On the Path Towards Thinking: Learning from Martin Heidegger and Rudolf Steiner

This paper is a philosophical study of the nature of thinking based on the philosophies of Martin Heidegger and Rudolf Steiner. For Heidegger, the pre-Socratic Greek philosophers exemplified genuine thinking, appreciating the meaning of Being. But this kind of philosophy was soon replaced by the onto-theological approach, in which Being was reductively objectified, and the question of the meaning of Being was forgotten. Hence, according to Heidegger, we still have to learn to think. Commentators on Heidegger point to the similarities between his approach to thinking and that of various mystical teachings, such as those of Meister Eckhart or Zen Buddhism. Another less well known philosopher who devoted himself to this question was Rudolf Steiner. Like Heidegger, Steiner claims that we do not know what it means to really think. Steiner was however more outspoken in insisting that only through a kind of meditative practice can we directly experience the nature of thinking. Present day materialistic explanations of thinking as caused by the brain stand in clear opposition to his spiritual conception of thinking. Drawing upon Heidegger (somewhat) and Steiner (mostly) I argue against the materialistic understanding of thinking as jumping to unwarranted conclusions. The paper ends with describing some of the elements of Steiner Waldorf education which are intended to promote the development of living, creative thinking.     

A World Through the Camera Phone Lens: a Case Study of Beijing Camera Phone Use

While the camera phone is becoming widely used among mobile phone users, this new technology is changing the perspective from which we see the world and thus changing our thoughts and lives. In order to understand what this convergence means to us, this research makes a case study of 16 mobile phone users in Beijing urban area and attempts to analyze how the camera phone is used in both self-construction and self-identification processes. The case study illustrates that the camera phone is helping people record what they experience at any time and place and thus impacting upon how they experience the world. Consequently, this digitalized copy of life promotes the social reflectivity, which can be seen as facilitating the emerging civil society in China’s rapidly transforming technoculture.     

人格操纵对内隐自尊的影响及其与外显自尊的关系

该研究使用内隐联想测验测量了人格反馈操纵前后被试的内隐自尊水平,同时探究了不同外显自尊水平被试内隐自尊水平的差异。结果表明,被试会出现显著的内隐自尊效应;人格反馈操纵对内隐自尊起抑制作用,正负反馈的影响存在差异;外显与内隐自尊产生分离。     

决策中社会价值取向的理论与测评方法

传统经济学决策理论强调利己性假设, 认为个体是理性的并由个人利益所驱动的。但是, 个体在相依情境中的社会动机要比利己性假设更为复杂, 具有较大的个体差异。社会价值取向是指个体在相依情境中对自己收益和他人收益分配的特定偏好, 是一个用来描述个体对他人利益关注程度的个体差异的概念。本文回顾了测量社会价值取向的三优势测量、环形测验和滑块测验等方法, 强调了不同测评方法的优点与不足, 并简要总结了决策、社会认知、共情、亲社会行为等领域内相关的社会价值取向研究。未来的研究则需要探索社会价值取向与不同社会因素的交互作用, 以及不同社会价值取向个体的神经机制等方面的研究。     

延长哀伤障碍的概念、流行病学和病理机制

延长哀伤障碍是一种由亲近的人去世引发的病理性哀伤反应, 即死亡发生6个月后, 个体对死者的想念影响到了生活各方面, 且社会功能受损, 其最近20年才开始受到临床心理学研究者关注和探讨。本文首先回顾了概念提出及后续发展, 并讨论了其与持续性复杂哀伤相关障碍的区别与联系。随后, 本文综述了其独立的诊断标准、评估工具和流行病学调查、以及与正常哀伤、抑郁症和创伤后应激障碍的区别。接下来, 本文对其病理机制的理论思考和实证研究进行了讨论。最后, 本文指出未来可考察诊断标准的跨文化适用性、丰富病理机制的理论与研究。     

人际合作与冲突影响博弈决策的结果评价

人际合作与冲突是人际互动的两种主要形式, 在人类社会的发展中有着重要作用。脑成像研究表明, 当个体和人类同伴进行博弈时, 选择合作与选择冲突激活脑区的强度有所不同。但目前尚不清楚, 人际合作与冲突如何影响决策选择之后的结果评价过程。本研究采用Chicken Game任务对此问题进行了探讨, 研究记录了22名健康成人被试与人类同伴进行Chicken Game任务时的脑电活动。结果表明, 反馈负波(FRN)和P300不仅受到结果效价的影响, 同时也受到人际合作与冲突的影响。相对于选择冲突, 个体选择合作时, 输钱和赢钱反馈引发的FRN以及P300波幅差异更大。相关分析表明, RA (被试和解对方进攻)反馈引发的FRN波幅与接受该反馈后下一个trials中和解的选择率(以及总的和解率)呈显著的负相关。上述结果表明, 在社会博弈中, 合作增加了个体对博弈结果的预期, 从而引发更大的FRN效应; 并且合作共赢的结果所具有的物质意义与社会意义, 使其诱发更大的P300波幅。     

Threshold Theory Tested in an Organizational Setting: The Relation Between Perceived Innovativeness and Intelligence in a Large Sample of Leaders

A large sample of leaders (N = 4257) was used to test the link between leader innovativeness and intelligence. The threshold theory of the link between creativity and intelligence assumes that below a certain IQ level (approximately IQ 120), there is some correlation between IQ and creative potential, but above this cutoff point, there is no correlation. Support for the threshold theory of creativity was found, in that the correlation between IQ and innovativeness was positive and significant below a cutoff point of IQ 120. Above the cutoff, no significant relation was identified, and the two correlations differed significantly. The finding was stable across distinct parts of the sample, providing support for the theory, although the correlations in all subsamples were small. The findings lend support to the existence of threshold effects using perceptual measures of behavior in real-world organizational settings, and thus beyond creative potential measures applied in the psychological laboratory where it has previously been documented.     

正念是什么——从正念内涵研究发展角度的思考

"正念是什么"是正念研究中的基本问题,也是长期困扰研究者的难题,造成此困境的重要原因是正念跨越了佛学与心理学两种语境。在正念内涵研究历程中,研究者们先后试图以"去神秘化"、"去语境化"及"整合化"来解决跨语境所造成的问题。本研究认为:正念为多维概念,其内涵的复杂性决定了研究者对正念的认识并非静态的判断,而是逐步成熟的过程;应深入整合佛学与心理学语境,以发展的视角看待正念。     

The effect of motivation and positive affect on ego depletion: Replenishment versus release mechanism

In this study, 2 experiments were conducted to investigate whether motivation and positive affect can alleviate ego depletion and to elucidate their possible mechanisms. In Experiment 1, a crossing‐out‐letter task was adapted to reach an ego depletion state for Chinese participants. Participants were then randomly assigned to the extrinsic motivation group, the positive affect group or the depletion control group. After the experimental treatment, a dumbbell task was used to measure participants' remaining self‐regulatory resources. The results showed that participants in the motivation and positive affect groups performed better on the dumbbell task than participants in the depletion control group. Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment 1 except that participants were asked to perform an additional unexpected dumbbell task after a neutral video following the above procedure. The results of Experiment 1 were replicated; however, participants' performance on the additional dumbbell task differed. The positive affect group performed better than the depletion control group, indicating an increase in self‐regulatory resources and thus supporting the replenishment effect of positive affect. No significant difference was found between the motivation group and the depletion control group.