Increased social distance makes people more risk-neutral

Individuals are consistently observed to be risk-averse over gains and risk-seeking over losses. This study examined whether increased social distance would change these behavioral patterns. To test our hypothesis, social distance was manipulated by asking the participants to make decisions either for themselves or for another person (Experiment 1), either for a known person or for an unknown person (Experiment 2), and either for a close friend or for a distant friend (Experiment 3). The results of Experiments 1 and 3 showed that increased social distance made people more risk-neutral, and such an effect was stronger in the gain domain than in the loss domain. However, the effect of social distance was not observed in Experiment 2. These findings suggest that risk preferences are influenced by the social distance between decision makers and beneficiaries.     

Emergent Leadership in Children's Cooperative Problem Solving Groups

Social skills involved in leadership were examined in a problem-solving activity in which 252 Chinese 5th-graders worked in small groups on a spatial-reasoning puzzle. Results showed that students who engaged in peer-managed small-group discussions of stories prior to problem solving produced significantly better solutions and initiated significantly more effective leadership than control students. A mediation analysis suggested that it was because of effective leadership that groups who had experienced discussions achieved better problem solutions.     

发展资源与主观幸福感:核心自我评价的中介作用及性别差异

采用学生生活状况:态度和行为调查、核心自我评价量表、青少年学生生活满意度量表和快乐感量表对395名初中生进行调查,考察发展资源、核心自我评价和主观幸福感的关系。结果表明:(1)发展资源、核心自我评价及主观幸福感相关显著;(2)核心自我评价在发展资源与积极情感、生活满意度间起部分中介作用,在发展资源与消极情感间起完全中介作用;(3)核心自我评价到生活满意度的路径系数存在性别差异,核心自我评价对男生生活满意度的预测作用更强。     

Effects of Self-Esteem and Depression on Abnormal Eating Behavior among Korean Female College Students: Mediating Role of Body Dissatisfaction

Body dissatisfaction is widely acknowledged to exert considerable impact on abnormal eating behavior. Previous studies that reported the mediating role of body dissatisfaction between psychological variables and abnormal eating behavior mostly used western samples. The aim of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect association of psychological factors (i.e., self-esteem and depression) on abnormal eating behavior on a Korean sample. In addition, we examined a possible mediating effect of body dissatisfaction in this relationship. A sample of 502 Korean female college students enrolled in a private university participated in this cross-sectional study. Results indicated that self-esteem and depression did not have direct impacts on abnormal eating behavior. However, they did have indirect effects through the mediating factor, body dissatisfaction. Our findings suggest that students who have low self-esteem and high depression are likely to have higher levels of body dissatisfaction, and this, in turn, tends to be associated with greater abnormal eating behavior. Identification of this path has clinical implications in the development of programs to prevent abnormal eating behaviors among young female college students.     

Set points of positivity ratio for different levels of well‐being: A latent profile analysis

Previous studies have explored the set points of the positivity ratio by grouping according to predetermined cut‐off scores, resulting in inconsistent criteria and unstable results. This study intends to further explore the set points of the positivity ratio using latent profile analysis. Two samples of 716 college students and 381 adults in China completed the Questionnaire for Eudaimonic Well‐Being, the Personal Growth Subscale from Ryff's Psychological Well‐being Scale, the Need Satisfaction Questionnaire, and the Emotional Experience of Well‐Being Questionnaire. College students were classified into four classes (2.0, 2.8, 3.7 and 5.0) with the set points of the positivity ratio, whereas adults were classified into three classes (1.9, 2.9 and 4.2) with the set points of the positivity ratio. The difference of the set points between college students and adults was nonsignificant for medium and high well‐being classes, and significant with a small effect size for the higher well‐being class. Future research should examine more diverse samples and combine the real experience method to further explore the set points of the positivity ratio.     

二维场景旋转下的背景提示效应

在视觉搜索中,特定背景与目标位置的多次联合呈现能够促进搜索绩效,这被称为背景提示效应。本研究探讨背景提示效应能否迁移到二维旋转后的视觉场景中去。选择大学生为被试,采用2(场景类型:重复、新异)×7(时间阶段:1~7)×3(旋转角度:0°、45°、60°)的三因素混合实验设计。被试在进行背景提示效应的学习后,随机分为三组分别在旋转了0°、45°、60°的场景中继续执行视觉搜索任务。结果发现:三组被试都习得了背景提示效应,且都迁移到了旋转后的场景中。这表明背景提示效应可能存在更高级的编码方式。     

Representation or context as a cognitive strategy in colour constancy?

If an identification task with colour constancy as its objective is carried out under drastically changing illumination, do people rely mainly on colour information or do they rely on other sources of information? This question suggested two hypotheses for testing: (i) context hypothesis: people rely mainly on colour information (spectral reflectance or illumination chromaticity) to achieve colour constancy; (ii) representation hypothesis: people rely mainly on all other clues associated with colour to achieve colour constancy, including form information (any shape elements) and space information (spatial coordinates or spatial correlation). Experiment 1 showed that form information was readily associated with colour information to produce implicit representation. This gave the best colour-constancy performance (95.72%) and the fastest processing speed, so it probably used a top-down process. However, it was also prone to error owing to assumptions. Space information was not readily associated with colour information so colour-constancy performance was halved (48.73%) and processing time doubled. When the subject was deprived of both information sources and only given colour information, this resulted in the longest reaction times and the worst colour-constancy performance (41.38%). These results clearly support the representation hypothesis rather than the context hypothesis. When all three clues were available at the same time, the order of preference was: symbol, location, then colour. Experiment 2 showed that when form information was the main clue, colour-constancy performance was conceptually driven and processed more quickly; this supports the representation hypothesis. However, when form information was not used, colour constancy was data-driven, processed more slowly, and achieved an inferior identification rate overall; this supports the context hypothesis.     

Coping strategies in Chinese social context

The present study examined whether the scale called Coping Strategies in Chinese Social Context (CSCSC) developed in this paper is better at predicting individual mental health than the COPE Scale, which focuses on 'active-passive' coping. Two hundred and 51 university students were recruited and measured on the CSCSC, COPE and five mental health inventories. The results demonstrated that the CSCSC predicted mental health better than the COPE. 'Active-prosocial' and 'passive-prosocial' are two suitable coping strategies, whereas 'passive-antisocial' is not a suitable coping strategy. Studies exploring coping processes in Chinese culture should consider social interactions and connection with others as a significant aspect of coping.     

Cultural differences in estimation of other people's self-construals: Comparison of Korea and USA

The current study examined cultural differences in the relationship between individuals' self-ratings and their estimation of others on independent and interdependent self-construals. With data from undergraduates in the USA and Korea, findings showed that, in both USA and Korea, participants rated themselves higher than others on independent self-construal. For interdependent self-construal, however, Korean participants rated themselves higher than others, whereas American participants rated themselves lower than others. The positive relationship between self-esteem and the extent to which self-ratings exceeded ratings of others on independent self-construal was stronger for Korean than for American participants.