Event centrality of positive and negative autobiographical memories to identity and life story across cultures

The aim of this study was to investigate whether cultural differences exist in event centrality, emotional distress and well-being in a total of 565 adults above age 40 from Mexico, Greenland, China and Denmark. Participants completed questionnaires to determine their level of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression symptoms, and of life satisfaction. They also completed event centrality scales for their most positive and most negative life events. Across cultures, participants rated positive events as more central to their identity and life stories, compared with negative events. Furthermore, participants with higher levels of emotional distress rated negative events as more central to their identity and life story, compared with participants with lower scores. However, a converse pattern was not found for positive events. Finally, participants with higher scores of life satisfaction tended to rate positive events as more central and negative events as less central to their identity and life story, compared with participants with lower scores. It is concluded that across cultures, positive events are considered more central to identity and life story than negative events and that event centrality ratings tend to be affected in similar ways by higher versus lower levels of emotional distress or well-being.     

Effects of Perceived Responsibility,Injury Severity,and Injury Target on Discipline Severity

We examined the effects of injury severity, injury target, and perceived responsibility on supervisors' discipline severity following a rule violation. Participants made discipline judgments after reading scenarios describing work rule violations. Data revealed an Injury Severity × Injury Target interactive effect on discipline severity. Respondents disciplined rule violators more severely when the behavior caused a serious coworker injury than when the violating behavior caused a minor coworker injury. Discipline severity decreased as the severity of the injury the rule violator experienced increased. That finding goes against conventional wisdom stating that a positive linear relation exists between the extent of an injury and discipline severity and suggests that supervisors might not make all discipline judgments in a simple, linear fashion.     

在中西文化传统比较中诠释儒学的实质与核心价值

当代中国的崛起是马克思主义中国化的伟大成就,其背后深刻的文化与精神因素是以儒学为表征的传统文化自近代以来与西方文化的碰撞、交融、整合与创新的结果。科学诠释儒学的实质和核心价值,应该将其放在中西文化传统动态发展的流变中进行比较。这种比较的好处有:其一,可以找到中国发展之道的文化背景缘由;其二,可以启发我们找到当下中国进一步发展存在的问题之症结及如何借鉴西方文化的精髓及其方法和途径。儒学的仁义礼智信、恭宽信敏惠、忠孝廉耻、天人合一、中庸之道等心性修养学说和丰厚的人文资源是我们走向世界的宝贵资源和精神财富,它和西方的政治理念与制度文明二者都具有开放和创化的普世价值,都必须受到马克思主义的历史唯物主义、辩证唯物主义的审视和指导,尤其需要用马克思主义人的全面发展的理论和异化的理论进行批判地继承、借鉴和整合创新。     

7岁超常和常态儿童的信息加工速度

该研究以超常和常态儿童各25名(平均年龄分别为6岁10个月和6岁11个月)为被试,以选择反应、图形匹配、心理旋转、和抽象匹配为基本认知任务,对超常和常态儿童的信息加工速度作了比较研究。研究者对被试的正确率和反应时作了分析。结果表明：(1)超常儿童基本信息加工能力显著优于普通儿童,具体表现在反应时更短,或正确率更高。(2)超常儿童与常态儿童信息、加工的差异与任务难度有关,在选择反应和图形匹配任务中,超常儿童的反应时显著短于常态儿童。而且,在图形匹配任务中,任务难度越大,差异越显著。而在心里旋转和抽象匹配任务中,超常儿童的正确率显著高于常态儿童。(3)任务的难度无论对超常组被试还是常态组被试的反应时及反应正确率都有影响,但影响方式不太一样。在反应时上,随着任务难度的增加,两组被试的反应时都明显延长;但在正确率上,则随着任务难度的增加,常态组被试的正确率降低,而超常组被试的正确率基本稳定在一个较高的水平上,即任务难度问的差异不显著。     

从基因科学角度对人类心理行为的探讨

随着基因科学的不断发展,对基因与人类心理行为之间关系的研究大量涌现。本文对此类研究进行了简要的介绍,列举了三个主要阶段。并提出了几点在研究中需要注意的问题。     

因果错觉的实验研究

本研究分别从可控情境和不可控情境两方面探讨了在工具性条件反射中,人对因果关系的认知的特点。结果发现：1．在可控情境下。延迟反馈可能导致被试的因果错觉;2、在不可控情境下,被试同样表现出因果错觉：迷信和控制幻觉,并且这种现象具有一定的普遍性;3、提供恰当的外部线索能有效地帮助被试消除已经形成的因果错觉。     

不同强度的痛觉刺激对内、外倾者心率、T波幅度影响的初步研究

本文旨在探讨内、外倾者在三种不同强度痛觉刺激下心率、T波幅度的变化。通过艾森克个性问卷筛选出15名内倾者和15名外倾者,以8mA、12mA、16mA的电流引起痛觉。实验结果表明,刺激后30秒内．在12mA、16mA痛觉刺激下．内倾组心率反应值与基础值差异显著．外倾组差异不显著;在12mA刺激下．内、外倾组心率变化差异显著。从心率变化上看。两组被试对痛觉刺激均表现出适应,内倾组的适应速度比外倾组慢。在各强度痛觉刺激条件下．二组T波幅度均未随刺激量增大发生显著变化。本实验表明,心脏T波幅度对痛刺激不敏感。     

Cultural Effects on English Language Teachers’ Judgments of Metaphoric Creativity: A Mixed‐Methods Approach

This study explored cultural influences on English language teachers’ judgments of English metaphors created by Taiwanese learners of English. Based on a mixed‐methods approach, it delved into the rating severity and implicit evaluation criteria of two cultural groups of teachers: Taiwanese and Americans. Ten Taiwanese teachers and 10 American teachers evaluated 120 novel metaphoric expressions using the Consensual Assessment Technique (Amabile, 1996). Creativity in context: Update to the social psychology of creativity. They further filled out a creativity evaluation survey, which was designed to bring to light what qualities within the metaphors influenced their judgments of metaphoric creativity. With the teachers’ ratings being analyzed by means of many‐facet Rasch measurement, this study first indicated that the American teachers were more severe raters than the Taiwanese teachers, but no significant difference was found between them. Analysis of the evaluation survey further demonstrated that both cultural groups shared largely similar evaluation criteria; yet, two contrasts emerged between them. Specifically, the American teachers seemed to favor metaphors that expressed the creator's thoughts; by contrast, the Taiwanese teachers preferred metaphors that relied on readers’ imagination to work out the meanings. These findings shed light on implications for teaching creativity in English L2 classrooms and assessing learners’ creative language artifacts in an English L2 context.