Bicultural Effects on the Creative Potential of Chinese and French Children

This study examined possible bicultural effects on creative potential of children in four groups of Chinese and French children in Hong Kong and Paris. An international battery of widely used divergent measures (Wallach-Kogan Creativity Tests; WKCT) and newly constructed divergent-plus-integrative measures (Evaluation of Potential Creativity; EPoC) was established for assessment. Study 1 showed that most measures of WKCT and EPoC were reasonably high in reliability and they had expected correlations with the fluency scores of some subtests of Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Study 2 found some interestingly mixed bicultural effects favoring verbal divergent responses for French children and graphic integrative responses for Chinese children. Compared with Paris-French children, the bicultural Hong Kong-French children had significantly higher scores in figural fluency, figural flexibility, and figural uniqueness of WKCT (requiring only verbal divergent responses) but significantly lower scores in the graphic divergent-exploratory measure of EPoC. Compared with Hong Kong-Chinese children, the bicultural Paris-Chinese children had significantly higher scores in the graphic convergent-integrative measure of EPoC, but significantly lower scores in verbal fluency, verbal flexibility, figural fluency, figural flexibility, figural uniqueness, and figural unusualness of WKCT. Implications of the mixed bicultural effects in relation to the diverse creativity measures and children groups are discussed.     

Psychosocial Adaptation of Childhood Cancer Survivors and their Siblings

To best use resources in helping childhood cancer survivors, ascertaining the psychosocial adaptation deficit of the survivor is necessary. Psychosocial adaptation comprises a subjective, self-reflective indicator and objective indicators in terms of education, employment, and other achievements. While deficit is possible due to the trauma caused by cancer and its treatment, research evidence for the deficit is required to ascertain its existence. This study represents such a research endeavor based on a survey of 137 childhood cancer survivors and 101 cancer-free siblings of the survivors in Hong Kong, China. Results reveal weak and inconsistent differences in psychosocial adaptation between the survivor and his or her sibling. The effects of cancer treatment and service involvement on psychosocial adaptation were generally sporadic. Age presented the most pervasive influence on psychosocial adaptation. The results imply a justification for current practices in sustaining the psychosocial adaptation of childhood cancer survivors.     

On Two Versions of ‘the Surprise Examination Paradox’

In this paper, I consider a popular version of the clever student’s reasoning in the surprise examination case, and demonstrate that a valid argument can be constructed. The valid argument is a reductio ad absurdum with the proposition that the student knows on the morning of the first day that the teacher’s announcement is fulfilled as its reductio. But it would not give rise to any paradox. In the process, I criticize Saul Kripke’s solution and Timothy Williamson’s attack on a key step of the student’s reasoning. I then consider the condemned prisoner case in W. V. Quine’s paper ‘On a So-Called Paradox’. I argue that the prisoner’s reasoning as conceived by Quine is more relevant and reasonable than the student’s argument in the popular version of the surprise examination case. I also argue that Quine’s criticism of the prisoner’s reasoning is correct, and therefore that the condemned prisoner case, and the surprise examination case as well, would not generate any paradox.     

Category size effects in semantic and letter fluency in Alzheimer's patients

Many studies have found that patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) perform significantly worse than normal controls on verbal fluency tasks. Moreover, some studies have found that AD patients' deficits compared to controls are more severe for semantic fluency (e.g., vegetables) than for letter fluency (e.g. words that begin with F). These studies, however, have not taken category size into account. A comparison of AD patients and age-matched controls on three semantic and three letter categories revealed that both the size and type of a category significantly predicted AD patients' deficits on verbal fluency tasks. These results suggest that the verbal fluency of AD patients will be most attenuated on large semantic categories.     

Parents, teachers, and peers and early adolescent runaway in Hong Kong

Parental monitoring, teacher support, classmate support, and friend relationship presumably affect adolescents' runaway from home. According to social control theory, social control based on conventional social norms would prevent adolescent runaway, but association with friends may erode such control. This expectation appears to hold true in a sample of Grade 7 students in Hong Kong; parental monitoring and classmate support reduced runaway risk whereas friend relationship raised the risk. These findings emerged from a causal model that controlled for a latent predisposition that commonly affected parental monitoring, friend relationship, and runaway risk. Further analysis indicates that the preventive effect of parental monitoring was stronger on adolescents born on the Chinese mainland than in Hong Kong, and the effect of friend relationship was stronger on the Hong Kong born than the mainland born. Conceivably, a socially controlling culture bolsters the preventive effect of social control.     

Cultural differences in affective forecasting: the role of focalism

The impact bias in affective forecasting-a tendency to overestimate the emotional consequences of future events-may not be a universal phenomenon. This prediction bias stems from a cognitive process known as focalism, whereby predictors focus attention narrowly on the upcoming target event. Three studies supported the hypothesis that East Asians, who tend to think more holistically than Westerners, would be less susceptible to focalism and, consequently, to the impact bias. In Studies 1 and 2, Euro-Canadians exhibited the impact bias for positive future events, whereas East Asians did not. A thought focus measure indicated that the cultural difference in prediction was mediated by the extent to which participants focused on the target event (i.e., focalism). In Study 3, a thought focus manipulation revealed that defocused Euro-Canadians and East Asians made equally moderate affective forecasts.     

Stereotype content model explains prejudice for an envied outgroup: Scale of anti-Asian American Stereotypes

The Stereotype Content Model hypothesizes anti-Asian American stereotypes differentiating two dimensions: (excessive) competence and (deficient) sociability. The Scale of Anti-Asian American Stereotypes (SAAAS) shows this envious mixed prejudice in six studies. Study 1 began with 131 racial attitude items. Studies 2 and 3 tested 684 respondents on a focused 25-item version. Studies 4 and 5 tested the final 25-item SAAAS on 222 respondents at three campuses; scores predicted outgroup friendships, cultural experiences, and (over)estimated campus presence. Study 6 showed that allegedly low sociability, rather than excessively high competence, drives rejection of Asian Americans, consistent with system justification theory. The SAAAS demonstrates mixed, envious anti-Asian American prejudice, contrasting with more-often-studied contemptuous racial prejudices (i.e., against Blacks).     

Clinical validation of the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory

The clinical validity of the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI; F. M. Cheung, K. Leung, et al., 1996) was examined in 2 studies involving a group of 167 male prisoners in Hong Kong and a group of 339 psychiatric patients in China. Elevated scores on the clinical scales were obtained for the clinical samples. Logistic regression analyses confirmed that the CPAI scales were useful in differentiating between male prisoner and the Hong Kong male normative sample and between psychiatric patients and a random sample of normal adults in China. Multivariate analyses of variance results showed significant differences on the CPAI clinical scales and personality scales among subgroups of psychiatric patients with diagnoses of bipolar, schizophrenic, and neurotic disorders. The usefulness of an indigenous personality inventory is discussed.     

Surveys of community attitudes toward mental health facilities: Reflections or provocations?

This paper points out how political motives behind community research may affect the outcome. The case of public opposition to psychiatric halfway houses in Hong Kong is used as an illustration. These mass surveys related to the issue are reviewed to show how the different public opinions expressed may be affected by the objectives, context, sample, and content of the surveys.