Bayesian estimation of semiparametric nonlinear dynamic factor analysis models using the Dirichlet process prior

Parameters in time series and other dynamic models often show complex range restrictions and their distributions may deviate substantially from multivariate normal or other standard parametric distributions. We use the truncated Dirichlet process (DP) as a non‐parametric prior for such dynamic parameters in a novel nonlinear Bayesian dynamic factor analysis model. This is equivalent to specifying the prior distribution to be a mixture distribution composed of an unknown number of discrete point masses (or clusters). The stick‐breaking prior and the blocked Gibbs sampler are used to enable efficient simulation of posterior samples. Using a series of empirical and simulation examples, we illustrate the flexibility of the proposed approach in approximating distributions of very diverse shapes.     

Brighten up: Smiles facilitate perceptual judgment of facial lightness

The metaphoric expression ‘bright smile’ may reflect the actual judgment of facial lightness under varying emotional expressions. The present research examined whether people in fact judge smiling faces as perceptually brighter than frowning faces. Four studies demonstrated that participants believed smiling faces were brighter compared to frowning faces in a binary choice task and in an absolute judgment task. The results suggest that emotional expressions (i.e., smiles and frowns) can bias judgments of facial brightness in ways consistent with the metaphor. Among other implications, such results suggest that stereotypes about darker-skinned individuals may be attenuated by smiles.     

与任务无关的刺激-反应联结对中老年人自动加工的影响

采用掩蔽启动范式,选取字母和数字作为刺激,任务因素为与当前任务无关的处于预备状态的刺激-反应联结,探讨自上而下的任务因素对中老年人自动加工过程的影响。发现中老年被试的自动反应激活过程不受到自上而下的当前无关的、处于预备状态的刺激-反应联结作用的影响,自动加工是完全自动化的。     

中国传统荣辱思想的价值

在我国的传统文化中,关于荣辱观的理论和实践,有着丰富的思想资源。中国古代学者,特别是儒家思想家认为,树立正确的荣辱观,即所谓“知耻”,无论是对治国还是育人,无论是对改善社会风气,还是提高人的品格,都有着极为重要的价值。他们指出,“知耻”是“立人之大节”,培养人的知耻心是“治教之大端”,而耻感教育则是“治世之大端”。中国古代学者还强调,社会上层人士具有“知耻”之心,对于国家的安定和发展是个极为重要的因素。这些思想对社会主义荣辱观教育具有重要的价值。     

论法家“法治”学说的定性问题

<正>近代以来,法家"以法治国"(《韩非子·有度》,下引该书只注篇名。类似说法亦见于《管子·明法》)、"不别亲疏,不殊贵贱,一断于法"(《史记·太史公自序》)的"法治"思想引起了学界的普遍关注。"西学源于诸子说"的盛行,使得薛福成、黄遵宪皆认为先秦法家之"法治"与西方法治殊途同归。不料这种观点引起了沈家本、严复等人的强烈批评,他们明确主张法家"法治"乃"专     

“I Am Sorry to Send You SPAM”

A series of studies investigating cultural differences in apology usage in unsolicited email advertising messages (i.e., SPAM) are reported. Study 1 documented that in comparison to American SPAM, a greater percentage of Korean SPAM included apologies. The next five studies (Ns= 516, 3132, 662, 524, 536) tested various explanations for cross‐cultural differences in uses of, and responses to, apologies. Findings indicated that advertising messages containing apologies were not necessarily more effective than advertising messages without apologies. Koreans, however, considered advertising messages with apologies as more credible and normal and exhibited a greater tendency to model other people's apology use than did Americans. Thus, the frequent presence of apologies in Korean unsolicited email advertising is likely to be based on Koreans' modeling behavior (i.e., a greater tendency to follow social norms).     

读《儒行》札记

《儒行》同见于《礼记》和《孔子家语》,应出于孔门弟子所记,并经整理而成,其成书年代当在春秋战国之际。不过,《孔子家语.儒行解》与《礼记.儒行》相较,则更为原始。《儒行》对于理解孔子思想和原始儒学,是最为系统而完整的论述,理应得到学者的重视。     

Association Between Suicidal Ideation and Exposure to Suicide in Social Relationships Among Family,Friend, and Acquaintance Survivors in South Korea

Exposure to suicide in social relationships may be associated with suicidal ideation among survivors. In South Korea, which is known for having the highest suicide rate among OECD countries, exposure to suicide in social relationships can have serious consequences as social relationships are greatly emphasized in the society. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between survivors' suicidal ideation and their exposure to suicide in close relationships. Data collected through a telephone survey of a total of 1,000 men and women selected from across the nation using a stratified sampling method were analyzed. The results show that individuals who lost a family member, friend, or acquaintance in their lifetime are 4.5 times, 3.7 times, 2.2 times, respectively, more likely to have suicidal ideation in the past year compared to those without such experience. These findings suggest that special intervention for suicide survivors should be considered for those who experience suicide in close relationships.     

Feature integration is not the whole story of the sequence effects of symbolic cueing

ABSTRACT

Sequential modulations in symbolic cueing tasks have been attributed to complete versus partial repetition/alternation of stimulus features between consecutive trials. This feature-integration hypothesis is questioned by recent findings and further investigated in the present study. In the first two experiments, when the cueing axes switched between trials, only complete alternation of cue directions and target locations existed. Nevertheless, significant sequence effects were still found in this condition, which did not support the feature-integration hypothesis. Furthermore, although sequence effects were still significant when stimulus identities were manipulated in Experiment 3, it was abolished when different cue categories (gaze and arrow) were presented as cues in Experiment 4. The findings suggest that the integration of stimulus features is not the only source of the sequential effect and some higher level cognitive mechanisms, possibly as described in the task-file or task organization hypotheses, are involved in the sequential modulations of symbolic cueing.