The effect of shame on anger at others: awareness of the emotion-causing events matters

Numerous studies have found that shame increases individuals’ anger at others. However, according to recent theories about the social function of shame and anger at others, it is possible that shame controls individuals’ anger at others in specific conditions. We replicated previous findings that shame increased individuals’ anger at others’ unfairness, when others were not aware of the individual’s experience of shameful events. We also found for the first time that shame controlled or even decreased individuals’ anger at others’ unfairness, when others were aware of the individual’s experience of shameful events. The results were consistent when shame was induced by either a recall paradigm or an imagination paradigm, and in either the ultimatum game or the dictator game. This suggests that shame strategically controls individuals’ anger at others to demonstrate that they are willing to benefit others, when facing the risk of social exclusion. Our findings highlight the interpersonal function of shame and deepen the understanding of the relationship between shame and anger at others.     

形状-性别内隐联结及其对消费者形状偏好的影响

本文探讨了形状与性别之间的内隐联结及其对消费者形状偏好的影响。通过4个实验, 作者发现形状与性别之间存在内隐联结, 即圆润的形状与女性更相关, 而有棱角的形状与男性更相关。这一内隐联结被拓展到品牌感知上, 导致品牌的性别形象影响消费者对圆形或棱角形产品的偏好, 而感知匹配度在其中起中介作用。这些研究发现进一步丰富了现有关于形状偏好以及形状象征意义的文献, 并对视觉营销中的形状设计提供了重要的实践指导。     

汉语儿童语素意识对阅读理解的影响:默读流畅性的中介效应

通过对149名小学一年级学生两年的追踪研究,在控制了一般认知能力、语音意识以及所关注变量自回归效应的情况下,探讨默读流畅性在语素意识与阅读理解关系中的作用。结果发现：（1）儿童语素意识、默读流畅性及阅读理解随时间均有显著发展;（2）一年级下学期儿童的默读流畅性在一年级上学期语素意识影响二年级上学期阅读理解过程中的中介作用显著,而二年级上学期的默读流畅性在一年级下学期语素意识影响二年级下学期阅读理解过程中的中介作用不显著。结果表明,在小学低年级阶段,默读流畅性在早期语素意识与之后的阅读理解中发挥跨时间点的中介作用,且该中介效应随儿童认知技能的发展会发生一定的变化。     

How Power States Influence the Persuasiveness of Top‐Dog versus Underdog Appeals

Although both top‐dog and underdog positioning appeals are widely used in marketing and advertising, little is known about which strategy is more effective in persuading consumers. By introducing a sense of power, a social variable that is inherently relevant to the nature of the top‐dog versus underdog classification, we propose that consumers' responses to these two appeals are influenced by their psychological experience of power. Specifically, low‐power consumers will respond to top‐dog appeals more favorably because associating with top dogs facilitates power restoration. In contrast, high‐power consumers will respond to underdog appeals more favorably because supporting underdogs facilitates power expression. In four experimental studies, we provide consistent support for our main predictions as well as the underlying processes. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate the differential effect of consumers' power states on their attitudes toward top‐dog versus underdog appeals. Providing process evidence, Studies 3 and 4 identify boundary conditions under which the basic effect was eliminated. These findings contribute to the persuasion literature and power research and provide important implications for positioning strategy and advertisement development.     

Romantic Crushes Promote Variety‐Seeking Behavior

Consumers making repeat consumption choices often need to decide whether to stick to their favorite option or to select something different. Understanding the situational factors that influence their willingness to seek more or less variety in consumption is of both theoretical and practical importance. The current research proposes that a salient relationship state—romantic crush—can increase consumers' variety‐seeking tendency in unrelated consumption situations. Building on the compensatory consumption literature, we suggest that the lack of reciprocal response in the romantic crush experience may lower consumers' sense of control in the romantic relationship. Therefore, they are motivated to restore their sense of control by making more varied choices in consumption domains. Five studies provide support for this hypothesis. In line with our control‐restoration account, the effect disappears when consumers' sense of control is boosted via other means. Moreover, the effect is specific to the experience of a romantic crush and cannot be generalized to other types of romantic relationship (e.g., initial stage of love).     

The Illusion of Double‐Discount: Using Reference Points in Promotion Framing

Double‐discount is an effective format for promoting purchase decisions. However, extant literature has overlooked how temporal order of discounts applied affects consumers’ purchase decisions. In this paper, we show that the sequence of discount magnitude (e.g., 10% followed by 40% vs. 40% followed by 10%) leads to biases in consumer judgment and influences the perceived appeal and purchase intention of the deal. We term this the double‐discount sequence effect. Using four experiments, we showed that double‐discount in an ascending sequence (e.g., taking 10% off, then an additional 40% off) is preferable over that in a descending sequence. We also found that discount application sequence—but not the presentation order—matters to consumers. Consumers anchor on the first discount they encounter and evaluate the second discount with respect to this first one.     

Liberal–conservative dimension of moral concerns underlying political faction formation in Taiwan

Moral foundations theory provides a framework for understanding the traditional liberal–conservative dichotomy in political factions. Typically, factions on the liberal side are more concerned with individualizing foundations—including care/harm and fairness/cheating—for the protection of individual rights and welfare whereas factions on the conservative side are concerned with both individualizing and binding foundations—including loyalty/betrayal, authority/subversion, and sanctity/degradation—for the maintenance of existing social ethics. Our research extended this framework to the analysis of Taiwanese political factions, which are not distributed conspicuously along the liberal–conservative line but instead on whether Taiwan should become a legally independent state or unify with the People's Republic of China (Mainland China). Our results indicate that despite the scarce use of the terms liberal or left and conservative or right in common communication, a liberal–conservative dimension underlies the Taiwanese political spectrum. Specifically, supporters of Taiwan independence exhibit liberal‐like moral concerns whereas supporters of China unification and the status quo demonstrate conservative‐like moral concerns. Moreover, indirect effects exist through moral foundations from political factions to stances on social issues; this is especially prevalent in the case of Taiwan independence camp's clear support for the legalization of same‐sex marriage, a stance resulting from anti‐authoritarian moral and political characteristics.     

直播营销中社会临场感对线上从众消费的影响及作用机理研究——行为与神经生理视角

研究以直播营销为背景, 引入产生于通讯领域的社会临场感概念, 在文献归纳分析的基础上首先探讨直播营销环境下社会临场感的内涵和构成; 之后基于从众消费理论通过行为实验的方法探究直播营销中社会临场感影响线上从众消费的认知机制; 进一步, 根据社会临场感理论探讨自我建构和消费者-主播关系强度在此过程中的调节作用; 最后基于社会助长理论, 利用神经科学方法客观性和“过程测量”的优势探索直播营销中社会临场感影响线上从众的情感机制。研究将揭示社会临场感影响线上从众消费行为的机理, 为直播播主和电商卖家提供指导的同时, 帮助消费者了解自我, 以做出更理性的消费决策。     

Longitudinal changes in marital satisfaction during middle age in Taiwan

The current 8‐year panel study explored changes in marital satisfaction among 614 married middle‐aged persons with seventh‐grade children. It also examined how individual health (physical health and depressive moods) and role changes (parenting transitions and life stress) were related to trajectories of marital satisfaction and investigated the buffering effect of family cohesion on these associations. Growth curve analyses show an inverted‐U shape in marital satisfaction during middle age. This indicates that regardless of the gender or age of the respondents, marital satisfaction among middle‐aged adults increased when their children were in the 9^th and 12^th grade, and then declined when their children were in their sophomore year of college. Declining physical health and an increase in depressive moods were related to a drop in marital satisfaction. Stressful events in midlife had negative effects on marital satisfaction, and family cohesion served as a buffer to mitigate the adverse impact of life stress on marital satisfaction. Overall, these results highlight the role of adolescent children in understanding why marital satisfaction changes among middle‐aged parents and emphasize the importance of health and life stress in relation to midlife marital satisfaction. These findings are discussed with life course perspectives and Taiwanese cultural values in relation to familism and academic achievement among children.     

Trait compassion is associated with the neural substrate of empathy

Individual differences in the personality trait Agreeableness underlie humans’ ability to interpret social cues and coordinate effectively with others. However, previous investigations of the neural basis of Agreeableness have yielded largely inconsistent results. Recent evidence has demonstrated that Agreeableness can be divided into two, correlated subdimensions. Compassion reflects tendencies toward empathy, sympathy, and concern for others, while Politeness reflects tendencies toward compliance and refraining from aggression and exploitation. The present study seeks to clarify the neural substrates of Agreeableness by examining whether structural differences in the brain show distinct associations with Compassion and Politeness. Results of a meta-analysis of fMRI studies examining empathy were used to generate hypotheses about the brain regions and networks that underlie trait Compassion. Results of a large-scale structural neuroimaging investigation (N = 275) were largely consistent with the meta-analysis: Compassion was positively correlated with gray matter volume in the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and anterior insula (AI). Further, these differences appear to be associated with Compassion specifically, as opposed to Politeness, suggesting that these two traits have at least partially distinct neuroanatomical substrates.