Doing business: an obscure notion of the ethics of public associations in ordinary Chinese

Along with the notion of being a person (zero run 做人), the notion of doing business (zuo shi 做事) in ordinary Chinese is basically an over-all notion of the norms in the practical and associative activities, carrying typically obscure meanings on practice and association affairs in some external world. Ordinary Chinese not only distinguishes these two notions but also defines a dictionary order of them, with the affairs of the internal world prior to those of the external. The fact that the notion of doing business refers to business (shi 事) rather than person (ren 人) makes this order clear at a deeper level. It shows that this notion regards the practical affairs of the external world less important to the person itself than those of the internal. Except for these qualities, the notion of doing business holds some normative meanings, although contains no definite rules. These meanings indirectly relate to the notion of person that people form in their private associations and emerge as some mixture with a tactical attitude out of the need of earning a life. The notion of person gives birth to some obscure requirements, for instance, the requirement of ‘doing business in accordance with your conscience’ and that of ‘doing business seriously’. The core world of family is marginalized in the public transition of associations. There are reasons to anticipate that in this process the notion of doing business will undergo more radical changes than that of being a person. __________ Translated from Zhexue Yanjiu 哲学研究 (Philosophical Studies), 2005 (7)     

关于青少年应对风格的调查研究

该文采用天津师大编制的应对风格量表对江西省4072名从小学五年级到大学三年级的学生进行了调查,目的是了解青少年应对风格现状及其发展特点,以及性别、独生子女、城乡等因素对应对风格的影响。结果发现：总体而言,青少年应对风格倾向“注重问题的应对策略”,较少采用“注重情绪表达的策略”;在初一年级前后,个体采用的应对方式最为多样化;男女生的应对风格差异在高中后较为明显,男生更倾向于采用“注重问题的应对策略”,女生更倾向于采用“针对情绪的身体策略”;城镇学生的应对方式比农村学生更为多样化,并且更倾向于针对问题本身的策略;家庭收入只对“针对情绪的行为策略”产生影响,高、低两端收入家庭的学生更倾向于采用“针对情绪的行为策略”;是否独生子女在应对风格上不存在显著差异。     

Employee customer orientation in manufacturing organizations: joint influences of customer proximity and the senior leadership team

Pursuing a customer-focused strategy in manufacturing organizations requires employees across functions to embrace the importance of understanding customer needs and to align their everyday efforts with the goal of satisfying and retaining customers. Little prior research has examined what factors influence employee customer orientation in manufacturing settings. Drawing on the attraction-selection-attrition model, upper-echelons theory, and contingency theories of leadership, this study investigated the joint influences of functional roles' proximity to external customers and the senior leadership team's customer orientation on employee customer orientation. Hierarchical linear modeling results based on data obtained from 4,299 employees and 403 senior leaders from 42 facilities of a global manufacturer operating in 16 countries revealed that employees occupying customer-contact roles had the highest level of customer orientation, followed by employees occupying production roles, and then by those in support roles. In addition, there was a positive relationship between the senior leadership team's customer orientation and employee customer orientation for all 3 functional roles. The positive relationship between the senior leadership team and employee customer orientation was the strongest for employees in support roles, suggesting that lower levels of proximity to external customers may create a greater need for leadership in developing employees' customer-oriented attitudes.     

Reward history modulates visual attention in an avian model

Animal Cognition - Attention can be biased towards previously reward-associated stimuli even when they are task-irrelevant and physically non-salient, although studies of reward-modulated attention...     

Modelling multiple problem-solving strategies and strategy shift in cognitive diagnosis for growth

Problem-solving strategies, defined as actions people select intentionally to achieve desired objectives, are distinguished from skills that are implemented unintentionally. In education, strategy-oriented instructions that guide students to form problem-solving strategies are found to be more effective for low-achieving students than the skill-oriented instructions designed for enhancing their skill implementation ability. Although the existing longitudinal cognitive diagnosis models (CDMs) can model the change in students' dynamic skill mastery status over time, they are not designed to model the shift in students' problem-solving strategies. This study proposes a longitudinal CDM that considers both between-person multiple strategies and within-person strategy shift. The model, separating the strategy choice process from the skill implementation process, is intended to provide diagnostic information on strategy choice as well as skill mastery status. A simulation study is conducted to evaluate the parameter recovery of the proposed model and investigate the consequences of ignoring the presence of multiple strategies or strategy shift. Further, an empirical data analysis is conducted to illustrate the use of the proposed model to measure strategy shift, growth in skill implementation ability and skill mastery status.     

青少年的移情与亲社会行为的关系

本实验研究选用的被试是144名12-16岁的中学生。研究采用自然实验与量表问卷相结合的方法。 实验结果表明,青少年的移情能力与亲社会行为呈显著的正相关。对实验班施予我们自己设计的“移情训练系列法”能明显提高他们的移情能力,增强亲社会行为。这一技术在青少年思想品德教育中具有实用性价值。 本实验研究只是一种初步的尝试,需要逐步展开,不断深化。     

Post-extinction conditional stimulus valence predicts reinstatement fear: Relevance for long-term outcomes of exposure therapy

Exposure therapy for anxiety disorders is translated from fear conditioning and extinction. While exposure therapy is effective in treating anxiety, fear sometimes returns after exposure. One pathway for return of fear is reinstatement: unsignaled unconditional stimuli following completion of extinction. The present study investigated the extent to which valence of the conditional stimulus (CS+) after extinction predicts return of CS+ fear after reinstatement. Participants (N = 84) engaged in a differential fear conditioning paradigm and were randomised to reinstatement or non-reinstatement. We hypothesised that more negative post-extinction CS+ valence would predict higher CS+ fear after reinstatement relative to non-reinstatement and relative to extinction retest. Results supported the hypotheses and suggest that strategies designed to decrease negative valence of the CS+ may reduce the return of fear via reinstatement following exposure therapy.     

Anxiety after remembering stressful academic versus brush with death events: The moderating roles of future time perspective and personal intimacy

This study examines: (i) whether recalling stressful autobiographical events results in anxiety, (ii) the relation of memory qualities to anxiety, and (iii) the relation of future time perspective and personal intimacy to experiencing anxiety. Participants (N = 120) completed Future Time Perspective, Personal Intimacy and State Anxiety scales. They were randomly assigned to recall a brush with death, a stressful academic deadline, or a no-stress control. Memory qualities (vividness and significance) were assessed. As expected, recalling stressful events resulted in anxiety with more personally significant events related to higher anxiety. Having a more open-ended future time perspective related to lower anxiety after recalling a stressful academic deadline, whereas greater personal intimacy predicted lower anxiety after recalling a brush with death. Findings are discussed in terms of factors that may serve to moderate the link between stressful memories and the experience of anxiety.     

Health-related behaviours and their correlates in a general population sample of 45-year old women

Abstract

Preventive strategies for menopausal women to reduce the risks for osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease has been the focus of considerable attention, but understanding of mid-aged women's behavioural risk factors for these diseases is meagre. The current study describes a range of health-related behaviours and their psychosocial correlates, in a sample of 45-year old women, recruited from five general practices and assessed by postal survey (N=106, response rate 60%). Results suggest that health promotion for this group might best focus upon increases in regular exercise, calcium intake and breast awareness, and decreases in cigarette and caffeine consumption. The behaviours assessed were generally not inter-related. However, several associations were identified between behaviours and health and psychosocial variables. The main ones were the association between menopausal status and smoking, and the relationship between body weight, self-esteem and physical exercise. It is argued that the menopause transition can be an opportunity for preventive work.