A neural autopilot theory of habit: Evidence from consumer purchases and social media use

This article applies a two-process “neural autopilot” model to field data. The autopilot model hypothesizes that habitual choice occurs when the reward from a behavior has low numerical “doubt” (i.e., reward prediction errors are small). The model toggles between repeating a previous choice (habit) when doubt is low and making a goal-directed choice when doubt is high. The model has ingredients established in animal learning and cognitive neuroscience and is simple enough to make nonobvious predictions. In two empirical applications, we fit the model to field data on purchases of canned tuna and posting on the Chinese social media site Weibo. This style of modeling is called “structural” because there is a theoretical model of how different variables influence choices by agents (the “structure”), which tightly restricts how hidden variables lead to observed choices. There is empirical support for the model, more strongly for tuna purchases than for Weibo posting, relative to a baseline “reduced-form” model in which current choices are correlated with past choices without a mechanistic (structural) explanation. An interesting set of predictions can also be derived about how consumers react to different kinds of changes in prices and qualities of goods (this is called “counterfactual analysis”).     

消费者厌腻感的生成机理、诱发因素及缓解策略

厌腻感是指消费者对连续或过量消费同一产品或服务的效用感、享乐感或满意度下降, 负面感知逐步抑制正面感知的主观情绪体验。为缓解或防止厌腻感的产生, 消费者会采取品牌转换、多样化寻求、控制消费周期等行为, 因此厌腻感已成为企业或店铺培养顾客忠诚的主要障碍。国外文献分别从厌腻感的生成过程、功能反应、知觉状态和属性感知等方面, 划分厌腻类型; 剖析了厌腻感生成的享乐适应、边际效用递减、认知失调以及最佳刺激水平等理论原理及机理; 探讨了生理厌腻感和心理厌腻感生成的诱发因素及影响效应; 验证了外部因素和个体因素的调节作用; 同时探讨了消费者缓解或防止厌腻感的主要策略及行为反应。最后对现有文献的研究思路、特点和不足进行了评述, 提出了未来研究方向。     

认知训练对不同类型考试焦虑的作用

以163名高中一年级学生为被试,采用现场实验法考察了认知训练对认知主导型考试焦虑(C型)、生理唤醒主导型考试焦虑(P型)和学习技能缺乏型考试焦虑(S型)的作用效果.结果表明:认知训练能显著地降低三种考试焦虑类型的状态考试焦虑,提高C型和P型的考试成绩.认知训练在降低考试焦虑和提高考试成绩两方面对C型考试焦虑者作用尤为明显.认知训练没有表明对S型考试焦虑者有提高考试成绩的作用.     

The Role of School-based Group Mentoring in Promoting Resilience among Vulnerable High School Students

This study examined the role of participation in a year-long school-based group mentoring program, Project Arrive (PA), on increasing resilience during the first year of high school among students identified as being at high risk for school dropout. Participants were 114, ninth grade students taking part in one of 32 PA mentoring groups, and 71 statistically matched comparison students (53% male, 75% eligible for free/reduced-price lunch, 62% Latinx). Using a propensity score with inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) to reduce selection bias, and a multi-level model to account for non-independence of data within mentoring groups, we examined changes from pre-test to program exit on seven external resilience resources (developmental supports and opportunities) and four internal resilience assets (personal strengths). At program exit, PA participants had higher adjusted means than comparisons on six external resources, including school support, school belonging, school meaningful participation, peer caring relationships, prosocial peers, and home meaningful participation. PA participants also had higher adjusted means on one internal asset, problem solving. Results point to the promise of group mentoring as an approach for increasing resilience among academically vulnerable adolescents.     

Different paths to protest: predictors of collective action in the Occupy Movement

This study investigated the variables that shaped people's willingness to engage in collective action in the context of the Occupy Movement. Data were collected in 2011 from nonprotesting supporters at the New York City Occupy encampment and active occupiers at the New York and Atlanta encampments. Participants distinguished between different kinds of collective action based on cost. Furthermore, different predictors motivated distinct kinds of collective action. Identity and anger predicted low‐cost collective action. Efficacy predicted relatively costly collective action and mediated the link between identity and costly collective action. This study provides evidence that people draw distinctions between different actions based on cost and that, when it comes to predicting collective action, these distinctions matter.     

Joint Maximum Likelihood Estimation for Diagnostic Classification Models

Joint maximum likelihood estimation (JMLE) is developed for diagnostic classification models (DCMs). JMLE has been barely used in Psychometrics because JMLE parameter estimators typically lack statistical consistency. The JMLE procedure presented here resolves the consistency issue by incorporating an external, statistically consistent estimator of examinees’ proficiency class membership into the joint likelihood function, which subsequently allows for the construction of item parameter estimators that also have the consistency property. Consistency of the JMLE parameter estimators is established within the framework of general DCMs: The JMLE parameter estimators are derived for the Loglinear Cognitive Diagnosis Model (LCDM). Two consistency theorems are proven for the LCDM. Using the framework of general DCMs makes the results and proofs also applicable to DCMs that can be expressed as submodels of the LCDM. Simulation studies are reported for evaluating the performance of JMLE when used with tests of varying length and different numbers of attributes. As a practical application, JMLE is also used with “real world” educational data collected with a language proficiency test.     

Linking Maternal Socialization of Positive Emotions to Children’s Behavioral Problems: The Moderating Role of Self-Control

Little is known about how parents socialize children’s positive affect regulation during late childhood. Consequently, we examined how mothers’ reported responses to their children’s (aged 7–12 years) positive emotions were linked to children’s behavioral problems and how children’s self-control moderated these associations. Our results indicated that maternal encouragement of positive emotions predicted fewer externalizing behaviors, but only for youth with lower self-control. Maternal explanation about their children’s positive emotions was unrelated to youth’s behavioral problems. Lastly, maternal dismissing responses to their children’s positive emotions (i.e., reprimanding responses and discomfort) were related to more externalizing and internalizing in youth, and these effects were not dependent on the children’s self-control. The current study adds to the limited research on positive affect socialization and offers some evidence that youth’s self-control may serve as a vantage-sensitivity factor in the association between maternal positive affect socialization and youth adjustment.     

Parent–child attachment as a mediator of the relationship between parenting style and gelotophobia among adolescents

Fear of being laughed at and family interaction are highly related. Parental over‐control and over‐protection influence children's excessive anxiety over being laughed at. Conversely, parental attachment is an important index of the parent–child relationship and is closely correlated to children's gelotophobia. However, is it the style of parenting or the outcome of parenting (i.e. attachment) that influences a child's gelotophobia? To answer this question, the present study analysed the relationships between gelotophobia, perceived parenting of children and parent–child attachment, as well as the mediating role of attachment between parenting and children's gelotophobia, using a sample of 373 high‐school students. The results show that being highly communicative and close attachment completely weakened the negative correlation between warm, caring parenting and the child's gelotophobia; moreover, being highly communicative and close attachment, together with over‐protective and over‐controlling parenting, influence children's gelotophobia. In sum, this study indicates that parent–child attachment has a direct and indirect influence on perceived parental care and protection and children's fear of being laughed at.