Outlying Observation Diagnostics in Growth Curve Modeling

Growth curve models are widely used for investigating growth and change phenomena. Many studies in social and behavioral sciences have demonstrated that data without any outlying observation are rather an exception, especially for data collected longitudinally. Ignoring the existence of outlying observations may lead to inaccurate or even incorrect statistical inferences. Therefore, it is crucial to identify outlying observations in growth curve modeling. This study comparatively evaluates six methods in outlying observation diagnostics through a Monte Carlo simulation study on a linear growth curve model, by varying factors of sample size, number of measurement occasions, as well as proportion, geometry, and type of outlying observations. It is suggested that the greatest chance of success in detecting outlying observations comes from use of multiple methods, comparing their results and making a decision based on research purposes. A real data analysis example is also provided to illustrate the application of the six outlying observation diagnostic methods.     

Differential emotion attribution to neutral faces of own and other races

Past research has demonstrated differential recognition of emotion on faces of different races. This paper reports the first study to explore differential emotion attribution to neutral faces of different races. Chinese and Caucasian adults viewed a series of Chinese and Caucasian neutral faces and judged their outward facial expression: neutral, positive, or negative. The results showed that both Chinese and Caucasian viewers perceived more Chinese faces than Caucasian faces as neutral. Nevertheless, Chinese viewers attributed positive emotion to Caucasian faces more than to Chinese faces, whereas Caucasian viewers attributed negative emotion to Caucasian faces more than to Chinese faces. Moreover, Chinese viewers attributed negative and neutral emotion to the faces of both races without significant difference in frequency, whereas Caucasian viewers mostly attributed neutral emotion to the faces. These differences between Chinese and Caucasian viewers may be due to differential visual experience, culture, racial stereotype, or expectation of the experiment. We also used eye tracking among the Chinese participants to explore the relationship between face-processing strategy and emotion attribution to neutral faces. The results showed that the interaction between emotion attribution and face race was significant on face-processing strategy, such as fixation proportion on eyes and saccade amplitude. Additionally, pupil size during processing Caucasian faces was larger than during processing Chinese faces.     

Expertise increases the functional overlap between face and object perception

Recent studies indicate that expertise with objects can interfere with face processing. Although competition occurs between faces and objects of expertise, it remains unclear whether this reflects an expertise-specific bottleneck or the fact that objects of expertise grab attention and thereby consume more central resources. We investigated the perceptual costs of expertise by measuring visual thresholds for identifying targets embedded within RSVP sequences presented at varying temporal rates. Car experts and novices searched for face targets among face and car distractors, or watch targets among watch and car distractors. Remarkably, car experts were slower than novices at identifying faces among task-irrelevant cars, yet faster than novices at identifying watches among cars. This suggests that car expertise leads to greater functional overlap between cars and faces while reducing the functional overlap between cars and objects, a result incompatible with the notion of an encapsulated module for exclusive processing of faces.     

The effects of subliminal anger and sadness primes on agency appraisals

Two studies examined whether appraisals can be differentially affected by subliminal anger and sadness primes. Participants from Singapore (Experiment 1) and China (Experiment 2) were exposed to either subliminal angry faces or subliminal sad faces. Supporting appraisal theories of emotions, participants exposed to subliminal angry faces were more likely to appraise negative events as caused by other people and those exposed to subliminal sad faces were more likely to appraise the same events as caused by situational factors. The results provide the first evidence for subliminal emotion-specific cognitive effects. They show that cognitive functions such as appraisals can be affected by subliminal emotional stimuli of the same valence.     

初中生的心理健康与父母依恋、同伴依恋的关系

目的:探讨初中生的心理健康与父母依恋、同伴依恋的关系。方法:以心理健康诊断测验(MHT)、父母和同伴依恋问卷(IPPA)对598名初中生进行测试。结果:MHT总分与父亲疏远、母亲疏远、同伴疏远呈正相关,与父亲信任、母亲信任、同伴信任、父亲交流、母亲交流、同伴交流呈负相关;同伴疏远、父亲疏远对MHT总分有正向预测作用,母亲信任、父亲信任对MHT总分有负向预测作用。结论:初中生的心理健康与父母依恋、同伴依恋有一定的关系。     

孟子与燕国"禅让"

战国中后期燕国“禅让”事件影响重大,连作为理论家思想家的学术大师孟子也涉足于此事。孟子主张伐燕以扼杀其禅让。这显然与他宣扬禅让、仁政等思想是相悖的。通过对孟子思想的深入考察,可以看到孟子的主张看似自相矛盾而实际上是审时度势的卓见,与他对禅让的理解及其仁政思想是契合的,出土的战国中山王方壶等铭文亦是明证。孟子的思想深刻地反映了战国中后期社会政治发展的轨迹。     

科学实践哲学发展述评

一科学实践哲学兴起的研究背景及其重要意义 当代哲学对实践的关注已是不争的事实.在海德格尔和维特根斯坦那里,实践概念具有重要意义.但以往科学哲学,如逻辑主义科学哲学将理论理性和实践理性截然分开,认为对理论理生的逻辑分析是理解科学理性的惟一途径,并把实践理性归入伦理学、社会学、心理学等其他学科.后来历史主义科学哲学家在否定逻辑主义方向的前提下,未能将理论理性和实践理性重新整合,从而对科学理生不可避免地采取了怀疑主义态度,使得传统科学哲学研究日渐衰落.     

国外儿童科学思维发展的新探索

儿童科学思维是发展心理学研究领域的重要的研究课题。最近十年,儿童科学思维发展的研究经历了显著的变化。文章对儿童科学思维发展的研究进行简要回顾,主要阐述有关儿童科学思维发展的特殊领域知识、一般领域策略、概念和策略的整合模型以及微观发生法,并在此基础上,对儿童科学思维发展研究进行简单的评价和展望。     

心理学视角下的人生目标

从心理学视角对人生目标予以研究非常重要。目前, 对此的一系列研究进展显示：在概念上, 尽管不同研究者对人生目标的认识存在差异, 但却一致同意它是一种能持续地赋予人生以方向和意义的动机性概念; 在对人生目标的测量上, 主要关注于“人生目标感”的高低程度及人生目标的内容两方面; 对人生目标功能的研究显示, 高人生目标感与更好的压力应对、健康行为及身心状态相联系, 但不同内容类型的人生目标是否存在功能差异尚需探讨; 在影响因素上, 影响人生目标感高低和人生目标内容的因素十分复杂, 大体可划分为个体因素和环境因素两类。进一步的研究需继续澄清概念、完善测量体系并系统化相关研究, 并应考虑相关文化差异问题, 以更好服务于人生目标的培育工作。