A motivational hierarchy within: Primacy of the individual self,relational self,or collective self?

The individual self, relational self, and collective self are important and meaningful aspects of identity. However, they plausibly differ in their relative importance such that one self lies closer to the motivational core of the self-concept, better represent the “home base” of selfhood, or, simply stated, is motivationally primary. Four multi-method studies tested the relative motivational-primacy of the selves. Despite their disparate methods, the studies yielded consistent evidence of a three-tiered hierarchy with the individual self at the top, followed by the relational self, and trailed at the bottom by the collective self. The same hierarchy emerged in the Eastern culture of China and the Western cultures of the US and UK. Such pancultural consistency suggests that the motivational hierarchy is a fundamental pattern of the human self.     

Assessing the Impact of Relative Social Position and Absolute Community Resources on Depression and Obesity Among Smokers

We tested two competing hypotheses-relative social position and community resources-in regards to their effect on two co-occurring health problems (depression, and obesity) in a sample of smokers participating in an online smoking cessation intervention. Income and education data at the zip code level from the 2000 Census was linked with individual level data. Logistic regression models were used for each co-occurring problem to determine how each SES variable (individually and interactively) was associated with the presence of co-occurring health problems. We found that lower individual education was related to poorer health for all outcomes (Depression: OR = 1.25; Obesity: OR = 1.24; Both: OR = 1.46), lower community education was only related to obesity (OR = 1.20). Lower individual income was related to higher rates of depressive symptoms (OR = 1.64) and both health problems (OR = 1.55); a significant interaction of individual and community income (Wald = 6.13, p < .05) revealed that high income individuals were less likely to be depressed if they lived in lower-income communities and became more likely to be so as community income increased. Relative social position was confirmed for depression, whereas community resources were prominent only for obesity. Higher individual education most consistently predicted positive health outcomes, making it a potentially powerful target to reduce health disparities.     

Deviant ERP response to spoken non-words among adolescents exposed to cocaine in utero

Concern for the impact of prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) on human language development is based on observations of impaired performance on assessments of language skills in these children relative to non-exposed children. We investigated the effects of PCE on speech processing ability using event-related potentials (ERPs) among a sample of adolescents followed prospectively since birth. This study presents findings regarding cortical functioning in 107 prenatally cocaine-exposed (PCE) and 46 non-drug-exposed (NDE) 13-year-old adolescents.PCE and NDE groups differed in processing of auditorily presented non-words at very early sensory/phonemic processing components (N1/P2), in somewhat higher-level phonological processing components (N2), and in late high-level linguistic/memory components (P600).These findings suggest that children with PCE have atypical neural responses to spoken language stimuli during low-level phonological processing and at a later stage of processing of spoken stimuli.     

A randomized control trial of integrated care for families managing infant colic

This article presents a randomized clinical trial examining the effectiveness of a unique model of integrated care for the treatment of infant colic. Families seeking help for infant colic were randomized to either the family‐centered treatment (TX; n = 31) or standard pediatric care (SC; n = 31). All parents completed 3 days of Infant Behavior Diaries (Barr et al., 1998) and the Colic Symptom Checklist (Lester, 1997 ), Beck Depression Inventory (Beck & Steer, 1984 ), and Parenting Stress Index 3rd ed.‐SF (Abidin, 1995 ). TX families were seen three times by a pediatrician and a mental health clinician within 1, 2, and 6 weeks of baseline data. TX families received individualized treatment plans addressing problem areas of sleep, feeding, routine, and family mental health. SC families were seen only by their own healthcare provider. All families were visited at home by a research assistant to retrieve data at 2, 6, and 10 weeks after baseline. Family‐based treatment accelerated the rate of reduction of infant crying faster than did standard pediatric care. Infants in the TX group had more hours of sleep at 2 weeks posttreatment and spent less time feeding at 2, 6, and 10 weeks posttreatment than did SC infants. Results indicate that individualized family‐based treatment reduces infant colic more rapidly than does standard pediatric care.     

On Reichenbach’s Causal Betweenness

We characterize, by easily verifiable properties, abstract ternary relations isomorphic to the causal betweenness introduced by Hans Reichenbach.     

Nourishing or suppressing? The contradictory influences of perception of organizational politics on organizational citizenship behaviour

Drawing on both social exchange theory and impression management theory, this study sought to explain how perception of organizational politics (POP) influences organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) through two contrary psychological processes. We proposed that through the mediation of job satisfaction, POP has an inhibiting effect on OCB; through the mediation of careerism, POP has a nourishing effect on OCB. Data were obtained from 393 police officers and their colleagues from a city police department in northern Taiwan. Results from structural equation modelling (SEM) revealed that the relationship between POP and OCB was negatively mediated by job satisfaction and positively mediated by careerism. Such antithetical psychological processes imply that employees may experience psychological dilemmas over the performance of OCB when they perceive their organization as political. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.     

The neurodevelopmental basis of math anxiety

Math anxiety is a negative emotional reaction to situations involving mathematical problem solving. Math anxiety has a detrimental impact on an individual's long-term professional success, but its neurodevelopmental origins are unknown. In a functional MRI study on 7- to 9-year-old children, we showed that math anxiety was associated with hyperactivity in right amygdala regions that are important for processing negative emotions. In addition, we found that math anxiety was associated with reduced activity in posterior parietal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex regions involved in mathematical reasoning. Multivariate classification analysis revealed distinct multivoxel activity patterns, which were independent of overall activation levels in the right amygdala. Furthermore, effective connectivity between the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex regions that regulate negative emotions was elevated in children with math anxiety. These effects were specific to math anxiety and unrelated to general anxiety, intelligence, working memory, or reading ability. Our study identified the neural correlates of math anxiety for the first time, and our findings have significant implications for its early identification and treatment.     

Who is good at this game? Linking an activity to a social category undermines children's achievement

Children's achievement-related theories have a profound impact on their academic success. Children who adopt entity theories believe that their ability to perform a task is dictated by the amount of natural talent they possess for that task--a belief that has well-documented adverse consequences for their achievement (e.g., lowered persistence, impaired performance). It is thus important to understand what leads children to adopt entity theories. In the experiments reported here, we hypothesized that the mere act of linking success at an unfamiliar, challenging activity to a social group gives rise to entity beliefs that are so powerful as to interfere with children's ability to perform the activity. Two experiments showed that, as predicted, the performance of 4- to 7-year-olds (N = 192) was impaired by exposure to information that associated success in the task at hand with membership in a certain social group (e.g., "boys are good at this game"), regardless of whether the children themselves belonged to that group.     

实践的诠释与现象学

<正>一、导论关于实践的诠释是哲学中的一个深层次问题。实践是人的存在的根本方式,哲学如若对于这种存在的根本方式不能给予关注,它就会脱离人的生命本质,这样的哲学对于人就没有意义。     

从医院文化建设的角度探讨公立医院公益性的回归

探讨公立医院公益性的回归是当前社会讨论的一个比较热门的话题,从医院自身层面出发,从文化建设的角度探讨了公立医院回归公益性的具体概况.主要介绍了医院文化建设和公立医院回归公益性的内在联系,以及如何通过物质文化、行为文化、制度文化和精神文化这四个方面的建设来回归公立医院的公益性.