The Associations between Perceived Maternal Psychological Control and Academic Performance and Academic Self-Concept in Chinese Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Basic Psychological Needs

This study examined the associations between perceived maternal psychological control and adolescent academic functioning in terms of academic performance and academic self-concept. The study also tested the possible mediating role of basic psychological needs to investigate how parental psychological control is related to child academic functioning. A sample of Chinese adolescents (N?=?338) completed a self-administered questionnaire on maternal psychological control, academic self-concept, academic performance and basic psychological needs satisfaction. Structural equation modeling was used for data analyses. Findings of this study revealed that Chinese adolescents’ perceptions of maternal psychological control were associated with their academic self-concept, and furthermore this association was mediated by adolescents’ basic psychological needs satisfaction on autonomy, relatedness and competence. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as future research directions were discussed.     

Grounding the Symbols for Place Value: Evidence From Training and Long-Term Exposure to Base-10 Models

Two experiments examined whether concrete models support place value learning. In Experiment 1 (N = 149), 7-year-olds were trained with either a) symbols alone or b) symbols and base-10 blocks. Children in both groups showed significant growth overall, but there were specific effects favoring one training type over another. Symbols-only training led to higher scores on a number line estimation task and was particularly effective among high-ability students, whereas blocks training led to better understanding of base-10 structure and was particularly effective among low-ability learners. In Experiment 2 (N = 68), Montessori students, for whom concrete models play a major role in mathematics instruction, also demonstrated better understanding of base-10 structure than did their matched peers enrolled in mainstream elementary schools.     

Collinear masking effect in visual search is independent of perceptual salience

Searching for a target in a salient region should be easier than looking for one in a nonsalient region. However, we previously discovered a contradictory phenomenon in which a local target in a salient structure was more difficult to find than one in the background. The salient structure was constructed of orientation singletons aligned to each other to form a collinear structure. In the present study, we undertake to determine whether such a masking effect was a result of salience competition between a global structure and the local target. In the first 3 experiments, we increased the salience value of the local target with the hope of adding to its competitive advantage and eventually eliminating the masking effect; nevertheless, the masking effect persisted. In an additional 2 experiments, we reduced salience of the global collinear structure by altering the orientation of the background bars and the masking effect still emerged. Our salience manipulations were validated by a controlled condition in which the global structure was grouped noncollinearly. In this case, local target salience increase (e.g., onset) or global distractor salience reduction (e.g., randomized flanking orientations) effectively removed the facilitation effect of the noncollinear structure. Our data suggest that salience competition is unlikely to explain the collinear masking effect, and other mechanisms such as contour integration, border formation, or the crowding effect may be prospective candidates for further investigation.     

简易自我放松催眠对学习疲劳的缓解作用

以简化的自生训练为基础,并整合进传统催眠和NLP经验擎技术的有效成分,编制易于学生自我操作,并能在课间或课后短时间内完成的,有利于心理放松的简易自我放松催眠方法,检验其对中学生学习疲劳的缓解作用.以382名高中生为对象,采用实验组对照组前测后测设计,以韦克斯勒成人智力测验中的译码分测验作为缓解学习疲劳、恢复认知水平的指标.结果表明,译码测验成绩实验组优于对照组,且差异显著;实验组后测成绩优于前测成绩,差异也很显著,说明简易自我放松催眠可以有效缓解学习疲劳,并能在一定程度上恢复认知水平.     

健全人格取向的大学生心理健康结构初探

在文献综述的基础上,建构了健全人格取向的大学生心理健康的理论模型,并对大学生进行开放式问卷调查,再参考同类量表,拟定了大学生心理健康量表的题项.经过对4452名大学生进行测试,结果表明:健全人格取向的大学生心理健康包含:幸福体验、人际和谐、积极乐学、情绪调控、目标追求和勇于挑战等6个维度,本研究所编制的大学生心理健康鼍表具有良好的信效度.     

积极心理健康的内涵解析

学术界一般把积极心理学视野下的心理健康称为积极心理健康,它是当代心理健康相关学科发展的一个潮流.积极心理健康认为消除或摆脱了各种心理问题的人并不一定就意味着心理健康,心理健康还意味着正向力量或积极品质的产生与增加,因此,心理健康相关学科在研究人的各种心理问题的同时,也应该花相同精力或时间去研究人的积极力量和积极品质.在研究思路上,积极心理健康也表现出了一个非常明显的新特点,强调心理健康研究要从以关注个体总的心理状态为主的研究思路转向于以关注个体内差异为主的研究思路.     

抑制控制能力衰退对知觉组织老年化的影响

通过比较注意线索对老年人和年轻人共线性和相似性知觉组织的影响,探讨了知觉组织老年化的原因。研究发现,注意线索对年轻人的助益更大,对老年人的助益较小,符合抑制控制理论的研究假设,同时本文还对加工速度、基本感觉能力等可能引起认知老年化的因素进行了分析。此外,还发现了知觉组织中与阅读习惯一致的方向偏好,无论在有无注意线索的条件下,135°方向上的知觉组织都快于45°方向上的知觉组织。     

The susceptibility of mental accounting principles to evaluation mode effects

The present research shows that the predictions and outcomes of mental‐accounting tests depend on whether preferences are measured separately (one at a time) or jointly (comparatively). Across five studies, we show that joint evaluation weakens some decision biases (the theater ticket problem, the calculator and jacket problem), but exacerbates others (the basketball game problem). Joint evaluations serve as a check on whether people think the answers they give in separate evaluations make sense or require adjustment. We discuss how the findings impact (1) tests of mental accounting predictions (between vs. within subjects designs), and (2) the normative status of mental accounting. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New Media and Event: A Case Study on the Power of the Internet

With the rapid growth of the number of netizens in China, the Internet has become one of the most important parts in the lives of people who not only can get more information on the Internet, but can also express their own views. In other words, the Internet has also become a part of real-world events. Drawing on a case study about ‘The Boycott of Carrefour’ in China during the spring of 2008, the paper first discusses the role and functions of new media during the incident. Through analyses of a story about the culture of labeling others and a conflict between burning a wrong flag in this case, the paper then explores the capriciousness of Chinese cyberspace. The author proposes an explanation on how the illusion of truth is generated on the Internet and then influences the events in the real world. The paper concludes that the Internet is not just a simple technological tool, but it is intertwined with the sociocultural contexts in which it is rooted.

Validation Studies on a Measure of Overall Managerial Readiness for the Chinese

The Overall Managerial Readiness (OMR) scale was first developed as a simple measure of managerial potential for the Chinese workforce. OMR purports to predict managerial performance by assessing a person's attitudes and intention to engage in managerial practices. It consists of 28 forced‐choice statements most of which refer to attitudes and behaviors in a work setting. Three studies together showed that OMR was correlated negatively with neuroticism, and positively with conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to experience, and extraversion. Notwithstanding, OMR was distinct from the Big Five, and had incremental predictive power on work performance (Study 3). Besides, OMR alone predicted bank managers' productivity (Study 4). Finally, internal consistency and concurrent validity of a Likert version of OMR was ascertained (Study 5).