The Study of College Students’ Beliefs in China

Pastoral Psychology - The beliefs of college students is an important issue that is followed closely by the Government of China (GOC). In recent years, the GOC increasingly has encouraged the...     

Sequence effects by non-predictive arrow cues

Previous studies have found that attention orienting is influenced by the orienting processes of previous trials in a spatial cueing paradigm. This study mainly investigated whether this sequence effect could happen for a non-predictive arrow cue and whether it was influenced by the cue-target SOAs in previous and current trials. A significant sequence effect was observed for arrow cues even when voluntary control was not required, and it was significantly influenced by the SOAs of previous trials. The present results support the automatic memory check hypothesis and may reflect some temporal characteristics of the memory mechanism in sequential processes. In addition, contrary to the previous findings, we found an overall response facilitation following a catch trial, suggesting that the influence of preceding catch trials may be sensitive to experimental contexts.     

Re-examining Citizenship: How the Control of Measurement Artifacts Affects Observed Relationships of Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Organizational Variables

We examined the impact that measurement artifacts (antithetical items that overlap counterproductive work behavior (CWB), agreement response, halo in supervisor ratings) in organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) measures has on observed relationships between OCB and 15 predictors. Respondents were 146 employees and their supervisors who completed surveys that included OCB measures with and without artifacts. Predictors (conscientiousness, emotional stability, empathy, distributive justice, procedural justice, role ambiguity, role conflict, leader–member exchange, affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction, negative and positive emotion, turnover intention, CWB, and task performance) were chosen that related to OCB in prior meta-analyses. Results with the OCB scale with artifacts were consistent with meta-analyses, whereas results with the artifact-controlled OCB scale were not, suggesting that accepted conclusions about OCB’s relationships with many other variables should be reexamined.     

Effects of stimulation by three-dimensional natural images on prefrontal cortex and autonomic nerve activity: a comparison with stimulation using two-dimensional images

Empirical evidence suggests that three-dimensional (3D) images of nature promote physiological relaxation in humans by providing more realistic effects compared with two-dimensional (2D) images. However, no studies have evaluated the physiological relaxation effects of nature-derived 3D images on prefrontal cortex and autonomic nerve activity. The present study aimed to clarify the physiological relaxation effects of visual stimulation by 3D flower images on prefrontal cortex and autonomic nerve activity. Nineteen male university students (22.2 ± 0.6 years) were presented with 3D and 2D images of the water lily for 90 s. Prefrontal cortex activity was measured using near-infrared spectroscopy, while autonomic nerve activity was measured using heart rate variability (HRV). Psychological effects were determined using a modified semantic differential method (SD). Compared with visual stimulation by 2D images, that by 3D images resulted in a significant decrease in oxyhemoglobin concentration in the right prefrontal cortex, lower sympathetic activity as calculated by the ratio of the low-frequency to high-frequency HRV component, and a significantly greater realistic feeling as evidenced by higher SD ratings. In conclusion, visual stimulation by realistic 3D floral images promotes physiological relaxation more effectively than the corresponding 2D image.     

U.K. consumers' perceived risk of buying products from emerging economies: A moderated mediation model

Although considerable research has been conducted on consumer attitude towards foreign products, most of these studies focus on the attitude of products from Western developed countries. Our study intends to investigate the effects of consumers' national identification and culture sensitivity on their perceived risk of buying products from Eastern developing countries. Especially, this study advances the literature by identifying the mediation effect of consumer ethnocentrism and the moderating effect of consumer value consciousness. Taking China and India as focal emerging economies, the consumer survey (n = 308) in the United Kingdom produced the following results. First, U.K. consumers' national identification is positively related to their perceived risk of buying Eastern products through consumer ethnocentrism, whereas their cultural sensitivity has a negative relationship. Second, the effect of consumer ethnocentrism on the perceived risk of buying Eastern products is moderated by consumer value consciousness. Third, value consciousness also attenuates the indirect relationships between national identification or cultural sensitivity and perceived risk via consumer ethnocentrism.     

The effect of relational benefits in loyalty programmes: Evidence from Chinese milk formula customer clubs

Although the value of relational benefits has been recognised in customer relationship management, the impact of these benefits on loyalty behaviours is yet to be investigated in the context of loyalty clubs. Little is known why some loyalty programmes outperform others. By using both qualitative and quantitative research approaches, this research developed and estimated a conceptual model that describes the interaction of key relational benefits and their contributions to customer loyalty in a set of milk formula customer clubs in China. Data were collected from 300 Chinese infant milk formula buyers, including both customer club members and nonmembers. This study confirms that the customer‐confidence benefits and identity‐related benefits precede other loyalty rewards and strengthen other loyalty incentives in a loyalty programme. The economic benefits and information‐sharing benefits play a mediating role and contribute directly to customer loyalty. The findings of this research help better understand the mechanism behind loyalty behaviours in customer clubs.     

Theory‐of‐Mind development and early sibling relationships after the birth of a sibling: Parental discipline matters

This study investigated relations among children's Theory‐of‐Mind (ToM) development, early sibling interactions, and parental discipline strategies during the transition to siblinghood. Using a sample of firstborn children and their parents (N = 208), we assessed children's ToM before the birth of a sibling and 12 months after the birth, and sibling interactions (i.e., positive engagement and antagonism) and parental discipline strategies (i.e., child‐centred and parent‐centred discipline) at 4 and 8 months in the first year of siblinghood. Structural equation modelling analyses revealed that children's ToM before the birth of the sibling predicted children's positive engagement with the infant sibling, whereas children's antagonistic behaviours towards the infant sibling negatively predicted children's ToM at 12 months, but only when mothers used low levels of child‐centred discipline. These findings emphasize the role of parents in the development of young children's social‐cognitive understanding in the context of early sibling interactions.

Highlights

• This study investigated relations among firstborns' Theory‐of‐Mind (ToM), early sibling relationships, and parental discipline during the first year of siblinghood.
• Multigroup analyses showed that ToM predicted higher sibling positive engagement, and early sibling antagonism predicted poorer ToM when mothers used low child‐centred discipline.
• Parental discipline plays an important role in the development of young children's social understanding and sibling relationships as early as the first year of siblinghood.

     

Sequence effects of the involuntary and the voluntary components of symbolic cueing

The orienting of attention has been found to be influenced by the previous cueing status in a spatial-cueing paradigm. The explanation for this sequence effect remains uncertain. This study separated the involuntary and the voluntary components of arrow cueing by manipulating the predicted target locations. For example, a left arrow cue may have indicated that the target was more likely to appear at the up location. Therefore, three trial types were repeated or switched between trials: cued (targets appeared along the direction of the arrows), predicted (targets appeared at the locations predicted by the arrows), and unrelated (targets appeared at the other two locations, neither cued nor predicted). RTs of cued trials were found to be significantly facilitated after a previous cued trial; however, the same effect was not observed for predicted trials. The results suggest that significant sequence effects are induced only in the involuntary component of arrow cueing. The findings support the feature-integration hypothesis for the sequence effect of symbolic cueing.

     

Knowledge of memory functions in European and Asian American adults and children: The relation to autobiographical memory

This study investigated explicit knowledge of autobiographical memory functions using a newly developed questionnaire. European and Asian American adults (N = 57) and school-aged children (N = 68) indicated their agreement with 13 statements about why people think about and share memories pertaining to four broad functions—self, social, directive and emotion regulation. Children were interviewed for personal memories concurrently with the memory function knowledge assessment and again 3 months later. It was found that adults agreed to the self, social and directive purposes of memory to a greater extent than did children, whereas European American children agreed to the emotion regulation purposes of memory to a greater extent than did European American adults. Furthermore, European American children endorsed more self and emotion regulation functions than did Asian American children, whereas Asian American adults endorsed more directive functions than did European American adults. Children's endorsement of memory functions, particularly social functions, was associated with more detailed and personally meaningful memories. These findings are informative for the understanding of developmental and cultural influences on memory function knowledge and of the relation of such knowledge to autobiographical memory development.     

Tracing children's vocabulary development from preschool through the school‐age years: an 8‐year longitudinal study

In this 8‐year longitudinal study, we traced the vocabulary growth of Chinese children, explored potential precursors of vocabulary knowledge, and investigated how vocabulary growth predicted future reading skills. Two hundred and sixty‐four (264) native Chinese children from Beijing were measured on a variety of reading and language tasks over 8 years. Between the ages of 4 to 10 years, they were administered tasks of vocabulary and related cognitive skills. At age 11, comprehensive reading skills, including character recognition, reading fluency, and reading comprehension were examined. Individual differences in vocabulary developmental profiles were estimated using the intercept‐slope cluster method. Vocabulary development was then examined in relation to later reading outcomes. Three subgroups of lexical growth were classified, namely high‐high (with a large initial vocabulary size and a fast growth rate), low‐high (with a small initial vocabulary size and a fast growth rate) and low‐low (with a small initial vocabulary size and a slow growth rate) groups. Low‐high and low‐low groups were distinguishable mostly through phonological skills, morphological skills and other reading‐related cognitive skills. Childhood vocabulary development (using intercept and slope) explained subsequent reading skills. Findings suggest that language‐related and reading‐related cognitive skills differ among groups with different developmental trajectories of vocabulary, and the initial size and growth rate of vocabulary may be two predictors for later reading development.