Sex bias in visual images evoked by generics: A new zealand study

Male biases are known to exist in the usage, evaluation, and interpretation of masculine generics. This study explored, by means of a tachistoscope, sex-specific biases in visual images evoked by masculine (All men are created equal, At university a student can study whatever he wants) and feminine (The feminists protested outside the town hall, At university a student can study whatever she wants) generics. Photographs of male and female faces were presented in a deliberately ambiguous (subthreshold) viewing field while maintaining the masculine or feminine generic sentence on constant view. It was predicted and found in a sample of 48 university students that if generics invoked sex-specific images, the images would affect the direction in which the viewer would resolve the ambiguous faces, resulting in more reported male faces in the masculine than in the feminine generic condition.Preparation of this article was supported by a New Zealand Social Sciences Research Fund Committee grant (8632/21/24/8604) to S. H. Ng.     

Association Between Proactive Personality and Academic Self–Efficacy

Research about organizations has consistently revealed that proactive personality is a relatively stable disposition and a significant antecedent of self-efficacy, which generates employees’ proactive behavior and thus benefits individuals and firms. Consequently, the present study aimed to examine whether the relationship between proactive personality, a general temperamental tendency, and specific self-efficacy that is focused on certain activities or tasks might emerge across contexts in an education setting with a directional effect. From a sample of 123 students, we employed a longitudinal approach using two waves of surveys to examine the directional relations between students’ proactive personalities and their academic self–efficacy in education. The results showed that students’ proactive personalities at Time 1 predicted change in their academic self–efficacy at Time 2, suggesting a top–down relationship. On the contrary students’ academic self–efficacy at Time 1 could not predict their proactive personalities at Time 2. In short, the directional effect of proactive personality on self–efficacy across contexts was captured in this study. Implications and limitations were discussed.     

The role of executive function in reading comprehension among beginning readers

Empirical evidence supports the importance of executive function (EF) in reading, but the underlying mechanism through which EF contributes to the reading process is unclear. The present study examined the direct and indirect effects of EF on reading comprehension through the indirect pathway of language and cognitive skills (i.e., syntactic awareness and text-connecting inferencing) among the beginning readers. The sample included one hundred and sixty-five 2^nd and 3^rd grade students. The participants were tested on working memory (visuospatial working memory and verbal working memory) and inhibition (prepotent response inhibition and cognitive inhibition), and their syntactic awareness, inference-making, and reading comprehension. The unitary EF construct was obtained by means of confirmatory factor analysis based on the structure of EF in middle childhood suggested in developmental studies. Structural equation modelling was used to examine the direct and indirect effects of EF on the reading outcome. The findings indicated that EF has a direct effect on reading comprehension among the beginning readers. The indirect pathway showed that EF supports the ability to evaluate on grammatical structure of sentences (i.e., syntactic awareness) during reading. However, the indirect effect of EF on reading via inference-making ability is insignificant. The findings highlight the contributions of EF to reading and provide empirical evidence to the hypothetical relation between EF and language skills suggested in DIER (Kim, 2020, Resarch Quarterly, 50, 459). It further extends our knowledge on the roles of EF in the reading process among the beginning readers. Future research directions are implicated as well.     

The Children's Dual Emotion Regulation Strategy scale: An integrated perspective of Western and East Asian cultures

The literature on emotion regulation in general lacks cultural and contextual sensitivity and is mainly focused on adult participants. Therefore, we developed the Children's Dual Emotion Regulation Strategy (CDERS) scale as a scenario-based measurement that integrates Western and East Asian cultural perspectives. In Study 1 (N = 1120), six interpersonal conflict scenarios were generated, and each scenario consisted of four emotion regulation strategies (i.e., expression, forbearance, impulsiveness, and suppression), thereby including 24 items in total. A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the four-factor structure. Concurrent validity revealed that the four strategies in the CDERS accounted for 18%–20% of the variance in predicting positive self-concept and life adjustment. In Study 2 (N = 319), predictive validity revealed that CDERS accounted for 12%–16% of the variance in predicting six outcomes. Incremental validity showed that the CDERS significantly accounted for an additional 3%–11% of the variance in predicting all outcomes above and beyond the existing Western and East Asian emotion regulation measures. The CDERS subscales showed acceptable internal and test–retest reliability. In summary, these studies suggest that the CDERS is a reliable and valid measure. The implications of the results point out suggestions for culturally sensitive practices.     

The Eysenckian personality structure: a Giant Three or Big Five model in Hong Kong?

In the last decade, the area of personality measurement has been dominated by three major systems: the Eysenckian Giant Three, the Cattellian sixteen factors and the Big Five. While many of the Cattellian second-stratum factors have been shown to fit the Big Five system, can the factors measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire also be described by the five-factor model? The study reported in this article was designed to determine whether the dimensions measured by a revised Chinese version of the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire would, in a Hong Kong population, replicate the Giant Three or the Big Five and whether there is evidence to support the suggested dual nature of the Extraversion dimension and the Lie scale in this Cantonese-speaking group. A four-factor solution indicated that the data did not support the notion of a Giant Three model plus a Lie scale and lacks clarity. A five-factor solution produced factors that can clearly be labelled Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Sociability, Excitement-Seeking and Agreeableness. Sociability, focusing on meeting people and Excitement-Seeking, which consists of Impulsivity and Liveliness, derive from items in Eysencks Extraversion dimension. The Openness factor of the Big Five system is absent in this population.     

The Yin‐Yang‐Wu‐Hsing doctrine in the textual tradition of Tokugawa Japanese Agriculture

Japanese agricultural scholarship reached its peak in the Tokugawa period (1603–1868). Most of its representative works were imbued with the Chinese metaphysical doctrine of yin‐yang‐wu‐hsing. They used the ideas of yin‐yang, wu‐hsing, yun‐ch'i, hexagrams, and feng‐shui extensively to develop their views and to explain various practices. There were two different attitudes towards Chinese concepts among Tokugawa scholars. Some regarded Chinese ideas as universal principles, and faithfully introduced them to Japan, whereas some were faced with the problem of national identity and attempted to accommodate Chinese metaphysical principles to Japanese agriculture. This article examines the adoption of the yin‐yang‐wu‐hsing doctrine in Tokugawa agriculture through a careful and critical textual study of several major Tokugawa writings.     

Connections Between BCK-algebras and Difference Posetse

We discuss the interrelations between BCK-algebras and posets with difference. Applications are given to bounded commutative BCK-algebras, difference posets, MV-algebras, quantum MV-algebras and orthoalgebras.     

Bootstrap methods for comparing independent regression slopes

In this study, we explore the effects of non-normality and heteroscedasticity when testing the hypothesis that the regression lines associated with multiple independent groups have the same slopes. The conventional approach involving the F-test and the t-test (F/t approach) is examined. In addition, we introduce two robust methods which allow simultaneous testing of regression slopes. Our results suggest that the F/t approach is extremely sensitive to violations of assumptions and tends to yield misleading conclusions. The new robust alternatives are recommended for general use.     

Pay It Forward: Gratitude in Social Networks

Based on the framework of the broaden-and-build theory (Fredrickson in Philos Trans R Soc B Biol Sci 359(1449):1367, 2004a, b), we proposed that the emotion of gratitude generates upstream reciprocity (UR, which is helping an unrelated third party after being helped) by broadening the beneficiary’s perspective toward others and thus making the beneficiary represent the benefactor and newly encountered strangers in the same social category. Furthermore, by inducing one UR after another, gratitude may lead to a chain/network of UR and strengthen the structure of organization. We named the effect the integration function of gratitude and demonstrated it by applying the social network analysis technique to eighteen small groups. Implications of the integration function are discussed in terms of self-identity, social exchange theory, and quality of life.