating retest effects from the effects of growing older

Repeated administration of cognitive tests improves test performance, making it difficult for researchers to gauge the true extent of age-related cognitive decline. The authors examined this issue using data from the Rush Religious Orders Study and linear mixed-effects models. At annual intervals for up to 8 years, more than 800 older Catholic clergy members completed the same set of 19 cognitive tests from which previously established composite measures of cognitive domains were derived. Retest effects on some measures were substantial and continued to accumulate even after 8 annual test readministrations, but effects on other measures were minimal. Across cognitive measures, retest effects were not related to age, sex, or education. Individual differences in retest effects were substantial but not consistent across cognitive measures. The results suggest that retest-based improvement in cognitive test performance can be substantial and persistent.     

彝族原始宗教与道教的比较研究

彝族原始宗教和道教都是本土宗教,它们之间有诸多相融、相通之处,如诸神论、祖先崇拜、神仙思想贵阴贵柔、政教合一、返朴归真、天人感应、斋醮、法术法具、禹步等。     

论王玄览的修道观

文章对王玄览的修道思想和方法进行了较全面的探讨。文章认为,王玄览的修道思想是以“冥真”为主要内容的修道目标论、以“众生”和“道”互为因缘的修道根据论、以主客体统一为基础的道性论和以“坐忘”为主要形式的修道方法论。王玄览的修道思想,大大深化了道教对修道目标、修道根据和修道方法的研究,在道教思想史上占有重要地位。     

Comparison of brain mechanisms underlying the processing of Chinese characters and pseudo-characters: an event-related potential study

Most Chinese characters are composed of a semantic radical on the left and a phonetic radical on the right. The semantic radical provides the semantic information; the phonetic radical provides information concerning the pronunciation of the whole character. The pseudo‐characters in the study consisted of different sub‐lexical parts of real Chinese characters and consequently they also had the semantic radical and the phonetic radical. But they were not readable and had no actual meaning. In order to investigate the spatiotemporal cortical activation patterns underlying the orthographic, phonological and semantic processing of Chinese characters, we used event‐related brain potentials (ERPs) to explore the processing of Chinese characters and pseudo‐characters when 14 healthy Chinese college students viewed the characters passively. Results showed that both Chinese characters and pseudo‐characters elicited an evident negative potential peaking around 120 ms (N120), which appeared to reflect initial orthographic distinction and evaluation. Then, Chinese pseudo‐characters elicited a more positive ERP deflection (P220) than did Chinese characters 200–250 ms after onset of the stimuli. It was similar to the recognition potential (RP) and might reflect the integration processes of phonological and semantic processing on the basis of early orthographic information. Dipole source analysis of the difference wave (pseudo‐characters minus characters) indicated that a generator localized in the left temporal‐occipital junction contributed to this effect, which was possibly related to phonological and perceptual–semantic information integration. Between 350–450 ms, a greater negativity (N360) in pseudo‐characters as compared to characters was found over midline fronto‐central scalp regions. Dipole analysis localized the generator of N360 in the right parahippocampal cortex. Therefore, the N360 might be an N400 component and reflect the higher‐level semantic activation on the basis of orthographic, phonological and perceptual–semantic processing.     

Maternal socialization goals, parenting styles, and social-emotional adjustment among Chinese and European American young adults: testing a mediation model

The authors compared the associations among perceived maternal socialization goals (self-development, filial piety, and collectivism), perceived maternal parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, and training), and the social-emotional adjustment (self-esteem, academic self-efficacy, and depression) between Chinese and European American young adults. The mediation processes in which socialization goals relate to young adults' adjustment outcomes through parenting styles were examined. Results showed that European American participants perceived higher maternal self-development socialization goals, whereas Chinese participants perceived higher maternal collectivism socialization goals as well as more authoritarian parenting. Cross-cultural similarities were found in the associations between perceived maternal authoritative parenting and socioemotional adjustment (e.g., higher self-esteem and higher academic self-efficacy) across the two cultural groups. However, perceived maternal authoritarian and training parenting styles were found only to be related to Chinese participants' adjustment (e.g., higher academic self-efficacy and lower depression). The mediation analyses showed that authoritative parenting significantly mediated the positive associations between the self-development and collectivism goal and socioemotional adjustment for both cultural groups. Additionally, training parenting significantly mediated the positive association between the filial piety goal and young adults' academic self-efficacy for the Chinese group only. Findings of this study highlight the importance of examining parental socialization goals in cross-cultural parenting research.     

Design-Based Guidelines for the Semantic Perception of Emergency Signs

The current study applies semantic differential to explore the semantic perception of emergency signs, in an attempt to analyze the meanings of emergency signs in regard to the psychological exigencies of the general public. The results indicate that problems concerning recognition accuracy have been observed, but also that the evaluation of the semantic meaning of the signs is positive. However, a number of emotional factors also emerge, indicating that if improvements should be made to the existing emergency signs, it would better facilitate evacuation in the event of an emergency. As for the design guidelines, the emergency signs should be readily recognizable and have a single meaning. Multiple symbolic meanings should be eliminated. Concrete design guidelines include: (a) safety movement, (b) clarity, and (c) safety. To avoid confusion in sign recognition, in addition to the improvements made based on the abovementioned guidelines, educational promotional activities carried out by the government would also prove very beneficial.     

Individualism,collectivism, and Chinese adolescents' aggression: intracultural variations

This study examined the relations between cultural values (i.e., individualism and collectivism) and aggression among 460 (234 girls) Chinese adolescents. Conflict level and social status insecurity were examined as potential explaining mechanisms for these relations. The results showed that adolescents' endorsement of collectivism was negatively related to their use of overt and relational aggression as reported by teachers and peers, whereas positive associations were found between the endorsement of individualism and adolescent aggression. Adolescents' conflict level and social status insecurity accounted for a significant part of these associations. Findings of this study demonstrate the importance of examining intracultural variations of cultural values in relation to adolescent aggression as well as the process variables in explaining the relations. Aggr. Behav. 36:187–194, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

汉语名词短语产生中的量词一致性效应

目前,语言产生领域的多数研究都集中在口语词语产生方面,许多研究者针对不同的语言系统的特色,对功能词进行了大量跨语言的研究。汉语量词是汉藏语系独有的功能词,本研究采用词图干扰范式,以名词短语和简单名词两种不同的图片命名任务,探讨了汉语量词的产生过程。实验结果发现,在名词短语命名任务下,存在量词的一致性效应;在名词命名的任务下,则不存在这种一致性效应。研究还发现语义干扰效应在两种不同命名任务下出现了分离。语义干扰效应只在命名名词的任务下出现,在命名名词短语的任务下未被发现。     

《大学生主观幸福感量表》的编制

根据国内外关于主观幸福感的文献和已有的研究经验,编制了大学生主观幸福感问卷。以往大多数研究认为,主观幸福感由生活满意度和情绪体验两个基本成分构成,本研究认为主观幸福感还应包括社会性行为和人际关系等成分。对376名大学生进行初测,通过探索性因素分析,表明大学生主观幸福感由自我满意、家庭满意、消极情绪、积极情绪、精力、生活满意、社会性行为和人际关系8个维度构成,共41个项目。对511名大学生施测41个项目的主观幸福感问卷,进行验证性因素分析,结果表明,上述结构是合理的。