Problem-Solving Ability and Stress Mediate the Relationship Between Creativity and Happiness

Many studies have found that creativity tends to promote happiness, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study proposed and tested a serial mediation model to investigate the relationships among creativity, problem solving, stress, and happiness on emerging adults and adolescents (N = 1,146). It is hypothesized that creativity is conducive to happiness indirectly through (a) problem-solving ability, (b) stress, and (c) problem-solving ability and then stress (i.e., serial mediating effect). Undergraduate students and secondary school students self-reported their creativity, social problem-solving ability, stress, happiness, and life satisfaction. The mediating role of problem-solving ability and the serial mediating effect were found statistically significant while controlling the effect of life satisfaction. The mediating role of stress, however, was not supported. The findings not only lend further support to the beneficial effect of self-perceived creativity on happiness, but also extend our understanding on the relationship by revealing the underlying process.     

Open or close the door to the outgroup? Diversity beliefs moderate the impact of group boundary permeability on attitudes toward the outgroup

The present research investigated the moderating role of diversity beliefs with the aim of reconciling inconsistent findings regarding the impact of group boundary permeability on attitudes toward outgroup. In Study 1, all variables were measured with self‐report scales completed by Chinese participants. In Study 2, diversity beliefs were manipulated by randomly assigning Chinese participants to a high or low diversity belief condition. In Study 3, we replicated the moderating model with American participants. Results of all three studies indicated that diversity beliefs moderated the relationship between group boundary permeability and attitudes toward outgroup. Individuals with high diversity beliefs held more positive attitudes toward the outgroup when the group boundary was permeable (vs. impermeable). Conversely, individuals with low diversity beliefs held more negative attitudes toward the outgroup when the group boundary was permeable (vs. impermeable). These findings suggest that when the inflow of the outgroup members is inevitable, attitudes toward the outgroup may be effectively improved by increasing diversity beliefs.     

积极错觉:基于进化论和社会互动的视角

积极错觉是积极心理学的一个重要研究领域,对于维持个体的身心健康至关重要。本文主要从进化论和社会互动论的视角对积极错觉进行阐述。从进化论的视角看,积极错觉有助于身心健康和认知适应; 从社会互动论视角看,积极错觉有助于维持良好的社会关系。未来的研究需要深化积极错觉的跨文化研究,重视对特殊群体积极错觉的研究,并加强积极错觉的应用研究和脑机制研究。     

中国人获得感的结构研究

获得感是一个具有心理内涵与时代特色的新生概念。为了探究获得感的结构内涵,通过自由联想法形成量表的初始项目,先后进行两次预测并根据结果修订量表。然后对量表进行正式施测并检验其信效度,同时采用中文版生活满意度量表和幸福倾向量表进行效标效度检验。结果显示,中国人的获得感是个体对获取自身需求满足的内容、实现途径与所需条件的认知评价以及在此过程中的心理体验,包括获得体验、获得环境、获得内容、获得途径和获得分享五个维度。信效度分析表明,编制的中国人获得感量表符合心理测量学的标准,可用于相关的社会心理研究与应用。     

Mainland Chinese and Canadian adolescents’ judgments and reasoning about the fairness of democratic and other forms of government

This study examined the judgments and reasoning of adolescents (ages 12–19 years) from three sites in urban and rural China (n = 270) and in an urban Canadian comparison sample (n = 72), about the fairness of various forms of democratic and non-democratic government. Adolescents from both China and Canada preferred democratic forms of government, such as representative or direct democracy, to non-democratic systems, such as a meritocracy and an oligarchy of the wealthy, at all ages. Adolescents appealed to fundamental democratic principles, such as representation, voice, and majority rule, to justify their judgments. Similar age-related patterns in judgments and reasoning were found across cultures and across diverse settings within China.     

Confucian Democracy as Pragmatic Experiment: Uniting Love of Learning and Love of Antiquity

This paper argues for the pragmatic construction of Confucian democracy by showing that Chinese philosophers who wish to see Confucianism flourish again as a positive dimension of Chinese civilization need to approach it pragmatically and democratically, otherwise their love of the past is at the expense of something else Confucius held in equal esteem, love of learning. Chinese philosophers who desire democracy for China would do well to learn from the earlier failures of the iconoclastic Westernizers, and realize that a Chinese democracy cannot come about by ignoring or dismissing such an important part of China's history, its Confucian tradition. The best chances for democracy in China lie in transforming that tradition without destroying it. Eagerness to learn from others must be united with a proper appreciation of one's own past to nurture democracy as a way of life.     

Detection theory analysis of scaling and discrimination tasks: responses to noxious thermal stimuli

This study's main purpose was to examine the sensitivity estimates obtained from scaling and discrimination approaches for nociception assessment in healthy individuals. This investigation may inform future applications in diagnostic procedures for painful conditions. Models of psychophysical judgment based on those of Durlach and Braida (1969), Laming (1984), and Irwin and Whitehead (1991) were used as the common analytical framework. Noxious thermal contact stimuli were used. The results show that the scaling approach produced lower detection theory sensitivity estimates than did the discrimination approach. The additional judgment variance in scaling tasks could explain this lowered sensitivity. The relative judgmental variance value of 2.18 obtained in this study is lower than variance values found i n previous investigations. This discrepancy i s probably due to the relatively smaller stimulus range employed in this study. The authors propose that the theoretical framework used in this study may be used in future studies to investigate the different dimensions of pain perception.     

Autonomy,culture, and well-being: The benefits of inclusive autonomy

In an attempt to understand cultural variation in motivation, we distinguished between the type of motivation (ranging from controlled to autonomous, as conventionally measured) and the subject of motivation (“I” vs. “my family and I”), creating measures of individual and inclusive academic motivation. Support was found for three hypotheses. First, Chinese Canadian and Singaporean students felt less relative autonomy than European Canadian students, on both the inclusive and individual measures. Second, individual relative autonomy was associated with psychological well-being (WB) for European Canadians and Chinese Canadians (Study 1), and Singaporeans (Study 2). Third, inclusive relative autonomy was associated with psychological well-being for Chinese Canadians and Singaporeans, but not European Canadians. Exploratory analyses are also presented, and implications for the theory and measurement of autonomy are discussed.     

Singaporean education students' perceptions of knowledge and skills as important for teachers

This paper examined perceptions of knowledge and skills important for teachers of 353 Singaporean undergraduate students. They rated higher teaching and nurturing skills and gave moderate ratings to theoretical knowledge and research skills. There is a need to raise teachers' awareness of educational research and theoretical innovation for classroom practice.